Only game being played is the blame game(CBA Negotiation discussion thread) - Part IV

[Crows*]

Anyone else reading the rumblings of krys barch on twitter? Sitting by the fire, drinking Porte admiring his 3 kids, wife and most definately big house.. And it's " whoa is me" check it out

 

[rdawg1234]

I thought we were set for 3 days of talks... but after 2 days, the union gets ahead of the league and says they are "sickening". Just more PR nonsense from the union.

even if talks aren't going well, you still have another day. If it still doesn't go anywhere, just present the media/fans with the facts. Tell us why the NHL is "sickening" and detail the good faith attempts that you have made.

What is sickening to me is how the players fail to realize that they CAN NOT WIN. They can sit out a year, or two years as they have threatened, and they can gain 60% of revenues as a result... they STILL lose because they lost out on two seasons worth of pay and the overall pie is smaller when play does resume. Not to mention that it could result in teams folding (long shot) which means less jobs, and of course less revenue, thus an even smaller pie.

If the league "wins", the players lose... if the players "win", the players lose.

Sure the players lose in principle, but whether they are at 48%, 50% or whatever for the next 5+ years, they'll be making more revenue than the league as a whole did back in 04-05. So sure, they might lose in the fact that they lost some percent, but no matter what, they'll be richer than ever.

 

[molsonmuscle360]

Anyone else reading the rumblings of krys barch on twitter? Sitting by the fire, drinking Porte admiring his 3 kids, wife and most definately big house.. And it's " whoa is me" check it out

lol @ half my peers will have to work for the next 50 years of their lives. Gee Krys really? You mean like the rest of us.

 

[Major4Boarding]

Anyone else reading the rumblings of krys barch on twitter? Sitting by the fire, drinking Porte admiring his 3 kids, wife and most definately big house.. And it's " whoa is me" check it out

Friggin' scary. Like Chris Benoit scary... God I hope this just an alcohol influenced rant and nothing more.

 

[Sivek]

Think Barch might have taken a few too many shots to the head, maybe he can sue the league over that next. "Boo hoo, I work a couple of minutes a day 50 times a year and have made millions doing it. Life is so unfair! I'm going pick up a gun and massacre the owners because they don't think I should be pulling down at least a half-mil for my contributions to society. I'm getting paid more than the best doctors in the world to skate slowly around the ice and occasionally punch people and my boss think I need a pay cut. IT'S NOT FAAAAIIIIRRR!!!!!!! How will my family survive on the millions I've made? My kid's kid's kids might have to get jobs and be a working stiff. Ugh."

Makes me wonder how most NHL players could handle working everyday for 40+ years and make a pittance compared to their "slashed" salaries.

Oh wait, owners are the mean, bad guys. Khys Barch is just like you and me, just a working guy fighting with his union brothers against big money for their fair share.

 

[SuperUnknown]

Reading Kris Barch's twitter, I got to wonder why the players have that feeling of entitlement. Just because the pendulum swings to 50-50 doesn't mean it'll swing further time and time again. In the end, it's unrealistic for the NHL players to think they'll get a bigger piece of the pie than their NBA or NFL counterparts.

From my point of view, I think guys like Barch should be grateful they can earn 500k/year as I wouldn't say they are the ones drawing fans. How about a cap of 20% of revenues for all players not tagged "all-stars" with a limit of five all-stars per team (and uncapped salary scales for all-stars)?

 

[Kbs]

Wow, another player spewing garbage on Twitter. They all just need to shut the hell up.

 

[StrangeVision]

Do they really think they will get much sympathy? Most people would kill for the league minimum in the NHL.

 

[Sivek]

From my point of view, I think guys like Barch should be grateful they can earn 500k/year as I wouldn't say they are the ones drawing fans. How about a cap of 20% of revenues for all players not tagged "all-stars" with a limit of five all-stars per team (and uncapped salary scales for all-stars)?

