Potential HERO has one or two days left to save the season

[eye]

One of the most knowledgable and respected hockey minds in the game, Bill Watters says the season is over. I think there is a day or two left for a potential HERO to step up and save the season. It would have to be a high profile player IMO to speak out and bring some sanity to the labour dispute but in all honesty I can't think of anyone other than Sakic or Yzerman and they won't say anything against Bob. Are there any other players that have the leadership, kahoonas and confidence they will need to lead the revolt?

Bob - you had at least 3 years to open negotiations with Gary and your deadline hunting tactics have backfired on you and the players that you supposedly represent. Time Bob, to make things right. Cost Linkage and the owners will give in on many other issues. If you wait until next year it will be Cost Linkage and the owners terms that bring players back at much less than what they could get right now. 48 hrs. and counting IMHO.

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[ScottyBowman]

The owners could just let the players play instead of locking them out. I can't think of one player who said they'd rather stay home. Time for the owners and Bettman to be the real heros.

 

[eye]

The owners could just let the players play instead of locking them out. I can't think of one player who said they'd rather stay home. Time for the owners and Bettman to be the real heros.

That wouldn't solve anything. No matter what side your on you have to admit the league has issues that needs to be fixed and allowing players back would just prolong the agony.

 

[MmmBacon]

Did someone just refer to Bill Watters as one of the most knowledgable and respected minds in hockey? Bill Watters? Even half the Leafs fans I know think he's a buffoon.

 

[Schlep Rock]

The NHL and NHLPA could always say... let's get back to playing hockey this year with all players earning the previous league average ($1.8 million) (go minimum players!).

That's a $41.4 cap and then it would be pro-rated.

So each player would earn approximately $900,000 for the remainder of the season.

Many corporations have operated with their unions without a contract. They just create a "temp contract".

I don't know, it seemed like a better idea in my head.

 

[cfrancis]

The owners could just let the players play instead of locking them out. I can't think of one player who said they'd rather stay home. Time for the owners and Bettman to be the real heros.

With some teams losing less money if they don't play, and with the elimination of the "urgency" to play there would be nothing solved for another year of bleeding

 

[SENSible1*]

Did someone just refer to Bill Watters as one of the most knowledgable and respected minds in hockey? Bill Watters? Even half the Leafs fans I know think he's a buffoon.

Must say I chuckled when I read that part of the original post.

 

[Morbo]

One of the most knowledgable and respected hockey minds in the game, Bill Watters

:lol

Um, no.

 

[RangerBoy]

JS Giguere was a guest on FAN590 in Toronto with Mike Hogan today.Gigeure is the Mighty Ducks player rep.He actually said there will be a season which will begin in February.When Giguere was asked by Hogan and his co-host(I'm not sure who it was today)about why Bob Goodenow is not engaging Gary Bettman in negotiations,Giguere in broken English said "Goodenow is waiting to see if the owners panic"

Aren't we passed that by now?

 

[Digger12]

JS Giguere was a guest on FAN590 in Toronto with Mike Hogan today.Gigeure is the Mighty Ducks player rep.He actually said there will be a season which will begin in February.When Giguere was asked by Hogan and his co-host(I'm not sure who it was today)about why Bob Goodenow is not engaging Gary Bettman in negotiations,Giguere in broken English said "Goodenow is waiting to see if the owners panic"

Aren't we passed that by now?

JS Giguere just gave me my Laugh of the Day.

Way to help out Goodenow, I'm sure he appreciates it.

 

[Digger12]

Did someone just refer to Bill Watters as one of the most knowledgable and respected minds in hockey? Bill Watters? Even half the Leafs fans I know think he's a buffoon.

Actually I feel kinda bad for Bill, because he always looks like he's 5 minutes away from his latest heart attack.

 

[Benji Frank]

JS Giguere just gave me my Laugh of the Day.

Way to help out Goodenow, I'm sure he appreciates it.

He didn't do too much for his team when he went on Leno a couple of years ago during the Stanley Cup Finals either!!

