For more on Michalek's injury and what it could mean for his $4.5 million salary you can check out the article from Garrioch. Essentially if Michalek is still injured by the time the season would have started, he will still receive his regular salary.
And because he is injured, Michalek is apparently the only player actually allowed to use the facilities at Scotiabank Place.
Certainly an interesting twist for Michalek. Sens Team President Cyril Leeder will meet with the media later this afternoon. Will pass along any interesting updates from that address.
Greening- Spezza- Silfverberg
LAtendresse- Turris- Alfie
Regin- Smith- Neil
Daugavins- Obrien- Condra
He can get injured all he wants if he's still going to throw down 35 goals... I guess
Yeah, true.
He was on pace for more than 40! Would have loved to see him beat Heatleys record, but he isn't that player unfortunately.
That opens a very good league to a lot of players..
There goes the 2012-2013 season and probably part of the next one.
These players will just go to Europe to play and in no hurry to get a deal done to play this season in the NHL.
All the NHL has gained.. they are now ripping apart. They are saying now that Fehr will bring up removing the salary cap...
The players might as well stay in Europe.. a lot of NHL teams will not survive this lockout if it is a long one.. Are the Ottawa Senators one of them? I just have a sick feeling in my stomach on this aspect..
Abdominal injuries are very painful and tough to recover from as you use your core for everything including any regular daily movements. However not the end of the world as he has a long time for rehab.
The thing that bothers me is he still has to get paid.This great for Milo but brutal for Eugene.
He has to pay him a massive amount of money when there is zero revenue coming in. That hurts our sens and not the league.
Not the end of the world for Melnyk but it does mean he'll not want to spend money in another place when the time comes.
It will be covered by insurance
When it's all said and done, if he can produce another 30+ goal season then I'm fine with it, even 25+ and I'm happy. But I've always felt he would be out best bargaining chip in a trade for a true #1 Wing for this club, and if you are going to do it, do it while the stock is high. Mind you, this news will drop that stock a little.
It's just like a damn election debate, the blame going back and forth. Personally, I think we are all way to involved in the process, more than we need to be. 3 lock outs ago, I had no idea it was coming and back then, you just didn't get updated the way you do now. Owners and players kept that stuff to themselves for the most part, didn't air all the dirty laundry and didn't come out and explain what each proposal had in it, cause personally back then nobody cared.
But in today's world with tweets, texting, FB and information at your fingers tips all the time, we just can't keep ourselves out of it, even if we try. Add the fact that the NHL has done everything they can to bring us, as Fans, closer than ever before.
Short of turning off your TV, or not going online, we are stuck in this. It's frustrating really.
Fehr will not give in and in my opinion -- it's another long lockout.
The league had all-time high revenues. The league was growing.. yet both sides did not even consider that in their negotiations and were prepared to let that stop.
This is a comment on twitter from Jamal Mayers:
Jamal Mayers @jamalmayers
We all want to play hockey & I hope we can get this resolved soon! I mean what are the ice girls around league going to do?
What are the ice girls going to do? He thinks that is funny? These young girls are out of a job along with a lot of others. If some don't lose their jobs they have a pay cut.
It just goes to show that they just don't give a damn about anything or anyone. They are just really out of touch.
I can't see how the players get any support... nor the owners for that matter.
Both sides say they want to play and they care about the fans.. that's all bold faced lies.
Thornton & Nash a few weeks ago denied they are going to Switzerland. Guess what? Thornton & Nash are going to Switzerland.
You know what? Lock the players out two years and see what they think then. I want to see salaries down to the level where every franchise can be healthy. If the players have it so badly here in the NHL, maybe the top 25% should flee to the KHL. Not to name names on our squad, but seriously tonnes of great hockey players would die for a shot to play for us. Even if league wide we lost a lot of the guys we made "superstars" I would still proudly go cheer for, as others have put it, the logo on the front of the sweater, not the name on the back.
I hate to be the voice of doom and gloom because... well none of you actually KNOW me but I'm generally a pretty optimistic person, however I really think this work stoppage will be in and around the area of two years. Yep two years.
