Even bass fishing guides have been paying attention to a strange summer in the hockey world, one that has been filled with bad news from the beginning to the end, which is going to make this upcoming season one of the most difficult years in recent memory.

Enforcers have been hit hard as Derek Boogaard of the New York Rangers, Rick Rypien of Winnipeg and the retired Wade Belak all passed away this summer; Boogaard’s death was ruled to be an accidental overdose, while Rypien and Belak committed suicide, and now the spotlight is on fighting’s role in the sports. While these players aren’t going to boost a team’s odds at online sports betting USA, they make their star teammates more comfortable on the ice. Another light has been shone on the NHLPA’s role in preparing a player for life after the game, and that is something to be looked at.

The NHL also felt the effects of a plane crash in Russia in which the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team was lost, and understandably, that team will sit out this season. Former NHLers like Brad McCrimmon, who coached Lokomotiv, along with Pavol Demitra, Karel Rachunek and Ruslan Salei were among the players lost, and it has opened an investigation into the way that Russian hockey teams travel.

But life has to go on, and the NHL will surely honor the memory of those lost on both sides of the Atlantic and they will never be forgotten. The summer of 2011 will be a cloud that hangs over the NHL and betting communities.