So as some rumors predicted, a couple of St. Louis Blues signed with the UHL's Missouri River Otters. Barret Jackman and Ryan Johnson are the newest Otters.
I'm worried about these NHLers in the lower leagues, though.
It seems like Dale Purinton, usually a spare defenseman for the Rangers, may be banned from the ECHL for fighting. Right now, he's suspended indefinitely.
And Derian Hatcher had a tough time out his first night as a Motor City Mechanic. Fans called him a scab and told him to go home.
I would have kept shouting back "I can't go home! I'm locked out!"
Seriously, though. Those NHL guys need to be careful.

The Wings are pretty smart guys. In fact, I wonder if they can end the lockout.
I'm sure you've heard about Derian Hatcher and Chris Chelios from the Red Wings joining the UHL's Motor City Mecahnics. Kris Draper is rumored to be right behind them.
So why are they doing it?
Presumably it's a way to get some hockey in.
But it's also a great way to undermine the NHL owners. The lucky people of Detroit are going to see NHL players playing hockey and not one dime will go into an NHL owner's pocket. Now imagine if key players in all 30 NHL markets started doing the same thing (the News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne reports some St. Louis Blues are rumored to be signing with the Missouri River Otters). Imagine if someone like Jaromir Jagr came back just to play for a non-NHL-owned franchise. Hockey fans would get hockey and stars, but the owners would get nothing. Plus, if the owners tried to establish a scab league, they'd have a heck of a time competing with genuine NHLers. Sure, the whole experiment would destroy the development of countless hockey players, but if you want to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs.
NHLers are bored and looking to play in the U.S. But they also see an opportunity to force the league to negotiate with them.

Stephen A. Smith, apparently on a break from screaming on ESPN, discusses the lockout in his latest column (login info.).
His take?
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman may have been hired to institute a hard cap, but he shouldn't destroy the league to do it. He needs to compromise or develop a creative cap.
Larry Brooks says the owners want more than a hard cap — he says the owners are trying to get out of 2004-05's huge contracts. Brooks goes on to write that the way for the players to screw over the owners is to insist that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement honors this season's contracts and doesn't pick up a year later.
So yeah. Things seem to be going pretty well around the league.
Even Mario Lemieux, an owner and a player both, puts the odds of a season coming together at 50-50. Of course, with the muzzle both sides put on their members, I think Super Mario is only allowed to say the words 50-50. Because I asked him how his back was doing, and he said "50-50." He also ordered that for lunch. But I digress.
Also, sadly, Steve Yzerman doubts he'll ever play in the NHL again. I feel bad for all of those players who were going to split after this season. It's bad enough leaving the sport. But doing it because of a lockout is pretty hard.
Mitch Albom, on a break from writing books that make people in airports cry, thinks it's sad, too.
I think it's sad that the organists are even suffering during this lockout.