Anyone care if they settle?

Deckard · Post by **Deckard** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:46 am

According to a reputable source ( friend of a player rep ) 40 million soft cap-50 million hard cap with luxury tax...30 game schedule this year,supposed to start within 3 weeks. At this point I'm not sure I care if it's true....oh and uh rack the trolls.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:49 am

If they can get it hammered out and the deal makes sense, I'll be excited. I'm wondering why they've waited this long to get things going. Hopefully this leads to the ousting of Bettman and/or Goodenow. It shows the owners and players can look face-to-face and talk and not have to hide behind some corporate stooge.

Spex · Post by **Spex** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:08 pm

Shoalzie wrote: I'm wondering why they've waited this long to get things going.

Same here. You would think that these guys would be meeting 24/7 to get this done as soon as possible.

Other than hitting the magical 1 year mark and being eligible to call an impass (which, by the looks of things, they'll get a deal done before that), I don't see what the advantage is to meeting once every months or so.

AcidQueen · Post by **AcidQueen** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:14 pm

Shoalzie wrote:Hopefully this leads to the ousting of Bettman and/or Goodenow.

They're both gone. They have to be, after this debacle. If Bettman stays, he becomes the NHL's answer to MLB commish Bud Selig--a tool of the owners who has zero respect from them, the players, or the fans.

In my perfect world, the next NHL commish will be somebody with both the balls to actually take charge of a situation (Bertuzzi, bad TV deal, what have you) and get shit done, and the vision to actually market the NHL worth half a damn without needing to sanitize the sport to make it "family friendly" (this means, for example, that the instigator rule needs to be turfed ASAP--and of course it also goes without saying that refs have to actually call the damn penalties). Is that Gretzky? I don't know--Gretz doesn't seem to me to be (for example) that type of commisioner.

As for Bully Bob, what has he done (besides give the owners enough rope to hang themselves)? Not a damn thing. He wasn't interested in anything except winning the fight--he certainly wasn't interested in the rank-and-file members of his Union, that's for sure. I wonder how many of the really low men on the NHLPA totem pole (the ones that don't make much more than the league minimum if they're lucky) have wound up having to file for unemployment because they're not getting the $10,000/month that the big boys are getting?

MuchoBulls · Post by **MuchoBulls** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:40 pm

RACK AQ!

I sure hope they settle their differences this weekend. I'd hate to actually have a little hope now only to find they are still at an impass.

JD · Post by JD » Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:17 pm

Shoalzie wrote: I'm wondering why they've waited this long to get things going.

That's Bob Goodenow's negotiating "style" (tactic is more like it). He uses deadlines and 11th hour scrambling to get the best deal for his side. He's done it in every CBA negotiation with the NHL, and apparently it was his tactic in his past in other industries.

And, yeah, I'd be thrilled if it was settled.

And I'd be awfully surprised if Bob or Gary had jobs after this. For Goodenow's case, AQ outlined it quite well. He did a shit job of representing the interests of the majority of his membership.

For Bettman, it's a bit of a catch-22, since this whole lockout thing has been in the plans essentially since the late nineties. Everybody knew it was coming. Bettman was the unfortunate soul who had to deliver the news. But a scapegoat will help the NHL save face, and Bettman is the easy target.

WAR Harley Hotchkiss saving hockey!!

Deckard · Post by **Deckard** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:35 pm

Are any big name players locked in for this season elsewhere than the nhl?...bettman would claim victory in the case of "cost certainty" ( hard cap ) and we are stuck with the little weasel till he leaves on his terms, so just to get rid of him I hope they stay out...but I'd rather be able to say I told you so when ( if ) they do settle.

See You Next Wednesday · Thu Jan 27, 2005 7:09 pm

I will be happy if they settle, but the season will be pretty much dead to me.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:23 am

Deckard wrote:Are any big name players locked in for this season elsewhere than the nhl?

I'm sure there are many. Kovalchuk is one I know off the top of my head. He was a restricted free agent to begin with. Pretty much any restricted free agent that remained unsigned at the time of the lockout and then signed to play overseas is out for the '04-05 season. I assume that most of these guys signed one-year deals so they'd be back for next year if a new deal is signed by then.

Deckard · Post by **Deckard** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:40 am

The only big name player that came to my mind was Forseberg. I was under the impression that most left themselves with an out clause in case the NHL settled. I remember goodenow telling them to seek out employment for next year too but thought that was just posturing.

Hapday · Post by **Hapday** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:54 am

What pisses me off the most is that this strike is all due to the stupidity of the NHLPA and their members. They have to know that they WILL LOSE this. Almost all of the NHL owners have NHL franchises as a playtoy, and are billionaires from other businesses. In other words they are realiant on income from their hockey teams to feed their families. Can the NHLPA say the same? Their bank accounts will dry up LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG before the owners.

Like or not NHLPA, there WILL BE A HARD SALARY CAP. You just have to decide how poor you will have to get before you accept it.

JD · Post by JD » Mon Jan 31, 2005 5:00 am

Hapday wrote:What pisses me off the most is that this strike is all due to the stupidity of the NHLPA and their members. They have to know that they WILL LOSE this. Almost all of the NHL owners have NHL franchises as a playtoy, and are billionaires from other businesses. In other words they are realiant on income from their hockey teams to feed their families. Can the NHLPA say the same? Their bank accounts will dry up LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG before the owners.

Like or not NHLPA, there WILL BE A HARD SALARY CAP. You just have to decide how poor you will have to get before you accept it.

That is EXACTLY it. And I truly believe Bob Goodenow is smart enough to know that. He's very aware that the best deal they'll get is at the point when the season is about to be cancelled. He's delaying and waiting for the owners to offer up that ever-so-important drop-dead date. The owners are smarter this time and aren't giving it to him.

The thing is, how long can they go on like this before getting a season in just isn't possible any longer?

d-townmike · Post by **d-townmike** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 5:33 am

I hear rumors of them ending this cream puff fiasco soon and get the season going.

yeah. right. I'll believe it when I see it.

How they can squeeze in a 30 game schedule WITH playoffs is beyond me. Those aren't enough games to determine the correct teams to play in the playoffs. I just can't imagine a team winning the cup after winning 15 regular season games. :roll:

just cancel the season, forget about the fans altogether, continue to have millionaires fight with billionaires during the summer and we'll see just how damaged the league (much less the sport) is come September.

Cross Traffic · Post by **Cross Traffic** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 5:35 am

They keep talking about a 26 game schedule with only 8 teams making the playoffs, or having a 30 team tournament for the Cup.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 1:36 pm

I'm past the point of thinking there will be a season...just stop stringing us along and cancel it already. I hope they keep negotiating but this last ditch effort to salvage the '04-05 campaign is getting to be annoying. If they didn't want to lose the season, why are they waiting until the last possible moment to save it? Just put this season to rest and get a deal done soon and we can all look forward to next fall. As a hockey fan, I want to pretend this last half-year never happened.

MotoGoalie · Post by **MotoGoalie** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 11:56 pm

Lace em up boys and play your own leagues. Fuck the NHL and all the greedy bastards.