@dmarsden2988

Don't forget the players kick back 24% of their salary to the owners to offset shortfalls if any amongst the 30 teams. They are currently on a 52/48% split in favour of them when factoring in that amount.

Cheers.

The contract they hold with the NHL. Well, not void but NBC would have the option to void it should they so choose.

edit: FU real Mr. Clean.
- muffin_man

*apathetic face emoticon*

Wait... REAL Mr. Clean? Is there a fake one?

Logan Couture Tweeted out the following... "Sorry to the fans and everyone who is hurt by this. It is not our choice. We want to play the way it is."

says it all, they dont want to give up anything, and keep the 57% which is much more than more popular and profitable/bring in alot more revenue sports (nfl, mlb, nba)

they all are at 50% or 48% (mlb)

the players better be prepared to give up some or we may not see hockey for a long long time (another season)

(frank) the nhlpa (frank) the nhl
- dmarsden2988

@dmarsden2988

Don't forget the players kick back 24% of their salary to the owners to offset shortfalls if any amongst the 30 teams. They are currently on a 52/48% split in favour of them when factoring in that amount.

Cheers.

@dmarsden2988

Don't forget the players kick back 24% of their salary to the owners to offset shortfalls if any amongst the 30 teams. They are currently on a 52/48% split in favour of them when factoring in that amount.

Cheers.
- GregMorris

Pure Horsecrap.

That would only be true if all contracts had started in year 1 and were still in effect.

There are few contracts left that have been rolled back.

Pure Horsecrap.

That would only be true if all contracts had started in year 1 and were still in effect.

There are few contracts left that have been rolled back.
- JDJ

Unfortunately you don't understand what I wrote. In every season each player has 24% of their pay every 2 weeks held back until the end of the season. At which point the league determines if they use it for any shortfalls if there are any. If not the amount is returned to the players. If 6% is used, then 18% is returned. If 24% is used then the players kept 52% of the revenues. If nothing is used the players keep 57% of the revenues. Get it?

Gonchar and Malkin sign in KHL and there contracts run through to the end of the 2012-2013 season..So if a deal is reached are they commited to returning or can they stay and play out there contract with the KHL team? Is there any option for the players to do either?
- Buzzo

due to the nhl-khl agreement the contracts have to be honored, since the NHL contract was signed first they have precedent so they would have to return to the NHL as soon as the season starts (unless a whole season is missed and the NHL contract expires, then the player can sign anywhere they want)

Unfortunately you don't understand what I wrote. In every season each player has 24% of their pay every 2 weeks held back until the end of the season. At which point the league determines if they use it for any shortfalls if there are any. If not the amount is returned to the players. If 6% is used, then 18% is returned. If 24% is used then the players kept 52% of the revenues. If nothing is used the players keep 57% of the revenues. Get it?
- GregMorris

No.

That is the escrow works (from taking salary away) and it has never been set at 24%. If the players salaries are greater than 57%, the money is given to the NHL. Otherwise the money is returned to the players (with interest).

Try again.

To make it official too now that they have. I don't care when they start. I am NOT buying any NHL merch nor am I getting CENTER ICE until NEXT season. Thanks for nothing NHL, NHLPA, owners, players. Next time make an escrow for the workers who will suffer too. I would cancel the other hockey channel I have but they will show non-NHL games too. If they run old NHL games they will get the ax. Sad day in hockey history because of greed. Big heads, low ranking in the sports world...yet this crap previales again. Before the last lockout I remember Peca saying "with all the educated minds involved we should not miss any games...

I don't think any one was saying that there shouldn't be voluntary. If teams aren't making money, or at least close to break even (possibly profiting if they make the playoffs) then there should be some major consideration for relocation.
- burn

Many of the "relocate teams" ideas rely on it being mandatory. If an owner really thought his team was better off somewhere else, do you really think he'd stay in the current location out of spite for everyone else?

- PHX is front and center. It's taken how many years to find an owner?? Really? And now that they MIGHT have an owner it's still in question..... having to get extensions to find financing?? (that doesn't bode well for the future).... having to jump through hoops with the city ect. PHX is still a gigantic black spot on the NHL.
- burn

Phoenix had terrible ownership and sucked on the ice; those things tend to chase away fans. The Moyes/Balsillie debacle has likely poisoned the well irreparably. That said, the NHL's moves in PHX have never been about keeping a team there at all costs; it has always been about maintaining control over who can be an owner and under what terms, and when a team can relocate and under what terms. Nothing more. Besides, Glendale was covering $25m in losses a year and the team was still tied to the arena via the lease; there was no way the NHL was going to pay up money to break the lease and move the team if someone else was footing part of the bill and the remaining losses could eventually be made up by a sale of the team to someone else who would then be responsible for dealing with the lease.

