Screw the players. Looks like the season is over

[Lefty]

The players look like greedy bastards.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1992342

 

[Town Drunk]

All the owners have to do is go to $45 million, and both sides will agree. That's just $3 million more on the owners side, $3 million that they don't have to spend.

And what do you expect the players to do? They're used to the big pay days that these owners gave them in the past, when they didn't have to. The owners are to blame. And of course the players are going to want the highest cap number possible.

$45 million is the key. Let's see if the owners step up.

 

[cardsunsfan]

The owners are to blame because they payed the players too much lately?! That doesn't make sense to me..they should consider themselves lucky then. They should realize things didn't go as planned to you have to restructure things. It's call business, many high payed employees go through it...

 

[Town Drunk]

What doesn't make sense?

They gave out high contracts to players who didn't deserve that kind of salary. No one forced them to do it, they did it on their own accord. That's the reason why there is this economic mess. A 3rd liner like Holik shouldn't be making $9 million a year. And the Rangers owner, and other owners, didn't have to pay him that.

Now they want to install a salary cap to fix the blunders of their past. That's fine. But did you really expect the players to be okay with it after years of receiving those types of deals? People are calling the players "greedy" and some other words. Well geez, if you were offered that kind of cash in the past, wouldn't you take it?

Like I said, I believe the owners are the most at fault here. Both sides needed to go halfway, the players agreed to a cap, and the owners agreed that there would be no linkage. It's a shame that it only came down to a couple of million dollars.

And I hope that when this is all over, Bettman is showed the door.

 

[cardsunsfan]

Well they thought they could substain that pay for awhile but they couldn't.. Are the players greedy? Yes they are! They should see the writing on the wall if they can't it's their problem now they're going to make even less money...

 

[NickelBack]

The owners are a very greedy lot. Part of the problem here is the over-expansion of the league....and the owners collected 100% of the expansion fees.

 

[yotes1921]

I think all of you that blame the owners are wrong. I can’t see how the owners have any fault at all. The players claim is that the owners were unable to police themselves and that is why we are in the mess we are in know. Here the players are acknowledging a problem exists. The idea that the owners should police themselves is crazy, The Players association would immediately call it Collusion. It’s a no win for the owners. Every other sport has a salary cap even baseballs soft cap is better then Hockey. Fix the problem, market the sport and be successful.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

What doesn't make sense?

They gave out high contracts to players who didn't deserve that kind of salary. No one forced them to do it, they did it on their own accord. That's the reason why there is this economic mess. A 3rd liner like Holik shouldn't be making $9 million a year. And the Rangers owner, and other owners, didn't have to pay him that.

Now they want to install a salary cap to fix the blunders of their past. That's fine. But did you really expect the players to be okay with it after years of receiving those types of deals? People are calling the players "greedy" and some other words. Well geez, if you were offered that kind of cash in the past, wouldn't you take it?

Like I said, I believe the owners are the most at fault here. Both sides needed to go halfway, the players agreed to a cap, and the owners agreed that there would be no linkage. It's a shame that it only came down to a couple of million dollars.

And I hope that when this is all over, Bettman is showed the door.

They didnt come own to only a couple million dollars. They were still off by potetially $100 Million.

 

[Town Drunk]

If you want to call the players greedy, then the owners are just as greedy as well. The players offered a 24% rollback, and acknowledge that there needed to be a cap. What did the owners do besides get rid of linkage? They couldn’t bridge the $3 million gap?

The players aren’t claiming anything. I, as a fan, can see that the owners gave out large contracts to players who didn’t merit them. How would it be collusion if the owners had never given out those big contracts to players such as Holik?

Again, no one forced the owners to award such big contracts to the players. That’s where this mess stems from.

Edit: $3 million per team. And the teams didn't even have to spend that much, so therefore it would have been a lot less than a $100 million. And what's a $100 million out $2 billion?

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

If you want to call the players greedy, then the owners are just as greedy as well. The players offered a 24% rollback, and acknowledge that there needed to be a cap. What did the owners do besides get rid of linkage? They couldn’t bridge the $3 million gap?

The players aren’t claiming anything. I, as a fan, can see that the owners gave out large contracts to players who didn’t merit them. How would it be collusion if the owners had never given out those big contracts to players such as Holik?

Again, no one forced the owners to award such big contracts to the players. That’s where this mess stems from.

Edit: $3 million per team. And the teams didn't even have to spend that much, so therefore it would have been a lot less than a $100 million. And what's a $100 million out $2 billion?

