Welcome to the lockout.......

Clickety:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=400580

Just another step on the road to a delayed start at best. And people were saying I was being pessimistic

You mean I've no choice but to concentrate on the football this season? But my footie team are crap....

I think the crucial word in all of that is 'initial'. Both parties will start poles apart, but i'm sure common sence will previal.

Everything has to start somewhere. I'm with Driz, this is just the first step.

Without the players, the NHL doesnt have a product. Both sides must know this, and it gives the NHLPA a really strong bargaining hand, hence why I think that common sense will eventually prevail. I just dont fancy having no hockey in October. The off-season is long enough as it is!

"reduction of players' hockey-related revenues from 57 per cent to 46 per cent"

Yeah good luck with that one NHL. The NHLPA won't let that happen to that degree. I know the owners want to solidify their own position but the players already think the situation us bad enough as it is.

"players would need to wait 10 seasons before becoming unrestricted free agents"

Thereby locking players into a limited market. This might help reduce the number of ridiculous contracts being handed out if teams know they have a better chance of keeping their product as it were. The union however will see this as restricting worker movement rights.

"and that contracts would be limited to a maximum of five years"

This has to be the case. I love this idea and hope it sticks.

"an end to salary arbitration"

So how will disputes be settled? I don't really see the current arbitration system as a huge issue.

"and that entry-level contracts would be five years instead of three"

Same reason as mentioned before unions/agents will see this as restricting player movement rights. However it might mean the cap on the value of entry-level contracts being lifted somewhat which seems like a good payoff for the unions/agents.

"proposal would eliminate signing bonuses on future contracts"

Good. It is just circumnavigation at the end of the day and favours the bigger/richer clubs.

"and mandate that all future deals have an equal value for every year of the contract"

Combine this with the max 5 year deals and we have dealt with the biggest issue in the current CBA. Well done- stick to it NHL.

Overall I think the biggest issues the NHLPA with have with that is the revenue sharing % and the RFA/UFA balance. Some positive steps in there from the NHL around contract lengths, front loading and signing on fees though.

DRIZ wrote:
I think the crucial word in all of that is 'initial'. Both parties will start poles apart, but i'm sure common sence will previal.

So why did common sense not prevail the last 2 times they did this?

On the positive side, I agree with Buff that it is good the NHL is addressing the silly contract lengths.

I understand in any bargaining you have to start high otherwise you lose your power of negotiation.

That said I am gonna remain of the belief that we will see a delayed start at best until they get it signed, announce the official start of the season and prove me wrong. I got my hopes up time and time again during 04/05 and before I knew it we were doing a lottery to see who got Crosby.

mc_homer wrote:

DRIZ wrote:
I think the crucial word in all of that is 'initial'. Both parties will start poles apart, but i'm sure common sence will previal.

So why did common sense not prevail the last 2 times they did this?

True, but those lock outs were in 94/95 and 04/05... this should mean another two seasons before the turkeys, again vote for christmas!

mc_homer wrote:Just another step on the road to a delayed start at best. And people were saying I was being pessimistic

And here is the next step....

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=402741

mc_homer wrote:

mc_homer wrote:Just another step on the road to a delayed start at best. And people were saying I was being pessimistic

And here is the next step....

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=402741

I had been confident there would be no delat, but this really isn't a good sign. When the commish is publicly stating he will cause a lockout if players dont agree to his terms isn't good, and i doubt the players are impressed with his comments.

To be fair to Bettman he had to say that because Fehr kept saying they would play under the old agreement when no such arrangement had been made.

What really bugs me is that if they are so far apart on details then why are they submitting counter proposals one month apart?

Lock them in a room and tell them they can come out when they have agreed on something.

Do the rooms have slowly moving walls, a la garbage compactor in Star Wars or a descending roof a la Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford got a rough old deal didn't he!)?

A lock-in does sound a lot more fun. A lock-out usually comes later that night when you can't find your keys and resign yourself to lying slumped against the front door until the lady wakes up to let you in.

BuffonIdol wrote:A lock-in does sound a lot more fun. A lock-out usually comes later that night when you can't find your keys and resign yourself to lying slumped against the front door until the lady wakes up to let you in.

You lucky bugger, mine just leaves me there. She'll let the cat in though....

So apparently Donald Fehr believes there is still time to get a deal done...... well there might be if they didn't wait weeks at a time to take the next step!

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2012/08/06/sp-nhl-nhlpa-labour-cba-don-fehr.html

I love the picture of Bettman 2 thirds the way down on the right hand column

2 headed monster!

And we take another step forwards....to a lockout.

http://www.defendingbigd.com/2012/8/15/3245277/2012-nhl-cba-negotiations-bettman-says-wide-gap-remains-after-nhlpas

Of course the gap is far, that's what happens when one side has a reasonable proposal and the other a ridiculous one. I know its the owners I should be angry at not Bettmann but he just has an aura of smugness about the whole thing he deserves at least some hate.

It just bugs me how there are such long ass waits between talks. There are 2 proposals on the table and yes they seem to be addressing different issues as a priority so why not get into more regular meetings to discuss those instead of pissing about for a week.

I knew as soon as I saw that proposal from the NHLPA that it wouldn't go down well as it completely avoided a lot of the issues the owners want to address with the contracts. Not blaming the players for that though as it is the owners who put themselves in this situation as none of them can show any restraint. Just look at the Wild.....

So after waiting a week to meet.....they cancelled it. No word on why but this is a pain.

On a side note.....does anyone know if the AHL streaming service is available here? I have had a look and can't see anything about location. Also only options seem to be downloads of all files from the upcoming season and archived games so no idea how much a live service is.....

ESPN America showed a few AHL games last season, Mostly Toronto Marlies, so they must have a deal with them. Not sure about streaming though. In Fact if there was an NHL season do we even know if centre Ice is would be available again?