Another Flame leads the charge! Gelinas - Not a Fringe Player

This time Martin Gelinas
http://www.canada.com/calgary/calga....html?id=3191c60a-8356-4660-baea-7aa11c11e27d
"The next 15 to 20 days are crucial. Now's the time. If it doesn't happen in the next three weeks, we're done. The year is gone. Then what happens the year after that? It's deadly. It's only going to get uglier."

It's time we stopped blaming each other and started talking. Bob (players' union head Goodenow) should be phoning the NHL every day to talk. These guys are being paid two or three million. They should be putting their heads together."

Andy (Ference) was right. Individuals have to speak up. We have to share our feelings with Bob (Goodenow) and the executive right now.

Ference, Commodore and now Gelinas leading the charge. The flood gates have offically open, its time to get a deal done!

 

if the local papers in all 30 NHL cities were smart [or cared] they should be calling all the players, offering them a platform to speak out....at some point the pressure on the power brokers of the NHLPA would become unbearable.

 

As a Flames fan, I'm glad that Ference, Commodore & Gelinas are telling it like it is. Even better, they're not backing down from their comments ala Kolnik & Madden.

 

Cracks in the wall maybe. As soon as some of the high salaried players speak out ($5+ million) the flow will be on. And when a marque player speaks out, then the floodgates will be open.

 

I dont really see the change in his position. They have been saying this for a long time now. Get off the cap and negotiate something. Salary rollbacks, rookie caps, tighter controls on bonuses, revenue sharing, luxury taxes, these are the players proposals still.

Everyone is frustrated, but not because they want a cap. They want to negotiatei something. The NHL wont negotiate. How many phone calls can you make?

 

Owners are going to hold strong...

I agree with your comments that the Owners do need to get off a salary in order for a deal to be made.

All of the suggestions you made are workable, rollbacks, etc. but the main one would be the payroll threshold and subsequent tax. Unless the Threshold is reasonable for the owners and the TAX stiff enough to force some teams to think twice about adding that extra 5 million dollar player because that guy suddenly cost your team 8, 9, or 10 million rather than the 5 million you pay him.

The players need to come way down from the 50 million dollar threshold into something way more to the owner's liking. I can't see the owners settling for anything higher than 40 million threshold with likely a 3 digit tax rate.

From the Owner's point of view, I can understand why they haven't gotten off the Cap issue. $50 million dollar tax threshold in the PA's final offer and whatever the tax rate was, which I've heard varying reports ranging from 10% to up to 30% just wasn't going to cut it. Outside of completely rejecting it, which they did was to counter it with a much lower threshold and significantly stiffer tax rate. Which then the PA would have countered that it would basically serve as a Salary Cap because of the stiff penalty for overspending. IMO, I think the NHL is waiting for the PA to come up with numbers much closer to what they want before they even consider a Luxury Tax system.

On a side note, I kind of expected to see these comments being made by the likes of the lower tiered guys. The difference for them between an AHL contract and an NHL is huge. It's something like a 80 - 90% cut in salary for guys like Commodore and Pothier to play in the minors. It would take them around 5 - 10 years of play in the minors to make up their lost NHL salary this year. Add to that, the fact that the players drafted in the Millennium, from the 2000 to the 2004 draft will be another year older, bigger, stronger, faster, better, etc. and they will be have a huge fight to earn a spot on their team whenever the league starts again.

 

I don't know, but this 16 year NHL veteran seems to think his PA isn't trying hard enough.

 

These Flames are showing their true leadership qualities and why they survived the grind of the NHL playoffs last year. I hope more players start showing their leadership qualities and speak openly and honestly about how they feel. I still feel if players voted they would settle for a revenue sharing cost certainty type system. I think most of them just want to play hockey and it's idiots like Bob Goodenow, Chris Pronger and Bryan McCabe that intimidate other players from speaking the truth. McCabe is missing the next PA meeting so that he can get himself over to Sweden as a scab replacement for another unfortunate displaced player in Europe.

 

Well I imagine that threshold is negotiable. Thats what players are saying. Owners dont want to go down this path.

I think you have to come to terms with exactly why you are setting a tax, and what your goal is in using it. Is it too deter spending? That would require the assumption that owners are sensitive to losing money. Or is it to raise money for redistribution to teams losing money for systemic reasons? If that is the goal, then wouldnt you want to find the tax level that raises the most money? That wouldnt likely be 3 digit.