you've been saying we're 3 weeks away for a quite awhile now, ek. keep stringing folks out so your site gets traffic is your mo.

agree to meditation to save the season...

Perhaps some light yoga and Pilates too!

Here's where we're at, via Jeff O'Neill:


Disgrace.
- Travis Yost

That's called progress, son. Don't you recognize it when you see it?

Here's where we're at, via Jeff O'Neill:


Disgrace.
- Travis Yost

Jeff who, never heard of him, hehe.

These guys should have twitter taken away from them, its painful to read their spew. Its like watching a child have a hissy fit cause their daddy (bettman) didn't allow them to stay up late.

Fehr isn't ready to negotiate....both side still feel little urgency to make the first big concession. Owners expect players to take a salary cut.....union refuses...status quo.

MJL... where are you...? you spin my head right round right round like a record baby right round... round... round....
- TSTER

Like a record baby! I'm here!

Jeff who, never heard of him, hehe.

These guys should have twitter taken away from them, its painful to read their spew. Its like watching a child have a hissy fit cause their daddy (bettman) didn't allow them to stay up late.
- moondawg

I find it entertaining to hear how dumb they are.

Dreger said that All Star game will be canceled on Friday...
I hate seeing the tweets from the players saying how the NHL and owners are budging and they are being unreasonable...
Pull your head outta your ass for a second and realize you make millions of dollars a year to play a game...(frank)en retards...

Just cancel this poop show...
(frank) the NHL...
(frank) the NHLPA...
(frank) Bettman...
(frank) Fehr...

Bring on April, so we can watch the Jays dominate the AL...
- BoBBeR56

+1

I love how Crosby and Richards have come out crying (again) that the NHL should have accepted their proposal because they have moved significantly towards the owners. Maybe if they had actually moved an inch before now we would have hockey by now. 5 months later they finally give something up and then cry because the NHL don't accept it right away.

+1

I love how Crosby and Richards have come out crying (again) that the NHL should have accepted their proposal because they have moved significantly towards the owners. Maybe if they had actually moved an inch before now we would have hockey by now. 5 months later they finally give something up and then cry because the NHL don't accept it right away.
- niedermayer27

This is what happens when you have boy negotiating against men. It's not just Bettman against Fehr, but 29 (30 if you include the NHL for the Coyotes) successful business men negotiating again a large group of hockey players, where the vast majority are under age 35 and all they've ever done is play hockey. Who would you bet on in a situation like that? I know the players hired Fehr to represent them and bring his experience (and he was rather successful in the past) but the players lack of business experience makes them vulnerable to Fehr's agenda. I'm not trying to knock the players or Fehr, but this has been a one sided fight since the beginning.

NHL was asking for 43% Revenue go to NHLPA at the biginning. Just to Save the Season, NHL ask 50% for 6 years when they felt full season can be saved. NHLPA rejected it. Don thinks it's going to get better than 50% Revenue when full season is not on the line?
- SPIDEROCKSTAR

I heard Lou Nanne on KFAN yesterday pretty much state that if the PA would agree to an immediate 50/50, he's 99% sure that the owners would cave on the majority of all other concessions.

Go to tsn.ca, read the main headline there. Tells us everything we need to know about what happened today only Mr Eklund, of course, will never acknowledge this.
Can we see the meter now?

I heard Lou Nanne on KFAN yesterday pretty much state that if the PA would agree to an immediate 50/50, he's 99% sure that the owners would cave on the majority of all other concessions.
- MnGump

Yep, I'm pretty sure the owners could care less about a lot of the contractual issues.

The only things that really need to change contractually is the ability to front load contracts, and maybe limiting contract length (though not at 5 years, maybe 7). They can chuck the rest of the changes out the window. Who really cares about adding an extra year to UFA status or changing entry level contracts.

On a brighter note. I just saved a bunch of money by switching my car insurance..

It is doom and gloom.it had been since day one. The owners were always prepared to lose a season to undo the.mess they made last CBA.

Bettman is a joke. 3 lockouts, most games lost than the other big 3 sports combined. Crap franchise movement/expansion. Now this.

For those of you on the owners side you don't get whats going on. The owners have always been ready to close it out and lock the doors the first minute they got. It had been obvious from they way they handled the first offer.

I heard people comparing this to hostess union. Really? A company that loses money compared to one with record revenue. As much as people rag in fehr it is bettman and the owners that have screwed us over.

And Ek, you write this blog like there is a negotiators handbook. I like your site and reading your rumors, but you are way off on this. Seems like people think this is a game. This is business, where we will be lucky if these morons are able to save 2014 season. Fire bettman now. He has made a joke of the nhl.

