***Official*** NHL Lockout news thread ***Confirmed***

[Aquaman]

NHLPA and NHL to meet on Wednesday

Canadian Press
1/17/2005

Trevor Linden just could not stomach the thought of the NHL season slipping away without a thing being done about it.

So the president of the NHL Player's Association took it upon himself to bring the two sides together before it's too late.

''It's important. It's a necessary step,'' Linden said Monday night from Vancouver. ''And I wasn't prepared to wait for a (league) phone call, I didn't think it really mattered.

''That was my thought behind it. There's no harm that can come from this.''

NHL labour talks will resume at an undisclosed location Wednesday, without commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow.

At the original request of Linden, a smaller group will try to kick-start 11th-hour talks.

''The union has requested a `smaller group' meeting at the suggestion of Trevor Linden,'' Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, said in an e-mail. ''We agreed to meet on that basis.

''We remain still hopeful that progress can be made toward a resolution.''

Linden, NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and outside counsel John McCambridge will represent the players in Wednesday's meeting while the league will have Daly, Calgary Flames part-owner Harley Hotchkiss and outside counsel Bob Batterman.

While Bettman and Goodenow won't be there, Linden and Hotchkiss aren't exactly chopped liver. Linden is the players' president while Hotchkiss is the chairman of the board of governors - both major players in the labour talks.

Saskin phoned Daly to propose the meeting after discussions with Linden, a veteran player with the Vancouver Canucks.

Linden hopes the smaller meeting, which will really be a conversation between himself and Hotchkiss, might be the spark needed.

''To change the dynamic of that is not unusual, it's happened in Major League Baseball, it's happened in previous negotiations that we've had, so I felt like it was an opportunity to open up the dialogue,'' said Linden. ''I really have no idea what's going to come out of it but I felt it was an appropriate step to take and that's why I wanted to extend the invitation to Harley and Bill.

''If nothing else, there will be some face-to-face dialogue.''

Linden, who started kicking around the idea last week, insists the meeting is not the result of players calling him in a panic, urging him to do something to save the season.

''Actually, no, that's not it at all,'' Linden said. ''I wasn't getting any calls but I've been in this game 16 years and I was around in '92 (strike) and '94 (lockout) and I recognized that taking this kind of step is not uncommon and felt like it was the right kind of thing to do, for Harley and I to sit down and talk face to face.''

No proposals will be made by either side. Rumours have swirled the league was working on a new proposal but the league continues to deny that.

Hockey fans should perhaps not get their hopes too high. The NHLPA remains determined not to accept a salary cap while the owners are insistent on getting ''cost certainty'' - a fixed link between player costs and league revenues (salary cap).

''We think it is appropriate and hopefully useful to engage in these discussions at this time,'' Saskin said in a statement. ''We are not meeting to present a new proposal and remain committed to reaching a fair deal that does not include a salary cap.''

The two sides haven't met since Dec. 14, when the NHL first rejected the union's Dec. 9 proposal - highlighted by a 24 per cent salary rollback - and the NHLPA returned the favour, quickly rejecting the league's salary cap-based counter-offer.

The location of Wednesday's meeting is not being disclosed, which suggests neither side wants a media circus as they attempt to try and salvage the NHL season.

More than half of the NHL season has already been scrapped by the lockout, which was announced Sept. 15 by Bettman. Through Monday, 650 of the season's 1,230 regular-season games had gone by the wayside.

The league has never announced a drop-dead date to save the season, but few believe there can be hockey this season if there's no agreement before the end of the month.

None of the four major professional sports in North America has ever gone beginning to end without a single game played. The Stanley Cup is in danger of not being awarded for the first time since the Spanish flu wiped out the 1919 final. Even the Second World War couldn't stop the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Insane3D]

Awwwww....look. Trevor is trying to "save the season" now....:roll:

What a blatant PR stunt by the players who are realizing no one is on their greedy a$$ sides...

 

[brian_riendeau]

At this point, I do not think any fans would care about a 36 game season. That has about a 2% chance of happening at this point anyway, looks like a big PR stunt IMO. The NHLPA and owners should just let it die and work on next year.

 

[BigToque]

The big issue here is the idea of the salary cap correct? Is the cap supposed to be the 1/30th that each team gets from the 54% of hockey-related revenue?

