By all accounts, there were more media members covering the NHLPA and NHL Board Of Governors meetings in the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis than were at the league's premiere event, the Stanley Cup Finals.
Ryan Miller and nine of his Sabres teammates ( Drew Stafford, Weber, Jason Pominville, Ville Leino,, Jordan Leopold, Cody McCormick, Andrej Sekera, Thomas Vanek, and Robyn Regehr) were smack dab in the middle of the mosh pit of 283 NHL players who descended upon Manhatton on Thursday.
After the Don fehr media presentation, the individual players were made available to speak their hearts and consciences with the media. Miller, never one to sugar-coat his opinions, told Bruce Arthur of the National Post that he and his fellow players are sick and bleeping tired of Gary Bettman and his negotiating tactics.
“Our goal all along has been to work out some kind of partnership, as you can see in our proposal,” Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller said. “What it really comes down to for me is Gary’s been running this business for 20 years, and so if he’s operated at a loss for how many of those years, how is he still in a position of leadership, or even have a job?
“This is a squeeze. And it’s got to be more about hockey.”
Miller and the players have had it up to here with Bettman and his bully on the playground tactics. In the opinion of Miller and his 724 NHL brothers, Bettman has out-lived his usefulness. He's become more of a hindrance than a help.
Were it up to the players, Bettman would have been subtracted from these negotiations long ago,
As Calgary Flames star Mike Cammalleri put it:
“How do we win? We’ve already lost,” Calgary Flames forward Mike Cammalleri said. “We’ve given money back. Our proposal has huge concessions. Overall sentiment as a player coming out of this is we looked it up and down and our proposal is beyond fair, beyond equitable, it’s beyond something that the owners should be excited about, it has huge concessions, it addresses problems, makes for a healthier league.
“They just want to take more. Use leverage to squeeze more and see how much can I get out of you? It’s like the bully in the playground saying, I took your peanut butter sandwich, I’m going to take your chocolate chip cookies, too.”
Gary Bettman says that noboby feels worse about an impending lockout than he does. Not the fans. The Commish. Cry me a river! The fans get stiffed again, and again, and again by Bettman and the owners!
Bettman reiterated that the NHL season won’t start until there is a new CBA. No tickie. No laundry.
Bettman offered to meet “any time, at any place.”
“If you’re dedicated to the negotiating process, you can move this along quickly,” Bettman said. “If, for whatever reason, you’re not interested in making a deal, you drag it out.”
The CBA expires Saturday at midnight.
The regular season is scheduled to begin on 10/11, with training camps due to open 9/21.
Bettman at the podium. Says he didn't listen to Fehr's presser because he was in discussion with the 30 man Board of Governors panel.
Bettman says that he has been given unanimous support to lockout the players when this CBA expires at 11:59:59 on Saturday night.
Bettman says that the players have presented the same proposal three different times. He's not impressed with it. He says that the owners have moved "dramatically" to the middle, while the players have not.
Bettman says the owners are not happy that players get 57 cents of every dollar that the owners make. The clubs have to pay high hard costs out of their 43%, says Bettman.
Bettman says that he and Bill Daly sat in the NHL offices last weekend waiting to field calls from Fehr that never came.
Bettman says that players have been the side that is not operating with a sense of urgency in this negotiation.
Where have we seen this movie before? Reminds me of the final week of the Buffalo Sabres 2011-12 season? Close. No cigar.
The NHL owners and NHLPA are dangerously close to running out of time and space with which to lift off. The current CBA expires at midnight on Saturday. The players and owners exchanged proposals on Wednesday. It was the first time since August 11 that the players and owners had spoken.
As a public show of solidarity, on Thursday afternoon, 280+ of the best hockey players in the world joined their appointed leader in the ballroom at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Manhattan. Flanking the Donald Fehr were Sidney Crosby, Henrik Lundqvist, Daniel Alfredsson, Zdeno Chara, Jason Spezza, Ryan getzlaf, Corey Perry, Gabriel Landeskog, Henrik Zetterberg, Ryan Miller, Milan Lucic and many more. Miller and Lucic in the same room. On the same stage. No fighting or smack talk. Thats what I call solidarity.
The players’ message is the same on Thursday as it’s been for the past 7-8 seasons since the last lockout:
“The players want to find a way to make an agreement. They want to negotiate until we do,” Fehr said emphatically
Why it’s taken 8 years to re-negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, I’ll never know. This deal should be parked in the garage right now. That’s why the NHL players hired Don Fehr two years ago.
In June, you’ll recall that the owners presented a deal that would reduce the players’ percentage of hockey related revenue from 57% to 43%. The players rightly threw that proposal in the trash can and said “no thanks”. Recently, the owners have sharpened their pencil to the tune of a new CBA that is six years in length that will starts at 49% and then decline to 47%. The thought process is that hockey related revenue is about to explode in the next 2-4 seasons and that the players, though they’d be losing percentage points on share, would then be benefitting in the future from their share of larger hockey related revenues.
The NHLPA presented a strategy that begins at 54.3% and ends at 52.7%.
Fehr and the owners agree with the owners that the NHL is poised for a huge growth spurt in the next couple of seasons.
In 2004-05, the players accepted the salary cap. Fehr says that the players have made dramatic sacrifices in the past. Now, it’s time the owners make concessions. Since 2004-05, league revenues have jumped up from $1.8 billion to $3.3 billion.
On Thursday afternoon, Fehr asked whether it was “fair or equitable” that the NHL team owners are demanding more sacrifices from the 700+ member player’s union.
Fehr: The players have made a “responsible proposal”. He stressed that it takes two to tango. Fehr’s words to describe the process: “shared sacrifice.”
For you history buffs, Friday 9/14 is the 18 year anniversary of Major League Baseball announcing that it cancelled the World Series. Would have featured my NY Yankees vs. a loaded Montreal expos squad. Donald Fehr remembers 9/14/94 very well. Lets hope Bettman doesn't announce his third lockout on 9/14/12.
I tweeted at Mike Weber earlier in the day on Thursady, asking him for a roll call of the Sabres who are in attendance at the meetings in NYC.
@Mike6Weber tweeted back at me:
"we have a strong showing as a teamwith 10 guys here #sabres #theplayers
Among them: Ryan Miller, Drew Stafford, Weber, Jason Pominville.
Updated: Ville Leino,, Jordan Leopold, Cody McCormick, Andrej Sekera, Thomas Vanek, and Robyn Regehr are the other players in the NHLPA meetings in Manhattan.
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