kerrly said:
No he failed because he was unable to get the deal he was looking for. His deadline hunting is for one thing, and thats to get the best possible deal he can, and to try and make the owners break so that deal is the best it could be.
Well, if he was unable to get the deal he was looking for, what deal did Goodenow end up with? To this point, neither side has been able to get the deal they were looking for... In fact, neither side has been able to get
any deal... The deal doesn't exist - so how can it be argued that Goodenow ended up with an inferior deal?
Has the deadline come and passed? If not, how has Goodenow's 'deadline hunting' tactic failed? The last I heard we are not past the deadline... Did the 'deadline hunting' tactic fail before it was able to get put into practice? What is this... The Oiler's 2007 1st round draft pick - a bust before even drafted (just kidding)...
As far as I know, there is still a war going on... I agree that Bettman won the last battle... My interpretation is that Goodenow thought that the deadline was today, but apparently it wasn't - as the lines of communication are still open and the season hasn't been cancelled...
kerrly said:
He underestimated the owners resolve and has been burned because of it.
In the last battle, I agree... IMO, Goodenow thought that yesturday and today would be the final negotiations... It turned out not to be... Must be frustrating for Goodenow... He got played (as did we all)... But until there is a deadline, it is premature to say that his 'deadline hunting' tactic has failed... It hasn't passed... It hasn't failed... It hasn't even been implemented yet...
And how do you know, without a doubt, that the owners resolve is as strong as you think?
Someone can
appear to be blind because he cannot see (he is really blind)... Someone can
appear to be blind because he is lying (he is not really blind, but says he is)... Someone can
appear to be blind because he is not capable of understanding what he sees (he's not blind, but doesn't know he's not blind)...
You are tautologically defining "unbreakable owner resolve" to "not yet cracking"... That's a
big leap, IMO... It is definitely possible that the owner's apparent resolve is simply a negotiating tactic to get as much as they can out of the NHLPA before coming to a compromise at the end... The NHL seems
very comfortable, IMO... Almost
too comfortable considering what's at stake... After all, the NHL has the luxury of knowing when the
actual deadline is (they can afford to crack a few jokes and provide 'digs' in their offers and during negotiation sessions - i.e. "we accept the NHLPA's offer of 24%" at the end of their formal proposal :lol ).. They can play
any game they want in between now and the
true deadline... Yes, I agree that the owner's resolve is greater than in 94... but that doesn't mean that the owner's resolve is unbreakable in these negotiations... We'll see at the
true deadline... Until then, it's premature to declare any side victorious, IMO...
kerrly said:
As Burke said, the players are now wanting a stationary hard cap in the 45 million range, and he said this could have been had in August, but not now, because the NHL's revenue will surely drop, and the cap number is too high. There is no question that Goodenow's tactics failed this time.
If this is what the players are wanting (if the NHL's strategy so far has brought the players to this conclusion), then IMO, the war will (should) be over very soon... Great news... I agree that, to date, IMO the NHL has been outplaying the NHLPA... But it's
far too premature to call one side a winner and the other side a failure... You don't need to win
every battle to win the war... and despite what the majority of people think here, personally, I think that Goodenow is a pretty bright guy who shouldn't be underestimated...