Would it be possible to say that if a team wanted to go over the cap that they would have to pay that difference to the league to be handed out for the next season.

IE: If a team wanted to go over the limit by $1M, they would also have to pay the league an additional $1M.

This would give the teams an ability to have the contracts that they want with the provision that they will have to give the league the same amount for each season their contracts go over the cap (which is a deterrant to going over the cap).

 

[Aquaman]

Esposito doesn't agree with players

Canadian Press
1/18/2005

TAMPA, Fla. (CP) - Hall of Famer Phil Esposito doesn't understand why NHL players are adamant about not accepting a salary cap.

"Well, for the first time in my lifetime, I don't agree with the players," Esposito said Tuesday. "I think they're wrong this time. It's the first time, ever, that I ever thought the players were wrong. And this time I just do not understand what the big deal is with a salary cap. I just don't understand it.

"(It's) not going to affect anybody, but it might take away the 10-11 million dollar player which, there is no room for it anyway in the National Hockey League, because the revenues just don't justify it."

Esposito, eighth all-time in NHL history with 1,590 regular-season points (717-873), isn't sure the season can be saved.

"If they come to an agreement tomorrow, they wouldn't be able to play until probably Feb. 1. So it'd be February, March, April, three months. . .

"So I don't know. It's touch and go. . ."

Esposito has been the radio analyst for the Tampa Bay Lightning for the last four seasons and was the club's general manager for the first seven seasons. He was also GM of the New York Rangers from 1986-87 to 1988-89.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[rh71]

Let's see... hockey greats are telling the players union they are dumb... the players are telling the players union they are dumb... who's up ?

 

[Insane3D]

No..they won't be able to "make a living" :roll:

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: brian_riendeau
At this point, I do not think any fans would care about a 36 game season. That has about a 2% chance of happening at this point anyway, looks like a big PR stunt IMO. The NHLPA and owners should just let it die and work on next year.

I'll do anything to see my team play a 36 game season right now!

 

[Aquaman]

Meeting kicks off Wednesday in Chicago

Canadian Press
1/18/2005

(CP) - Where is the wiggle room?

That is the two billion-dollar question as NHL Players' Association president Trevor Linden meets with NHL board of governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss on Wednesday in a bid to kick-start labour talks. The location of the meeting was supposed to be kept quiet to avoid a Media circus, but word leaked out Tuesday that the six-man group will gather in Chicago.

Also at the meeting will be NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and outside counsel John McCambridge, Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, and Bob Batterman, the NHL's outside counsel.

But this is about Linden and Hotchkiss, two respected hockey men who will sit face to face and hear each other out without the interference of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman or NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow, or the rest of the negotiating crews.

With Saskin stating clearly that the meeting doesn't change the union's opposition to a salary cap, and the league not giving up on its determination to obtain 'cost certainty,' one has to wonder what progress Linden and Hotchkiss can possibly attain.

But they're meeting, for only the third time since Sept. 9, so that's a minor victory in itself.

As far as salvaging the season? That's another question.

Bettman has said a fixed link between revenues and players costs - a salary cap - is fundamental to his position. He also made it clear during his Dec. 14 news conference in Toronto that the NHLPA's payroll tax idea will never be accepted: "We have no interest in a luxury tax at any level at any threshold," he told a live televised audience.

As for the union, every single statement made by Saskin and Goodenow in the last 18 months has rejected a salary cap.

So why bother with the meeting?

The league likely hopes Linden will be willing to explore what's in it for the players if they agree to the NHL's proposed framework.

On the flip side, Linden will surely ask Hotchkiss why the owners can't negotiate off the players' Dec. 9 proposal, a package highlighted by a 24 per cent salary rollback on all existing player contracts.

Linden will no doubt remind Hotchkiss the union is willing to bend on other facets of the offer, especially the payroll tax. The Vancouver Canucks centre could, for example, tell the Flames owner: "Hey, we know 20 cents on the dollar at $45 million doesn't cut it, how do you feel about 80 cents?"

The hope, for those who want to see hockey this year, is that there's enough give and take in the conversation to carry them throughout the day and perhaps into the night.

Somewhere, somehow, there must be a solution that can work for both.

Here's one from an industry source who didn't want his name or job mentioned: an eight-year "hybrid" agreement that basically works off an improved players' offer for the first four years and then evolves into the league's fixed-link system for the last four years. Both Bettman and Goodenow could save face.

