R.i.p. Nhl

Some people here continue to be very optimistic concerning the 05-06 season and that it will start in time (with the NHL players)...

I see absolutly no reason to be optimistic. The owners made it very clear that every deal after a lost season has to include linkage. And i understand the owners. The impact of the lost season is unknown and they don´t want to take any risks...

On the other hand i just don´t see the PA agree on a CBA that includes linkage... so it looks like impasse is the way to go... and once that happens, the NHL is not the NHL anymore and I will not care any more...

This whole process just killed the NHL

 

RIP NHL...thanks to the 8 or whoever owners that most likely declined the deal. I hope a list comes out of those teams who did so we know who really killed the NHL.

 

For chrissakes, this is crappy but lets not get overly dramatic.

 

yep, we know what team not to cheer for..

 

Hi Cäppi

You are right.. but i think we can be optimistic that we will see NHL Hockey next year..with NHL Players..and not with any stupid Replacements about whom no one would care...

Negotiate from this day.. for 05/06... if the can't reach a good Deal until then...
-> ->

 

Well, lets make a list right now...I guarantee you it wasn't any of our three teams. Toronto, Colorado, or Philly.

 

Whether it is really dead or not, it might as well be. I'm not sure I will ever come back at this point.

 

I don´t think that i am too pessimistic at all... I just don´t see the owners get off their linkage-position and i just don´t see the players accept the linkage + a salary cap (for the start) that will be a lot lower than the 42,5 million now offered... this is one big mess!

 

Anyone remembers around last summer/autumn, Bob Goodenow was saying that the lockout could last well over a year?

When money talks...

 

The NHL is not dead, but the NHL as we knew it is gone forever. In particular the team or teams you support will never come back the same. The current Ottawa Senators team is lost to me and the current Toronto team is lost to the Leafs fans. Even if there are “Ottawa Senators†playing “Toronto Maple Leafs†next season or the year after, it will not be the same players, the same feuds, and the same passion. So the sense of grieving we all feel is very real, as we have lost something we had strong emotional ties to. And today it feels like the NHL is gone forever.

Some argue that the players should take any deal on the table, as it has to be much better than what will be available next week, next month, and next year. While this makes sense from a purely short term business point of view, it does not factor in how players feel about it. Studies have shown that when groups are faced with practices they consider are unfair, then they will take steps to resist the practices even if it is not in their personal best interest to do so. It appears that the vast majority of the NHL players feel the NHL partial offers have been unfair, so resistance will continue for at least another season, if not much longer. The players don’t understand how a salary cap of 42.5M can be fair for a team with 100M of revenues, and the league hasn’t been able to present them with a revenue sharing plan that answers this. If the NHL had been able to present an offer perceived as fair by many players, then the NHLPA would likely have had to accept it, or face the disintegration of their association.

For fans the best approach in my opinion is to withdraw your emotional and fiscal investments in the league and wait to see what happens. In particular one should ask for the return of season ticket money, cancel suites, and quit purchasing and wearing league paraphernalia. Letting the teams hold on to your money seems particularly foolish if it will be at the team’s discretion if you have to accept season tickets to a watered-down product. One might end up having to pay face value for whatever they print the tickets as, while they run endless 2 for 1 promotions to try to draw the other fans back. Far better would be to put yourself in the position of one of those fans they are trying to entice back.

As a fan at this point it is not really about which side is right or wrong. In my opinion if both sides could meet in New York Saturday and neither had a comprehensive offer for the other, then both sides are at fault for continuing to play the impasse positioning games at the abyss of professional hockey. For a fan it comes down to what is right for you. That’s hard to figure out right now, because most of the options are not known yet. When will the NHL be back and what will it look like? Will there be another pro league in North America or just Canada? Will a lot of talented European players sign closer to home? When these and other questions are resolved, then the fan can invest time, money, and involvement in the professional sport. For now invest your time in other matters, such as I will. Certainly spending more time with friends and family can’t be wrong.

Bye for now.

 

Shut up. Your team was one of the teams that brought upon this mess. The teams trying to stop the high spending are as much to blame as the high spending teams for bringing us to this mess.

 

well, it's good to see that the board's contingent of 13-15 year olds thinks that simply bumping the cap up to 45 million would have brought about a deal.

How's the weather down there, with your head in the sand?

Try reading ALL the facts. It makes you look MUCH less ridiculous to everyone else.

 

i agree - the league will be completely different - ( and the hockey will suck )

 

not so fast - no bottom cap and no revenue sharing shot this one down -

 

that's exactly my point. Too many people think, "oh, well, if so and so owner would have agreed to the 45 number, we'd have a deal"

No, there was much more than that to this.

 

aye lad