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We&#8217;re now in the thick of the holiday season and there&#8217;s no NHL hockey, but there&#8217;s still lots to talk about. The league made a new CBA offer this week, the World Juniors and Spengler Cup are on, and the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to butcher the handling of their top young players.

A new offer from the NHL. Jason Gregor breaks down the league&rsquo;s latest proposal. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/28/a-new-offer-from-nhlthoughts">Oilers Nation</a>]
Five things the NHL can do to win fans back. Note: not one of these things is &ldquo;paint &lsquo;Thank You, Fans!&rsquo;&rdquo; on the ice. [<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/27/five-things-better-than-painting-words-on-the-ice">Flames Nation</a>]
Nazem Kadri takes elbow to head, plays on ensuing power play. Then, later in the game he is removed from the lineup for &ldquo;headaches&rdquo; and subsequently sat out for the team&rsquo;s road trip. This is the second case &ndash; <a href="http://mapleleafsnation.com/2012/12/12/update-jake-gardiner-no-longer-not-in-a-concussion-state">Jake Gardiner, earlier in the year</a>, was the last one &ndash; of the Toronto Marlies letting a highly valuable prospect continue to play after taking a serious blow to the head. This follows <a href="http://mapleleafsnation.com/2012/12/9/jake-gardiner-left-saturdays-game-with-a-head-injury">a long track record of similarly ignoring injuries</a>. It is incredibly stupid to keep playing star prospects in meaningless minor league games after they&rsquo;ve taken big blows to the head; there&rsquo;s simply no other way to describe it. Yay, Toronto. [<a href="http://mapleleafsnation.com/2012/12/26/nazem-kadri-takes-elbow-to-head-plays-on-ensuing-powerplay">Leafs Nation</a>]
Nail Yakupov adds spark to the World Juniors. Do Canadians play &ldquo;dirty&rdquo;? Nail Yakupov thinks so, while Don Cherry goes off on some meaningless tangent about ungrateful Russians. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/27/yakupov-adds-spark-to-wjc">Oilers Nation</a>]
How to rebuild the Calgary Flames: a four year plan. Rex Libris wanders over to Flames Nation and writes a multi-part series on a long-term overhaul of Calgary&rsquo;s team:
<ul>
<li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/22/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan">Part 1</a>]</li>
<li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/23/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan-part-2">Part 2</a>]</li>
<li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/28/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan-part-three">Part 3</a>]</li>
<li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/29/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan-part-four">Part 4</a>]</li>
</ul>
Talent show. The top-10 draft eligible players to keep an eye on at this year&rsquo;s World Juniors. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/26/an-affair-to-remember">Oilers Nation</a>]
The bitter pill of NHL fandom. It&rsquo;s been an ugly few months for hockey fans. [<a href="http://canucksarmy.com/2012/12/28/the-bitter-pill-of-nhl-fandom">Canucks Army</a>]
Fun stories with Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk. Exactly what it sounds like. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/28/nail-yakupov-funny-stories-with-nail-yakupov-alex-galchenyuk">Oilers Nation</a>]
Hey, jealousy! Jason Strudwick doesn&rsquo;t get jealous all that often, but he wishes he was playing in the Spengler Cup this year. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/25/hey-jealousy">Oilers Nation</a>]

<center>
<img src="https://flamesnation.ca/wp-content/uploads/Image/Fehr Bettman.png" width="600" height="227" alt="" />
</center>
We're now in the thick of the holiday season and there's no NHL hockey, but there's still lots to talk about. The league made a new CBA offer this week, the World Juniors and Spengler Cup are on, and the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to butcher the handling of their top young players.

A new offer from the NHL. Jason Gregor breaks down the league&rsquo;s latest proposal. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/28/a-new-offer-from-nhlthoughts">Oilers Nation</a>]
Five things the NHL can do to win fans back. Note: not one of these things is &ldquo;paint &lsquo;Thank You, Fans!&rsquo;&rdquo; on the ice. [<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/27/five-things-better-than-painting-words-on-the-ice">Flames Nation</a>]
Nazem Kadri takes elbow to head, plays on ensuing power play. Then, later in the game he is removed from the lineup for &ldquo;headaches&rdquo; and subsequently sat out for the team&rsquo;s road trip. This is the second case &ndash; <a href="http://mapleleafsnation.com/2012/12/12/update-jake-gardiner-no-longer-not-in-a-concussion-state">Jake Gardiner, earlier in the year</a>, was the last one &ndash; of the Toronto Marlies letting a highly valuable prospect continue to play after taking a serious blow to the head. This follows <a href="http://mapleleafsnation.com/2012/12/9/jake-gardiner-left-saturdays-game-with-a-head-injury">a long track record of similarly ignoring injuries</a>. It is incredibly stupid to keep playing star prospects in meaningless minor league games after they&rsquo;ve taken big blows to the head; there&rsquo;s simply no other way to describe it. Yay, Toronto. [<a href="http://mapleleafsnation.com/2012/12/26/nazem-kadri-takes-elbow-to-head-plays-on-ensuing-powerplay">Leafs Nation</a>]
Nail Yakupov adds spark to the World Juniors. Do Canadians play &ldquo;dirty&rdquo;? Nail Yakupov thinks so, while Don Cherry goes off on some meaningless tangent about ungrateful Russians. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/27/yakupov-adds-spark-to-wjc">Oilers Nation</a>]
How to rebuild the Calgary Flames: a four year plan. Rex Libris wanders over to Flames Nation and writes a multi-part series on a long-term overhaul of Calgary&rsquo;s team:
<ul>
 <li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/22/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan">Part 1</a>]</li>
 <li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/23/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan-part-2">Part 2</a>]</li>
 <li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/28/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan-part-three">Part 3</a>]</li>
 <li>[<a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2012/12/29/how-to-rebuild-the-calgary-flames-a-four-year-and-a-bit-plan-part-four">Part 4</a>]</li>
</ul>
Talent show. The top-10 draft eligible players to keep an eye on at this year&rsquo;s World Juniors. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/26/an-affair-to-remember">Oilers Nation</a>]
The bitter pill of NHL fandom. It&rsquo;s been an ugly few months for hockey fans. [<a href="http://canucksarmy.com/2012/12/28/the-bitter-pill-of-nhl-fandom">Canucks Army</a>]
Fun stories with Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk. Exactly what it sounds like. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/28/nail-yakupov-funny-stories-with-nail-yakupov-alex-galchenyuk">Oilers Nation</a>]
Hey, jealousy! Jason Strudwick doesn&rsquo;t get jealous all that often, but he wishes he was playing in the Spengler Cup this year. [<a href="http://publish.oilersnation.com/2012/12/25/hey-jealousy">Oilers Nation</a>]

Best of the Nation – 12.30.12

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