The Islanders have probably the worst/most decrepit building in the league and cannot figure out how to get a new one. If they can't figure it out (they cannot make it work without a new one) they need to move. Brooklyn? Kansas City?? Seattle?
- burn

That's a building problem, not a "in New York, we can't make it work" issue. Brooklyn is a non-starter, Barclay's was not built to be suitable for hockey and there's no way to retrofit it now. KC could be OK long-term, or it could be Winnipeg in an absolute best-case scenario; personally, I'm dubious about it. Seattle is the better choice of the three, but again - given a new building, the Isles could be quite viable there. Given competent management, they'd be even more viable.

AFA "they need to move," see my "owners decide where teams operate" comment.

there are no doubt others FLA made the payoffs and still lost money.
- burn

FLA has sucked for years on the ice, most of them sucking right out of the gate. One year does not instantly change things. 1994-2000 showed the fans will absolutely support a team there; let's give the Panthers a few years to turn things around and sustain their on-ice success and see what happens.

Places in Canada that COULD make it work?? GTA #2 (Markham approved the building of a new arena/entertainment), QUE want one back, there was talk that Kitchener-Waterloo would be viable and Hamilton has tried for years (Both K-WL and Hamilton were rumored as destinations for JBalls attempts at relocation.
- burn

Toronto #2 probably would work, you'd just have to overcome the objections of the Leafs and Sabres. There's a limit to how many teams you can put in the GTA area, though; max, it's probably 3 total [not counting the Sabres] and one of those 2 would struggle quickly if it didn't perform well on the ice. Quebec City is better suited than it was in '93 economically, however it's still a French language first area and few players were exactly thrilled to be going there; has that magically changed in the last 20 years? If not, can the team really attract top-end talent to compete - and if not, how long will the fans pay up money to see a 27-43-12 type team?

Eklund: The Old CBA not Working Anymore is 100% the Fans Fault. Now What?
- Eklund

when are your sources saying the sides will meet again?

Dear NHL

I didn't know you provide side entertainment as the circus is in town. A couple of clowns trying to hammer out a deal. Something would have been done if you two prisses fehr and bettmen wouldn't agrue over if its pedi mani or mani pedi. How about deciding on what is the best place to eat in the big apple or which stylist will give you the best comb over for your thinning hair. So eenough with the circus and move on to the magic show where you get a deal done. Speaking of magic some people are under the illusion fans will tolerate this.

Unfortunately you don't understand what I wrote. In every season each player has 24% of their pay every 2 weeks held back until the end of the season. At which point the league determines if they use it for any shortfalls if there are any. If not the amount is returned to the players. If 6% is used, then 18% is returned. If 24% is used then the players kept 52% of the revenues. If nothing is used the players keep 57% of the revenues. Get it?
- GregMorris

You should do some research about how escrow works and how the salary rollback was applied. Hint: the players are not setting 24% aside every year for escrow.

If Phx moves the NBC deal is voided.
- muffin_man

Link for this?

Eklund you're a F****ing idiot. Where was it written the league has to operate after the CBA expires. This is a business. Wake the F*** up.

The NHL has every right to negotiate for a reset of salaries. If the NHLPA wanted a longer term then they should have asked for it 7 years ago.

I can't dictate terms to my employer after I negotiate a deal. When my contract expires I can negotiate a new one. If the employer needs to change something they will and I can accept it or reject it. That's the way of business.

This isn't some 3rd world commie dictatorship. This is Canada and America where people have property rights. The owners own the league and its their business, not the players.

I'm willing to wait it out, cuz I cheer for the jersey and the logo on the front, not personalities who make more money than most people will see in a lifetime.

The owners risked their capital and resources to run the business and deserve a fair return. The NHLPA should have negotiated more revenue sharing the last time around if it was such a big deal to them.

This isn't even a real union. I don't see an set wage structure? I don't see any sharing of endorsement money. Why are guys on the 3rd and 4th lines paid less for the same kind of work?? Do they train less or work less? No. In fact I'd say the enforcers have the most dangerous and difficult job out there. Why aren't they getting more money? Where's it written that the top scorers should get paid more??

If this was a real union the top 6 players wouldn't be making 4 or 5 times or more than the 4th line guys. The guys on the 4th line put in the same time developing their skills as the guys on the 1st line. In any real union they'd get paid the same and share all the endorsement money equally.

When the average salary of 2.5Million is way more than most 3rd and 4th liners make you know the top 6 guys on any team are eating up all the dollars and the rest of the players are fighting for scraps. Where's the solidarity in that.

Before you start crapping all over the owners and the league you should take an economics or business class or two. Maybe you should give up your socialist/ commie thinking in the process.