Nice job JS!

 

[CarlRacki]

He didn't do too much for his team when he went on Leno a couple of years ago during the Stanley Cup Finals either!!

Nice job JS!

Yep, Giguere definitely cost his team a chance at the Cup that year.

 

[Benji Frank]

Yep, Giguere definitely cost his team a chance at the Cup that year.

Is that what I said? Did the poster I quoted from say that Giguere is ultimately going to be responsible for killing the players association's strategy & platform?

I think we were more joking about his timing of & comments during interviews ...

 

[Hockey_Nut99]

The Owners dropped their salary cap demands and luxury tax demands in 1995. The players are on drugs if they think they will even come close to winning this time. It's time for them to drop more demands this time. The owners didn't think it was worth losing the season last time, but this time there is no doubt they will go through with it.

 

[CarlRacki]

The Owners dropped their salary cap demands and luxury tax demands in 1995. The players are on drugs if they think they will even come close to winning this time. It's time for them to drop more demands this time. The owners didn't think it was worth losing the season last time, but this time there is no doubt they will go through with it.

The players on drugs? Yikes, don't go there. Imagine the ugliness when the media starts poking around hockey the way it has baseball in recent years. Stimulants, steroids and tranquilizers ... oh my!

 

[nyr7andcounting]

I don't think there is any chance in hell that they can negotiate a deal in the next couple of weeks. They aren't going to save this season by striking a deal and at that point it will go atleast until next September before anything gets done....so why not play half this season with cut salaries? Cut everyone's salary 25% and than cut that because they are only going to play half a season. Atleast it would give the fans something, it would allow the players to get back on the ice and it would also improve the public's view of the whole situation because atleast it would seem as if progress is being made. Than the two sides have the next 8 months to battle it out off the ice. Why not?

 

[CarlRacki]

I don't think there is any chance in hell that they can negotiate a deal in the next couple of weeks. They aren't going to save this season by striking a deal and at that point it will go atleast until next September before anything gets done....so why not play half this season with cut salaries? Cut everyone's salary 25% and than cut that because they are only going to play half a season. Atleast it would give the fans something, it would allow the players to get back on the ice and it would also improve the public's view of the whole situation because atleast it would seem as if progress is being made. Than the two sides have the next 8 months to battle it out off the ice. Why not?

Simple. The leverage the owners have over the players right now is that the players aren't getting paid. The longer players go without collecting their big, fat paychecks, the harder it becomes to continue their fight. If the owners agree to pay the players anything at this point, they'll be abandoning what little leverage they have. It's counterproductive.

 

[nyr7andcounting]

Simple. The leverage the owners have over the players right now is that the players aren't getting paid. The longer players go without collecting their big, fat paychecks, the harder it becomes to continue their fight. If the owners agree to pay the players anything at this point, they'll be abandoning what little leverage they have. It's counterproductive.

Yes but at the same time, if the owners completely cancel the season, which they'll have to do soon, than the players aren't going to negotiate anything at all until atleast August because than they know they aren't getting paid anyway. I think if anything, coming back this year and paying the players a little will make it easier for the NHL to win this thing over the summer.

 

[Wetcoaster]

Simple. The leverage the owners have over the players right now is that the players aren't getting paid. The longer players go without collecting their big, fat paychecks, the harder it becomes to continue their fight. If the owners agree to pay the players anything at this point, they'll be abandoning what little leverage they have. It's counterproductive.

The pressure point for the owners is the play-off revenues because the players are not being paid after the end of the regular season.

The longer this goes the less pressure is on the players and the more pressure on the owners not to lose their play-off revenues.

 

[CarlRacki]

The pressure point for the owners is the play-off revenues because the players are not being paid after the end of the regular season.

The longer this goes the less pressure is on the players and the more pressure on the owners not to lose their play-off revenues.

