Remember Christmas 1977, when young "Star Wars" fans were given empty boxes with characters on them because there weren't enough action figures produced in time for the holiday shopping blitz? Thirty years later, you can give the gift of nothing once again:
The Canadian Press reports that Ticketmaster began taking deposits for "Hamilton Predators" season tickets on Thursday, despite the fact that billionaire Jim Balsillie hasn't even been approved by the NHL as the owner of the Nashville franchise and the fact that Gary Bettman staunchly claimed that the Predators weren't
"going anywhere." (You can stop laughing now.) James Mirtle, who's doing
a bang-up job on the NHL Awards tonight,
posted a Predators ad from the Globe and Mail and
explained the logistics of becoming a Hamilton season-ticket holder. Ben over on
the frequently awesome Sens Army blog quickly sliced up that ticket ad with some Photoshop satire, and was nice enough to green-light its reprinting here on NHL FanHouse:

Meanwhile,
the Buffalo Sabres offered a solid "no comment" on the potential Hamilton franchise, as the Associated Press points out that Hamilton is "located just outside a 50-mile radius that, under an NHL bylaw, is considered Buffalo's market."