A number of owner-friendly improvements would be made in the areas of entry-level contracts, qualifying offers for restricted free agents and salary arbitration, but the key component would be a dollar-for-dollar tax on payrolls over $38 million US. At that point, the luxury tax basically becomes a soft cap given that few clubs would want to get dinged at such an exorbitant rate.

But while that seems like a fair offer, the owners would surely argue it's still not cost certainty. Pointing to what they say were $1.8 billion in total losses over the course of the previous 10-year agreement, the league wants its fix right now, and that's a salary cap.

And the owners insist they are ready to scrap the season if it means waiting to get it.

More than half of the NHL season has already been scrapped by the lockout, which was announced Sept. 15 by Bettman. Through Tuesday, 655 of the season's 1,230 regular-season games had gone by the wayside.

The league has never announced a drop-dead date to save the season, but few believe there can be hockey this season if there's no agreement before the end of the month.

None of the four major professional sports in North America has ever gone beginning to end without a single game played. The Stanley Cup is in danger of not being awarded for the first time since the Spanish flu wiped out the 1919 final. Even the Second World War couldn't stop the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

NHL/NHLPA meeting wraps up in Chicago

Canadian Press
1/19/2005

NHL talks ended Wednesday after nearly five hours at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, with the promise to meet again.

The session started at 11:15am et and ended at 4:10 pm et.

Trevor Linden, the NHL Players' Association president, NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and outside counsel John McCambridge met in an airport lounge with NHL board of governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss, NHL executive vice-president Bill Daly and league outside counsel Bob Batterman.

The group was hoping to kick-start 11th-hour labour talks. It's only the third meeting between the two sides since Sept. 9.

Daly and Saskin, in a brief media scrum afterwards, said a future meeting would be held but did not give further details.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow and the rest of the negotiating crews were not present for this round of talks.

It's the first meeting between the two sides since Dec. 14 in Toronto, when the NHL rejected the union's Dec. 9 proposal and the NHLPA responded by rejecting the league's counter-offer.

More than half of the NHL season has already been scrapped by the lockout, which was announced Sept. 15 by Bettman. Through Wednesday, 662 of the season's 1,230 regular-season games had gone by the wayside.

The league has never announced a drop-dead date to save the season, but few believe there can be hockey this season if there's no agreement before the end of the month.

None of the four major professional sports in North America has ever gone beginning to end without a single game played. The Stanley Cup is in danger of not being awarded for the first time since the Spanish flu wiped out the 1919 final. Even the Second World War couldn't stop the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[rh71]

during the talks today, there were rumors of a hybrid agreement for the next 8 years (salary rollback for 4 years, then a soft-cap with luxury taxing for 4 years)... but it was only that... rumors.

 

[CTrain]

The NHLPA are a bunch of idiots.
Don't they realize they have no bargaining power in this matter.
I mean the league is losing money.....

If the NHL had go on....players make money, owners losing money.
The NHL on strike, players losing money, owners losing money.
Well, geezz...I guess the owners aren't in any hurry to resume play until the players meet their demand.
Its a one-sided battle and the NHLPA is too stupid to see it ??

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Wow september is a long time away to find out if we will have hockey again.

 

[Aquaman]

McKenzie: At least they're talking

TSN.ca Staff
1/20/2005

The best news coming out of Wednesday's meeting between the NHL and the NHLPA is that they are talking. They've had meetings before but they weren't talking in those meetings and they certainly weren't negotiating.

I think we should point out that there was no negotiating done in this session. It wasn't as if anybody moved off their stated positions of cost certainty versus no cost certainty or cap versus no cap, but I think they probably tried to understand each other a little bit. I also think the absence of Bob Goodenow and Gary Bettman was a very positive thing in that it encouraged dialog to happen without people feeling as though they were sacrificing their principles.

The big question now is what happens at Thursday's meeting. Will it go from talking to negotiating? There's a big difference between the two and we're certainly not there yet.

Sooner or later Goodenow and Bettman will have to get involved in these meetings, but they have to get to that negotiating point first and that means talking about whether the NHL is going to move off cost certainty - I don't necessarily see that - and talking about whether the Players Association is going to move towards cost certainty - and I don't necessarily see that happening.