OK, my question: Why can't we have a cap ceiling and a cap floor for ticket prices?
- PrinceLH

No surprise that this comment is from a loafs fan. Get a clue.

OK, my question: Why can't we have a cap ceiling and a cap floor for ticket prices? Since we have fans in Toronto, paying about 10 times the amount for their tickets, then a fan in Florida, where is the equality here? Revenue sharing has not helped this league, to the extent that the players have believed. The top 10 teams have been bailing out the bottom 10 teams for far too long now. A franchise should only get a two or three year window on turning their franchise around. If in that period of time, they can't make a go of it, then they should be forced to move or fold. As a Leafs fan, I'm sick of paying welfare to these deadbeat teams and want an end to the constant increases to the cost of going to a game in my home arena. I believe that a cap on ticket prices would help keep costs down, in some of these markets. It may not allow for a huge increase in league revenues, but there would be equality and price certainty, in all markets.
- PrinceLH

I agree with this somewhat. When you walk into a McDonalds in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal... you pay the exact same price for a Big Mac. It makes absolutely zero sense to have one set of ticket prices in one place and different prices in another. Either prices need to come down in the "big markets" or they need to come up in the "struggling markets".

The only problem with thinking that Toronto is propping up weak franchises is that you can't watch the Maple Leafs without an opponent. You could argue that there are too many teams but if the NHL is insistent on having 30 teams then every franchise is just one part of a larger entity. It's a collective.

Therefore the $3.3 billion in revenue should be split equally among each of the 30 teams. But, that would never happen.

If you want to go to the other extent, drop the cap, drop revenue sharing and we'll go to a completely free market economy. Do that, and in about 5 years, we'll have a 10 team league. Now I'd love to see that, but I'm sure the 2/3's of the leagues players, wouldn't be that happy. But this isn't about the 2/3's of the lower end players. It's about protecting the top 1/3 of players. That's where the crux of all of this is. They are wielding the power over the majority, with their super agents and large contracts. They're the real culprit here.
- PrinceLH

The laffs would still miss the playoffs...

M. Spector:

Here is the reality:

- According to quanthockey.com, over half of all NHL players play less than 100 games in their career. Four per cent -- that's 1-in-25 -- reach 1,000 games. In data collected through the 2008-09 season, more than 6000 players were used to arrive at the following career statistics:

- The average NHL career lasts for 5.62 seasons. But the median career -- the 50 per cent point of all NHL careers -- is actually just four seasons. So, half of Fehr's NHLPA members can count on a career of four seasons or less, making it awfully tough to watch one fade away into a lockout.

- The average NHL career spans 238 games. However the median career lasts just 86 games. That's barely more than one 82-game regular season for half of all NHL players.

Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos asked in his blog Friday: "Can Fehr do what Goodenow did not? Can he get the players to stick to the game plan without surrendering with their tails tucked between their legs?"

The answer: Fehr will, for a while. Then this lockout will go like all the others, with the owners outlasting the players.
- MindFr3eak

I agree with you. Too many see this as greed from the players and see the average player as a Crosby and forget for every Crosby there are 25 namesless guys who will play less than 2 seasons.

Where I differ is the 'stiege' mentality and where one will outlast the others. The NHLPA learned this waiting game hurts them and will ultimatly kill them. The NHL is counting on it BUT --- economics are much much different this time around. We have New Jersey and Phoenix bleeding money and reports from Colorado, St Louis, Dallas, Amaheim (more?) than they lost a fortune in the past few seasons. Lets not even talk about the damage it wil do to teams that --- to their credit --- have been good but how long will Tampa Bay, NYI, Columbus and Florida go before they lose all credibility,

When the comparrisons to Women's Bowling comes up and when NASCAR sudden gains the .2% of viewers that the NHL would have had.....

When talks of a new league spring up.....

When talks of collusion between owners and even leagues themselves (KHL and Swedish Elite - nice new rules on import players.... whose idea were those?)

..... you get my point.

Owners do not have a leg to stand on when the NHLPA casts themselves as well paid gladiators who fight a few well paid battles but are unemployed by 22 and they just use a new set of slave-gladiators to take their place.... again and again and....

Owners do not have a leg to stand on when they are not negociating but imposing.

Owners will try to simplify to the basest fan support by shouting "50/50" -- and look for those who do not get the entire facts to jump to their support and away from the greedy players....

All in all, the season, in my books is cancelled.

Those writers who say "Oh it will only be a short one" are akin in the knight in Monty Python's 'Search for the Holy Grail' saying it is only a flesh wound.

And as for writers and radio and general media -- remember who butters their bread. Are you getting news from a place where the writer makes his reputation from someone gleaning inside information.... somehow.... (looking at you Dregger) or is the 'house radio' (looking at you Team1040)....