Not entirely correct. Players whose teams are in the playoffs do get paid. I'm not sure what the number is now, but after the '92 strike the league raised the playoff pool from $3.2 million to $7.5 million. I imagine that number has gone up in the last 12 years, but I haven't found the exact figure yet. I also imagine that the NHL is like every other sport in that each players' share of that pool depends on how deep his team goes in the playoffs.
But assuming it's still $7.5 million (unlikely) and dividing it by 384 players (16 playoff teams, 24-man rosters) that means the average playoff payout is $19,531. I'm sure those numbers have gone up.
That's obviously a far cry from what owners make during the playoffs, but money is money, especially when you haven't collected any in 12 months.

 

[Wetcoaster]

Not entirely correct. Players whose teams are in the playoffs do get paid. I'm not sure what the number is now, but after the '92 strike the league raised the playoff pool from $3.2 million to $7.5 million. I imagine that number has gone up in the last 12 years, but I haven't found the exact figure yet. I also imagine that the NHL is like every other sport in that each players' share of that pool depends on how deep his team goes in the playoffs.
But assuming it's still $7.5 million (unlikely) and dividing it by 384 players (16 playoff teams, 24-man rosters) that means the average playoff payout is $19,531. I'm sure those numbers have gone up.
That's obviously a far cry from what owners make during the playoffs, but money is money, especially when you haven't collected any in 12 months.

It is peanuts compared to their regular season salaries and there are some 300 NHL'ers playing in Europe at the moment and a number of younger players in the AHL. As I said the pressure is on the owners not to lose out on the post-season gravy train.

 

[djhn579]

The pressure point for the owners is the play-off revenues because the players are not being paid after the end of the regular season.

The longer this goes the less pressure is on the players and the more pressure on the owners not to lose their play-off revenues.

Actually, there is very little pressure on the owners. Sure they will miss their playoff revenue, but since only ~1/2 the teams expect to have a guaranteed shot at getting in to the playoffs, and most of the rest are just hoping to get in to the playoffs, how many of them are really going to miss that revenue? Besides that, hockey revenue is only a small part of the owners income and ~1/2 of them are used to having losses from hockey. How is another loss this year going to bother them?

The players on the other hand will lose some incentive to bargain until next fall, but will be looking at going well in to next season without their major source of income. Do you think that after losing all this seasons pay, they will want to go until next Dec. without hockey.

The pressure will always be increasing for the players to get a deal done. The only major pressure the owners will feel is if the fans start turning on them. I don't see that happening so far...

 

[London Knights]

Did someone just refer to Bill Watters as one of the most knowledgable and respected minds in hockey? Bill Watters? Even half the Leafs fans I know think he's a buffoon.

I think it is far more than that. I respected Bill Watters when he was with the organization, and when he started Leafs Lunch, he was full of facts and information about the leafs that people didn't know about. Once he ran out of his tricks, he started making stuff up that was horribly off base, and he continually seems to really annoy Nik Kypreos on HockeyCentral. Every time he says something, the look on the Greek's face is one of somebody ready to punch out his lights.

 

[London Knights]

Actually, there is very little pressure on the owners. Sure they will miss their playoff revenue, but since only ~1/2 the teams expect to have a guaranteed shot at getting in to the playoffs, and most of the rest are just hoping to get in to the playoffs, how many of them are really going to miss that revenue? Besides that, hockey revenue is only a small part of the owners income and ~1/2 of them are used to having losses from hockey. How is another loss this year going to bother them?

The players on the other hand will lose some incentive to bargain until next fall, but will be looking at going well in to next season without their major source of income. Do you think that after losing all this seasons pay, they will want to go until next Dec. without hockey.

The pressure will always be increasing for the players to get a deal done. The only major pressure the owners will feel is if the fans start turning on them. I don't see that happening so far...

30 teams have a legitimate shot at the playoffs in a 40 game schedule. Take a look at position of teams at the midway point of a season and then take a look at how they finish, and there are usually many shifts in playoffs positioning. A lot less money would be lost on just 40 games of salary when you could potentially bring in up to 2 million a playoff game.