Eklund: The End (of the Lockout) is Near.

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rwilson99

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Thursday, January 27, 2005


The end is here.
I am jumping on a flight, but I just got word about the new proposal coming from the NHL. How serious is it? My source says, "This will absolutely be over by Saturday. Posturing is over. These talks are the final talks. We will know where we are in the next few days. I am convinced this new proposal is a result of what both sides have been working on. There is immense pressure coming from the big teams. The players are going to have a hard time turning down this offer. Word is they already know what it basically is and are holding a vote on their website as we speak. I would be stunned if the season was cancelled. It won't go past the week-end. Not a chance"

http://hockeyrumors.blogspot.com/
 

hossy316

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I certainly hop this is true!! I am really strating to miss the game now, this is just too much!! Guess I took it for granted before.

IMO, I just cannot see a whole season being canceled. And if it is, most, if not all of next too. I don't think that either side wants that. the players wanna play and make $ and the owners wanna make money. I truely believe that there will be a season.
 

neelynugs

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Feb 27, 2002
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great news...go eklund!!

(waits until everyone gets mad over optimism from a cloudy source)

:joker:
 

NJD Jester

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It's really not a stretch for this guy to say the lockout will be over -- practically every media outlet with someone close to the negotiations is saying that progress has been made, and the season will be saved.

But a new proposal? That seems like a leap. The two sides have been talking since the last meeting last week, and then met again this week. All for the NHL to make a new bid? To me, it seems like they'd be more likely to be working out a deal together.

EDIT: Well, I guess the radio's been reporting a new proposal from the NHL. Hmmmm...this could be a good thing or a bad thing.

<JESTER>
 

Watts02

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Well one thing is for sure we will know if this guy was blowing smoke or not now that he has actually said something Definitive for once. And for his sake he had better be right.
 

mudcrutch79

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You know what though? At some point he'll be right, and those who are inclined to believe such things will. The more discerning reader though might note this:

"And the season will begin mid January. The players over in Europe have already been informed of this."

"My sources say that any moment now Bettman will announce a date that a deal needs to be made by in order to salvage the season. All my sources agree that the date is somewhere around December 10th."

"The thought is that players playing oversees will have a distinct advantage once the season begins in January."

"All this being said, it is my belief, and the belief of several players I have talked to that all of this will be moot, and play will resume in January."

"A penguin said, "I just talked to my agent and he represents serveral other guys. He put out the word to get yourself in shape by January 8th for the expected start of camp. He said that a deal is being brokered by some really high-ups including: Mario, Wayne, Bettman, and Neil (a player rep)."

Prior to the players Dec. 9 proposal.

"Many are saying that the players are going to have their new proposal in the hands of the NHL later today or tomorrow...prior to the Dec 2 GM meeting. What this proposal entails is being widely speculated on, and depending on who you choose to believe, it is anywhere from a token gesture to a real concession. One thing is for certain, as I have reported all along it will include a cap."

After the owners proposal.

That being said they all agreed that they would be coming back with a proposal in the next week or so that would probably get it done. They said they are hearing the new proposal will accept the cap portions of the deal but not the roll-backs to the extent that Bettman had them in place.

There are also some people I used to work with who told me that plans have begun to launch the season immediately following the Superbowl.

Jan, 09

Ultimatum form NHL is coming Monday. Three sources on this. We'll see.

Jan. 17

I've been told, by someone very high up in the NHLPA, that they expect the basic outline to be done by Thursday, and an announcement could come on Sunday that the players are going to report back to camp in 7 to 10 days. There will then be a quick mini camp, 1 or 2 preseason scrimmages...followed by a season to start the Wednesday following the Super Bowl.

Jan. 18

This deal is done by Sunday this week.

If you go back and read through it, all he ever does is say that the players will cave. The only way this is a real reporter is if he's Al Strachan-no one else would post this many bad sources. Incredible. And yet he'll eventually get lucky, and be hailed as having had sources all along.
 

rwilson99

Registered User
mudcrutch79 said:
You know what though? At some point he'll be right, and those who are inclined to believe such things will. The more discerning reader though might note this:
If you go back and read through it, all he ever does is say that the players will cave. The only way this is a real reporter is if he's Al Strachan-no one else would post this many bad sources. Incredible. And yet he'll eventually get lucky, and be hailed as having had sources all along.

I would count myself as a pro-Ecklund guy, but I appreciate your very solid factual post.

I would argue that rumors are rumors and that the apparent split between Linden and Goodenow would be a great explanation for the delays in getting a deal, and the conflicting signals coming from a multitude of sources.
 

hockeymistress

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Oct 9, 2004
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mudcrutch79 said:
You know what though? At some point he'll be right, and those who are inclined to believe such things will. The more discerning reader though might note this:



Prior to the players Dec. 9 proposal.



After the owners proposal.





