Richard Cloutier: NHL to Solve Lockout Situation by October 1st

I hope your right. Maybe your exuberance is rubbing off on the league and it's players!

See here's where I disagree with that train of thought. No good owner worth a grain of salt is going to agree to just throw $14+ million dollars out the window, that makes absolutely zero business sense! There has to be some sort of roll back.

We use the amnesty on Horcoff, then with his 5.5 million of the books we give him a two year contract (2million?) as a stopgap till Lander is ready to play on the third line.

We use the amnesty on Horcoff, then with his 5.5 million of the books we give him a two year contract (2million?) as a stopgap till Lander is ready to play on the third line.
- Eberlealltheway

My thoughts exactly, Horcoff at 2 Million (on the books) makes perfect sense.

Long time reader first time responder. I would love to talk about my team and how each year passes the more excited i get but i Will save it for another day. Today i Will talk about the truth bettmen and fehr are hiding. I know that these two are putting om a show and the season Will start on time. There is a deal between these two that Will be sold to the owners and players what they are doing is smoke and mirrors and you may ask why. Well its simple bettmen feels he has run his course with the league and screwed up on the last cba and other internal issues. Bettmen knows a third lockout is the last straw and his days are numbered. What better way to create panic and chaos and last minute look like the hero who rides in on the white horse to save the day. His pre meditated heroics makes everyone believe he is needed and wanted by everyone. Fehr who went through lockouts with mlb and has in the past been labelled tough as nails and unreasonable and hard to bargain with now comes out looking like daisies and gets instant creditability aamongst the players and a job for as long as he wants. Us fans win because we want hockey and we praise these clowns in their perfect scheme and they get free publicity. Don't be fooled by the hype

Only problem is there will probably be a rule stating that a team can't re-sign a player they amnesty'd.

If I'm the PA I fight fire with fire...

I propose a 1 year CBA with cap ceiling of 40 mil, cap floor of 32, max salary is 4 mill, any player above 4 mill becomes rfa for the year. NHL would be dumb not to accept...

Then I have it pre-planned where absolutely no one that has been "bought out" re-signs. See how the NHL does with 3rd liners and 3rd-pairing D


Go back to the table next year and see if Bettman and co smarten up or secondly...start another league and leave the "old boys club" behind.

Buyouts will not be at full value. They never have been in any scenario; they're 2/3rds now [1/3rd if the player is under age 26]. It makes no sense for the owners to squawk about paying the players too much and then turn around and fork over the full value of a contract to attempt to get cap compliant - especially when there's a few teams that would have to shed salary to get to a lower cap number and may not have the cash to execute a full-value buyout [and may not be able to find another taker for it with the cap and floor moving down].

That's not to say there won't be compliance buyouts [there will be; I also expect some kind of compliance renegotiations] but they're not going to be with the players getting every dollar.

Relax folks. These are professionals at work here. Lawyers acting like lawyers.

Not freakin likely.

Professionals get things done in a timely and efficient manner, that's why they earn the title of a pro.

This is just peacocking from both sides.

They will get a deal done but if they drag it out past the scheduled season opener, they don't deserve the title of professionals...more like amateurs.

The more of these fiascos I see from so called professional sports teams, the less excited I am to watch them, and that is sad considering how exciting the sport is.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if the Russian and European leagues go through this extended bullpoop? Or do they accept modest salaries and ticket prices and just enjoy the game?

Why does everyone wanna buy out Horcoff? Yeah he's got a bad contract, but it's up in two seasons. He's overpaid, but he does a great job as a leader, and defensive third line center. Do you really want o have Belanger playin on the third line?

We use the amnesty on Horcoff, then with his 5.5 million of the books we give him a two year contract (2million?) as a stopgap till Lander is ready to play on the third line.
- Eberlealltheway

No way teams will be able to resign bought out players, or every team will buy out their highest paid players with a deal in place that the player will get what their current contract is worth (off the books), and they'll get an extra "bonus" if they sign for the same length of contract at league minimum. Owners would just continue to dig even deeper holes than they already have!