Go to tsn.ca, read the main headline there. Tells us everything we need to know about what happened today only Mr Eklund, of course, will never acknowledge this.
Can we see the meter now?
- Aliaksandrhn

TSN is a little pessimistic. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Yep, I'm pretty sure the owners could care less about a lot of the contractual issues.

The only things that really need to change contractually is the ability to front load contracts, and maybe limiting contract length (though not at 5 years, maybe 7). They can chuck the rest of the changes out the window. Who really cares about adding an extra year to UFA status or changing entry level contracts.
- niedermayer27

The players way of handling it sucked. All it did was deter GMs from front loading but didnt prevent it. (They proposed if a player retires the cap hit remains). Players still win out because they made 90% of the money and don't have to honor the last 4 years. Makes no difference to them.

Front loading contracts hurts owners because the players share grows because the actual salary > total cap and the cap is there to control players share. I don't see why the 5% change in salary the NHL proposed is a bad thing.

It is doom and gloom.it had been since day one. The owners were always prepared to lose a season to undo the.mess they made last CBA.

Bettman is a joke. 3 lockouts, most games lost than the other big 3 sports combined. Crap franchise movement/expansion. Now this.

For those of you on the owners side you don't get whats going on. The owners have always been ready to close it out and lock the doors the first minute they got. It had been obvious from they way they handled the first offer.

I heard people comparing this to hostess union. Really? A company that loses money compared to one with record revenue. As much as people rag in fehr it is bettman and the owners that have screwed us over.

And Ek, you write this blog like there is a negotiators handbook. I like your site and reading your rumors, but you are way off on this. Seems like people think this is a game. This is business, where we will be lucky if these morons are able to save 2014 season. Fire bettman now. He has made a joke of the nhl.
- KOS

It is indeed both sides fault. To me the league is struggling because the Cap Floor is far too high. And there was record revenue but the big markets are where all the money went. There needs to be a balance.

A huge issue is teams in bad markets need to go. I hope this ends like 94-95 with teams moving except the other way. Move the yotes and the team next in line thats crying poor to Canada and be done with it.

Good move by the players, it shows they want to play NHL hockey this year.

Then what's the point of creating a separate thread?
- CaptainK

You missed my point I guess. The point is to just have one thread for the pissing matches between users on NHL vs NHLPA.

It is indeed both sides fault. To me the league is struggling because the Cap Floor is far too high. And there was record revenue but the big markets are where all the money went. There needs to be a balance.

A huge issue is teams in bad markets need to go. I hope this ends like 94-95 with teams moving except the other way. Move the yotes and the team next in line thats crying poor to Canada and be done with it.
- mrhattrick27

Everyone blames Bettman, but he does a good job on behalf of the owners. It's not as simple as just moving franchises, because obviously Bettman cannot just pick a franchise and order the owner to move it somewhere else.

Though Phoenix is a different story because the NHL owns the team. I think everyone agrees they need to move that franchise. Start taking offers from Canadian ownership groups instead of demanding that the team stay in Phoenix.

It is indeed both sides fault. To me the league is struggling because the Cap Floor is far too high. And there was record revenue but the big markets are where all the money went. There needs to be a balance.

A huge issue is teams in bad markets need to go. I hope this ends like 94-95 with teams moving except the other way. Move the yotes and the team next in line thats crying poor to Canada and be done with it.
- mrhattrick27

Yep I agree. Although to me the cap really would be fine if bettman wasn't a moron with his team placement. Find markets that would truly support hockey, don't try and force it on people. It clearly didn't work.

TSN is a little pessimistic. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
- niedermayer27

That may be. However, after the meeting Bettman himself said the side are still "far apart" and Fehr's description of what happened today was "no movement".

or agree to meditation to save the season...

The players way of handling it sucked. All it did was deter GMs from front loading but didnt prevent it. (They proposed if a player retires the cap hit remains). Players still win out because they made 90% of the money and don't have to honor the last 4 years. Makes no difference to them.

Front loading contracts hurts owners because the players share grows because the actual salary > total cap and the cap is there to control players share. I don't see why the 5% change in salary the NHL proposed is a bad thing.
- mrhattrick27

That's certainly not true of the last CBA. The players share grew because it was linked to revenue. Not because of what you stated.

"What happened today was a very positive step towards the return of our sport".

Ek, you keep talking about the sport of hockey like it has been taken away. It is not the sport that we don't have. It's a league. I'm working in Wyoming, the middle of the hockey abyss, and I went to a game last weekend in South Dakota. I've got streams of AHL games. If I were back home in St. John's I'd be watching AHL live. I'd also be playing the game at least once a week.

If the sport were being taken away people would be in the streets with weapons. Not on twitter with a few irrelevant words.

It's just a league. It's NOT the game of hockey.