***2012 NHL Offseason Thread***

[Rams Fan]

Draft is tonight in Pittsburgh.

If Nail doesn't go to Edmonton, I will laugh.

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

Tell me more. What do you think he was offbase with in that video.

Where to begin. Well first off I don't usually side with players in these situations. I don't even this time. After making me miss an entire season less then 10 years ago both these sides can seriously go **** themselves. I am not arguing that everything he is asking for is outrageous.

The players offered a proposal and he and the owners didn't even come and see it. The closest thing to an extension of an olive branch and he didn't have the time to see it. There are other egos involved but his is as big as any of them and equates to an enormous part of the problem. Any of the owners who wants to give gets snuffed out by Bettman. He isn't about peace, he is about power.

The guy is trying to ADD more teams despite having to keep some of them on life support now. He doesn't care about stability, he cares about making more money now. The rulings that have been handed down over the years from the league office have been as consistent as Matt Cassel.

He let Colin Cambell be his right-hand man and discipline enforcer for years. An article came out proving Cambell was admitting to bias and running things the wrong way and Bettman did nothing. Check out the national schedule each week. The Rangers and Penguins every ****ing week. He claims he wants to grow the game yet does nothing but try to push up the top 4 markets and **** over the rest. The guy would shoot you down if it meant him finding a way to get the Rangers and Crosby in the finals at the same time.

Footnote, I am biased towards him since he tried to move the Devils out of NJ in 95 all the time lying about it and LIVING in NJ.

I am just touching on a very vague and brief part of what is wrong with Bettman. Issues from the previous lockout would add to this but I am not going to site them off the top of my head. The players are a joke too, but nobody beats out Bettman, not even Stern or Goodell.

I have basically sworn off following the NHL until this is resolved so I am not going to dive into old articles ect. to make my point. Just thinking about what this league is doing makes my blood boil. I can't handle thinking about it.

You can think what you want, but going off this one video and judging his intent off it is a mistake. In my opinion Bettman's intent is only to fill his own ego as much as possible. He knows how to put up a good face to those not looking closely enough though. Put Bettman and the jackass Fehr together and you get a disaster. Amazingly its not going to trump the last disaster, one Bettman was also in the middle of. Work stoppage number 4 for Gary Bettman and co.

[Predarat]

They both need to get off their ****ing asses and get this shit done.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by Predarat

They both need to get off their ****ing asses and get this shit done.

I'm pretty skeptical at this point. It's pretty clear that the owners are outright pissed at Fehr, and I have my doubts they're going to be willing to talk much for a while unless he's out of the picture.

[DaFace]

Dater's a bit overdramatic at times, but here's a pretty good blog that shows the frustration even beat writers are feeling over this whole thing.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2012...a-talks/11993/

Gary Bettman shows exasperation over stalled (again) NHL CBA talks

I took my share of grief for doing so from some players and some others affiliated with the NHL Players Association today over some tweets that might have seemed, at first glance, as if from the public relations office of Gary B. Bettman.
“Traitor Dater”, one of them called me. It’s fine, I understand. Can’t please everybody all the time. Been called a lot worse.

But, sorry, it’s the way I felt today. Tomorrow could be totally different. But today, I was on the NHL management’s side. Yes, that means I was on the side of this man:

(pic at the link)

That’s Jeremy Jacobs, the inspirational owner of the Boston Bruins, the man who reportedly made employees of his organization that received 2011 Stanley Cup championship rings pay the income taxes on them. (I checked with lots who got them from the Avalanche, in 1996 and 2001, and that never happened).

But, as much self-loathing as I feel currently taking the same position toward a labor dispute as this man, I have to do it.

