Rant of the day...

[GoM]

**** the NHL.

Wherever I am next year, I'll have the OHL. I don't need the NHL anymore. I'll be here when it returns.

 

[Hasbro]

I hate sports unions. Yeah you got screwed in the past, but the majority of players who were there are now long retired and alot of the ownership has turned over too.

I can't stand their Harlan county U.S.A. "i've got to feed my dog rhetoric." Especial when not only the money they make is damngood, but having the luxary to collectively bargin is something most people lack.

The PA never care about problems beyond money. Safety issues? Don't care competition? they'll fight any change like taking two inches off goaltender's pads.

They'll file a grievence on the most deserved fine.

Anyplay who does decide to take less to be happy gets a presured from these groups.

With all the hate against Betman they still haven't been able to turn the public against him.

And please tell me why you object so strongly to a cap?!

 

[GoM]

And please tell me why you object so strongly to a cap?!

You answered it yourself

i've got to feed my dog

 

[octopi]

Something tells me nothing will ever work. Small market fans complain about the fact that they lose their best players under the current(well, not current really) system. Big market fans complain about the fact that they can't get the best players under the new(well, not new yet) system. The players can't accept being capped at only making millions/hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The owners can't trust one another because there will always be that one owner that screws everything up, and creates the absolute mess that the NHL finds itself in today.

I remember when sports were a game. Only it was when I was 8, and some friends and I would play. Now it's just as big a headache as anything else on this planet.

Billion dollar business, and neither side can figure out how to make everyone happy. Good job!

Remember that show, "The Weakest Link" ? I say the fans get to vote people off the NHL and NHLPA sides until we at least get some kind of compatibilty in talks. The current "we're as far apart as the earth and the moon" thing is getting us nowhere fast

 

[zeppelin97]

The PA never care about problems beyond money. Safety issues? Don't care competition? they'll fight any change like taking two inches off goaltender's pads.

The players aren't just money grubbers. Many do community programs and spend time with fans, talking, signing autographs. They care about the fans. Yeah the players obviously value money more than the fans, thats very true. But it doesn't mean they don't care. I'm trying to say the fan service guys like Yzerman, Luc, Gretzky and others have done is not a ruse.

The owners on the other hand are the ones with a one tracked mind. Take a wild guess what that is.

Both sides are very greedy. Try to remember which side actually spends time with the fans and would actually offer their time to us.

 

[thrillonomicist]

Had my first SAT review class today, and the essay topic I had to write about dealt with the saying "You don't know what you've got till it's gone."

I would like to thank the NHLPA for giving me a topic to write an essay about. Especially Mike Modano and his starving dog. Thanks!

 

[djhn579]

The players aren't just money grubbers. Many do community programs and spend time with fans, talking, signing autographs. They care about the fans. Yeah the players obviously value money more than the fans, thats very true. But it doesn't mean they don't care. I'm trying to say the fan service guys like Yzerman, Luc, Gretzky and others have done is not a ruse.

The owners on the other hand are the ones with a one tracked mind. Take a wild guess what that is.

Both sides are very greedy. Try to remember which side actually spends time with the fans and would actually offer their time to us.

That explains why many of them have endured years of losses, to the tune of $1.5B over the past 10 years, because all they are interested in is money and they don't care about the fans at all...

Try to remember which side has to actually pay for all those players so you can enjoy your NHL hockey.

 

[DeleteThisAccount]

I have a canker sore on my lip and I keep poking at it with my tongue, but that's just making it worse!

Place the quote and win...absolutely nothing.

 

[Riddarn]

Call the season already, or go back to the table. I can't stand this waiting!

 

[Whakahere]

I want to know why some people keep saying that the players deserve to be paid as much as they want because they are such a scarce commodity. If the NHL players are such a scarce commodity, they should be absolutely dominating these other leagues that they are playing in, yet I haven't heard nothing about that happening.

that is because they don't. Most NHL players I have seen (I live in europe) hook and hold and get pentlies. The NHL has made them lazy. they don't skate, can't pass to save themselves, they hit from behind, and hook/hold some more. their skill level is lower (of course this is not for all of the players, just most of them).

Does that mean that there are a lot more decent hockey players out there that are not playing in the NHL?

yes and no. more skilled players but most of them aren't strong enough to fight off all the holding and hooking. The NHL players are slowing down the game here.

Does this mean that the NHL has not over expanded as some other people think and that all the clutching and grabbing is more responcible for the boring hockey games we seen in recent years?

na, it over expanded. it brought is all the players (that have strength) that have to hook and hold to keep up.

 

[Whakahere]

The league needs real revenue sharing if it is going to work.

