Welcome to a new segment that you guys might like. Okay, maybe it's just the news links that Jordan and I are continuously putting up through the year. The difference is the title. With the CBA expiring on September 15th, and having the NHL and NHLPA rumoured to be at an impasse, it looks like a lockout is a strong possibility of that point. That is why I've decided to put a countdown to the lockout as the title of these posts for the next couple weeks. Hopefully, reaching 0 is aborted with the agreement on a new CBA and the preparations of a new season. If not, then I may continue them through the lockout with "__ Days Into The Lockout" as the titles. This trend will end when there's a new CBA agreed on. Let's just hope I won't have to go past 100...

Anyways, head past the jump for some news and analysis tidbits.

• Speaking of the CBA discussions, the last scheduled talks were this past Friday. It appears everyone took the long weekend off.
• Alex Ovechkin talked to reporters today about all the CBA hoopla.
• Breaking news: the Avalanche have a new team captain. Unfortunately, it's not Shane O`Brien like a few of us were hoping last year.
• The good news: Roberto Luongo has already started practicing, getting ready for the new season. The bad news: He's doing it in the Panthers arena, narrowly getting off the ice in time for the Florida team to have their own unofficial team practices.
• Time to start preparing possible fantasy teams, provided the season starts on time! Two Canucks have made the op 15 of NHL.com's overall rankings, with 4 more in the top 100.
• NHL.com has picked out the top 10 team captains of all time. There are a couple current captains on there, but I'm sure you guys will absolutely hate No. 1.
• NHL.com has also ranked the top players in NHL history by the letter starting their last names. For example, Gretzky is an obvious pick for the G's. They also show runners-up and current players, which is how Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin make an appearance. (A-I, J-Q, R-Z)

If any more breaking news happens during the day, throw it in the comments and the important stuff will be added to this post. Hopefully, one of these big new items is a new CBA agreement....