Yep, the big problem for the NHL is that the plugs and grinders make way too much compared their contributions. Bottom-pairing defesnemen and bottom-6 forwards should not be making the amounts they do. I have no doubts the owners wouldn't be too choked up to pay guys like Crosby, Stamkos, Malkin salaries of 12-14 mil annually if it meant severely cutting the league minimum for the scrubs.

Should someone like Crosby be making just 8 mil more than a Barch, a total non-entity, or not even double a guy like Leino, an okay guy at best? It'll never happen but NHL should take a movie star approach to salaries. Leo DiCaprio doesn't do a movie and make just 8 mil more than the guy with the smallest of supporting roles. DiCaprio is carrying the movie and is much more vital to it's success than anyone else and he is paid like it. The actors who are outside the immediate supporting characters make much, much, less than the main lead and the next 2 or 3 big actors. There's no ****ing way the Barch or Leino of actors are within such a close percentage of the mega-stars. There are tons of actors that can play the small supporting roles, that's why they don't get paid a ton of money.

In short, the elite players should make more money, the good ones can stay around the same and everyone else should have severe pay cuts, as in no way a 4th liner should be making more than 100k a season. If that's not enough for them, tough ****, there are tons of hockey players who would be a negligible difference than them and would gladly take their spots. It's a terrible way to run a business when the bottom of your ability/talent pool makes such a huge amount of money and one that is way too close in relation to the stars/real money makers.

It'd never happen but it's better than the current system when a decent 4th-liner is financially set for generations.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

The 75% don't matter. It's that 25% who make the leauge. Do you think we'd have record revenues if not for Ovy/Crosby and Malkin and Stamkos and Giroux and Datsyuk etc?

How long do you think those guys will hold out with most of the NHL players playin?

 

[KaylaJ]

I'll admit it, I have no idea what Barch's overall point was.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

This is so ****ing ridiculous.

We do need another WHA.

 

[Heaton]

I'll admit it, I have no idea what Barch's overall point was.

Apparently it was moving and really heart felt. That's what I'm gathering from all of the media types and players who are gushing over it.

 

[Section337]

I'll admit it, I have no idea what Barch's overall point was.

I believe he wants a pony.

As for me, I'm in one of those grumpy, bitter states where I hope they just cancel the season and don't bother us again until, next year, when they are ready to actually scan our tickets or cards before the start of a hockey game where they have pathetically painted Thank you Fans onto the ice.

 

[Dado]

I'll admit it, I have no idea what Barch's overall point was.

I think he was attempting to demonstrate just how far out of touch with reality a marginal NHL player can get once he's knee deep into a bottle of "porte".

Half his peers will have to work after hockey...my god, the sheer *horror* of that curdles my blood...

 

[DeathToAllButMetal]

Is anyone really upset? Seriously. I'm mostly seeing a whole lot of "who gives a ****?" with most people I know here in a pretty hockey-crazy town. If the season is cancelled, the impact might be huge. Apathy is going to be a lot tougher to overcome than anger or resentment.

I'll miss hockey this winter, but not nearly as much as I once might have. What's happened with the league overall, the crazy expansions, the lost season less than a decade ago, etc. has really hurt the relationship I used to have with the NHL, having grown up watching it. I'm not caring much at all about this lockout. Both sides can go to hell. I'm going to local junior on Sat. nights now and looking forward to doing that all season instead of watching HNIC. I'd actually be a little disappointed now if the NHL and NHLPA settled.

 

[Dado]

Is anyone really upset? Seriously.

Here in Vancouver - not really, to be honest, that I can tell, anyway.

Morrisson's comment from a week or so ago rings true - both sides *should* be concerned.

 

[Sivek]

Jesus, I hope by 3/4th of his peers he means guys plying away in the ECHL. The NHL is a league where the minimum is over half-a million dollars...that's a lot of money. Even if you're a plug like Barch, you shouldn't need another job after a couple of seasons unless you're absolutely terrible with money.

