And we can go over it a dozen times and it will still be a weak argument. How many players that signed this past off season? And how many got huge signing bonuses? And in Weber's case, the way the contract was front loaded in the Offer Sheet was clearly designed to make it difficult for Nashville to match. And let's look at the year before, and the year before, and see how many players received big signing bonuses?

Hint: This past off season was no different then any other off season. Only the top Free Agents command big front loaded deals with signing bonuses. And that had zero to do with a possible rollback.
- MJL

Agreed

Signing bonuses were becoming bigger and bigger in the NHL during this past CBA as enticement to the players, not ways around CBA rollbacks. Weber's deal was absolutely designed to make it difficult for Nashville to match.

The whole "they expected a rollback" argument is crap. And if they really expected a rollback, then why is the NHL not standing firm on a rollback? Why are they offering a form of "make whole"?

NEW POLL

After this season is lost due to lockout and Jamal Mayers' NHL career is snuffed out, what is Mayers "real world" job after the NHL?
A. Insurance
B. Used Car Salesman
C. Pimp
D. Cheetah Power Surge Spokesman
E. Other (Please specify)

Discuss...
- As_I_See_It

E: Pee-wee Coach who gets arrested for hitting a kid.

E) Token Colored Commentator -I mean Color Commentator - on NBC Sports
- DJOilman

You sir are a (frank)ing riot.

NEW POLL

After this season is lost due to lockout and Jamal Mayers' NHL career is snuffed out, what is Mayers "real world" job after the NHL?
A. Insurance
B. Used Car Salesman
C. Pimp
D. Cheetah Power Surge Spokesman
E. Other (Please specify)

Discuss...
- As_I_See_It

E. President of the federation of bald men of Canada

calm down Jiff
- Symba007

you sir are out of control

And how many years are attached to each figure?
- As_I_See_It

On who's offer?

Here's the part of the players offer that everyone seems to be missing:



So, they'll take 50% of HRR next year, with a make whole provision that actually makes it ~55%, and then they'll never take anything less than that - no matter how far revenues fall. Jamal Myers and the rest of the PA must think the leagues lawyers and the fans are idiots to think that's an offer to go to 50/50.

"there are no guarantees, other than the players share is guaranteed to never fall below a certain dollar amount"
- DJOilman

That provision which in effect is a guarantee, does not include the Make Whole payment. That only applies to the 50% share.

Hey Eklund,

I personally hope the season gets cancelled and both the NHL and NHLPA suffer for their incompetence. The league overall has become a joke and they deserve everything negative coming to them now and in the future. I am praying that things crumble. And I am a 33 year old male who's been a hardcore hockey fan and habs supporter for 25 years. I lived, breathed, and ate hockey for a long time. For someone like to me to hope the NHL and NHLPA fails and suffer from here on out says alot.

Hey Eklund,

I personally hope the season gets cancelled and both the NHL and NHLPA suffer for their incompetence. The league overall has become a joke and they deserve everything negative coming to them now and in the future. I am praying the thing crumbles. And I am a 33 year old male who's been a hardcore hockey fan and habs supporter for 25 years. I lived, breathed, and ate hockey for a long time. For someone like to me to say (frank) you NHL says alot.
- mush124

Well done. I'm a 25 year old Oilers fan. Now i'm a oklahoma city barons fan. I completly agree with your assessment. you only missed one part . (frank) you BOTH ---NHL/NHLPA

On who's offer?
- MJL

Rhetorical.

We both know the answer.

Never mind.

Missed the general point. Yes the players could make more than they have in the past but it would be less than their current deal. Either way its worse for them at the end of the day.

I'll paint a different picture. Say your in sales and you make 5% commision. You have an amazing year make the company tons of money. They don't like how much ur commision check is so say next deal we only gonna give you 4% commission. You honestly going to be like that's cool I'll sell more and can make even more than last year. That may be what u do, but admit it you wouldn't be happy about it. And if it happened repeatedly you would try some form of protest.

Why should the playerrs be any different?

Yes the players can play elsewhere, close to 200 already have. But that point is not as valid when ur discussing up rooting families thousands of miles. So ur example of working elsewhere isn't really comparable either with averaage joe commuting extra 30 min lol
- sfarrell

sorry, but this post made me think of this...

Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.... that's a tough one. But I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at the N.S.A. and somebody puts a code on my desk, something no one else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East, and once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hidin'- fifteen hundred people that I never met, never had no problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', oh, "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a poop. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot, just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie over there, takin' shrapnel in the ass; he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from, and the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so that we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price, and of course the oil companies use the little skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices- a cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. They're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, o' course, maybe they even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis an' (frank)in' play slalom with the icebergs; it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's outta work, he can't afford to drive, so he's walkin' to the (frank)in' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids, and meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure (frank) it, while I'm at it, why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected President.

Well done. I'm a 25 year old Oilers fan. Now i'm a oklahoma city barons fan. I completly agree with your assessment. you only missed one part . (frank) you BOTH ---NHL/NHLPA
- SPIbanez

FIXED :D

(frank) Mayers and every other idiot player who thinks the owners give nothing. They have every right to manage their business and try to make it profitable. How about the players give anywhere from 10 to 30 million dollars a year out of their own pockets so the team can survive.