So long as when they do come back we can have some sense and order and stability and not deal with this shit again for a looong, looong time. I'd love to see the next CBA be 14 years. Haha, wishful thinking.
I had a minor ab pull a few weeks ago. It hurt to get out of bed for a while.
This lockout is garbage. I wish I could drop the NHL because of it, but I can't. Almost all of the comments NHL/NHLPA comments made these days are full of douchebagery.
I didn't even watch the video. I knew it was just another one trashing the NHL and trying to win fan support. Why bother... They don't give a rat's ass about the fans -- I don't believe they ever did. All the NHL fan is -- is a PAWN to be used by both sides..
The NHL is becoming an unstable league for the people that work in the NHL offices.
I really feel for them as they face unemployment and wage cut backs.
Both sides really have to realize that there is a very weak global ecomony. People are losing their jobs every day. More and more people have to rely on food banks to feed their familes. Their fans are having difficulties to pay the costs to see their teams on the ice.
Then you have the NHL and NHLPA who are millionaires who can't seem to settle their differences.
If they only knew how greedy they really look. How can ANY FAN support either the players or the Owners. I just can't see it...
If they truly care about the NHL as a league and it's fans and workers.. then they would get a deal done. But they just don't give a damn.
Well one way to look at it.. after all of this the Sens did only sign Gonchar for 2 seasons.. His 3rd season will slide.
You support the owners? Really?
The owners deserve the brunt of the hate for this situation. During the last lockout, they forced the implementation of the salary cap, as well the rollback of the salaries too, down the collective gullets of the players, all under the guise of making the league economically stable. Since then, the league has enjoyed continued growth in revenue, year over year.
Now the sky is suddenly falling if the players don't have to sacrifice more yet again? Last I checked, it was the owners continuing to prop up franchises in markets that clearly can't sustain them (i.e. Phoenix, for starters), and unwilling to move them to markets where they might actually thrive (i.e. north of the border). In addition, the general managers, who are employees of the owners, are the ones handing out the ridiculous contracts (both money-wise and term-wise) to players that purposely break the salary cap.
If the system is actually broken, it's the fault of the owners entirely. It's their flawed system in place that they so desperately wanted last time around; maybe it's time they admit they clearly screwed up. Also, I wouldn't call waiting until two months before the expiration of the agreement to begin formal negotiations a good strategy either. Neither is threatening the players with a lockout during negotiations an act of good faith.
Ya, those players sure are making so many sacrifices. Granted, the roll back last time was huge, the cap has hardly worked against them. Avg salary has nearly doubled in 7 years. Who else gets kind of annual increase?
Sure revenues have increased, but player salaries have increased at a rate beyond revenues, hence why the league is trying to get this under control.
Some owners/GM's have the luxury of exploiting loopholes in the past CBA (tailing off contracts in the last few yrs at age 40) which then sets the standard for everyone else.
Agree on 50/50 and play hockey.
If the season resumes by Christmas, everyone will get their payday anyways though, won't they (players that are playing for their teams)?
It is really simple guys, we all thought the owners won the last CBA but due to their own stupidity or diverse revenue economics, this all spiraled out of control. Again.
Say whatever you want but look at the players salaries over the last 7 years and look me in the eyes and tell me that they "lost" the last CBA.
It goes back to the vid I mentioned by the players, and I do respect it, I am an online marketing exec and can admire the PR job the NHLPA are doing but... I am sick of hearing garbage like the players "lost" the last CBA and that they are being "locked out". Takes two to tango boys, and until you give more realistic "demands" you aren't so much locked out as can't find a reasonable compromise with the league.
I hope this labor dispute lasts two years and I hope the players get their frigging asses handed to them badly for having their heads so far up their asses.
Look the Owners are to blame as well. They come off like a bunch of hypocrites crying poor.. when two of them on the BOG sign 3 of the largest ever contracts. (Flyers offer sheet is one I'm also referring to).
Also look at all of the contracts signed the last couple of days before the lockout deadline. It's a joke.
