NHL Rant

[Jim Bob 0]

I'm unhappy that the NHLPA is unwilling to move off their "no cap" stance and have extended the lockout and done a lot of damage to the game by doing so.

I'm unhappy with the NHL's laughable revenue sharing plan and the fact that they refuse to engage the NHLPA in being true "partners" and allow the players to have a serious voice in to how to improve the product for the fans.

Neither side is right in this thing. And if the entire season is lost, I hope there are serious economic ramifications for both sides in the long run because of the damage that they are doing to the league.

[biff44 0]

I think you are going to see a number of the weaker NHL franchises fold. Some were on the brink during last year's full normal season, how can they survive a one or two year lockout? This is bad for the players, this is bad for the fans, and this is bad for hockey. I guess it is good for teams like the NY Islanders, since there will be less competition in the future.

[Jim Bob 0]

http://www.andrewsstarspage.com/1-23-04cba.htm

But former Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke said the two sides are going to have to do something neither has shown a willingness to do so far in order to build that bridge -- start moving towards the middle. In a word, compromise. 

"They've both got to move," Burke told CKNW radio in Vancouver late Friday. "They've both taken global positions. One is on the North Pole and one is on the South Pole. They are both going to have to move to get a deal."

Burke said the league is asking for too much in demanding a hard salary cap and that the players are being unreasonable in refusing to accept a negotiated share of league revenues that is reasonable.

"I do believe, and only today publicly for the first time, I believe what the league is seeking here is more than they need to fix the business," said Burke. "I don't think you need a hard cap of $35 million to fix this business.

"I think it can be fixed with meaningful revenue sharing. That's No. 1, which I don't think the league has put forward. With a realistic luxury tax. With linkage and with an escrow fund to make sure it works. A hard cap would be lovely. As someone who ran a Canadian team, love to see it. But it is more than you need to fix the business. And when you try to get more than you need to fix the business, you usually have trouble.

"Now I am going to flip the coin to the other side. The union has taken the position that is completely untenable in my opinion. For employees to say we are not willing to accept a reasonable share of the revenues of this business; that we are entitled to more than a reasonable share of the business because we had it in the past is unforgivable.

"So both these sides have taken positions they can not support logically, economically or morally in my opinion. This is why we are stuck."

Amen.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

Take it a step further..

every team has a capped salary of say 20million dollars and can disperse it anyway they want..

then every game played..so many dollars..say 200k..goes to the winners to divide..

But the reason that european players came over was not only to play in the best league, but also to get more money, if there's a cap, I doubt we'll see a lot of our favourite stars over here.

[DrMolotov 0]

Personally I could care less about the NHL these days, I'm tired of listening to them whine. I think the owners should disband the league, and create a new league from scratch. Let's face it, this game needs an overhaul anyway. There is far too much interference, too many guys who should be a career AHL'rs and there are too many teams.

I do miss top notch pro hockey but I can no longer support either the owners or the players and I certainly will not hand over my hard earned money to watch NHL hockey. I will gladly support the local Major Junior team by purchasing season tickets for the Mississauga Icedogs of the OHL, at least these kids show up to play everynight and those that don't find themselves out of a spot.

[MDE3 0]

I think the owners should disband the league, and create a new league from scratch.  Let's face it, this game needs an overhaul anyway.

What makes you think that is not what is really going on?...Do we really believe that no one understands all of what is being said? That all these multi- millionaire/billionaire owners are really this naive?

I know many of you have opposed my position that this is really a "legal" manouever to disband or restructure the NHL as we know it, and recreate a superleague in it's place, which will feature ay the best 10 - 12 teams from Europe and North America playing a limited interlocking season. The longer these "negotiations" continue, and the longer they stay at an impasse with all the obvious repercussions....then it only makes sense that there really is a different agenda afoot.

What I would see as the major problem with this plan if done overtly, is that the more recent expansion teams would have a major lawsuit against the NHL.....Could both sides of the lock-out litigants have covertly agreed to "hold their legally tenable position" until the natural selection process is complete....where attrition takes place because of this cataclysmic confrontation....leaving the few standing to reap the benefits of a lower cost (salary wise) league which is not soley dependant on NA TV revenues for it's earnings...., and which has a "fresh product" to offer.

and while I am on a "Conspiracy Theory" roll.....

One other thought: Have TV networks have banded covertly together to keep hockey off the air as much as possible....having watched the various NFL play-offs where I got to see maybe 30 seconds of football for every 3 minutes of advertising, it dawned on me why TV holds hockey in such disregard......there are far too few breaks in the action to get all the possible ads aired......hence..let's get it off the air and put something much more profitable on in it's place where we (TV Networks) can control the airtime, and not actually be dependant on the flow of the game to dictate our revenues.

[DrMolotov 0]

and while I am on a "Conspiracy Theory" roll.....

One other thought: Have TV networks have banded covertly together to keep hockey off the air as much as possible....having watched the various NFL play-offs where I got to see maybe 30 seconds of football for every 3 minutes of advertising, it dawned on me why TV holds hockey in such disregard......there are far too few breaks in the action to get all the possible ads aired......hence..let's get it off the air and put something much more profitable on in it's place where we (TV Networks) can control the airtime, and not actually be dependant on the flow of the game to dictate our revenues.

