Eklund: Players Saying Full Season Will Be Lost Out of Frustration (Concession?)

suiciding soon if no puck

3rd

yawn. they'll get a deal done.

Ek, hire a writer.

Really ek?

If they said they were canceling the season you would some how find hope in that..

The players know this deal isnt getting done for a long time. Thats why theyre all jumping ship to Europe

suiciding soon if no puck
- LOLKessel

This ^^^^^

yawn. they'll get a deal done.

Ek, hire a writer.
- Fountain-San

and hire a proofreader and 2 for Garth.

- aightwebang17

congratulations, you indeed are the Ian Terry of the day

congratulations, you indeed are the Ian Terry of the day
- watsonnostaw

ty

Eklund: Players Saying Full Season Will Be Lost Out of Frustration (Concession?)
- Eklund

im sure they have a good idea of what the nhl/owners want, its just they dont want to go to those levels

its clear the players dont want to budge from their stance (even though they have very little to no leverage) and their plan isnt exactly clear other then saying "we wont play unless you pay us a poop ton"

they say they are all "united" yet all the big players jump to europe first chance they get and let the average and 4th liners stay home and pay to rent facilities if they want to practice...........they may be united now, but i bet there will be issues down the line with this unity thing

and according to what you wrote ek, the players are already confused, sounds like fehr doesnt have them controlled or have them understanding what is going on

ty
- aightwebang17

yw

suiciding soon if no puck
- LOLKessel

AHL....ECHL....Jrs

im sure they have a good idea of what the nhl/owners want, its just they dont want to go to those levels

its clear the players dont want to budge from their stance (even though they have very little to no leverage) and their plan isnt exactly clear other then saying "we wont play unless you pay us a poop ton"

they say they are all "united" yet all the big players jump to europe first chance they get and let the average and 4th liners stay home and pay to rent facilities if they want to practice...........they may be united now, but i bet there will be issues down the line with this unity thing

and according to what you wrote ek, the players are already confused, sounds like fehr doesnt have them controlled or have them understanding what is going on
- dmarsden2988

Well said: Im not sure what the players want either other than teh status quo. Im sure there are plenty of players that are willing to play for whatever. Break the union and we'll see how many will flee to Europe.

Why would the owners tell the PA what they really need right now? I'm sure that they see themselves as negotiating from a position of strength and there is no real reason to move off their best case proposals and talk about their bottom line positions.

I would think that the owners (led by the 4 or 5 franchises that generate the vast majority of league revenues) have given Gary a date that they want this settled by. Until they start to get close to that the League will continue to present much more aggressive positions.

I'm sure Fehr realizes this and won't engage in a process where he is negotiating against himself.

We'll know we are getting closer to a settlement or the crucial part of the negotiations when we hear that proposals and counter-proposals are moving back and forth.

Everyone who is screaming that they should be locked in a room until they get a deal is missing the point. They will get a deal when the owners decide they are losing more than they are winning by keeping this thing going. Teams like the Leafs who stand to lose $80--100M in profits and even more in broadcast activities will play a large role in determining when that point is.

But, but, but you made everything sound so Positive yesterday....
Missing another year is just what the league needs to get rid of it's dead weight...
The 3rd & 4th line guys on those teams in jeopardy of being contracted should be very concerned for their NHL careers...
Gary hold fast and wait the players out. Come back with a league of 24 teams. Have a dispersal draft to plug in the top guys from the 6 MIA teams and allow unlimited one time waivers to facilitate the new players going to their new teams...
Great for the owners cause majority of teams will be finacially sound, fans get to see great hockey...To the fans of the teams that are chopped sorry but your the reason for these lockouts...Good Riddance

Eklund: Players Saying Full Season Will Be Lost Out of Frustration (Concession?)
- Eklund

Ovechkin and Nash clearly dont seem to remember what happened the last time the NHLPA missed a full season.

suiciding soon if no puck
- LOLKessel

This x100

Ovechkin and Nash clearly dont seem to remember what happened the last time the NHLPA missed a full season.
- Alexzanki

Contracts salaries skyrocket? I think that's all they see

Really ek?

If they said they were canceling the season you would some how find hope in that..

The players know this deal isnt getting done for a long time. Thats why theyre all jumping ship to Europe
- TrueBlue9182

They aren't even waiting to jump ship either they were leaving as fast as they could

They aren't even waiting to jump ship either they were leaving as fast as they could
- Yeti1181

Rats dont stay on a sinking ship

I wonder what the nhlpa would think about a tiered cut back/pay cut

<1mill no cut back
1-3mill 5%
3-5mill 7%
5+ 10%

Numbers are made up but you get the point

Don't really care that much any more. This is boring to say the least.

shoot Bettman, shoot Fehr, problem solved. not gonna get anywhere with 2 leaders who have no interest in negotiating. we saw the same thing in 2004-05.

The way to grandfather in existing contracts with a new, lower cap structure should work something like this:

1. Allow compliance renegotiations for any contract that started in the 2011-12 season or prior. Short version: dollars or years can be removed - but not both. The cap savings realized in any renegotiation is paid toward revenue sharing. Any renegotiated contract has to comply with whatever new rules [if any] are put in place governing contracts.

2. Allow compliance buyouts for any contract that started in the 2011-12 season or prior. This works just like the '05 compliance buyouts: 2/3rds of remaining salary, no cap hit - but ensure that the player can't be on the Reserve List of the team executing the buyout for the # of years bought out. [Prevents any "we'll dump you and bring you back at a really cheap contract and skirt the cap" game.]

3. Any team still over the cap after #1, #2 and any trades made can exceed the new Upper Limit by designating any contract(s) to be exempted from cap calculations, subject to the following:
-- Only contracts starting in 2011-12 or prior can be exempted.
-- A contract that is designated for a cap exemption remains exempt until that player is traded, assigned outside the NHL, traded, bought out, or the contract expires. Once that exemption disappears, it is irrevocably gone and cannot be regained, not can another contract be designated for exemption in its place.
-- The maximum amount of allowable exemption is the amount the team exceeds the Upper Limit at a specified point [probably within a week before the start of the season]. As the Upper Limit moves up in future years, the maximum amount of allowable exemption decreases by a like amount.
-- In any League Year that a team has a cap-exempt contract, it pays a dollar-for-dollar luxury tax, the proceeds of which go toward revenue sharing.

This allows teams to get cap-compliant over time instead of having to do it immediately, but forces them to pay for it. It also ensures that teams can't stay over the cap forever by using exempted contracts to sign even more guys and further duck the cap [i.e., no staying $16 million over and spending to the cap every year, if the 1st year the cap moves up $5 million you only have $11 million exempt], while also prohibiting them from dealing guys off when it's not convenient and slapping another contract on in its place to be exempt.

It's a little more complex than this, because there have to be a few more rules in place to prevent gaming of the cap - but those rules would [should] be in there anyway, they wouldn't be a special one-off for this.