I want to keep this brief, because most serious readers of this blog probably know all the details from today. But a couple of added comments from me:

- If it’s true, as Bettman said in his address tonight and which Donald Fehr alluded to as well, that the pension plan is now the biggest issue for the NHLPA, a couple things: 1. Why was it only two days ago that the NHLPA agreed to restore the pensions (or more technically, a “senior assistance plan”) of its older members – coincidentally, right after Damien Cox of the Toronto Star and James Murphy of ESPNBoston.com came out with stories documenting the hardships of legends of the sport like Milt Schmidt? Here is a 94-year-old man who helped build the NHL, living in an old-folks home, admitting that he very much needed the $12,000 a year stipend that threatened to be cut off if no CBA agreement was reached. Sure thing – it was high on the agenda of the PA all along, just a coincidence that it happened right after those stories came out. Uh huh.

2. If Donald Fehr was truthful in saying how close the sides were in his press conference tonight, why did he want to bring in federal mediators earlier in the day? Does that sound normal, bringing in mediators when you’re really close? We’ve heard some spin on this matter since from NHL players such as Ron Hainsey, but the old cliche remains true: this doesn’t pass the smell test. Hainsey essentially says, “Hey, we’re just dumb players, we needed the mediators to come in and wrap up this deal.”
Ron, can I ask a dumb question here: Why do you employ such a smart guy like Donald Fehr, if mediators – not him – need to come in and close a deal?

3. Look, I’m not saying Bettman isn’t without suspicion here too. We’ve all been burned too many times before in him professing doom and gloom, only to magically re-appear with a better offer. But when he said the “make whole” provisions for this season were “off the table” now, I have no reason to doubt him. The players believed his off-the-table proclamations in 2004-05 were just bluffs, and we know how that turned out.

4. Why are players so hung up over contract-length issues? I don’t have the exact numbers on this – yet – but my initial review of contracts throughout the league reveals this: only about 7 percent – SEVEN percent – of all current league contracts are five years or more in length. I’m probably off by a percent or two.
You really want to throw away your season over this, NHL players? Over an issue in which only seven percent or so of the membership benefits?
Why is Cody McLeod sitting home, making no money, fighting for this issue? More important, do you think any future player is going to come back and thank McLeod for sticking up for him on this issue? Not gonna happen. Just ask Milt Schmidt.

5. Some people I know in the biz, who really truly love this game, basically are at the point of tears now over this. This lockout has torn some people up. People whose livelihoods depend on this game are literally in tears, their frustration just immense.

And that’s another reason why I had an anti-NHLPA/Fehr day. That passive-aggressive, soulless look on his face as he delivered tonight’s news brought some people to their knees in frustration. As I wrote before, I’d love to see Fehr actually have to be a union leader for a real, honest-to-goodness union from the reality-based community. Maybe then he’d show a little human emotion over the hardships this whole thing is causing a lot of people. Many times, I’ve thought: “The fans and the media care more about this than the principals involved – and they don’t deserve us.”

Yes, the same can be applied to Gary Bettman, and anybody who has read me for a while knows I’ve ripped him hard before too.
But at least Bettman looked like he cared tonight. Was he acting? Maybe, but it it didn’t seem like it – and he definitely looks like he’s aged some in the last couple months over this.

The NHL Players have to ask themselves, really and truly: you still think this is worth it? You really want to keep playing chicken with these guys, when they have shown before they’re willing to go off the cliff? Does it always have to be about the last goddamn dollar, always?

I feel so embarrassed for myself sometimes that I’m still jerked into feeling like I should care about these guys, when really all I want to do – and I know I’m not alone – is say:
“Shame on every last (bleeping) one of you.”

[GoChargers]

I don't see how the players deserve even the slightest bit of blame. It's the owners who have failed to negotiate in good faith, it's the owners who pull this lockout crap every time a CBA expires, and it's the owners who offered all the big contracts that they now don't want to honor.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I'm pretty skeptical at this point. It's pretty clear that the owners are outright pissed at Fehr, and I have my doubts they're going to be willing to talk much for a while unless he's out of the picture.