Owners are capitist pigs who want most of the money themselves without the chance to lose a dime on stupid managerment mistakes. They should look into real revenue sharing and a plan with a tax and a cap.

Players Should take their head out of their ass and look into a cap, but only if they get real revenue sharing. Right now they are greedy bastards that will destroy the sport with their current offers.

 

[alecfromtherock]

Here is a modified version of a published article I had in The Evening Telegram(NL) Nov 13,2004

NHLPA needs a big kick in the ass


Audacity: Bold or insolent heedlessness of restraints, as of those imposed by prudence, propriety, or convention.

Bob Goodenow fits the above definition to a tee with regard to Mr. Arthur Levitt’s report on the finances of the NHL. Mr. Levitt is the former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, not your local bean counter at the bank

Mr. Levitt’s report stated that the NHL as a whole lost $273 million when he went through the books of the 30 NHL teams. Mr. Levitt even offered to go through his findings with the NHLPA, but they did not want that.
Facts and figures:

The disparity between the highest and lowest team salaries is astounding.
$77,856,100 is the highest team salary for the Detroit Red Wings. The lowest team salary belongs to the Nashville Predators at $22,932,500. The difference in the extremities is $55,923,600, 23 of the NHL teams do not even have a team salary over the difference in high-low.

High team salaries do not necessarily translate into a Stanley Cup, rather contention to be in the playoffs. Last years Stanley Cup teams were the Tampa Bay Lightning $34,065,450 (21st overall) and the Calgary Flames $36,402,600 (18th overall)

Players salaries totalled $1,332,948,890 last season, averaging $44,432,529 per team. 18/30 teams were under the average team salaries last season.

The NHL preposed team cap is $35 million in which based on the 2003-2004 season team salaries translates to 11 teams under the cap, 8 teams relatively close to the cap and 11 teams way over the cap. Salaries would be reduced some $340,099,690 thereby reducing the player revenue down to $992,849,200, 74.4% of 2003-2004 season, a 25.6% reduction(PA offered 24% rollback didn’t they?)

Gary Bettman did not say that $35 million was the only acceptable salary cap, it is his initial offer, the NHLPA have given their initial salary cap offer of $0. In order to negotiate both sides counter offer until an acceptable amount is achieved. A salary cap should not exceed last years team average rounded up to $45 million dollars.

Where does all of the money go?

The top 25(3.4% of NHL players) individual salaries combined for $219,740,700 or 16.4% of the total NHL salaries. The other 720 players (96.6%) take in only 83.6% of the total salary.

With a $35-$45 million cap could a team afford to pay Peter Frosberg $11 million a year? That’s 25%-31% of the entire teams player budget. Throw in a Pavel Bure and Robert Holik for $29.5 million and you have a 3 member team.

While the salary cap is a simple formula to calculate: Team can not exceed X dollars, a individual salary cap is far more complex.
A $5 million dollar maximum individual salary cap would be reasonable in my estimation. Players making under $1,000,000 would barlee be effected by the cap, $1 -- $2.5 million modestly effected and players $7 million plus greatly effected.

Ticket cost also needs to be addressed to the NHL and the NHLPA because the average ticket is $41.56(middle to nose bleed section) For comparison sake an average MLB ticket is $13.60, the best game of baseball, the Yankees is only $20.51 on the average.

A Toronto Maple leafs ticket averages $75, this cost is inflated due to the fact that 17,000/19,000 seats are season tickets mostly owned by companies and not individuals. The average Joe can not compete with corporate firms that have deep pockets.

76% of all the revenue in hockey goes towards players.

The Montreal Canadians had the highest total fans 842,767 and the highest average attendance 20,555 in the NHL last season. Lowering the cost will allow more teams to enjoy a full house like the HABS and the other top fan draws in the NHL. The total fans for hockey last season was 20,336,163, times the average ticket cost and we get $845,170,934.28 (63% of player revenue)
With 850 million dollars the fans should have far more weight then the players and owners in the NHL labour dispute.

Fans of hockey have been ignored by the NHL and the NHLPA is this labour dispute. They are ‘SO’ sorry that the other side is causing you to miss your favourite game, what BS panhandling to the fans when they are both to blame for this mess.

Mortgage payments and bills have to be paid, down payments on that new Jag: The union should have a general vote on a salary cap before the start of the next season 2005-2006(this season is gone as it will have not enough creditably to start) If September come and there still has not been dialogue between the 2 sides, hockey can be a writeoff.

Owners are losing money, players are getting far too much money and ticket prices are astronomically high.

But hey for all of that we get to see a great game of hockey where players have no respect for each other and willingly use cheep and dirty hits to injure other players. Hockey has weakened over the past few years(quality) and unless it changes from principal up, its not going to be missed that much

 

[Whakahere]

I have just found out what the NHL really means :

Normal
Homosexual
League

why?

