(frank) You NHL, and the PA, (frank) you too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if this nhl player represents what the rest of the players really think, then f*ck them all.

whiny babies want a deal from someone who is more like them? awwww poor hockey players. get over yourselves.

If you for real and truly stood by what you represent you would't have deleted my post...doing so only lends support to the fact that you're a fraud:

#CONFIRMED: A guide to avoiding a fake hockey insider:

http://thesco.re/SdxUP1

http://blogs.thescore.com...ockey-insider-apocalypse/

You are missing my point completely. all i'm saying is a player goes in, asks for the world, and the moon, and the supermodel wife to boot. And the stupid owner gives it to him! don't blame the player, blame the guy who overpaid for him. That's what i am saying.

and please do not get personal. We've having a sensible, and reasonable conversation here on a difference of opinion. Not cool
- rebel

I am not getting personal.

What I am saying is it that there are likely 15+ teams (if not more) that would have given those guys the same or similar contracts if they knew that they could get one of those two players.

So it does not matter which owner is in the negotiating chair, Leopold is no better or worse than any of them. To single him out is plain stupid, just like to single out David Backes, as a hard line player, as one of the reason problems with the negotiations.

no im not lambasting the owners. just saying that the way the last CBA was, was causing a bidding war every year. jacking up salaries. sure superstars will make tons regardless but then guys like ville leino making 4.5. if owners (who have cap room) dont go after these guys it projects (to the fans) the image of the team not competiting for the cup. under last CBA the cap kept rising every year so everyteam was able to be active in FA. supply remained the same but demand went way up.
- joshs

Well, the ways the laws are written, it is either bidding wars or collusion - in both cases, the players win.

The problem with the last CBA was the ability to busy contracts and the unbelievable growth in the ceiling - letting rich teams pay more for better players, and floor, letting other teams overpay for players to reach the floor.

There is never going to be a perfect CBA, but it would be nice if the next one doe snot have as many loopholes, so the next negotiations are not as drastic as this one.

Well, the ways the laws are written, it is either bidding wars or collusion - in both cases, the players win.

The problem with the last CBA was the ability to busy contracts and the unbelievable growth in the ceiling - letting rich teams pay more for better players, and floor, letting other teams overpay for players to reach the floor.

There is never going to be a perfect CBA, but it would be nice if the next one doe snot have as many loopholes, so the next negotiations are not as drastic as this one.
- JDJ

yup

And Gary Bettman has never negotiated a contract without a work stoppage.

Baseball, based on the last contract Fehr negotiated, has had years of labor peace. God, who'd want that? That woudl be terrible!
- rebel

MLB? Yeah theres a league the niche market NHL should try an emulate. 2/3 of the teams able to pay less than half the salary of the few big markets. with some as little as a quarter!
Mediocre .500 pitchers making 10 million.
And Zero parity with the same few teams in the hunt every year.

An immediate rollback helping almost half of the 18 teams losing money to get into the black
Completely different situation.

Bettman should announce his plans of reducing the nhl to 24 teams next season and the offer on the table now is 40-60. This would get the attention of the greedy azzhole players who I used to love. The NHL is on the verge of a major facelift here and the greedy players are going to regret playing hardball. I hope they get what they deserve, 24 teams would leave many unemployed and the calibre of play what be about the same since a lot of dumb azz russians will stay home where they belong.
- flyerdude17

One major flaw in this master plan. How much revenue does the League lose by contracting to 24 teams? The idea is to grow, not go backwards.

"Record revenues" means absolutely nothing without comparing it to expenses.

If revenues went up by 200%, but expenses went up 2000%, do the record revenues matter?



- Atomic Wedgie

To the players, yes it certainly does.

One major flaw in this master plan. How much revenue does the League lose by contracting to 24 teams? The idea is to grow, not go backwards.
- MJL

This.
Good post.
This contraction idea has gotten out of hand. 'i know, lets just get rid of 6 teams!!'
No

This.
Good post.
This contraction idea has gotten out of hand. 'i know, lets just get rid of 6 teams!!'
No


- hugefemale dog77

I think contraction of 2 teams might make sense... but they'd never do it. In fact, I expect that within a year of signing the CBA, we will hear of expansion to 2 markets, most likely Quebec city and Toronto.

Only then will the NHL consider moving any existing franchises.

This.
Good post.
This contraction idea has gotten out of hand. 'i know, lets just get rid of 6 teams!!'
No


- hugefemale dog77

The misconception is that the lockout is being caused by lower earning teams like Pheonix. It is not. Its a league-wide salary problem.

The misconception is that the lockout is being caused by lower earning teams like Pheonix. It is not. Its a league-wide salary problem.
- Buffalo--Sabres

More like a League wide profit problem.

MLB? Yeah theres a league the niche market NHL should try an emulate. 2/3 of the teams able to pay less than half the salary of the few big markets. with some as little as a quarter!
Mediocre .500 pitchers making 10 million.
And Zero parity with the same few teams in the hunt every year.

An immediate rollback helping almost half of the 18 teams losing money to get into the black
Completely different situation.
- hugefemale dog77

Fold those18 teams then (frank) em. If there's that many owners that bad at business they don't deserve to be there...

This really sucks.

Who is Gerry Bettman and what has he done with Gary?! maybe he can put an end to the madnesssss

This really sucks.
- Winterland

This.

In all seriousness though this has just become more of a farce than anything else. hahah I mean the other league's must be DYINNN laughin' at the thought of the nhl missin another FULL season AGAIN for the second time in 7 years!! Give it up
already kiddies
#NHLJOKE #NHLPAJOKE

Eklund: Time For Bettman/Fehr to Allow Others to Build Trust #NHLPlayer2NHLPlayer
- Eklund

Please...

Why not get two sides together who understand each other? Why not get counterparties with "skin in the game"? The way I see it, we have a league full of owners who are bleeding cash, and an NHLPA full of players who get paid a poope load of money, regardless of the economic woes of the franchise they play for. Regardless of how long this lockout goes, the players will ultimately come back and start collecting their big paycheques again, while a good portion of the owners get to come back and start bleeding cash again. In any scenario where these two sides come to an agreement, you know damn well that the FANS will end up paying more for seats, merchandise, etc...

Just bring in scabs or shut down the season already....

Here we go again all of us crying like babies

Let's talk about ahl hockey

Bettman is my hero

This is the most foolish Eklund post I have yet to see. Where in all this did you miss the fact that a) only Bettman's most hawkish allies amongst the owners are allowed to even attend the negotiating sessions b) all other owners are gagged and not allowed to speak to players, media and so forth, and c) from the side of the NHL the league negotiating structure is such that so long as Bettman keeps 8 owners voting along with him, he has absolute and total control over the entire negotiating process? Did you see the memo about that?

Bettman will never step aside and he has structured the league's bylaws in this way in order to ensure the league never caves to the PA again. His intention is to crush the union once again, even harder than 2004, to send a message to the players that they are OWNED. This season is already lost, has been the whole time.

People should also stop talking about what Fehr did to baseball. Baseball is the lone sport that has had labor peace for 18 years. Why isn't everyone talking about what Bettman did to the NFL and NBA? They followed his model of lockout as preferred method of negotiation. The NFL even hired Bob Batterman as lead counsel, the architect of Gary's 2004-2005 lockout.

Fold those18 teams then (frank) em. If there's that many owners that bad at business they don't deserve to be there...
- I-own_da-Northwest

Canucks were one of those teams not too long ago

Interesting tidbit of information.

Andy Strickland ‏@andystrickland

Sources say #NHL pulled latest offer from the table partly because not every owner liked the deal. Several clubs weren't on board