This has only just begun. I am getting my CFL and NASCAR schedules out now.

and rememeber ........ NO MERCH!!!!!!!!!


For TSN
this is Beatle John,
Vancouver

Eklund: The Old CBA not Working Anymore is 100% the Fans Fault. Now What?
- Eklund

Ek, stop the personal component in all this. It's business. It doesnt matter what hit the players took last time, it doesnt matter if the owners succeeded in getting a Cap or not. Like any business, its about the risk of those who have to put up the hard costs and the amount of dollars the industry makes. Very simple. Show me a business or industry where the employees can dictate to the owner how much of the revenue that owner is entitled to. Show me one where the employees make 57% of the revenue. Are the players well compensated, uhh, I think so when I look at the average salary of a hockey player. Even if salaries are scaled back 7% to a 50-50 split, lets see, Matt Stajan's 3.5 mill cap hit is only 3.255mill to get a handful of goals, play 12 minutes a night on the 4th line. Lets see, Eberle & Halls salaries will be scaled down to a paltry $5.58mill per year. They should be concerned at their age. If these guys think this is out right robbery & their compensation is crotch rot, then find another league that will pay them more money & good luck & God Bless. My only hope to get my Season Ticket prices lowered is with the Owners, not the players, whatever reduction the players get hit with, I expect to see my tickets go down accordingly & Ken King will get an email from me as soon as this CBA is settled. Business is business.

The laffs would still miss the playoffs...
- kaptaan

Good one

Screw the NHL
Screw the players
AND screw Hockey


Hockey is too expensive for the avg. family to go watch.
Too expensive to enrol kids in hockey and screw those spoiled rich athletes and owners!

Do what I did, cancelled my season tickets here in Ottawa that I used for my business.
Not going to attend anymore Habs games in Montreal (about 20 a year plus playoffs)

Cancelled the RDS package with Rogers (Habs games are televised on RDS) and not going to renew the NHL package either even if the NHL returns.

FANS EVERYWHERE NEED TO DO THE SAME....
Fans need to strike NHL and hockey.....

They need to reduce ticket and concession prices so that a family of four does have to spend rent money to go see a game.

Jesus Christ, people everywhere are starving and these idiots are complaining about money?

See you NHL.....What a joke you are!

If nothing else NHL has lost at least five fans in this household!

@dmarsden2988

Don't forget the players kick back 24% of their salary to the owners to offset shortfalls if any amongst the 30 teams. They are currently on a 52/48% split in favour of them when factoring in that amount.

Cheers.
- GregMorris

Why the hell should the players be making 52%, the owners put up all the cash!
Owners should be making the money here.
Go to your employer and tell him he's making too much money and he needs to give you a bigger piece of the pie...Let me know how that goes!

Don't get me wrong, they're all a bunch of greedy bast@rds and for that I'm striking against the NHL and it's players.

Why the hell should the players be making 52%, the owners put up all the cash!
Owners should be making the money here.
Go to your employer and tell him he's making too much money and he needs to give you a bigger piece of the pie...Let me know how that goes!

Don't get me wrong, they're all a bunch of greedy bast@rds and for that I'm striking against the NHL and it's players.
- Mats Naslund

I'd like to see all players receive 200k (with bonuses topping out at $1 million)... Through player by player evaluations, a third party would determine how much of those bonuses apply... Top players earn 1.2 million... Sh1ttiest players get 200k. Where else are these a$$holes going to make that money? If they want to go to Europe, let them. If they want to go to school, get a degree and earn 50k a year, let them... If they want to work in the camps in Alberta, let them... If they want to make minimum wage working retail, let them.

200k-1.2 million and slash the costs associated with seeing/enjoying hockey games.

I'd like to see all players receive 200k (with bonuses topping out at $1 million)... Through player by player evaluations, a third party would determine how much of those bonuses apply... Top player earns 1.2 million... Sh1ttiest players get 200k. Where else are these a$$holes going to make that money? If they want to go to Europe, let them. If they want to go to school, get a degree and earn 50k a year, let them... If they want to work in the camps in Alberta, let them... If they want to make minimum wage working retail, let them.

200k-1.2 million and slash the costs associated with seeing/enjoying hockey games.
- laughs2907

Laughs I love that you're always looking out for me, the ticket broker I absolute love this idea.

because all the tickets will go faster, and my prices on Stubhub will be what they are.

Love,
Whispere

Laughs I love that you're always looking out for me, the ticket broker I absolute love this idea.

because all the tickets will go faster, and my prices on Stubhub will be what they are.

Love,
Whispere
- LOLKessel

You have a point