Seachd said:
Everyone knew the NHL wasn't going to cave. If that much wasn't completely obvious to them right from the start, they deserve what they get.
Some people thought they would. And that's understandable. All up until february when Bettman was ready to cancel the season. At that point, it became crystal clear with everyone that the owners had proven their resolve.
Back in february, the NHLPA had the NHL bending and making concessions (No link to revenues). That isn't much but that's what the NHLPA wanted. Which is stupid because if revenues go up they're screwed. I guess that means the players didn't believe they could heal the damage they did to the league, or were too lazy and spoiled to help the owners and Bettman market the game better.
At that point, the PA's actions are inexcusable. But you can't expect much more with guys like Goodenow, Linden and Damphousse at the helm. Linden had no leadership (what a huge effort he made in february to bring the parties together and how useful that was
), Damphousse was a self-righteous idiot driven by a petty philosophical stance (ie. we're not going to manage the owners' teams for them
) and Goodenow was blinded by his enormous ego and petty negociations tactics (deadline hunter my ass).
arnie said:
This is more idiotic 20-20 hindsight. If the NHLPA ownership had known a year ago that the nHL wouldn't cave, they would have made a deal then. But they looked at history and thought that there NHL had caved every other time, so they would this time too. They were wrong but that doesn't mean that they were stupid.
It's real easy for idiots like Legace to open their mouths after the fact. Where was he a year ago? Why wasn't he whining about making a deal then? You get real sick of back seat drivers like Legace who only open their mouths a year later. In contrast,Jagr merely observed that the NHLPA took a chance and was wrong. He didn't whine like Legace, even though he stands to lose a lot more money. Who'd of thought that Jagr could be mature?
Bottom line is if Legace said that a salary cap wasn't the devil back before the lockout and got chastised for it by the PA, and then adopted his PA's position to help them in the negociations, he's now perfectly within his rights to question their judgement. He was right from the start, expressed his opinion and nobody listened. They brought him back into the line, and they were wrong.
All the players who've said things during this lockout that went against the party line now have the full rights to criticize, cry and moan. Those who didn't, like Jagr, don't.