Jan, 09



Jan. 17



Jan. 18



If you go back and read through it, all he ever does is say that the players will cave. The only way this is a real reporter is if he's Al Strachan-no one else would post this many bad sources. Incredible. And yet he'll eventually get lucky, and be hailed as having had sources all along.


Have all this handy when some resolution actually finally DOES happen and everyone screams, "See, he was RIGHT!"

The guy is eventually going to have to be right if every other day he is posting, "A resolution is coming, it's going to be announced..."

For all the times he has been dead wrong, he'll finally get it right once and people will be jumping for joy and saying he is legit.

H.
 

Watts02

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SO then why on earth is He the only one reporting these rumors. Where are the credible reporters with reliable sources. Everyone has sources since this lockout started. It is insane. Yeah they are rumours but everyone is eating them up because thats what you want to hear. "it's commming to an end". This one he will eventually get right but like mudcrutch79 showed look how much CRAP this guy has spewed. Dont be at all surprised if Bettman continues to play hard ball with this new offer from the NHL, and force a hard cap at a level of around no more then $40Millon. If his sources are so correct and the players are getting very weak kneed, why not push it down their throats and get it all. Because thats the direction his posts are leading us to believe, that the players are over throwing Goodenow and are about to cave.
 

417

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Feb 20, 2003
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Watts02 said:
SO then why on earth is He the only one reporting these rumors. Where are the credible reporters with reliable sources. Everyone has sources since this lockout started. It is insane. Yeah they are rumours but everyone is eating them up because thats what you want to hear. "it's commming to an end". This one he will eventually get right but like mudcrutch79 showed look how much CRAP this guy has spewed. Dont be at all surprised if Bettman continues to play hard ball with this new offer from the NHL, and force a hard cap at a level of around no more then $40Millon. If his sources are so correct and the players are getting very weak kneed, why not push it down their throats and get it all. Because thats the direction his posts are leading us to believe, that the players are over throwing Goodenow and are about to cave.

Well this is what makes TSN, Sportsnet so credible, even if they had a feeling this thing will get resolved, they won't leak anything out until they are 120% sure that's the case, that's why TSN is TSN and Sportsnet is Sportsnet, once this thing is resolved, one of them will come out with a "as reported by TSN first" type of statement, the media plays such a key role in negotiations, I don't think people realize to what extent
 

I in the Eye

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Dec 14, 2002
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Eklund = paparazzi, IMO

Never gets invited to the party, but probably has low-level sources that know (or have heard 'rumblings' through the grapevine) where the parties are - and then he camps outside... Hey, I was there!

IMO, he's likely bent the truth a bit (or a lot), and now that the blog has gotten bigger than he originally thought, to come out would perhaps expose these half-truths... Pure speculation on my part...

I think Eklund wears the big cowboy hat, but has no (or a small herd of) cattle... I would think that real respected journalists would always put their name behind their work - a stamp of approval... and sell their exclusive stories to media outlets for $... It is, afterall, their career...

But it's a fun read, nonetheless, IMO...
 

snakepliskin

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Jan 27, 2005
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an argument could also be made that the larger market teams are pressuring the owners into making a deal -in my humble opinion both sides might have partially caved to make a deal to play-i'm sure other than the upper echelon of players that the average player was getting antsy and letting it be known to their reps and the owners were starting to get some heat from the large market teams and especially NBC and this could lead to a compromise deal. however i don't think a compromise deal is what the league needed to be solvent and this is probably one negotiation that the league really needed to win big. a 50 mill cap plus a franchise player is absolutely useless to over half the league, if the larger market teams have forced a compromise on a cap i would have to believe that they also agreed to some form of revenue sharing that is pretty significant.
 

Watts02

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lets not forget. Bettman needs 8 owners and his vote to shoot down any proposal. So who has the leverage. The big teams. Not a chance they stand to make the most. So they really don't have the big voice to sway the NHL into a premature deal. Bettman has all he needs and will get what he wants, IMO that means no deal this weekend unless the players completely cave, which wont happen either.
 

I in the Eye

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Travelin Man said:
Eklund can be wronng 99 times and be an ass.

Then he'll be right 1 time and become God!!!


This is no differrent than all the trade deadline rumors.

God to some... David Koresh to others...
 

bleedgreen

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i still don think this guy has any complete followers, just people who want to hear something positive. i dont see any posters believing what he says verbatim. on the other thread everyone is happy that he has been proven wrong by there being an nhl proposal. what if the "agreement in general" is that proposal? nothing he has said has been proven right.....or wrong. everyone also complains that he distances himself from the sources or doesnt provide proof. name me one guy like brooks, strachan, garrioch, fishler....who doesnt distance himself by refering to "sources" and never provides proof over rumours they print. to me he is just as credible as those guys, its all just sensationalistic crap - just because the other guys write for big papers doesnt give them credibility in these departments.
 

Fish on The Sand

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I notice in one of his blogs he said Wayne and Mario were some of the higher ups. I could be mistaken, but I was under the impression they were almost inconsequential to the proceedings?
 
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