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Bettman just announced it, and now, with all the idle speculation of "last minute deals" aside and proven false, the owners, and ESPECIALLY the players can

Couldn't have said it better myself

Yeah...I think we are all with ya TG!

I'm with you TG, but in my book, its the players assn. alone that can kiss my ass. I felt very, very sorry for Bettman in that conference this afternoon.

I think, based on his comments that we are going to see replacement players next year. The PA has ruined this league to the point where they will never agree to anything feasible with league revenues, and I think this is pretty much the end of this Union. And good riddance, too. Their demands have done nothing but drive the league to 4 bankruptcies in ten years and the cancellation of the first Stanley Cup Playoffs since 1919 (that was a bad year for pro sports in general!). If these players wanted to make $8 mil. per year they should have picked up a baseball bat. It just isn't feasible in a sport the size of hockey to sustain those kinds of salaries.

Also, I've been hearing a lot of talk about people feeling sorry for veterans like Lemieux who may have their careers ended by this lockout. Well, don't. Those veterans at or around 40 are the guys who, by virtue of their long tenures (very rare in hockey) are leaders amongst players. They have spent the past six months backing the PA's ridiculous power-play by doing nothing, so they, more than anyone, are responsible for the situation we are in now.

Why can't Wayne Gretzky step into the middle of this thing, make a few phone calls, point a few fingers, scratch himself a couple of times and make all of this go away. More than anyone, I'm truly disappointed that we haven't heard from The Great One throughout all of this.

I agree that the players are the main jackasses behind this, but not 100%, or even 80-20. If Bettman and the league would have been sitting alone at a bargaining table every day since 1998, or calling every day to get something done, then I'd blame the player's 100%, even if the league argued everyday for 7 years that they wanted a $1 million cap and players to wear tutu's on the ice. The fact is, that while the players demands put them more squarely behind the 8 ball for blame in this, with sporadic (at best!) negotiations, both sides get the finger.


As far as the players' demands, you're right. Hockey doesn't have the fan base, stadium sizes or tradition (as far as most US teams are concerned) to try to compete with the ridiculous salaries elsewhere in sports. Hockey players come off as true "love for the game" guys for the most part, but they just proved that love of money even trumps that. And we're the ones bent over and taking it.

*Sobs.*

It's about 65-35 with a majority of the blame on the players. I'm not sure what the difference between 3.5 million and 3.1 million. But evidently the players think it's a problem. Oh well, we got CCHA action!

TG1996 wrote: And we're the ones bent over and taking it.

I am not a big pro sports fan so it is not really a big deal to me. However, I do feel for the people who work at the arenas, businesses surrounding them, and so on. They are losing out in more ways than just entertainment. It's couple less shifts a week for people living paycheck to paycheck.

IMO no athlete in any sport deserves to earn 7 figures. What they do is really not that special. That's part of the reason why I don't care for pro sports.

kdog27 wrote:

TG1996 wrote: And we're the ones bent over and taking it.

I am not a big pro sports fan so it is not really a big deal to me. However, I do feel for the people who work at the arenas, businesses surrounding them, and so on. They are losing out in more ways than just entertainment. It's couple less shifts a week for people living paycheck to paycheck.

IMO no athlete in any sport deserves to earn 7 figures. What they do is really not that special. That's part of the reason why I don't care for pro sports.

You're definitely right here, kdog. I just saw an interview with the Chicago Blackhawks owner, and he was say that they recently had to lay off 45% of their staff. His exact comment was: "You don't sleep the night you do something like that. This is a major concern for the clubs, and I sometimes wonder if the players even care."

For me, that is the big problem in all of this. The players don't care. They think of themselves as professional athletes in the senese of NBA/MLB/NFL players. Although the NHL is (was ) the fourth major sport in N. America, it does not have the kind of widespread popularity that those sports do. I realize that some blame must be assessed to the league in this situation. In my mind, that blame is for allowing the problem to get to this point in the first place. It is player greed that has made this problem boil over. The other issue with the players that I have is that they are screwing the players who make the league minimum, too. Those are the guys that are truly hurting from this lockout.

Anyhow, this might be a topic of interest to us, and one that I have been wondering about for a while. How is this lockout, especially if the league goes to replacement players next year, going to affect people like Jordan who have already been drafted by an NHL club? Are they part of the PA already, or will they be able to play as amatuers if the PA is told to f**k off as I believe it will be? I would feel terrible for kids coming out of college if they got screwed by a situation that they had no part in creating.

This whole thing totally sucks, and I am so glad that we have a home seriese this weekend. I really need to see some hockey right now.

And everyone remember to bring lots of money for the MS Assn. this weekend!

Bleeding Orange wrote:Anyhow, this might be a topic of interest to us, and one that I have been wondering about for a while. How is this lockout, especially if the league goes to replacement players next year, going to affect people like Jordan who have already been drafted by an NHL club? Are they part of the PA already, or will they be able to play as amatuers if the PA is told to f**k off as I believe it will be? I would feel terrible for kids coming out of college if they got screwed by a situation that they had no part in creating.

Actually, this could really work out for Jordan if the league decided that it will be using replacement players next year. Jordan is not yet a member of the NHLPA (correct me if I'm wrong) and thus could be used in a lockout.

I would love it so much if the owners told the players to f**k off, and got a whole new set of teams, but limited their figures immediatley, setting a maximum salary for any player, despite talent and time hes been playing. Either that or they could just use our womens hockey club, those girls are tough! . And I have finally hatched! Took me long enough, lol.

Bleeding Orange wrote:The other issue with the players that I have is that they are screwing the players who make the league minimum, too. Those are the guys that are truly hurting from this lockout.

Good points B-orange. However, I thought I heard on ESPN that all of these players are still earning 10k a month from the players union. Now to them, 120k/yr may not be much, but 120k to do nothing is the best job in the world.

I....don't....care.

kdog27 wrote:

Bleeding Orange wrote:The other issue with the players that I have is that they are screwing the players who make the league minimum, too. Those are the guys that are truly hurting from this lockout.

Good points B-orange. However, I thought I heard on ESPN that all of these players are still earning 10k a month from the players union. Now to them, 120k/yr may not be much, but 120k to do nothing is the best job in the world.

Actually they're over in Europe making money for playing over there.

Even though my previous opinions stand, maybe there will be NHL hockey after all...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1994750