The Messenger said:
I think my proposal really puts the posters here a chance to look inside themselves and what they are supporting ..
Many want Replacements and would support that, is this really any different then replacements at the NHL level but just with PRO players at the NHL level ..
This solution with a negotiated CBA to the owners and all the young players still under the UFA the property of the current team ..
when posters reflect on their feelings on this work stoppage ..
.
When I look inside myself all I want is viable, healthy league that is competitive, and where I don't have to live in Boston or New York to be able to tell my son that our team has a shot this year.
I believe the owners have scrapped the season in order to bring a minority of owners into line in order to save their teams, and the league as a whole, in the long run. If a proposal had been offered to them which they thought they could survive under, they would have taken it.
If somebody came to me and told me that I had to shell out 75% of my revenues to employees (who are the product in my company, btw), I'd close up shop and go back to being a one-man band.
If somebody told me that I had to shell out 60% of my revenues to employees, but that my salary costs were going to increase more quickly than my revenues, I'd close up shop.
Therefore, the owners are, through their appointed spokesperson Bettman, ensuring that a deal is done on their terms, which will give each team a chance to survive.
I support this, not the owners.
I don't care if the players feel put-upon, exploited, maltreated, underappreciated, insulted, underpaid, under-utilized, martyred, unfairly criticized, misunderstood, or generally upset with the world.
I want a healthy NHL. In ten years most of these players will be gone, and the next generation are currently in grade 9. We don't know their names yet, but we do know the league in which we want to watch them compete against each other.
I don't think players are overpaid. But I do think that some owners overspend, and they have to be brought in line by brute force, which is what is happening now.
And I look forward to taking my son (and daughter, if she wants to go) to an NHL game like my father took me when I was a kid.