Is the Commissioner keeping things from us that we’d like to know? (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

• A simple yes or no question. The great Scott Feschuk imagines a world where the commish channels his inner Lance Armstrong and fesses up on Oprah’s couch. Also, free puppies!

• Something old, something new. True fact. More Minnesotans kept warm during the lockout by wearing a Wild sweater – Zach Parise or Ryan Suter – than by burning an effigy of Bettman. The Wild faithful finally get to see their pricey free agents don the togs tonight, along with rookies Mikael Granlund and Mat Dumba.

• Wishful thinking. The Sens start the season with three goalies and the belief that Ben Bishop could net a top-four defender in trade. Yeah, for a 26-year-old with a 7-8-3 career record.

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To Red Light’s dismay, Gump Worsley only ranked 20th in the new edition of Without Fear: The Greatest Goalies of All Time, even though he won four Stanley Cups during his career. (Charles Hoff/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

The holiday season is already upon us, which you no doubt noticed a couple of weeks ago. The question is: what do you buy a hockey fan during this sad December, this festival of darkness in NHL arenas with no peace on the CBA front and good will in short supply?

You can’t buy tickets to games that are not being played. If you are of the mind that you’re not going to pay a penny to the owners or players as long as there’s a lockout (or even longer if you’re part of the Just Drop It movement), you’re not buying any NHL merch, either.

How about a good book?

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The spirited sell-out crowd at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall was treated to a worthy substitute for the recently cancelled NHL All-Star Game, with the proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief funds. (Tom Briglia/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Once upon a time, some hockey executive — it might have been Phil Esposito — plastered a motivational phrase on the wall in his team’s dressing room that read, “Turn Every Negative Into A Positive.” Well, things can’t be much more negative for the NHL than this ongoing, ridiculous lockout and nothing’s been more negative during the last few months than the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy. Yet a group of locked-out players turned both things into a positive on Saturday night in Atlantic City.

To once again see Steven Stamkos slithering through defenses, Daniel Alfredsson making tape-to-tape passes through traffic, Martin Brodeur lofting the puck halfway down the ice, P.K. Subban dropping his shoulder and carrying the puck one-handed deep into the opponent’s zone, Simon Gagne breaking free from coverage, linemates Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry reading and reacting to each other’s moves, James Neal threatening to score every time he had the puck, and Kimmo Timonen making a perfect outlet pass felt like a reunion with an old friend.

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New Jersey Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek (center) has found a way to buy himself more time to wriggle out of his financial mess and find a way to keep the team competitive and its fans happy. (Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

You’ve got to hand it to Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek. The man has the escape ability of Houdini. Although Tuesday’s deadline for him to pay his creditors $77 million has come and gone and he does not have all the money that he had agreed to pay them, it appears he’ll keep control of his team, get more time to refinance his club and seek new partners.

Now, if you or I owe money to someone, chances are we don’t get to slide as easily. But you and I are not Jeff Vanderbeek and when you owe a massive amount of money, allowances are made. That’s one advantage of being wealthy, or at least understanding how to manage wealth, in our society. Those to whom Vanderbeek is indebted recognize that if they declared him in default and set the wheels in motion to force him into bankruptcy, they might end up with lots of pennies instead of lots of dollars. Giving him more time — as much as two more years according to reports — to either raise the needed funds or sell the team and pay off what he owes means that they stand a better chance of recovering their cash. We should all be so lucky.

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Once upon a time with the Buffalo Sabres, Dominik Hasek was the best goaltender on the planet, but not even he expects a return that multiple Vezina Trophy-winning form at the ripe old age of 47. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Will goaltenders Dominik Hasek and Cristobal Huet actually return to the NHL and can they really play goal in the game’s best league despite their advancing years and seasons spent overseas? They think so.

Hasek, the 47-year-old former all-world goalie who Ken Campbell of The Hockey News last month ranked as the top European born player of all time, and Huet, who will be 36 in September and was really a journeyman (albeit a well-paid one), have both sought to return to North America and are hoping some team will consider giving them a chance.