So, I don't think anybody has sacrificed their principles in Wednesday's meeting but at some point, if they're going to push this peanut along, there is going to have to be a sacrifice on one side or the other.

This whole discussion on whether there's time to get a deal done is really incumbent on whether there's talking going on. With talking, anything's possible. They will work on whatever they possibly can with regards to a season, but if there's momentum and there's talks going on, then the season is still alive.

Proposals at this point would be counter-productive. In fact, Trevor Linden said to us going into Wednesday's meeting that too many proposals have been the problem. All they're doing is trading volleys on proposals and there's been no discussion or dialog.

Well, finally that dialog started on Wednesday and now they have to try and keep it going and try to move that dialog from talking into negotiating.

If they're not talking and they're not negotiating in the next week or two, then it's easy to say that at the end of January they're going to call the season off because if there's no discussions going on, then there's no reason for optimism and you might as well just pull the plug on the season.

It's really quiet elementary.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

NHL and NHLPA to meet in Toronto Thursday

Canadian Press
1/19/2005

NHL talks lasted nearly five hours at Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Wednesday, with the promise to meet again on Thursday in Toronto.

Neither side commented much on how the session went - or had much to say on anything else for that matter. But the fact there will be another meeting is a glimmer of hope.

"There was dialogue and communication, and that's what I set out to accomplish," NHL Players' Association president Trevor Linden after the meeting before leaving.

Wednesday's session started at 11:15 a.m. EST and ended at 4:10 p.m.

Linden, NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin and outside counsel John McCambridge met in an airport lounge with NHL board of governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss, NHL executive vice-president Bill Daly and league outside counsel Bob Batterman.

The group, which came together at Linden's request, is trying kick-start 11th-hour labour talks. It was only the third meeting between the two sides since Sept. 9.

"We credit Trevor Linden's initiative in requesting this session, which was informal, open and professional and which resulted in a constructive exchange of viewpoints," Hotchkiss said in a statement, his only remarks for the day.

Daly and Saskin said very little in a brief media scrum afterwards.

"I thought the atmosphere was good," Daly told reporters. "But I don't want to add any other than that. We want to continue the process."

Daly later added in a statement that the "parties had a good, candid dialogue, and we intend to talk again. Out of respect for the process, we have no further comment at this time."

Either way, the fact there is another meeting can't be bad news.

"That certainly is a positive thing," Devils CEO and GM Lou Lamoriello said from New Jersey.

Lamoriello, a member of the owners' negotiating committee, reiterated the critical time element as the season slips away.

"It doesn't take anybody who's around the game to know the number of games that need to be played, of what the urgency is right now if there's anything to come about from this," Lamoriello said.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow and the rest of the negotiating teams were not present for Wednesday's talks.

It's the first meeting between the two sides since Dec. 14 in Toronto, when the NHL rejected the union's Dec. 9 proposal and the NHLPA responded by rejecting the league's counter-offer.

"Harley Hotchkiss told Trevor Linden after it was over that he thought they made some progress on several grounds," Flyers player rep Robert Esche, who was briefed by Linden, told the Philadelphia Inquirer for Thursday's editions.

"No one is going away pessimistic or overly optimistic, but the good thing is, we're talking again."

More than half of the NHL season has already been scrapped by the lockout, which was announced Sept. 15 by Bettman. Through Wednesday, 662 of the season's 1,230 regular-season games had gone by the wayside.

The league has never announced a drop-dead date to save the season, but few believe there can be hockey this season if there's no agreement before the end of the month.

None of the four major professional sports in North America has ever gone beginning to end without a single game played. The Stanley Cup is in danger of not being awarded for the first time since the Spanish flu wiped out the 1919 final. Even the Second World War couldn't stop the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[NakaNaka]

I'm hearing reports that offers are being made. Maybe we can get some movement. It's been pointed out that Hockey Day for Canada is Saturday. How cool would that be if the new CBA was resolved by then.

 

[FFactory0x]

I hate this. Everyone is being hurt. I mean the puck company had 60 peole working there, they had to fire 40 of them. Its hurting everyone down the grapvine

 

[Aquaman]

Second day of labour meetings end

Canadian Press/TSN.ca
1/20/2005

TORONTO (CP) - There was another 4 hours of talks in the NHL labour dispute Thursday with both sides calling it a good day, while cautioning they still have a wide gap to close.

