No, the players would NOT be better off with a union. And everyone knows what I think of the current situation.
They need to blow up their union and completely revamp it. You'd think that getting bent over a barrel twice by their own PA leader would teach them that they need to be more involved in union affairs.
I really believe hockey players are among the most intelligent in all of sports (not that the bar is particularly high). However, like many athletes they blindly let others take care of matters they don't think are important, like finances. Besides lavish lifestyle, that's why you see pro athletes going broke - they consistently get bad financial advice and are not involved enough in their own affairs to catch embezzlement or fraud until it's too late.
That's the difference IMO with Fehr and Bettmann right now. Make no mistake, I don't like Gary. He's a jerk. (I do respect some of the things he's accomplished though) Both have some pretty heavy-handed controls over the people they represent.
However, who do you think is more likely to suddenly and without warning fire their representative - 30 billionaire owners who are used to getting what they want, or 700 disjointed players?
Who is in a better position to know exactly what their representative is doing for their benefit, and be willing to get rid of them?
You better believe it's the owners. If Gary was not doing his job to their satisfaction, it would be easy for all these rich guys to get together and fire him, 75% vote or not.
Right now Gary has a plan. You might not like it, but it makes at least some sense for everyone.
Don has no plan.
That's what it comes down to for me. I don't care who you like or don't like. I don't care about your petty semantic arguments that circle around the matter like pedantic vultures.
The games is being hurt by both sides. However as it stands, Gary isn't hurting the owners. But Don is hurting the players.
Why in the hell does that sound right to you? The bad guy isn't even playing the bad guy.