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Players Saying Full Season Will Be Lost Out of Frustration (Concession?)

September 20, 2012, 1:21 PM ET [126 Comments]
Eklund
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You have probably heard a lot of it lately...

So far both Alex Ovechkin and most recently Rick Nash have reportedly said they believe the full NHL season will be lost. Do these star players know something no one else knows? No, they do not. In fact the fact they can't find out anything is I believe at the base of the frustration they are expressing...

The NHLPA has been telling players for some time now that "It could go either way," meaning we may have a short break or a long break, but very few people, even the most cynical at the NHLPA, believe there is enough of a reason for an entire season to be scratched.

The NHLPA's frustration is born out of the NHL "not really telling us what they actually want." I have heard that said by MANY people involved at the PA.

Now of course we have seen the NHL's proposals and one could assume, "Hey, they have told the PA EXACTLY what they actually want," but the NHLPA doesn't see it that way. The NHLPA sees the NHL's proposals as bordering on a ridiculousness that both sides can see. We heard a bit of this view public when Donald Fehr said essentially that while the owners did move off their number all they were doing was going from a ridiculously large number to a very large number.

And this echoes what I have been hearing..the NHLPA still is unsure what the NHL really needs. If the NHL really needs the kinds of concessions we have seen so far, then a long break. If the number is smaller, a short break.

So any clues?

Well, I for one found the NHL's willingness to keep Hockey Related Revenue as it is currently as the first sign the NHL really wants to play hockey. What keeping HRR the same provides is it gives these negotiations the footing they so desperately needed. Talking percentages WITHOUT a set HRR is completely and utterly ridiculous. (50% of what?) At least now we know the percentages are percentages of something we all understand....and to be honest the way HRR is currently calculated we have seen the numbers grow so quickly I can't help but see the HRR unchanged as a HUGE concession on the NHL's part.

So what's next?

I keep hearing rumblings of the "next" big step and it now appears the next big step will be the NHL finding some way of grandfathering in the current contracts and lowering the Salary Cap number without swallowing up all the money out there...For example if we see the Cap drop off from 57% to some other number 47-50% (or roughly 20% lower) then instead of lowering all the current contracts by 20% the NHL could have a "grandfather clause" which enables players to get the money they signed for and teams to take 20% off of the Cap hit of that money? Confused? It's much simpler than I made it sound....but I hope it makes sense..

So what of these players predicting the End of Days?

Really, it is more psychological coupled with a little of the "fool me once" mentality.. And you can't blame an NHL player for this...but if you hear someone say they are sure the season will be cancelled know there is simply no way they can be sure of such a thing right now...

Today's Hope?

Yes, today's hope comes from yesterday when the NHL released a statement that all the preseason games through the month of September had been cancelled. (wow, sounds awesome..stick with me here...)

Yes, some might find it odd to have found hope from such a thing, but when I first broke this story last Friday I was told "The NHL is going to announce next week they are canceling only the games through the rest of September." And this was a shift from the 30 days of cancellations previously told to me...So perhaps, just maybe, the NHL feels this could be a little shorter of a lockout than they did two weeks ago...and the NHL really holds the keys right now to how long this will be.

One thing is definite....When they meet in an undisclosed locale and the media isn't there waiting for this to get done, when the cone of silence falls...that's when we will know they are serious about ending this.


more to come.
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