2012 CBA Negotiations Thread

[L K]

Not sure how that would be a viable option.  People on average don't go to see the AHL at far less than 50% of the NHL ticket price.  Why would they pay to see something that would be even lower quality than the AHL

[Omallley]

Anyone else think Watters is a nut?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/replacement-players-could-solve-nhl-owners-problems-end-lockout

[jdh1]

Anyone else think Watters is a nut?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/replacement-players-could-solve-nhl-owners-problems-end-lockout

Actually not...Watters is just saying that the  possibility is out there...I don't think that would happen,but if the New Years game is cancelled..lookout.

If the auto industry out here in Windsor cannot settle the companies have allready suggested they could take production out of Canada with in a few years..I hope not ..but it's possible.

[Nik the Trik]

Anyone else think Watters is a nut?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/replacement-players-could-solve-nhl-owners-problems-end-lockout

Yeah. I had the misfortune to hear him ranting about this on the radio the other day and saying stuff like "Don Fehr is a crazy egomaniac, he wants to control the game and blah blah blah" before the other guys on the radio asked if he'd ever even met the guy and Watters said he didn't need to.

The guy's absolutely full of it. The sort who thinks volume can compensate for informed opinion.

[OldTimeHockey]

Anyone else think Watters is a nut?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/replacement-players-could-solve-nhl-owners-problems-end-lockout

Yeah. I had the misfortune to hear him ranting about this on the radio the other day and saying stuff like "Don Fehr is a crazy egomaniac, he wants to control the game and blah blah blah" before the other guys on the radio asked if he'd ever even met the guy and Watters said he didn't need to.

The guy's absolutely full of it. The sort who thinks volume can compensate for informed opinion.

Watters still gets air time?

[Derk]

Anyone else think Watters is a nut?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/replacement-players-could-solve-nhl-owners-problems-end-lockout

Yeah. I had the misfortune to hear him ranting about this on the radio the other day and saying stuff like "Don Fehr is a crazy egomaniac, he wants to control the game and blah blah blah" before the other guys on the radio asked if he'd ever even met the guy and Watters said he didn't need to.

The guy's absolutely full of it. The sort who thinks volume can compensate for informed opinion.

Watters still gets air time?

Looks like Rogers may have hired him. He was on Prime Time Sports the other day. I agree with Nik. He kept trying to talk over the other guests. It was difficult to listen to.

[Nik the Trik]

I didn't know if there was a generic Gary Bettman thread so I thought this was as good a place as any to post a link to an excerpt of The Instigator: How Gary Bettman Remade the League and Changed the Game Forever which is apparently a book.

How Gary Bettman spent the Vancouver Riots

Of particular interest, I thought was the bit at the end that actually talks about where he was during the riots. I'm not as anti-Bettman as I know a lot of people are but I'm still a little surprised at the idea that he gets treated like a celebrity.

[hockeyfan1]

Anyone else think Watters is a nut?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/replacement-players-could-solve-nhl-owners-problems-end-lockout

Yeah. I had the misfortune to hear him ranting about this on the radio the other day and saying stuff like "Don Fehr is a crazy egomaniac, he wants to control the game and blah blah blah" before the other guys on the radio asked if he'd ever even met the guy and Watters said he didn't need to.

The guy's absolutely full of it. The sort who thinks volume can compensate for informed opinion.

Watters still gets air time?

From the article:

What’s to stop the Russian KHL, which now has 26 teams in seven countries, from starting its own North American division and attracting both players and fans hungry for hockey?

Just a thought, could it happen?

[drummond]

Anyone else think Watters is a nut?

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/replacement-players-could-solve-nhl-owners-problems-end-lockout

Yeah. I had the misfortune to hear him ranting about this on the radio the other day and saying stuff like "Don Fehr is a crazy egomaniac, he wants to control the game and blah blah blah" before the other guys on the radio asked if he'd ever even met the guy and Watters said he didn't need to.

The guy's absolutely full of it. The sort who thinks volume can compensate for informed opinion.

Watters still gets air time?

From the article:

What’s to stop the Russian KHL, which now has 26 teams in seven countries, from starting its own North American division and attracting both players and fans hungry for hockey?

Just a thought, could it happen?

7 countries sounds like a giant league, but you should not forget that 5 of them are former Soviet Republics and their teams (Minsk, Riga, Kiev, Kharkov, Astana) have always been part of Soviet/Russian hockey league. In other words the only true expansion is accepting Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) and Lev Prague (Czech Republic) this season. Only time will tell whether this expansion lasts. Lev team played in Poprad (Slovakia) last year and went bankrupt. In Prague they will do better especially if they keep winning, not sure about Slovan team.

[Rebel_1812]

Ovie thinks the salary cut means some players will not come back.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=405665
"I said it before, before I sign a contract, if the league decides to cut our salaries and cut our contracts for what they want, I don't know how many guys will be coming back," Ovechkin said on the call. "We signed contracts before so why do they have to cut our salaries and our contracts right now? They signed us, [now they] want to cut it. I think it's a stupid idea and a stupid decision by the NHL, [commissioner Gary] Bettman and the guys who work there."

The KHL has given the league competition for mid level Russian players.  Some make more money over there then in the NHL. This trend might expand to mid-level non-Russian players and even top flight players depending on the CBA.  As Ovie points outs, how can you trust someone and do business with you if they don't honor your contract.

[hockeyfan1]

If this doesn't do the job.....

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/precocious-3-old-nhl-fan-thinks-gary-bettman-211046435--nhl.html

[Hampreacher]

 Amodest proposal. Settle the revenue sharing at 50-50. Set cap at 63 million with a luxury tax of 10% up to 70 million. When cap reaches 70 million luxury option gone. Cap is cap as determined by 50-50 share. Move Tampa Bay to Seattle. Move Columbus and Nashville to Quebec City and Moncton. Move Florida to Hamilton. Then with 3 lockouts in Bettmans tenure a sign of poor management fire Bettman.

[Frank E]

Interesting read, I didn't realize that there were some cost deductions from HRR for the teams...although I'm not sure the Friedman understands it that well.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opinion/2012/09/making-sense-of-hockey-related-revenue.html

The most interesting part of this particular CBA negotiation, in my opinion, is the fact that the players are not disputing the figures coming out of the league with respect to the losses many teams are realizing.

[Nik the Trik]

The most interesting part of this particular CBA negotiation, in my opinion, is the fact that the players are not disputing the figures coming out of the league with respect to the losses many teams are realizing.

No, I think the issue is more centred around what those losses mean.

[Chev-boyar-sky]

Maybe I'm just slow on the uptake, but I just realized an interesting thing.

Is it any kind of coincidence that we saw lots of long term big dollar deals to major stars in the last couple years and now we're seeing the owners ask for 17% or whatever it is back.

I guess I mean was there some kind of knowledge on the ownership side that they would never fully honour the amount they were proposing as they would be making harsh demands in this CBA?

It definitely leads to bad blood between guys with mega year deals and ownership and makes guys looking for long deals wary of leaving any kind of dollars on the table as they won't trust the owners in the future to honour the contracts that are bargained in good faith.

Also it's kind of ironic (sad) that one of the few teams who could easily afford to pay every penny of the most expensive long term deals has absolutely zero on the books.

This league just makes no sense at all....