Yes I know the owners, some if not most, shoot themselves in the foot on occasion. But whatever, tired of the uneducated, uninformed opinion of these knuckleheads in the NHLPA.

It's the exact same thing.

Players want contracts honoured.

An immediate roll-back to 50%, agreed to in a CBA, would "honour all contracts."

If you want to say that the players want all the money they agreed to in the first place, go ahead Skippy, say that.

But drop the notion of "honour" - you've already admitted you aren't using the term correctly.
- Atomic Wedgie

You want to use a hypothetical situation where the players would agree to a rollback, escrow, or reduced share, or any other mechanism that sees the players get less money, and call it honoring their current contracts. And you want to pretend that is one and the same as what honoring the players contracts means now, in the current context that the players see it right now. Two different things Skippy!

Let's review my original comment. Which is that the players
want what is rightfully theirs. Which is the contracts they signed in good faith honored. Now if the players agree to a CBA that includes any type of rollback or salary cut of any kind. Well then they no longer have that right. Because they willingly agreed to the deal and gave up that right.

I haven't posted very much at all on HockeyBuzz but I have always followed the rumors and comments. Today I regret to say this is my last time visiting the website.

The NHL has lost a fan for good here because of the greed and arrogance from both the players and the owners during these CBA negotiations. I am from a remote part of Canada where the nearest NHL teams are miles away. My father went to games when he was younger, and I have went to games as well. As I try to make ends meet, I now realize that the NHL could care less about the average fan. After all that has happened during the 2005 lockout, I can no longer justify paying money I don't have, to add chump change to billionaire and millionaire pockets. I no longer want to keep track of these frustrating negotiations.

Thanks to Eklund for all these years of providing me and others with awesome hockey opinion. I'll keep track of my local beer league from now on.

I am hoping for an NHL season but now I think the chance of there being one is 50 %.

Agreed

Signing bonuses were becoming bigger and bigger in the NHL during this past CBA as enticement to the players, not ways around CBA rollbacks. Weber's deal was absolutely designed to make it difficult for Nashville to match.

The whole "they expected a rollback" argument is crap. And if they really expected a rollback, then why is the NHL not standing firm on a rollback? Why are they offering a form of "make whole"?
- uf1910

It's just an incredibly weak argument that many have offered as to why the players should accept a rollback. Because they knew it was coming! Absolute nonsense.

That provision which in effect is a guarantee, does not include the Make Whole payment. That only applies to the 50% share.
- MJL

Even if that's the case - the players are asking the league to take sole responsibility for any onging losses in revnue that may occur from the lockout.

Rhetorical.

We both know the answer.

Never mind.
- As_I_See_It

There's nothing rhetorical about it. The Owner's Make Whole payments was over 2 year. The players 4. What's your point?

Even if that's the case - the players are asking the league to take sole responsibility for any onging losses in revnue that may occur from the lockout.
- DJOilman

Yes they are. And I think that is going to have to change if a deal is going to be reached.

(frank) Mayers and every other idiot player who thinks the owners give nothing. They have every right to manage their business and try to make it profitable. How about the players give anywhere from 10 to 30 million dollars a year out of their own pockets so the team can survive.

Yes I know the owners, some if not most, shoot themselves in the foot on occasion. But whatever, tired of the uneducated, uninformed opinion of these knuckleheads in the NHLPA.
- LeftCoaster

You know the NHLPA can all pitch in and buy the team in Phoenix if they want. But of course they won't

You want to use a hypothetical situation where the players would agree to a rollback, escrow, or reduced share, or any other mechanism that sees the players get less money, and call it honoring their current contracts. And you want to pretend that is one and the same as what honoring the players contracts means now, in the current context that the players see it right now. Two different things Skippy!

Let's review my original comment. Which is that the players
want what is rightfully theirs. Which is the contracts they signed in good faith honored. Now if the players agree to a CBA that includes any type of rollback or salary cut of any kind. Well then they no longer have that right. Because they willingly agreed to the deal and gave up that right.
- MJL

They players contracts weren't guaranteed to be paid in full under the last CBA - player expenses exceeding 57% HRR was paid back to the league in escrow payments.

And how many players are not affected by the "make whole" provision at all? Guys that currently don't have contracts or have contracts expireing after year one.

sorry, but this post made me think of this...

Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.... that's a tough one. But I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at the N.S.A. and somebody puts a code on my desk, something no one else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East, and once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hidin'- fifteen hundred people that I never met, never had no problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', oh, "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a poop. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot, just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie over there, takin' shrapnel in the ass; he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from, and the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so that we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price, and of course the oil companies use the little skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices- a cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. They're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, o' course, maybe they even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis an' (frank)in' play slalom with the icebergs; it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's outta work, he can't afford to drive, so he's walkin' to the (frank)in' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids, and meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure (frank) it, while I'm at it, why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected President.
- hnic

Or first head of the NSAPA

You know the NHLPA can all pitch in and buy the team in Phoenix if they want. But of course they won't
- mush124

Who decided to put a team there and got the expansion money when it happened?

Tonight will mark the 2000th game lost due to NHL work stoppages!

Happy Days Everyone