Eyes On The Prize, a Montreal Canadiens community

All some of us want as a holiday present is to be given our team back; for Tampa Bay hockey fans - a few alternative "gifts" that are the sport of hockey.

Tell us what you've been doing during the lockout to occupy your time, and you could be in a CBC documentary.

However loyal you are to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL's legal filings could lead to the cancelling of every contract of every player in the league.

I force Bettman, Daly, and the Fehr brothers to play a Cthulhu board game with me to teach them a lesson about teamwork.

A couple of researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Ben-Gurion University in Israel have asked Habs fans to participate in a survey about the lockout.

They may all seem like bad guys, and it may seem like we're ignoring certain bad guys in the 2012 lockout too. Our question this week is who is the biggest villain of the 2012 NHL lockout?

They are close, they are far apart. The only thing left for NHL clubs to do is be ready - for a resolution or for a continued contemptuous affair.

Eighteen players and six owners met behind closed doors over the last couple of days, and all we've gotten are vague updates as to their progress. But what really has been happening in these meetings, and which participants are driving results?

The NHL lockout will end someday. Possibly this month. Maybe Tuesday's "cautious optimism" is even a sign of progress. Follow the updates if you dare.

It's finally happened, time to get ready for the season.