All I know is the Owners pay ALL the expenses -- they should get the larger percentage. That makes sense to everybody.. except the players.. These expenses keep rising.. but during the last CBA the Owners share kept falling.
How do you think the Owners of Nashville felt sitting across the table from Snider when he tried to ruin the Nashville franchise by giving Weber that ridiculous contract... trying to take away the player that Nashville is built around.
It's Snider and others like him that used that loophole in the contracts to ruin it for everybody.
This lockout is about MONEY. Nothing else but money.
With more and more people losing their jobs in a bad economy and more and more people relying on food banks to feed their families and more and more of their fans finding it hard to get the $$ to go see their teams on the ice -- these millionaires can't divide their revenues.
They come off as looking foolish & greedy. They have no idea what reality is. They live in a dream world.. they have no clue.
BTW -- it was the PLAYERS who delayed the CBA talks until the end of June. The Owners wanted to start in January.. but the players said they were not ready.
Pierre McGuire said on the Team 1200 that he heard about one Owner saying they would be prepared to continue under the old CBA if the revenue share flipped with the Owners taking 57% and the players taking 43%. Now the players would not do that.
My feeling is that the players, if the CBA talks were not going their way.. would have gone out on strike right before the Winter Classic. Fehr did that before the World Series in baseball... he would do the same in the NHL.
Insurance will pay during the injury.. he will be on LTIR.. so the Sens won't have to pay him.. I think that's how it will work.
^--- this is what scares me, but I think the league has little choice to shut this shit down until the economics are rectified.
Fearing the Fehr since 1994.
IMO the best way to improve our defence is if Murray makes another great one for one deal & I advocate trading Silfverberg for a good young defenceman like Griffin Reinhart. Murray may have to add something to the deal but a Silfverberg for Reinhart deal could be good for both teams. With Zibanejad, Stone, Noesen & Prince coming soon Ottawa doesn't really need Silfverberg & could use a potential top 4 defenceman more.
How would you feel? Who's fault is it, the NHL for having a lockout, or the fans for refusing to return? And would you still support the new "Sens" franchise (hypothetically )?
Not to sounds like a smart ass, but where would he move it to? Barbados? I think there are more teams in serious trouble than there are possible + realistic destinations.
Then, over the past 7 years GM's (who yes are employees of the owners) found loopholes in the system that the NHl's owners drew up. THIS is what caused the contracts to get ridiculous.
The NHL realized this and now want to fix their own mistake.
I still have yet to hear from the league that it's them who screwed up and are trying to fix the mistake. They're only argument is "we feel the players are being compensated too much".
So in reality it's the league and their lawyers who screwed up.
This however hasn't hurt the league as its clearly flourishing. They just didn't expect these monstrous contracts to be happening as clearly a salary cap is in place to limit this.
So now they come at the PA expecting them to take yet another salary roll back as well as fix the contract issues by forcing the cap hit to be identical for the duration of the contract as well as making a maximum length and yearly amount on the deals among other limitations. No wonder the PA isn't agreeing to anything.
The PA's standpoint is that they would agree to adding these limitations to contracts but don't feel as though they need to take a pay cut as the league has been recording record revenues.
I personally agree with this as the problem is not how much they're getting paid but how these contracts are structured basically to bend or brake the rules.
If the league revenue has doubled in the east 7 years then why can't the players salaries??
And don't give me the BS that the costs of operating a team has gone up. Obviously it did and will keep going up. But that's relative to the revenues.
The league cannot ask for salary cuts when they have record revenues. It just doesn't make sense
This pot of money isn't an extra pot that the players divide amongst themselves on top of their salaries.
What it is, is what ever the players share is (so for now is 57% of 3.3 billion) is divided amongst the 30 teams which them forms the maximum amount the teams can pay the players (aka salary cap).
So when the players are fighting over this figure it's not even hard cash for them. It's the potential of making more. Essentially putting a larger or smaller ceiling on their potential salaries.
Now on the flip side...this is hard cash for the owners. They keep what ever % they get and decide what to do with it.
Yet another reason to side with the owners.