"We've had two good days of communication," Bill Daly, the NHL's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, told reporters. "But we still have very strong philosophical differences."

"There was some good dialogue," said Ted Saskin, senior director of the NHL Players' Association," "We clearly have some serious differences of opinion but we continue to try and find ways to bridge the gap."

One of those differences was over the next set of meetings.

Daly said the two sides would talk again but did not say when. Saskin did not agree that more meetings were planned, saying only "the lines of communication remain open,"

Asked what the two sides would talk about, given their polar position on a salary cap, Daly replied: "We just continue to work very hard at trying to satisfy both parties."

Said Saskin of the salary cap: "That's clearly a central issue."

The two day-session, initiated by NHLPA president Trevor Linden, was described by Daly as "the best dynamic to date in this process."

"I give Trevor Linden a lot of credit for bringing us together again," Daly added.

Talks, which had resumed Wednesday at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, started at 1 p.m. EST at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Toronto International Airport.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association executive director Bob Goodenow again sat out.

Those attending included Linden, Saskin and outside counsel John McCambridge plus Daly and league outside counsel Bob Batterman.

NHLPA executive committee members Bill Guerin, Bob Boughner, Vincent Damphousse and Trent Klatt were also in Toronto but did not attend the meeting. The union said they had been asked to come to get an update from Linden. Executive members Daniel Alfredsson, who is playing in Europe, and Arturs Irbe did not make the trip.

But the presence of the executive committee members, coupled with reports that some teams had told their players to be on standby, offered some optimism.

That was until the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Phoenix Coyotes, two of the teams reportedly telling their players to be prepared, shot down the reports.

"There's no substance to that whatsoever," said Ducks head coach Mike Babcock. "That's not true at all."

Phoenix GM Mike Barnett also denied his players were told to be on alert.

"That's completely erroneous," he said. "I have not spoken to any members of our roster in two months. I don't even know where one-third of our roster is. Some of them are spread all over the globe. No one in our management group has contacted our players since November."

NHL board of governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss, in Chicago for the first session Wednesday, was not available Thursday because of the Calgary funeral of J.R. (Bud) McCaig, the part-owner of the Flames who died last Tuesday.

It's the first back-to-back meetings between the two sides since they went three consecutive days, Aug. 31, Sept. 1-2 in Montreal, during the World Cup of Hockey.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

Coyotes deny reports about resolution

TSN.ca Staff
1/20/2005

The Phoenix Coyotes have found themselves in the middle of a media storm, after erroneous reports suggested that the team was gearing up for a resolution to the lockout.

On Wednesday, an internet report suggested that the Coyotes coaches had told their players to get ready to practice within the next seven days, a rumour quickly shot down by the team.

"Coach (Rick) Bowness may have contacted some players from time to time on a social basis," said Phoenix spokesman Richard Nairn. "But at no time did he tell players to be ready to report, and certainly not within the next week. The report is simply not true."

Bowness is currently monitoring the progress of the team's prospects in the American Hockey League.

The denial was strongly echoed by Coyotes' general manager Michael Barnett.

"That's completely erroneous," he said. "I have not spoken to any members of our roster in two months. I don't even know where one-third of our roster is. Some of them are spread all over the globe. No one in our management group has contacted our players since November."

It was the second time in 24 hours that the Coyotes had allegedly shown signs of preparing for an end to the lockout. On Wednesday night, reports surfaced that the Coyotes had ordered equipment in anticipation of the season starting.

"We have been ordering equipment all season long because we supply our AHL team in Salt Lake City," Nairn said.

"There's nothing to any of this stuff," he added.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Sepen]

The hell with them. Bring up the AHL'ers in September and then we will see some great hockey with hungry players who love the game.

 

[Aquaman]

McKenzie: One side must be willing to cave

TSN.ca Staff
1/20/2005

Far be it for me to be the optimist here, but if you could pardon the old cliche, let me say that it isn't over until the fat lady sings.

Or in this case, until NHL commissioner Gary Bettman steps up and says the season is over.

That hasn't happened yet, but we have to see if there is going to be any dynamic at work over the next week to ten days - before the NHL's proposal comes down next week - that will allow the league's owners to say, 'this is not the road we want to take' or a chance for NHLPA members to say, 'we'd better consider an offer with cost certainty because some of us are interested.'

