from Adrian Dater of Sports Illustrated,

...we've been asked to make 10 fearless predictions for 2013. This, of course, assumes that an NHL season of some kind will happen at some point in the calendar year.

So, here we go:

Either Donald Fehr or Gary Bettman won't remain at his current job -- Odds are, Fehr will be the one to go. He's 63, after all, and has spoken of his presumed short shelf life as director of the NHL Players Association. The odds have also grown slim on him getting anything resembling a great deal for his clients in the next CBA. The NHL outfoxed him with its preemptive lawsuit in a Manhattan Federal court on December 14 -- gaining the home court advantage the NBA (under the same lockout law firm, Proskauer Rose) had in its lockout in 2011....

The NHL will expand by two teams -- The thinking on this is easy to discern: with the loss of revenue that owners will suffer this season, getting two new teams in -- with lucrative expansion-fee money -- will offset most or all of it....

Claude Lemieux will become a major player on the agent scene -- In 2011, the 4Sports player agency hired the four-time Stanley Cup-winner. In a surprise to nobody who knows the hard-driving son of a Buckingham, Quebec, truck driver, Lemieux has already started attracting numerous clients to his stable....

more