NHL Games Cancelled On October 15, 2012 – The 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 icing calls.Today's slate of action in the NHL consisted of four games, one of which was a national television game. The other three consisted of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, last year's one seed in the Western Conference, and one seed in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately for hockey fans, Gary Bettman is too busy laying in a bathtub full of pennies to allow those games to happen.

Florida Panthers vs. Washington Capitals: The Panthers had 18 overtime losses last year, more than any team in the league. They also had the second fewest home and road wins of any playoff team. They literally lived and died by the one point gained by overtime losses, which took them all the way to the third seed. Not the strategy I would go with, but whatever works.

Los Angeles Kings at Calgary Flames: I guess it makes perfect sense that the NHL would lock its players out right after the Kings won a championship. It is a city so full of fair weather fans that once it exerted its influence on the league by winning a trophy, the entire NHL decided to leave early to beat the traffic. We should have seen this coming.

Carolina Hurricanes at Vancouver Canucks: How much fun must it be to play with your own brother? The Sedins, Henrik and Daniel, of the Canucks have that luxury and it must be fantastic. Just think of the locker room pranks you could pull on your other teammates if you had someone on the team that was practically the same person as you and has known you for their entire life. If these guys played baseball, everyone on their team would have bubble gum on top of their hats during every game.

New York Rangers at San Jose Sharks: This game is the holy grail for teams who play really well during the regular season and fail to live up to expectations in the playoffs. These two teams are the pre-2011 Dallas Mavericks of the NHL. I look forward to watching them both lose in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Enjoy the games, everyone. Oh wait, nevermind.