My guess is that there is not nearly enough leeway for that to happen.

Are there NHL owners in the NHL who want to play hockey this season under a luxury tax system without cost certainty?

Yes, there are.

Are there NHL players out there who would accept a cap system?

Absolutely.

But there are not nearly enough on either side for this season to be saved, especially when it's this close and knowing the deadline is coming.

Simply put, one side must be willing to cave and neither side is willing to do that.

The other option is coming up with an ultra-creative way to get around the issue of cap vs. no cap and cost certainty vs. no cost certainty. That was the whole point of these meetings in the first place - finding a creative way to come up with something that both sides can live with and walk away saving face.

This is where the semantics come in.

Make no mistake about it - there have been some creative things done, namely the NHLPA's 24 percent rollback. But at the end of the day, the NHL owners will turn around and they will want linkage and cost certainty and once that's done, they will negotiate everything else that's on the table. But the players won't do it, so the owners will say that the players are inflexible and won't come to an agreement on this system that has to be in place.

From there, it becomes a circular argument with no right and wrong. It is simply what the owners want and what the players want and they are still on divergent parts of the spectrum.

Speaking of divergent, what's with all these different reports - erroneous reports - covering the NHL/NHLPA talks over the last couple of days?

One report on Wednesday said that both sides were close to an eight-year deal - four years without a cap and four years with a cap - that turned out to be bogus. Another story emerged later in the evening talking about a six-year deal.

You can go up and down the list and soak it all up. There's the stories that emerged Thursday about the Mighty Ducks and Coyotes players being told to get ready to skate and that new hockey equipment being ordered.

It's all basically non-sensical stuff, with people reading tea leaves while adding 2+2+2 to come up with a Collective Bargaining Agreement' as the answer.

One person even told me that, "Islanders GM Mike Milbury was on a flight from New York to Toronto! What could he possibly be doing in Toronto?"

Probably watching hockey games. Major Junior or Tier 2 would be a good guess.

There has been a 'hysterical hype' out there with people wanting to say that a deal was imminent.

Let's set things straight. On a scale of zero to 100 - 100 being a settlement - the chance of an agreement being reached going into these meetings was two. After the meetings, that number hasn't changed.

Nothing has really changed over the last couple of days, but for some unknown reason everyone had been going to town on this.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[CTrain]

Originally posted by: Sepen
The hell with them. Bring up the AHL'ers in September and then we will see some great hockey with hungry players who love the game.

Yeah, I agree with you.
With every other strike, the teams have always brought in replacement players why didn't the NHL do the same thing ??
Its not even like the NHL where you need to replace 55 players per team, you only need around 24.
Heck there was plenty of players in the IHL before they folded.
There are plenty of quality hockey players not in the NHL they can find.

 

[Aquaman]

Latest rhetoric suggests NHL season is lost

TSN.ca Staff
1/21/2005

The season is all but lost, according to the rhetoric being bandied about after the apparent failure of the latest round of talks aimed at breaking the NHL lockout.

According to a report on The Hockey News' website, NHLPA executive committee president Trevor Linden has told players to prepare for the lockout to extend into next season.

After getting Linden's message, Buffalo Sabres union representaive Jay McKee told WGR Sports Radio 550 on Friday that there is no reason for optimism.

"If anything, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think things have gotten worse," said McKee. "Trevor came out of the meetings (Thursday) pretty sour. He feels the PA was insulted in a few ways."

Vincent Damphousse, vice president of the NHLPA executive committee, told TSN that he has few doubts about what is to come.

"It was clear before this week to me that we weren't going to have a season," Damphousse said. "I think their strategy from day one was to force the membership to accept a deal that we don't want. They think in a long lockout they can do that, and it's unfortunate because we don't think it's going to happen. I think the guys will stay strong.

"Guys are willing to do a lot of things to get a fair deal for both sides, but we're not going to be forced into a corner - obviously we'll fight back," said Damphousse. "I'm convinced that guys will stay together ... they'll go to Europe and play. There is already 350 guys there. I expect probably 50 more guys this year will go over and finish the season. There's going to be tons of guys who do that again next year ... We're telling our guys that if you can find a job, go over, because there is nothing positive that came out of those meetings."

At least one management figure publically agreed with Damphousse's assessment of the season's imminent demise.

