Dave King:"there's no money in Europe"

[RangerBoy]

Did anyone catch Dave King's comments about the playing conditions in Europe?King is currently running a team in Hamburg,Germany

King stressed that the money his league pays is insignificant compared to NHL standards and that virtually every player in the DEL plays for less than the NHL minimum salary ($200,000 per season).

"I hope they (locked-out NHL players) understand they're not going to come over here and make $50,000 a month," said King, "because that kind of money doesn't exist in this league."

"Some of the top NHL guys don't appear to want to go to Russia where the money is"

Nor does King think that Europe will represent a long-term solution for players, if the NHL lockout spills over into the 2005-06 season, as it seems inclined to do. According to King, there are only about 50 well-paying jobs in all of Europe, most of them in Russia. The rest of the players are playing essentially for expenses.

"There is no money in Germany," he said. "There's no money, other than with a few teams, in Switzerland. The players may think, 'well, let's all go to Europe,' but I can tell the guys, there's not a lot of opportunity here. There's no real solution in Europe in terms of jobs because, if you look at the salary they can make and what they have to insure themselves for to cover their NHL futures, they actually don't make any money. They're playing for their per diems.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050121.wduha0121/BNStory/Sports

Do the NHL players realize the playing situation in Europe?Bob Goodenow and Trevor Linden are leading them down a long,narrow path with NO end in sight.Go waste two years of your career playing in some European beer league rather than make $1.3 million playing in the NHL.Morons

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[Riddarn]

Of course they realize the conditions. The threat of going to europe is an empty one because in the long run it will only damage themselves, in almost every aspect.

 

[RangerBoy]

Of course they realize the conditions. The threat of going to europe is an empty one because in the long run it will only damage themselves, in almost every aspect.

I don't think they do

 

[GKJ]

I don't think they do

You will in about 2 weeks

 

[me2]

I don't think they do

Of course they do. Using Europe as solution is a bluff and they know it (and so do the owners). Europe is paid holiday for 90% of the NHLers over there.

 

[The Maltais Falcon]

Of course they do. Using Europe as solution is a bluff and they know it (and so do the owners). Europe is paid holiday for 90% of the NHLers over there.

The NHLers who've viewed it as a paid holiday (Savard, McCabe, and a few others) have been told to pack their bags and go back to North America.

Speaking of Savard, he was on Atlanta sports talk radio this past weekend. He mentioned he preferred Krispy Kreme to Tim Horton's. He retracted that statement yesterday, saying his quotes had been taken out of context. I suspect the PA thought police got to him within a few hours of the statement being made.

 

[neelynugs]

Speaking of Savard, he was on Atlanta sports talk radio this past weekend. He mentioned he preferred Krispy Kreme to Tim Horton's. He retracted that statement yesterday, saying his quotes had been taken out of context. I suspect the PA thought police got to him within a few hours of the statement being made.

"clearly, the reporter (musta been garrioch) was so focused on the donuts themselves, that the actual store in question's name was misquoted. hopefully we can put all of this behind us," said savard, who is said to have no preference in the donut arena; he likes them all

ps...europe = very short term solution for NHL players, as everyone else has mentioned