36 member panel made up of most experienced hockey minds to SAVE SEASON!

[Accord]

A 3rd party panel made up of 36 of the most experienced hockey minds from both sides and sides not even involved such as former executives, former players, refs, etc. have came up with a proposal to save the season and the future of the sport.

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/avalanche/article/0,1299,DRMN_39_3464154,00.html

Here are the highlights of the proposal:

The proposal has been submitted to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow. Adoption will necessitate compromise on both sides, but advocates hope the proposal will serve as a starting point for a process that could end the standoff.

Highlights of the plan include:

• A "tier system," under which teams sign players in six pay categories.

• Maximum two-year contracts for players based on performance.

• Pay scales ranging from a minimum $400,000 per season to unlimited amounts for one "franchise player" per team.

• Elimination of the salary arbitration system.

• Outright free agency for players after 500 career NHL games or at age 28 - three years earlier than under the previous contract.

• Formation of a Competition Review Committee to make changes beneficial to the appeal of NHL hockey in North America.

• Creation of a "partnership alliance" between owners and players that would standardize a method for determining the hockey-related revenue to be shared by the sides.

• Establishing a revenue-sharing fund among team owners based on team payrolls.

• Team payroll taxes that include escalating forfeitures of high draft picks for excessive spending.

• An improved pension program for retired players and league and club employees.

• A duration of five years for any new contract between the NHL and the union.

Click to read more...

 

[two out of three*]

I hate the one "franchise player" thing.

 

[Leafer4Life]

Interesting! I wish it would work, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Thanks for the info,Accord!

 

[Digger12]

It's nice, but I honestly don't expect this to go any farther than the Brian Burke and Bill Watters proposals to save the season did.

3 is still a crowd according to Bettman and Goodenow, at least for now.

 

[PecaFan]

This should be merged with the Conway thread:
http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=123386

 

[GKJ]

I think there needs to at least be a 40-some game season. Even if the regular season extends into mid-May.

 

[Accord]

I think there needs to at least be a 40-some game season. Even if the regular season extends into mid-May.

I agree.

 

[Egil]

I think you only need 28 games. Playing each team in your conference home and away is more than sufficient to determine who deserves to go to the playoffs and who doesn't.

Remember, we view things like the Olympics, or World Cup (Soccer) as legitimate, and they 1 game against 3 other teams in a 4 team group.

 

[MarkZackKarl]

.

Good point, Egil, 28 games does give enough Leeway for a season. Home and away against each conference opponent. 14 games in February and March. The playoffs could be pushed back a couple weeks. We could easily get a 36 game season in...

Ie. 3 x against division = 15
2 x against other 10 teams = 20

1 "bonus game" against a rival etc=1


Seems possible

 

[s7ark]

I hate the one "franchise player" thing.

Me too. to me that is just asking for trouble. A team with more then one ligit superstar will have real problems keeping them all if one is making a lot more money.

 

[Motown Beatdown]

I hate the one "franchise player" thing.

I like the idea but I hate the way the NBA uses it. Teams can trade for a player then sign him under the Larry Bird rule. I think the franchise players has to be a guy drafted by his team and played all NHL games with that team or players who have been with the team for 7 years or so.

 

[ti-vite]

Good point, Egil, 28 games does give enough Leeway for a season. Home and away against each conference opponent. 14 games in February and March. The playoffs could be pushed back a couple weeks. We could easily get a 36 game season in...

Ie. 3 x against division = 15
2 x against other 10 teams = 20

1 "bonus game" against a rival etc=1


Seems possible

I thought there was a 45 day advance of no games possible so owners could fill the areans with other activities...that means season would start earliest 28th february...IF that is the case, forget about it.

 

[Motown Beatdown]

I thought there was a 45 day advance of no games possible so owners could fill the areans with other activities...that means season would start earliest 28th february...IF that is the case, forget about it.

I wouldn't worry about that, if they reach a deal they'll figure out a way to play the games.

 

[Morbo]

Me too. to me that is just asking for trouble. A team with more then one ligit superstar will have real problems keeping them all if one is making a lot more money.

That's the way it is under the hard cap.

How else can you make sure that the talent is evenly balanced?

 

[Egil]

I thought there was a 45 day advance of no games possible so owners could fill the areans with other activities...that means season would start earliest 28th february...IF that is the case, forget about it.

Teams can book the arena 45 days in adance. However, all of the arenas are still going to have open dates all over the place, which can quickly have an NHL game scheduled.

 

[Schlep Rock]

Signing players in a "tiered" system won't work.

How is it determined what player goes in which tier? The GM's? Oh they'd love that!

You can't base it on stats either because there's guy's like P.J. Axelsson who are VITAL to their teams but don't put up a large number of points. How is P.J.'s value in the tiered system determined?

While this "proposal" has some nice ideas this is a majorly flawed one for so many reasons. Each player brings a different value to a team and there would be no reason to keep a team from dropping the PJ's of the world into a lower tier using the stats as reasoning. The NHL is trying to get an "idiot-proof" CBA because they are convined all 30 teams can't police themselves so why would people keep bringing up a system in which the teams are 100% in control?

 

[Sanderson]

That's the way it is under the hard cap.

How else can you make sure that the talent is evenly balanced?

No, there is a difference.
Under a hard cap every star-player would be under the same restrictions. That wouldn't be the case with a franchise-player exception.

Take Atlanta for example. Kovalchuk and Heatley are both superstars and roughly on the same level, but only one of them could be the "official" franchise-player.
This would leave one of them with a restricted salary, because the rest of the team needs to be paid under the cap as well, and the other one with an "unlimited" salary.
Now, Kovalchuk and Heatley are friends so they might not care, but there are more than enough teams where there are multiple stars, who want to be paid like their equals.