The amount of contracts that were signed just before this lockout deadline was absolutely ridiculous.
The owners need to live up to the deals they handed out as opposed to expecting the players to take a significant reduction on these deals.
If they want to lower the cap and make all sorts of limitations on contracts...fin e but dont ask the players with contracts already in place to take a reduction.
It's your mistake and live with it
I don't suppose "hang on to them and hope for the best" is the answer you're looking for? I have mine sitting in the middle of the living room table.
I now frequently shake my head at the living room table...
Hey Chirp,
I really feel for you, and all the season ticket holders,
including my brother ! He has been a season ticket holder
since the start in 1992.
They ( both NHLPA and the NHL ), will settle this, in either late September or before the end of October.
Season will be appx 70 games, and we will all celebrate
by attending the games, at ScotiaBank Place once again.
GO SENS GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !
Quebec, or Hamilton would be destinations that aren't too far away from Ottawa and both have been talked about in the past.
I am on your side, I think the whole moving a franchise was just a question, not something anyone really expects to happen. Nothing to worry about, just a bunch of angry fans throwing thoughts around. Ottawa hasn't been named the best Canadian NHL franchise for no reason, we have fans, a great team and a dedicated owner. Stay strong friends!
That being said I don't think The Euge is making droves of money off the Sens by any stretch of the imagination so I hope the new CBA, even if it takes 2 years to get here, will mean that our team is in a great position to be continually profitable and competitive. Don't forget the CDN dollar has been continually high the during the course of the last CBA but that could change as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3nEtK__sZU
Look I'm mad as hell at both sides in this.. but in no way do I stop going to hockey games. Melnyk is not one of the Owners who created this mess of ridiculous contracts. Yeah the Gonchar & Kovalev signings were questionable.. but they were short-term and did not hurt the team in the long run.
At the age I am (60).. how many hockey years do I have left compared to someone 20 or 30 yrs old? Not many.
I'm not going to give up what I love to do.. and that is watch NHL hockey.. just to prove a point.
Some will call me a hypocrite in that I bash both sides.. but as a season ticket holder and a Sens supporter I will go back.
I'm mad at Spezza.. I'm mad at Karlsson -- hell I'm even mad at Alfie.. but that won't stop me from going back.
Why is that a negative? You don't think the players salaries doubled in the last 7 years?
Salaries grew 76%. Sure they gave back 24% at the beginning.. so they ended up with a 52% growth in salary. That's the reality.
The Owners want the players to put the extra $$ in escrow.
They paid 8.5% escrow last season and get 8% back in October.
The Owners say it is 7% -- the PA says it's closer to 17%. Who do you believe? Do you believe either side, I don't.
The Owners spin it their way.. the PA spins it their way. The PA is doing their best to sway fans their way.
I say IF you really want to get back to playing.. as you say you do.. then insist that your negotiating committee get back to bargaining and don't stop until a deal is done.
But all you do is go to Europe. What does a player in Europe think.. when a guy like Weber who just got paid 14M dollars goes overseas to take the job of a guy who barely makes one tenth of that.
I hate it. The players don't seem to be concerned about anyone losing their jobs -- overseas or in their own team offices. The Owners as well don't seem to care.
It's disgusting.. no matter how you cut it.
You are optimistic. I'm not. This is about greed. No other way to say it. The season could be lost. The players are in no hurry.. then just run off to Europe.
All these fans talking about boycotting and threatening to stop following the NHL just make me laugh.
I feel like too many NHL fans think it's their God given "right" to be able to watch a sport as exciting as hockey, and have a team. It's not a right, it's a privilege.
Yeah, the lockout sucks, but you know what? We're not the ones on the ice. We're not the ones who get concussions, who trained day in and day out for years to be able to play 82 games a year.
Stop and think about it for just a second. The players are not lucky to be in where they are-- they earned it. We, the fans, are the lucky ones, IMO. You don't have to watch the NHL. There are 10+ other professional sports/leagues. With or without your support, the NHL will continue, because there will always be fans who will come back.
