Luke Richardson gets called out

[thunderbirds_are_go 0]

A couple of points:

Firstly, the problem with argueing that owners should "just run their clubs better and not make these pay offers" is that it only takes a couple of owners to act in a financially irresponsible manner for it the effect all clubs, largely due to the arbitration rules which allow free agents in the rest of the league to compare their salaries to those on the Rangers, pushing up salaries for every team, no matter how responsible the management of most of the teams may be. For this reason there needs to be some control on over spending clubs. A salary cap may be a bit too restrictive, but there must be something there.

Secondly - to those that argue that hockey players deserve what they get - compare their worth to society to that of a policeman or fireman, and then tell me that a hockey player should be paid a hundred times more for doing a less dangerous job. I'll throw in actors and musicians into that category too - at least the successful ones. I will agree that they should be well paid, as they do have to sacrifice a lot to do what they do, and have a much shorter career than a cop, but most of us could live quite happily the rest of our lives on what a lot of these guys make.

I'll be quiet now.

[Chadd 916]

The athletes are paid for the income they can generate for the owners.

[chippa13 1844]

It requires more risks then many jobs that I can think of. A huge amount of commitment and sacrifices as well. If you don't make a few years in the big show, or any major pro league, you are almost screwed. At 30 you need to go back to school and start from scratch..Not that there aren't worst crimes. Not to say they aren't lucky either, but its not a walk in the park for a good deal of them.

The offensive part of this argument, which I saw echoed in Todd Ewen's guest column in The Hockey News, is that somehow hockey players have sacrificed more than the average Joe who worked nights to pay his way through school or who went to school nights so that he could improve his career or the millions of other people who work their asses off to help themselves out.

Does being a pro player take hard work? Yes. But then so does pretty much every other career on the planet. It is insulting when hockey players whine about the hard sacrifices and effort that they put into their careers. Who doesn't?

[LetsGoWings13 0]

i think they should make a rule that you cant go strait from high school to the pros . because one injury can ruin your career and than people are stuck so if they are going to college first they have something to fall back on

hey 400th post lol

[chippa13 1844]

Oops, my mistake w/ the salary info.

Chippa...I guess just a difference of opinion. My dad works his ass off every week. But he provides for us, and is a great role model. I appreciate all he does. But that doesn't mean I have to be jealous of guys making money off the game they love. Maybe a little envious, since I wish I could be there.

They probably don't sacrifice as much as the average man. Although an average man at 30 w/ a college degree and a chance to move up in the world might be a better position then an ECHL player at 30 with no high education at all.

I'm not jealous of players' salaries, but they shouldn't be going around with the woe is me attitude. Do they work hard? Yes. Do they make sacrifices? Yes. Was it their choice? Yes. And that is the point. That and the fact that they somehow feel they have worked harder or sacrificed more than the average Joe is what is insulting.

Does a guy at 30 with a degree have better options than the 30 year old ECHL lifer? Sure. But that doesn't mean the guy with the degree didn't work as hard or harder to reach his goals.

[Jim A 4]

Why is the responsibility on the players to fix the Owners mistakes? They aren't working from a position they currently have, everything is working backwards. This is a mistake, rollback to fix this. I have no problem with that, but if the owners were fooled before shouldn't they have learned their lesson? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me?

I'd say because there's no league without the owners...really..how many businesses operate with these kinds of losses, whomever's numbers you use in the argument...most companies have payroll in the real world of 8-13% of the gross...

Do you think any of us take home nearly 3 of our employer's every 4 dollars??

You could start everyone off on equal footing..but you'll always have both have's and have-nots within a certain period of time..

Having a cap type system allows everyone some sort of equal footing..it comes down to player personnel decisions and how to allocate your cash..I would love to see a payroll min..and then a max, not sure if its a hard cap or really strict luxury tax..ie 2 to 1 maybe..to keep things in place..but have a much lower rookie pool with no stupid bonuses, and have UFA much earlier..maybe after 6 years of service in the league..(ie.27)..and nothing past 4 years for contracts under 30 and 3 years for over 30...

When the '05/06 season gets ready to begin, it will be with the owners unilaterally implementing their proposed system and seeing who is willing to play in that...should make for an interesting summer...lots of players the NHLPA pushed out this year coming back next season??

[Jim A 4]

Theo,

I'd think we'd all take it from an owner willing to do that..but at the same time we'd have to prepare for the consequences when the owner realized he was being foolish and either shut down shop or let us go...

once we were let go, out of work,etc...we'd find that we're not worth that to anyone else, we still may be paid well..but ..we are still back in the normal world...

not all the losses are from overspending..the real problem with it is that many of the teams that are overspending..aren't really losing cash..NYR, DET, etc..they are profitable.but still bad..but it prevents the Cgy, EDM, CAR, PITand many others from ever being in the hunt..teams will have great runs at times for a year or 2..only to see their players go elsewhere for the cash...all you are doing is developing players for other teams..don't you think fans of the Penguins get tired of seeing their best players leave year after year...

that's one thing i do like from the NBA system..you can make more $ with your original team than elsewhere...it rewards that player/team/fan relationship (which has nothing to do with trust or loyalty mind you)

the players have had a great system for them the past 10 years and rode the gravy train..didn't want to touch the new CBA for a number of years..and likely thought the owners would cave by now...and they haven't..

i also don't think moving teams to Canada will "make them work"...they are at the forefront of teams needing this new structure to survive...even with a stronger CDN dollar now..its still only about 80% of the US and I'd say a lot of that has to do with the guy in the White House than a stronger, more robust Canadian economy.

Actually i"ve been to games in Carolina, before the cup run even...and they ate it up there...had Irbe is God signs in the stands, cheered and applauded some of the most basic game actions..