"The season's done," Red Wings senior vice president Jimmy Devellano told the Detroit Free Press. "There's no chance that the right deal can remotely be done in the next little while. There's too much work to be done. There's too many I's to dot and T's to cross. You are not going to get this collective bargaining agreement done in two days, three days, one week or two weeks. It's over."

"We want the right deal," Devellano said. "The hockey's not important. ... "My hope and wish is (these talks) start us toward a deal for next season."

"That's very disappointing," Red Wings forward Kris Draper told the Free Press. "I thought we were going in the right direction. The reality that the season might be lost, maybe that's starting to set in."

Damphousse said the union won't back down from its refusal of a salary cap system, even with the season on the brink.

"Since day one, they've wanted linkage with revenues, it's something that's a non-starter for us," Damphousse told TSN. "We give them all the tools and a big roll back for them to set budgets and run their business. We're ready to do a lot of things, but we're not going to run their business on top of that.

"I think it's up to them to look at their numbers and decided how much they want to pay the players. There's nothing in the offer that we gave them that forces them to pay more than they want."

One former player and union representative, Brian Hayward - who is now a broadcaster in Anaheim, said it's time for the players to steer the union instead of the other way around.

"The players are the ones who should tell Bob Goodenow to make a deal this week. He works for them," Hayward told the Orange County Register. "Off the record, some of them tell you they know a cap is necessary."

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

Latest rhetoric suggests NHL season is lost

TSN.ca Staff
1/21/2005

The season is all but lost, according to the rhetoric being bandied about after the apparent failure of the latest round of talks aimed at breaking the NHL lockout.

According to a report on The Hockey News' website, NHLPA executive committee president Trevor Linden has told players to prepare for the lockout to extend into next season.

After getting Linden's message, Buffalo Sabres union representaive Jay McKee told WGR Sports Radio 550 on Friday that there is no reason for optimism.

"If anything, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think things have gotten worse," said McKee. "Trevor came out of the meetings (Thursday) pretty sour. He feels the PA was insulted in a few ways."

Vincent Damphousse, vice president of the NHLPA executive committee, told TSN that he has few doubts about what is to come.

"It was clear before this week to me that we weren't going to have a season," Damphousse said. "I think their strategy from day one was to force the membership to accept a deal that we don't want. They think in a long lockout they can do that, and it's unfortunate because we don't think it's going to happen. I think the guys will stay strong.

"Guys are willing to do a lot of things to get a fair deal for both sides, but we're not going to be forced into a corner - obviously we'll fight back," said Damphousse. "I'm convinced that guys will stay together ... they'll go to Europe and play. There is already 350 guys there. I expect probably 50 more guys this year will go over and finish the season. There's going to be tons of guys who do that again next year ... We're telling our guys that if you can find a job, go over, because there is nothing positive that came out of those meetings."

At least one management figure publically agreed with Damphousse's assessment of the season's imminent demise.

"The season's done," Red Wings senior vice president Jimmy Devellano told the Detroit Free Press. "There's no chance that the right deal can remotely be done in the next little while. There's too much work to be done. There's too many I's to dot and T's to cross. You are not going to get this collective bargaining agreement done in two days, three days, one week or two weeks. It's over."

"We want the right deal," Devellano said. "The hockey's not important. ... "My hope and wish is (these talks) start us toward a deal for next season."

"That's very disappointing," Red Wings forward Kris Draper told the Free Press. "I thought we were going in the right direction. The reality that the season might be lost, maybe that's starting to set in."

Damphousse said the union won't back down from its refusal of a salary cap system, even with the season on the brink.

"Since day one, they've wanted linkage with revenues, it's something that's a non-starter for us," Damphousse told TSN. "We give them all the tools and a big roll back for them to set budgets and run their business. We're ready to do a lot of things, but we're not going to run their business on top of that.

"I think it's up to them to look at their numbers and decided how much they want to pay the players. There's nothing in the offer that we gave them that forces them to pay more than they want."

One former player and union representative, Brian Hayward - who is now a broadcaster in Anaheim, said it's time for the players to steer the union instead of the other way around.

"The players are the ones who should tell Bob Goodenow to make a deal this week. He works for them," Hayward told the Orange County Register. "Off the record, some of them tell you they know a cap is necessary."

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Hammer]

the NHL should just replace them all with scabs