Why are you guys keeping your season tickets? The owners won't feel the pinch of the fans unless fans start asking for their money back. Right now you guys have lined the owners' pockets even more to allow them to sustain the longer lockout. If all fans demanded their money back on tickets, the owners would have to cave much faster, not only because of the financial reasons, but it also would show them how fed up fans are! For all the fans saying there's nothing we can do, this would be the best chance at being heard.
Just not comfortable taking an approach that directly impacts the Senators. It has been said before but they aren't to blame for this lockout.
And to be honest, if someone made me choose a side between players and owners, I think I'd side with the owners at this point. Thankfully, I don't have to choose and I can dislike both of them equally.
The owners, seriously? Ok Chirp, to each their own, but that's quite concerning. Are you forced to take that position because of your blog and privileges with the team?
Silfverberg is a bonafide first liner, and Zibanejad, Prince, and Puempel won't be. I think Stone will be due to his scoring ability. Silf could wind up being a consistent 85+pt scorer in this league and if we traded for him, I'd want something really good in return.
And our D corps aren't bad at the moment with young stars like Karlsson and Cowen already full-time NHLers (and stars) and then Ceci, Borowiecki, Wiercioch, Claesson, Gryba, etc, in the system. While it is true that a great defenceman is harder to find than a great forward, we aren't lacking in great talent on the blueline even though we could stack up more.
Ignorant statement from you but I'm not surprised.
You are one of the few people out there that so blindly and staunchly insists on being 1000% pro player.
One of the few. Thank god.
Average Sports Salaries:
NBA - $5.15
MLB - $3.31
NFL - $1.9 ** A lot less games than an NHLer
---
NHL - $2.4
Be serious guys, NHLers do not make enough money compared to their counter parts/peer athletes. Yes it has more than doubled, but to think where it was at before, makes me feel terrible for the players. It's pretty clear that unless you're Sid/Ovi, you probably aren't going to get that huge endorsement and rake in the big bucks. So might as well get your money while you can since a players career and window to make large sums is very small.
Wouldn't it be great if players could play for free?
Wouldn't it be great if the NHL had a 3 billion dollar TV contract too?
Teams can afford only a finite amount and right now for many teams that is stretching thin.
You are quite the brilliant economist to blindly say "the players should be getting more!"
You realize someone has to PAY them right?
think they would know some of it by now. LOL FYI
Québec is next in line for a Franchise, if the Sens would move or anyone else, Québec gets it. They have a brand new $400M arena...
See it here
http://www.cagle.com/author/cameron-cardow/
Hamilton should be next - we should have gotten the expansion franchise that Ottawa stole.
More welcher logic.
Kansas City, Oklahoam City and Seattle also have BRAND NEW areana.
Yeah and how many rabid hockey fans do they have...exactly. ..Quebec alone has more fans that those 3 cities put together.
We dont need another expansion team in the States.
Why should the Owners cave. You want them to take less than the 43% they presently get now?
And to be honest, if someone made me choose a side between players and owners, I think I'd side with the owners at this point. Thankfully, I don't have to choose and I can dislike both of them equally.
-----------------
I'm with you there Chirp.. I dislike both equally.
The players want to keep 57%. The most the Owners offer to the players is 49%. So this lockout is about an 8% difference. They are willing to stop the tremendous growth the NHL saw during this CBA for the sake of 8%. They are willing to lose fans for 8%.
Do you mean to tell me that they can't settle this -- or start to settle this.. over a lousy 8% difference in who gets more revenue?
get your ARRRRRR on
or in a soon to be foreign country whose "piaster" will be worth about 70 cents Canadian
I don't follow basketball.. but I don't believe they have a 23 man roster. The NFL has over a 50 man roster.. and MLB -- I just don't know. I don't know what the salary cap is in the NBA.. but it's split between a lot less players than an NHL team has. Of course their salary per player would be more.
Look at the revenue difference between those 4 leagues. NFL, NBA & MLB blow away the NHL in TV revenue alone.
In most parts in the US.. the NHL ranks 4th in importance to the fans... some places lower than that.