Because all they do there is clutch and grope each other (hook and hold baby). No women allowed in the league

 

[Lobstertainment]

I have a canker sore on my lip and I keep poking at it with my tongue, but that's just making it worse!

Place the quote and win...absolutely nothing.

Buy some Alum(a salt like mineral used in pickleling) wet your finger and put some alum on it, now apply the Alum to the sore.

do not swallow the Alum.

Hold in your mouth for a minute or two, it mihgt hurt like hell depending on how bad the sore is, just do it anyways, then spit it out after the minute, rinse with water.

your mouth will feel shriviled and, well pickled, after but keep doing it and that sore will be gone in no time flat.

 

[Ron C.]

After a year plus of no hockey, it's not going to be a 2B$ pie to split up any more. Average salaries that were 1.8M and were reported to be stabilized at @1.3+M may wind up being less than many players realize.

 

[officeglen]

Ranted

Thanks for the opportunity to rant without starting a new thread.

In previous CBA negotiations the NHLPA has been able to take advantage of the NHL’s myopic thinking to achieve amazing gains. For example, it is hard to believe that the NHL employed business lawyers that did not realize that controlling rookie salaries could only be effectively done by controlling bonuses to those types of players as well.

Now the same myopic thinking that was once to their advantage is hurting the players big time. The NHL strategy clearly is to wait as long as it takes to get cost certainty, since once this is obtained they will make money regardless of how much the level of total revenue has fallen. However for some owners this approach is tragically flawed, since without a level of sufficient revenue a fair number of franchises will be unable to continue to operate, even under cost certainty. For the owners of these franchises, locking out the fans will produce revenue certainty, but not the amount they want. Sadly, the weeding out process will leave the enduring fans of these franchises doubly disappointed, first having waited out the lockout, only to then watch their teams fold in one to three years after that. On the brighter side, for the fans of the remaining franchises, one can expect the league to be less diluted of quality.

In my opinion the only way the NHLPA can hope to force the NHL off their strategy is to also become the XHLPA. If another top pro league can get going in North America, it will provide a viable threat to the NHL’s strategy if it is allowed to mature. Although there are a restricted number of venues for a new league to operate in, there are still enough available arenas to make some sort of league feasible. Although initial salaries will be quite low, and a blow to the inflated egos and salaries of some players, the XHLPA should support the league to the maximum extent possible. Then if the lockout continues through next season, the owners will have to worry about how long they can allow the upstart league to grow, and thus would then have some impetus to finally compromise.

 

[firstroundbust]

all I can say is thank god for the CHL, NCAA, and all the other leagues around the world who are there for the diehards. Without them, I'd would have lost my sanity.

 

[firstroundbust]

In my opinion the only way the NHLPA can hope to force the NHL off their strategy is to also become the XHLPA. If another top pro league can get going in North America, it will provide a viable threat to the NHL’s strategy if it is allowed to mature. Although there are a restricted number of venues for a new league to operate in, there are still enough available arenas to make some sort of league feasible. Although initial salaries will be quite low, and a blow to the inflated egos and salaries of some players, the XHLPA should support the league to the maximum extent possible. Then if the lockout continues through next season, the owners will have to worry about how long they can allow the upstart league to grow, and thus would then have some impetus to finally compromise.

I think if a hypothetical new pro league were to start, with the right markets, it could succeed...and we can get Jesse Ventura to do color commentary.

 

[LastChancePrice]

Stupid Players!!! Accept The Cap God Dammit!!!!

 

[pacde]

Goodbye NHL. Loved it while it lasted

 

[MarkZackKarl]

Stupid fans!! Stop posting God damnit!!!!!!!!!

 

[struckmatch]

Does anyone else think the latest media sewage to come out of the PA's leadership has been a big smokescreen?

I have a hard time buying anything thats reported in the media about Collective Bargaining, as the media is used as tool to further the arguments and support of both sides.

 

[Hasbro]

I have a canker sore on my lip and I keep poking at it with my tongue, but that's just making it worse!

Place the quote and win...absolutely nothing.

Take lysene. And use a topical lysene. you can get them at vitman stores.

 

[Hasbro]

Does anyone else think the latest media sewage to come out of the PA's leadership has been a big smokescreen?

Yes!

I have a hard time buying anything thats reported in the media about Collective Bargaining, as the media is used as tool to further the arguments and support of both sides.

Like Strachan and Brooks.

 

[hockeyfan125]

The worst thing was the usually entertaining Nick Kypreos drabble on about Pro PA ********. I can't watch any CBA stuff on TV, It is all fake and these guys are all puppets.