I can only imagine how the guys who played in the NHL in the past feel about the current players. Those guys used to work jobs in the off-season. Now they want to sit out a season because the scrubs want more generational wealth. Just imagine how disgraceful it would be if some 4th liner's grandkids had to work? Makes me sick just thinking about it.

 

[KaylaJ]

Apparently it was moving and really heart felt. That's what I'm gathering from all of the media types and players who are gushing over it.

I guess I'd understand it more if I was poorer and only had a home in "Gand Bend" and sat next to the fireside while downing a bottle of "porte"


Seriously though, if he and his peers have to work for the next 50 years even after just a few seasons of what they are making (plus maybe a pension of some sort), I am so screwed.

I did like the one comment I saw on twitter that about the one thing I learned from that rant was that Barch was a Devil.

 

[danaluvsthekings]

Barch's NHL contracts listed on Cap Geek have totaled $4.325 million. I know that's what most truck drivers and line workers pull in over a 6 year span.

Those comments are EXACTLY why the NHLPA should put a moratorium on players tweeting. I get the sacrifices that players have made to make it to the NHL and I don't have a problem with them earning big bucks because they have a skill people are willing to pay lots of money to see used. But they're never going to be a totally sympathetic figure and when someone who has made millions tries to compare himself to a line worker in a factory, people aren't going to buy it and it makes the players look like morons.

 

[rdawg1234]

Barch's NHL contracts listed on Cap Geek have totaled $4.325 million. I know that's what most truck drivers and line workers pull in over a 6 year span.

Those comments are EXACTLY why the NHLPA should put a moratorium on players tweeting. I get the sacrifices that players have made to make it to the NHL and I don't have a problem with them earning big bucks because they have a skill people are willing to pay lots of money to see used. But they're never going to be a totally sympathetic figure and when someone who has made millions tries to compare himself to a line worker in a factory, people aren't going to buy it and it makes the players look like morons.

Just saw Lupul's article too. says it wasnt a pr piece but essentially goes on to bash the owners throughout the whole thing.

I honestly think these players are delusional, they dont see any reason to drop a cent, any reason to budge(even though they know what happened last time) and most feel they just deserve bigger gains than before(rather than a cut now but ultimately both parties making more money anyway like the owners want.)

 

[LadyStanley]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Puck Daddy summarizes Krys Barch's twitter "rant" (and cleaned up some of the grammar, punctuation).

Their take: it's a guy who won't have a nest egg to retire to when he finished playing and never have to work another day in his life, not a "super star" who didn't have to work if he chose to after hockey. Talking about the passion of playing and how out of touch some owners seem to be with their players. Talks about relocation (to more "lucrative" locations than those that always need revenue help) and more.

 

[danaluvsthekings]

Just saw Lupul's article too. says it wasnt a pr piece but essentially goes on to bash the owners throughout the whole thing.

I honestly think these players are delusional, they dont see any reason to drop a cent, any reason to budge(even though they know what happened last time) and most feel they just deserve bigger gains than before(rather than a cut now but ultimately both parties making more money anyway like the owners want.)

I don't have a problem with the players trying to get what they feel they deserve and like I said, they deserve quite a bit because they have a rare skill set. But those comments are going to anger an awful lot of people that do actually have to work for 50 years of their lives. I don't see too many former NHL players working when they're in their 70s btw. He made $850,000 last year. Someone with a decent job will have to work 10 years to make that much.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

There should be a required agreed upon clause in every CBA from here on out that stipulates that both sides need to meet to discuss in regularly scheduled intervals regarding implementation of a new CBA lets say 2 years from current CBA expiration. If this is the pace that negotiations keep taking, 2 years provide ample time for a new deal to be worked out without millions of dollars lost to lockout. I don't see why either side would reject this.

 

[cpcftw]

The owners should just all not sign these marginal players going on twitter tirades. Let them know who signs their paycheques.