... and about a quarter of the fans that Hamilton has
If players window for earning is so small, why are they allowing to remain being locked out and sacrificing earnings? This is a negotiation, and they are not negotiating. The players could counter the onwers offer with, (it would be their first true counter) and the owners would likely take, 54.5% share next year and slowly scale down until it gets to the inevitible 50/50 and stays put. That way, if you assume a conservative estimate of 5% growth next year, they don't lose a penny of the 1.8B share they had. They have said they dont want a paycut immediately, but would take one over time. this way they wont.
Players havent lost a damn thing. profits are way up and the real benefactors are the players. They are just too stupid to realize it. Players call owners greedy yet they are making the 57%. Ironically, Gary Bettman has made them all very rich, hardly the other way around. This is about saving face, nothing more, nothing less. Whether you like it or not, players need owners arguably more than owners need players. Players can't earn this much anywhere else, owners can...easily.
Ignorant because I asked the question? Do you feel personally insulted by me asking this? Sorry if I'm overly curious, but it was a simple question. It's not so crazy to think the organizations would revoke privileges to people who don't toe the line.
I'm not 100% pro player, they both have to compromise, but the owners are the reason it's a lockout, simple as that. They made the contracts, they chose the last CBA, and they chose to not negotiate while they keep playing. No need to make it personal here, I get we're all angry at the situation.
Who said they should get less than they do. I'm so tired of you and Rush putting words in my mouth!
Yes the owners need to cave from their demands for another 24% rollback. YES!
BOTH SIDES NEED TO COMPROMISE, stop making me the villain here just because I think the whole problem was created by the owners.
You find it "quite concerning" that the person who runs this site can understand where the owners are coming from and suggest they are "forced" to say that so he won't have his privileges revoked? LOL.
I don't have to put words in your mouth, you're borderline delusional.
They gave up 24% to get the last CBA settled.. and they keep harping on that. But they neglect to point out that NHL players' salaries grew 76% over the last CBA. They netted a 52% increase in their salaries.
The players won the last CBA but won't publicly admit that.
The NHL has moved off the original offer of 43% to about 49% going down to 47% at the end. Has the NHLPA moved one iota off the 57%.. no they didn't.
We all knew when Donald Fehr was hired.. this would mean trouble.
This will be one long lockout.
Fehr says he expects the NHL to keep growing at about 7% a year.. Guess what... it won't get the chance to do that, if you don't settle this before the start of the regular season.
Both sides need to get going on it... they have a lot to lose.
Wow, so this is the juvenile shit we're coming to on this site just because I asked a question and don't agree with your viewpoint. Great man, you are such a better person than I, please sign me up to the ROH asap.
The teams are not even holding the seats for the fans that do want their money back, so it's not out of this world to think that they would do something similar to a blogger or journalist. Simple question, no need to be a dick, but I guess that's your default setting.
I don't have a media pass so there are no privileges to revoke. I also have no advertising on the site so there is nothing to worry about there.
I just think I understand the owners desire to have a more equitable sharing of revenue. The players stance seems to be more about how they were treated last time around rather than the realities of the current negotiation.
Like I said, hate both of them right now.
The NHLPA has said several times, they need the NHL to show they're giving something back to the players for coming down further. It's quite simple, ask for the rollback but don't ask for smaller contracts, terms, and all players rights as well. The NHL wants to go backwards on those things as well as the rollback. That's not a negotiation. It's give and get, the NHL has to be willing to give something to get the rollback.
Thanks Chirp, I appreciate your response. If for some reason you were as insulted as Rush by me asking it, I apologize, but it was just me asking a question to get more information, that's it. Thanks again for the explanation.
The big issue with the last CBA was the loophole left in the contracts that let the smart agents and those few stupid spending owners to take advantage of.. driving player salaries up for everybody.
Yes the Owners are responsible for this. But the players won the last CBA. They are the ones who benefited from the tremendous revenue growth to the tune of 57% share of revenue and a 76% growth in players salaries. The Owners ended up with 43% while paying all the expenses.
Both sides are at fault. Both sides are being unreasonable.