From the little I've been paying attention, it seems like the owners pissed off the players a couple of times with their lowball offer, the "salvage the season" offer, then walking out after barely reading the counter.... the whole strategy reeks of arrogance, and some of the issues like contract length are much more about the owners saving themselves from themselves than actually fixing anything. That said, Fehr and the players need to get over any animosity.

[Predarat]

When Fehr and Bettman and some of the other jackass owners step away, they gained huge momentum. Those bastards step back in and **** the whole thing up so shit and send it to hell. It pisses me off to no end. Some asses need to be ****ing fired over this shit.

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I'm pretty skeptical at this point. It's pretty clear that the owners are outright pissed at Fehr, and I have my doubts they're going to be willing to talk much for a while unless he's out of the picture.

Me too, im losing hope with all this bullshit. I'm hoping they at least get a last minute deal done.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

My knowledge of the NHL and the history of this process and relationship is very minimal but I sat down and watched that out of curiosity.

Bettman is pretty much universally disliked and there are probably good reasons for that but as someone ignorant to his past dealings he comes off as very sincere and its hard not to side with his perspective here.

He's kind of like Obama, or any politician for that matter... he's pretty good at talking the talk, but the history paints a completely different picture. He's currently dealing with his 3rd lockout in his 20 year tenure, and possibly his second cancelled season in 8 years. His strategy completely failed and has left the players insulted and unwilling to work with him, and not even a mediator could help them. I'd be pissed, too.

I'm no teedubya when it comes to conspiracy theories, and this is 5 years old, but it's still my all-time favorite article on Bettman, just to give you a little more insight...
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=dw-bettman012907

[Otter]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

He's kind of like Obama, or any politician for that matter... he's pretty good at talking the talk, but the history paints a completely different picture. He's currently dealing with his 3rd lockout in his 20 year tenure, and possibly his second cancelled season in 8 years. His strategy completely failed and has left the players insulted and unwilling to work with him, and not even a mediator could help them. I'd be pissed, too.

I'm no teedubya when it comes to conspiracy theories, and this is 5 years old, but it's still my all-time favorite article on Bettman, just to give you a little more insight...
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=dw-bettman012907

This is Bettman's NHL. Fourteen years, four bankruptcies, three franchise moves, two lockouts, one lost season and no effective leadership. The business is so sick that the Pittsburgh Penguins, despite a loyal fan base and the most promising talent since Gretzky, are 50-50 to move to that noted hockey hotbed of Kansas City.

[MMXcalibur]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...2189--nhl.html

LET'S GET READY FOR SOME HOCKEY!!!

The NHL and NHLPA continued to inch towards an end to the lockout on Saturday in New York City, with mediator Scot Beckenbaugh meeting with the sides individually and then bringing them together for a negotiating session.
According to Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record, there’s been one bit of progress:
“It sounds like players have agreed to 10-year CBA with mutual out after Year 8. Were previously looking for the out after Year 7.”
The two sides had previously agreed on a 10-year CBA term earlier in the week, but the NHLPA wanted an opt-out after seven years, meaning we could go through this labor hell three times in 14 years.
Other CBA notes as of 7 p.m. ET:
• The NHLPA’s players completed their vote to authorize Donald Fehr to file a disclaimer of interest with the NHL. The players had previously authorized the move, which would be the first step in dissolving the union in a nuclear option, but Fehr decided not to use the option earlier in the week.
• Larry Brooks of the NY Post reports that the “league has indicated a willingness to come off $60 [million cap] for next year, maybe $63-64M.” It’s an expected concession, considering the NHLPA was seeking a $65 million cap.
• Multiple sources indicate that the NHL is seeking more than a 48-game season, potentially upwards of 52 games. Oh, non-conference games, please be included in this plan.

[Predarat]

It ****ing back!

[ChiefMojo]

Sadly not a full season but 48 games will have to do... just glad the NHL is back. I don't watch the NBA and the NHL is what keeps me busy when football is no more.

[Predarat]