Why does everyone wanna buy out Horcoff? Yeah he's got a bad contract, but it's up in two seasons. He's overpaid, but he does a great job as a leader, and defensive third line center. Do you really want o have Belanger playin on the third line?
- BarDownBobo

Three seasons left on deal. I've had someone "in the know" tell me the young stars are not huge fans of Horcoff/Smyth/Hemsky and feel the trio doesn't have a "win at all cost" sort of attitude. Horcs is a good guy, but he's not the leader of the team anymore.

The "core" of the team, from what I understand, is Ryan Whitney, Taylor Hall, and Jordan Eberle. Nick Schultz was brought from Minnie entirely for his leadership qualities (he was loved by the players on the Wild roster and they were furious when he was dealt). Tom Gilbert was moved out because he was too passive and wasn't concerned about winning.

Not every team wants to buy out players though. The Kings are an example of that, they brought back their entire roster for a reason. They would need to shed salary, and there's nobody that they don't want right now. There's other teams like this, even if they want to shed a salary it may not put them under. Just because it works out great for the Oilers doesn't mean it works for everyone else.

Three seasons left on deal. I've had someone "in the know" tell me the young stars are not huge fans of Horcoff/Smyth/Hemsky and feel the trio doesn't have a "win at all cost" sort of attitude. Horcs is a good guy, but he's not the leader of the team anymore.

The "core" of the team, from what I understand, is Ryan Whitney, Taylor Hall, and Jordan Eberle. Nick Schultz was brought from Minnie entirely for his leadership qualities (he was loved by the players on the Wild roster and they were furious when he was dealt). Tom Gilbert was moved out because he was too passive and wasn't concerned about winning.
- Maxbone

Guessing on player's attitudes. Always an effective evauluation technique.

Guessing on player's attitudes. Always an effective evauluation technique.
- Jack-artist

Guessing is what Clouts does best, he learned from Eklund

Why does everyone wanna buy out Horcoff? Yeah he's got a bad contract, but it's up in two seasons. He's overpaid, but he does a great job as a leader, and defensive third line center. Do you really want o have Belanger playin on the third line?
- BarDownBobo

No Horcoff and the PK goes to poop, not to mention defensive zone f/o's

Guessing on player's attitudes. Always an effective evauluation technique.
- Jack-artist

Glad someone beat me to it for once.

Three seasons left on deal. I've had someone "in the know" tell me the young stars are not huge fans of Horcoff/Smyth/Hemsky and feel the trio doesn't have a "win at all cost" sort of attitude. Horcs is a good guy, but he's not the leader of the team anymore.

The "core" of the team, from what I understand, is Ryan Whitney, Taylor Hall, and Jordan Eberle. Nick Schultz was brought from Minnie entirely for his leadership qualities (he was loved by the players on the Wild roster and they were furious when he was dealt). Tom Gilbert was moved out because he was too passive and wasn't concerned about winning.
- Maxbone

I call Bullpoop. After the gutting of all the "problem" players Horcoff would have at the very least had his C stripped off his chest if there were issues with his attitude.

Glad someone beat me to it for once.
- mochoson

love the location, it has to be sarcasm though. right?...

It's as simple as this...

- The NHL signs a deal with the Reveen and Laughs Fleshlight Company
- The NHL offers the NHLPA 40% of revenue + one fleshlight each (quality of fleshlight received is determined through arbitration)
- Rejoice!

No Horcoff and the PK goes to poop, not to mention defensive zone f/o's
- abware

but you have stoll for faceoffs. oh wait, no you don't.

but you have stoll for faceoffs. oh wait, no you don't.
- therealagent

but you have stoll for faceoffs. oh wait, no you don't.
- therealagent

Haha? 4 years later.
We also have Belanger who is good for face offs and the PK and not much else

Haha? 4 years later.
We also have Belanger who is good for face offs and the PK and not much else
- abware

In the larger role that would open up with Horcoff's departure, maybe he would be able to reach what was his norm (30-40 points, good defense, great FO's) again. It was, in fact, the mixture of a slow start, significantly decreased role, and absolutely vicious zone starts that killed his season. I'm sure we'll think far better of our bottom six once our young guns start picking up some defensive slack and Horcoff, Belanger and Co. finally start getting more reasonable starts.