I believe the BOG is mostly comprised of those Owners who spent stupid and are now crying poor. Snider, Leopold and others like them. How they can cry poor when they sign 3 of the largest ever NHL contracts all during the negotiations.
The players are spending their time just delaying the whole process. And if I hear one of them once more saying they gave up too much last time I will scream. They know they won the CBA.. they won't publicly admit it.
The idea of them going to Europe 3 days after the lockout started.. tells me they are in no hurry to get this done. They are taking jobs away from other players who make significantly less. They just don't care about the NHL nor their fans or those workers now out of a job.
Yeah, just to clarify I'm not against you Sammy, either or would be the next destination for a Franchise.
Wasnt too sure on the state of an NHL size arena in Hamilton?
I believe IF the players come down on their stance -- ie 57%.. those other issues will go in the favour of the players.
It's NEGOTIATION.. they haven't even gotten off the share of revenue part yet.
How can they get to the rest when they can't settle the major sticking point?
They don't need 5 yr contracts. Let them sign them for a long as they want BUT the low end of the salary has to be within a set percentage of the high.. to stop that pittance amount of 1M or less in the last 4 or so years of a contract to lower the cap hit.
I think the reason they can't get past the sticking point is there nothing being offered for the players and no promises that in the negotiation of the rest of the sticking points, that the players rolling back to whatever percentage will be made up for.
The owners aren't even saying they'll give in on other concessions if the players agree to rollback. They want both! So I can't agree that the rest of the sticking points would go in the players' favor, as the owners are saying they want those things in their favor on top of the rollback, leaving nothing for the players to even hang their hat on.
Look at the end of the day they both need to compromise, and probably phase in towards a 50-50 split on a 10yr CBA with more significant revenue sharing between teams and more guidelines on cap hits and contract terms. But both sides are being stubborn in their stances, 1 due to history of negotiations (which we should all be able to appreciate as employees) and the other due to a need for control and a better financial picture, eventhough they expected their last win to have fixed most of that.
Let's get out and support them.
But the question is.. have they really, really negotiated or is it posturing.. Negotiation is give and take. Has either side really done that?
No, both sides are being a bit ridiculous in their negotiations. The players seem to feel wronged with the way Bettman and the owners are treating them now based on what the owners told them in the past negotiation.
It's a bit hard to say for sure as we don't know exactly what Bettman is saying in negotiations. I think if he had shown a bigger willingness to discuss this revenue sharing idea they'd be negotiating with more movement, but he gave it a flat out no, we need rollbacks and that's all we want to talk about, so what are the players to do?
Whether you agree with the player's stance and principles or not, Bettman made this situation an argument based on principles and what the players believe in. And the players feel they're being bullied by their employer, instead of treated like the partner they were asked to be last time around. I'd be fed up too in their position, but too many fans can't seem to relate to this because they're all "overpaid"!
I would not be surprised if the player's are gunning for Bettman to be replaced in his position by the end of this one, he's just not someone you can negotiate with, 3 straight lockouts should prove that to fans.
This is a solid article I came across:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/globe-on-hockey/moderate-and-smaller-revenue-owners-the-key-figures-in-nhl-lockout/article4550911/
I asked him to clarify this, but he retweeted Alan Walsh (not sure if that is Ryan's agent or not...)
Allan Walsh @walsha NHL revenue growth at 7.1% annually since 2005. Bettman salary up from $2.5M to $8M all in these "tough economic times."
So I asked the both of them: @walsha @b_ryan9 Should you mention how much league PROFIT has grown or player salaries have grown? Wouldn't want to mislead right? #NHL
And Bobby gets pissy and tells me: @cbubinas @walsha are you lost? They haven't since the hard cap was introduced. Do your HW and try again.
Haha. Anyway I am not trying to push his buttons in particular, I'd love to have him in Ottawa after all, but I did have to ask him to clarify - dude are you really trying to tell me that players salaries haven't gone up during the last CBA?
Bobby fell asleep in Economics class I think.