All networks besides the CBC, TSN and Sportsnet they are losing a tonne of advertising revenues.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

I think the agenda is to bust the NHLPA and accept the players back as replacements, on the league's terms.

[Chadd 916]

I think the agenda is to bust the NHLPA and accept the players back as replacements, on the league's terms.

Bingo, they want the players to revolt and decertify the union.

[Jim Bob 0]

Take it a step further..

every team has a capped salary of say 20million dollars and can disperse it anyway they want..

then every game played..so many dollars..say 200k..goes to the winners to divide..

But the reason that european players came over was not only to play in the best league, but also to get more money, if there's a cap, I doubt we'll see a lot of our favourite stars over here.

Please, even in a salary capped NHL, the NHL will offer the highest salaries in the world for the vast majority of the top talent.

Add in the fact that the NHL will continue to be the best league in the world and the difference in lifestyle between playing in the NHL and playing in Euro leagues, especially Russia, and it won't be a situation where lots of players stay away.

Plus, leagues like Russia are overspending this season because of the lockout and the opportunity it provides the clubs over there. They won't spend like drunken sailors forever.

[Jim Bob 0]

I think the agenda is to bust the NHLPA and accept the players back as replacements, on the league's terms.

Bingo, they want the players to revolt and decertify the union.

I don't believe that they want the NHLPA decertified.

I do believe that none of the owners would shed a tear if Bob Goodenow got the axe over the way this whole this plays out, however.

As much as players hate Bettman, the owners hate Goodenow about 10 times more.

[Chadd 916]

I think the agenda is to bust the NHLPA and accept the players back as replacements, on the league's terms.

Bingo, they want the players to revolt and decertify the union.

I don't believe that they want the NHLPA decertified.

I do believe that none of the owners would shed a tear if Bob Goodenow got the axe over the way this whole this plays out, however.

As much as players hate Bettman, the owners hate Goodenow about 10 times more.

By making this personal, the players are more likely to stand behing Goodenow. The owners have been playing their cards wrong if they're trying to turn the masses against him.

[Jim Bob 0]

Goodenow is the one that seems to be making this a personal thing. He's set Bettman up as the evil doer that all the players should blame all the ills of the league on.

It's a ploy that seems to be working because I haven't heard too many players wondering why the NHLPA OKd expansion to markets like Florida and Nashville and allowed teams to move to Phoenix and Carolina, where they are asking why Bettman moved teams into those "non-traditional" markets.

In the end, I think the NHL's plan is limited to merely getting "cost certainty" by any means neccesary. If the NHLPA blows up and/or Goodenow gets the axe, that would be a nice by-product, but I don't see that as a goal of this game of chicken.

Personally, I'd love to see both Bettman and Goodenow get their walking papers. They are reasons 1 and 1a why the NHL is a mess right now.

The fact that neither the owners nor the players have accepted that fact is something that is really worrisome to me when it comes to the long term future of the NHL.

[DrMolotov 0]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...tacodalogin=yes

Interesting article

[Chadd 916]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...tacodalogin=yes

Interesting article

I like his concept. I thought all along that the middle ground would be something similar to that. Have a "salary cap" and tax anything over that. Both sides win or lose depending on your opinion and they get back to playing hockey.

[Jim Bob 0]

If the NHL makes a hybrid offer such as that and the NHLPA rejects it out of hand because it contains a hard cap, then I'll be even more ticked off than I am now.

Plus, I'll be wondering what the NHLPA leadership is thinking. Do they really think that by waiting that they can get a deal that would be better than something based off a proposal like this?

I don't see how they could.

[Chadd 916]

If the NHL makes a hybrid offer such as that and the NHLPA rejects it out of hand because it contains a hard cap, then I'll be even more ticked off than I am now.

Then the players lose the moral high ground they have been able to create by being more willing to negotiate.

[Jim Bob 0]

Moral high ground in a fight over money between millionaires and billionaires?

I didn't know there was such a thing.

[Jim Bob 0]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=112558

The NHL will not table a new proposal when labour talks resume Wednesday in Toronto. But the league says it will come armed with new ideas and concepts.

"Both parties agreed at last week's meeting that the time for formal proposals, at least during this process, may be behind us and we should try to sit at the table and discuss through the issues and maybe jointly craft something that might work," Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, said Tuesday from New York.

"And that's what we're going to continue to do."

[Chadd 916]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=112558

The NHL will not table a new proposal when labour talks resume Wednesday in Toronto. But the league says it will come armed with new ideas and concepts.

"Both parties agreed at last week's meeting that the time for formal proposals, at least during this process, may be behind us and we should try to sit at the table and discuss through the issues and maybe jointly craft something that might work," Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, said Tuesday from New York.

"And that's what we're going to continue to do."

Excellent, they're going to stop doing PR first and negotiating later and are putting actual negotiations ahead of public posturing.