NHL Games Cancelled On October 17, 2012 – NHL That Could Have Been

Tonight would have been a thrilling night of NHL hockey. You know, if the owners and players weren’t fighting over which millionaires were entitled to more millions than the other millionaires. Every night the NHL Lockout goes on, 104.5 The Team will break down the games that both sides have stolen from us, because a world without hockey talk is worse than watching your team try to defend a 5 on 3. To catch up on previous editions in the series, go here.

Today was the day in which the Rangers/Devils rivalry was going to be rekindled after a thrilling seven game series in the Eastern Conference semifinals, as well as two other games that have been stolen from us thanks to both sides in the NHL lockout electing to try and wait until after basketball season to play some hockey.

New York Rangers at New Jersey Devils: Not only is this a rematch of that epic seven game Eastern Conference semifinal series from last season, which the Devils won, but it was also a national TV game, so the entire country could remember just how awesome hockey in the tri-state area is. As a New Yorker, I am upset that being full of petulant Yankees fans such as myself is all we will be remembered for this time of year without games like this.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Washington Capitals: I'm just throwing this out there, but it looks to me as if every letter in the word "capitals" in the Capitals' logo looks like it's lowercase. See for yourself. I understand that they aren't named the capitals for that reason, but I'm going to call them the lowercases from now on anyway.

Carolina Hurricanes at Anaheim Ducks: Teemu Selanne finished last year in the top 35 in the NHL in points at age 42. He has 19 years of NHL experience and he is still performing at a high level. Maybe if the younger guys on his team were better, they would have made the playoffs last year.

Enjoy the games tonight. Oh, wait, nevermind.