Most of the NHL players are not too swift, when it comes to economics, business, and handling of their rich pockets !!
See Heatley and Phillips issuing lawsuits for lost millions !!
hmmm...
nfl= mega tv deal, no guarenteed contracts
mlb= 81 homes games x 40k+ seat stadiums
nba= 12 person rosters
methinks nhl players are doing just fine
SO DID THE LEAGUE REVENUES!!!
Obviously the salaries will go up. The infact doubled...so 100% increade. So actually the league won.
It would be ridiculous for the players salaried to stay fixed while revenues double. It just doesn't work that way
Stop talking about salaries going up because its completely relative to league revenues.
The fact the nhl wants a league wide salary cut makes ZERO sense when they are breaking revenue records. It just doesn't. There simply is no argument there
Its their structure.
If the league implements a max salary along with a max contract length and makes the cap hit the same throughout the entire deal then there would be no problems.
It would fix everything
The players don't want to budge from 57% of the pie and that is wrong. If they remain insistent on getting everything their own way they will never solve this problem.
Are they being brain-washed by Fehr? Are they actually believing that their salaries haven't increased 76% -- netting out the 24% rollback.. their net salaries increased 52%.. Goes to show how out of touch the players really are.
But it is important.. league revenues went up but 57% of that went to the players.. while 43% went to the Owners.
Out of the 43% the Owners had to pay ever expense to run their teams.. from travel to accomodation to lighting in the arena.
You can't run a business like that.. and the NHL is a business..
My friend told me that she heard the 67's sold 8,000 to 10,000 tickets for the home opener on Thursday. Considering their normal attendance is around 3,000 to 4,000 I believe.. that number is amazing.
Thank you NHL hockey fans for supporting Major Junior Hockey. See there is still entertainment without the NHL.
I think it's pathetic that the NHLPA would allow their members to play in other leagues stealing jobs from guys who make a fraction of their salaries. What would they think about replacement players brought in to play in the NHL? They would scream bloody murder! They are SCABS stealing the jobs from guys whose career earnings may equal one years salary for a fourth line NHL plugger. It's utter hypocrisy and complete bullshit! Vial out.
We be soon needin' to keelhaul Bilge Breath Bettman and Cactus Face Fehr.
ARRRRRRRR !
It does not matter who "won" or "lost" the last time. The contract is up for renewal and the league is exercising it's right to engage in bargaining to "fix" the perceived faults in the previous contract and to deal with their perceived revenue issues.
For those blaiming the owners for over-paying: Fans demand owners put the best team possible on the ice and the owners are competitve people too (that's how they got to be rich) -hence they will have to pay to obtain or retain players. In addition arbitration forces owners to pay what even one team paid to a comparable player or walk away from your own player.
It just takes one owner willing to bend the rules or offer up ridiculously front loaded contracts to force the other owners to compete. If they all decided to stop doing this Fehr would have them in court in a second on collusion charges as he did with the Baseball owners. Owners leagally cannot "self-regulate" . They must compete. The only way to re-instate sanity is through the CBA. Psychologically and legally there is no other alternative. There must be an enforceable league competitve structure and the players must agree to it.
This is exactly what people need to realize. Owners and players are not sharing profits, the owners are getting less than half of REVENUE and also have to cover every expense and all of the risk... That 43% quickly becomes small.
Combine that with the drum I've been beating about the richer teams revenue inflating the cap (fast) for the bottom half of the teams and we have an unsustainable situation on our hands, if the owners were to continue with the last CBA most of the league would be in CRISIS mode, and even our Sens would be hurting.
I don't begrudge players millions of dollars, but if some players need to make 7M instead of 8M or 4.5M instead of 5M and that is what is required for a healthy league then I feel zero-point-zero -zero-percent sympathy for the players who feel they need to "give back again".
Yaaaar Petey!
Totally agree. Way to go Spezz pushing some other dude out of a job who is simply trying to make a basic living off of hockey and support his family.
I'm sure the players don't give the slightest shit though. They are well brainwashed that they are "locked out" forced onto the open market to "fairly compete" for the other jobs out there.