I’ll let Tommy at Sticks of Fire do the talking on this post…

Tampa is Paris in relation to Jax….

I’ve added another two desktop backgrounds to Boltsmag’s list — one with Nolan Pratt and another with the St. Petersburg Times Forum. Just click on the “Wallpaper” button at right and you’ll be mystifically transported to the wallpaper graphics entry to the site…..

Now, there isn’t a feature story on the fact talks broke down in today’s St. Petersburg Times, but there is a piece on talks breaking down of course. Short and sweet…

Well, no… Short and sour.

Brad Richards is quoted in this article and I must tell everyone that Brad has been the most consistant and resolute player on the Lightning since he broke into the league… While he’s been a strength on ice, clearly business is not his strong point —

“We made a serious proposal (Dec. 9) and they didn’t even want to look at it,” Lightning center Brad Richards told the Canadian Press. “It’s disappointing and it made everybody angry. I haven’t seen any reason to be optimistic since.”

Um, Excuse me Mr. Richards?

Brad, you’re my favorite player but how can you play into the NHLPA propoganda like this? Ever fan should be able to recall the NHL took a full weekend to review and go over the last proposal by the NHLPA and sent back a counter offer the following Tuesday which was considered equally as strong.

And every fan and executive should know that the NHLPA flat out rejected the offer, as they have with every-single-stinking-offer that the NHL has made to them.

Of course, Richards was preparing to depart for Ak Barz Kazan at the time the player smade there offer, so i have to give him the benefit of the doubt for being uninformed about this… But at the same time, I’m aggrivated the players keep calling it in on the party-line and speaking falsehoods and half truths.