It's a gameday, don't forget. The Leafs are in Dallas tonight, and the Sceptres play the Sirens at noon.

In unusual news, the ECHL players union has authorized a strike. This is a good story covering things:

Union representing Bloomington Bison hockey players authorizes strike over contract issues
The union representing players for the Bloomington Bison and other ECHL hockey teams have voted to authorize a strike after negotiating for months on a new contract.
WGLTRyan Denham
Players "deserve to be paid for corporate and auction-related events," PHPA argued.
"The auctions that you [the fans] make so successful, the auctions teams use to drive their revenues — bidding on jerseys off our backs — provide us with a sense of appreciation, but we as players do not see a penny from those sales," the PHPA wrote.
The previous collective bargaining agreement [CBA] required a weekly salary cap of $14,600 for teams of 20 players, meaning each player would make around $730 per week.
“We are not asking for extravagance. We are asking for fairness: proper rest that respects the physicality of the game and us as professionals, good-faith negotiations, and a living wage,” the PHPA said in the letter [written to fans in November].

This article...

Contract dispute between ECHL, players union heating up
The contract dispute between the ECHL and the league’s players union is heating up. According to several reports on social media on Friday, the ECHL…
The BladeMARK MONROE

explains that the ECHL is on break over Christmas the same way the NHL is, and this weekend's games are the last games played before December 26, a date mentioned as a possible deadline the union has given the league.

The PHPA represents the ECHL and the AHL, and both leagues have been operating without a CBA since the summer. Elliotte Friedman reported last night than the AHL has an agreement in place to keep playing until the new deal is done, and that might be soon.

In other news from Friedman, there will be changes to the NHL draft aimed at making it shorter. The idea of having rounds one and two on day one, and the rest the next day is in discussions and has not been decided. No city has been named as host yet.

About last night:

The Leafs played a very good, fast and decisive first period and ended up 1-0 on a lovely goal from Nic Roy in his 400th game. They had a pretty good power play too.

The second period was closer to even with two big problems for the Leafs. The Predators had an offensive flurry that drew a penalty and then they scored on what for them was a very uncharacteristically good power play. The Leafs were characteristically poor on the PK.

John Tavares got the lead back with an assist from Matias Maccelli making an appearance after about a month off.

At the end of the period a strange sequence saw Auston Matthews lose the puck and then lose the puck carrier and then, well you'll see:

The Leafs began the third period fairly poorly, and eventually Luke Evangelista made a very good play. Morgan Rielly guessed wrong.

Steven Stamkos added an ENG courtesy of one of those Nylander giveaways at the offensive blueline.

Bobby McMann made it close a few seconds later with a goal.

The top unit came out for the final push, and Nashville got it and took off for another ENG.

Final score was 5-3 Nashville.

In general, I thought the Leafs were good. They weren't wandering around wondering what that strange round rubber disk was for. They were reasonably quick on their feet. They made a couple of inattentive mistakes and Nashville capitalized. Nashville also got a considerable amount of rush opportunities against because the Leafs were playing a higher risk offence.

That's an argument for the idea that the team just isn't good enough. But while Auston Matthews at least shot the puck a little, only the Tavares line, with William Nylander back where he belongs, was above water at five-on-five. Of course Nylander's turnover at the blueline led to the Preds taking the lead.

But the issue of Matthews losing his minutes massively, not doing much offensively and just generally not adding a lot of value has continued on from the last few games.

The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty, it has a crack in it, and you can pour into all you like, it will never be filled.

How's that for Christmas cheer. See you later today for more of this.

From The Branches