We tend to think of the post-lockout NHL as a young man’s league, with many of its top stars achieving that status in their early 20s, if not as teenagers. And then you have to pause and consider the great seasons that some older players logged in 2011-12. Teemu Selanne had another productive season at 41 and is coming back for more. Ray Whitney at 39 had a terrific campaign with the Coyotes, earning a Second Team All-Star selection — and a new UFA contract with Dallas. Daniel Alfredsson, who will turn 40 in December, continues to lead the Senators as their top rightwinger.  Nick Lidstrom, who turned 41 in April, was in the discussion for the Norris Trophy in his final NHL season. And after a three-year absence from the NHL, 39-year-old Jaromir Jagr played well enough for the Flyers that the Stars gave him a UFA deal this summer.

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If corrnerstones Zach Parise (left) and Martin Brodeur leave, the Devils will be forced to remake their roster. (Travis Golby/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

The gun goes off at noon on Sunday for the start of NHL Free Agency and we’ll be here that morning to begin our live blog of the day’s action. Considering the high volume of rumors and conjecture this year, it could be one of the wilder July 1′s for hockey in a while.

So here’s a quick look at what spots each team is seeking to fill going into the offseason, some of which they’ll try to address on the open market. We’ll do the Eastern Conference teams here. The Western Conference is here. To see the players available in free agency, go to TSN.ca.

BRUINS —  With Tim Thomas sitting out next season and probably done as a Bruin, Boston may seek a more experienced backup goalie for Tuukka Rask than Anton Khudobin. With Benoit Pouliot traded, Nathan Horton’s health uncertain, and Marc Savard definItely out of the picture, Boston will likely look for depth at forward.

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By Stu Hackel

In his perfect world, Zach Parise not only would never play for the rival Rangers, he would stay with the New Jersey Devils as the team continues its revival as an NHL power. But the world is far from perfect and the Devils’ financial situation is even less so. That’s why the team and its captain are on the clock, and that may force Parise to make a hard decision on his future.

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The boarding call on the Devils’ Steve Bernier was a cruel blow to a team that thrives on the forecheck. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

You may want to fit the Devils’ Steve Bernier for goat’s horns after his five-minute major in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, the penalty that essentially handed the championship to the Kings with their 6-1 victory. But there are many other people who deserve a share of the blame that history will unfairly heap on New Jersey’s fourth-line left wing for costing his team a chance to get to Game 7.

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Adding Henrik Tallinder (7), who has fresh legs, has made a huge difference for the Devils’ defense. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

The Stanley Cup Final moves to an unlikely Game 6 on Monday night as the Kings get a second chance to close out the Devils at home and win the hallowed chalice. Usually if you blow a chance to wrap up a series on home ice, it can be fatal and if L.A. coughs up a second opportunity and we get Game 7 on Wednesday night in New Jersey, anything is possible.

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Goaltenders Martin Brodeur of the Devils  and Jonathan Quick of the Kings are at opposite ends of the ice and their career arcs, and both have been playing superbly this spring. (Photos by Rich Kane/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

So here’s a frustrated Martin Brodeur after the morning skate before Wednesday’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, and he’s calling out his teammates. “I try to give these guys a chance to win and I’ve done that in the first three games,” the sure thing Hall of Famer tells reporters. “At the end of the day, it’s hard to win games when you don’t score many goals. I try to be perfect, but the other guy is a little more perfect than me.”

That’s quite something. Imagine if Marty had struggled this round and one of the Devils’ forwards had said to reporters, “We’re scoring enough goals but it’s hard to win games when your goalie can’t stop pucks.” But of course, Brodeur has been stopping them, and watching Game 4 was like watching video of the 40-year-old in his prime. When a guy plays that well and has amassed a body of work like Brodeur’s, his public irritation at his lack of offensive support — not to mention his team having no luck, not getting the bounces and the calls from the officials — somehow is forgiven in the dressing room. Maybe it was even welcomed.

Regardless of whether Brodeur’s words sparked them, the Devils finally scored an opening goal, took the lead for the first time in the series, and didn’t buckle when the Kings tied the game. The proceedings now shift back to Newark for Game 5 on Saturday, and, at least through his goaltending, Brodeur helped make it possible.

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