A 24% roll back is nothing if there isnt any kind of protection to keep it from exploding again. It is true that nobody forced the owners into this, but the owners also compete with each other. The few big market teams are able to inflate player values for the rest of the league. There needs to be something to stop this inflation. And what is the point of having a cap if its so high it doesnt do anything? And I fail to see how the owners are being all that greedy when they are losing tons of money, and probably wouldnt be making all that much under their proposal either.

 

[yotes1921]

I guess you are right the Owners are greedy because they are making 20 million dollars this year without a season.

 

[Town Drunk]

Yes, a 24% roll back is nothing. But then players acknowledged that a cap was needed.

Sure, the owners are competing with one another. Does that mean they needed to go out and over-inflate contracts? That’s not that good of an excuse.

As for stopping the inflation, again, the players agreed to a cap. All they needed to go was to $45 million. That’s it. Do you think teams like the Wild and Penguins were going to spend $45 million? I don’t. If teams can’t afford certain players, then they aren’t going to pay for certain players.

As for the owners being greedy, if there was truly that big of a problem, why didn’t the owners come up with an owner-owner revenue sharing? These guys got rich off of expansion.

This lies at the feet of the owners.

 

[NickelBack]

It is true that nobody forced the owners into this, but the owners also compete with each other.

So, it's your contention that the owners need protection from each other and it's the players job to do this for them?

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Yes, a 24% roll back is nothing. But then players acknowledged that a cap was needed.

Sure, the owners are competing with one another. Does that mean they needed to go out and over-inflate contracts? That’s not that good of an excuse.

As for stopping the inflation, again, the players agreed to a cap. All they needed to go was to $45 million. That’s it. Do you think teams like the Wild and Penguins were going to spend $45 million? I don’t. If teams can’t afford certain players, then they aren’t going to pay for certain players.

As for the owners being greedy, if there was truly that big of a problem, why didn’t the owners come up with an owner-owner revenue sharing? These guys got rich off of expansion.



This lies at the feet of the owners.

What makes you so sure that the players would have accepted a $45M cap?

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

So, it's tour contention that the owners need protection from each other and it's the players job to do this for them?

Yes, the owners basically need to be protected from themselves. And the players had two choices, take the fair deal the owners were offering (the percentage of projected league revenues going to the players under this deal was comparable to that of other leagues), or play elsewhere for a fraction of what they will ever get here again. They obviously decided on the second, and this will only come back to haunt them as the more damaged the NHL becomes, the less of an offer the owners can give.

 

[Town Drunk]

It's been widely reported that the players would have accepted a $45 million cap.

Check out some of the Canadian media and some of their streaming sports radio sites.

I can give you some links if you want.

It really makes you laugh when you go to view the hockey stuff on ESPN after visiting sites like TSN and Sportsnet, and listening to 590.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

It's been widely reported that the players would have accepted a $45 million cap.

Check out some of the Canadian media and some of their streaming sports radio sites.

I can give you some links if you want.

It really makes you laugh when you go to view the hockey stuff on ESPN after visiting sites like TSN and Sportsnet, and listening to 590.

The PAs last offer was $49M
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=115048&hubName=nhl

And in Goodenow's own words, teams would be allowed to go to nearly $54M two years out of six.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=115103

 

[yotes1921]

You are only as strong as your weakest link. Maybe the league should narrow down to 4 or 5 teams but I can guarantee you there will be no TV contract with that. As for the owners getting rich on expansion, that may as well be, however for the good of the hockey’s future that money isn’t going to last forever. If the players had agreed to cap, (much like every other sport in America) back in October it is more possible that the difference could have been worked through and we would be watching hockey today.

 

[Town Drunk]

Yes, that was their last offer.

If the owners had come back at $45 million, it was a done deal.

Even the commentators on ESPN have said this.

 

[Town Drunk]

For the good of hockey’s future, they should have never expanded in the first place my friend

 

[Town Drunk]

And I agree, it's too bad the players didn't agree to a cap sooner. We probably would be watching some games right now.

It's been reported that Goodenow likes negotiating at the last minute. Smooth job

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Yes, that was their last offer.

If the owners had come back at $45 million, it was a done deal.

Even the commentators on ESPN have said this.

There is absolutely no word from the PA that stated that they would have accepted $45M. Saying so is pure speculation.

 

[yotes1921]

You may be right, however they were gambling on the current success they were having, Sometimes gambles don’t work out, I don’t recall the PA speaking out against expansion.

 

[Town Drunk]

Do you really think the PA is/was going to release all their intentions?

Cherry, Melrose, and a bunch of "industry sources" have all said that $45 million was the magic number.

 

[Town Drunk]

I think the PA was mixed on expansion.

On one hand, you're creating more jobs and more money for players.

On the other hand, other players could be taking some older players jobs.

Regardless, expansion was another Bettman failure.