Press Conference Thread

[Papa Smurf]

"2 minutes for high miking"

That was hurting.

HOWEVER, ending the lockout would be a great way for the B-man to redeem himself for that.

 

[Tuggy]

thanks- that's what i was hoping to hear. the fact that he hasn't spit in the PA's face, so to speak, is as good as we could've expected today. the counter on tuesday, followed by a reaction from the PA should tell us much more

The owner's had to meet in good faith. If they are going to consider an impasse they must show that.

And Bettman has just said that this isn't about saving the season, it's about saving the game.

 

[FLYLine27*]

Bettman: Nobody wants to be playing (hockey) more then I do

BS!

 

[Hire Sather]

Heh, "we have no intention of negitionating over the shape of the table"

 

[Toonces]

Alright,

It's a good start.

Took a while to get it out of him, but that sums it up

The most important thing is that they are talking, and that a counter proposal is coming.

 

[Seachd]

24% is nice, but one-time, and as Brian Burke said, it'll take no time for the players to get that back.

The luxury tax sucks.

 

[Kid Canada]

Alright,

It's a good start.

Took a while to get it out of him, but that sums it up

The most important thing is that they are talking, and that a counter proposal is coming.

That's all we wanted. A good start. That's all I asked for, a good start, and I got it.

 

[wilka91*]

What are they saying in the conference?

 

[Gee Wally]

it is a good start....

The PA had to supply or has to supply something concrete enough to get the avenue of * impasse * thrown out in any court ...NLRB...

The League,,,and why Bettman can't say much. needs to look long and hard at the offer to see if that ace has been taken from them.. It'll be the legal folks burning the midnight oil.

If the offer does cover that ...then in my mind negotiations will continue,,,,real negotiations.....if the lawyers feel that they still have a case....then the league will come back with nothing but "get lost "...

 

[think-blue-]

NHLPA press conf. at 7:15 pm.-tsn

 

[Toonces]

If the offer does cover that ...then in my mind negotiations will continue,,,,real negotiations.....

It almost has to, or I think the press confrence would have been a little different.

Also, Gary used an a few non commitial phrases when it came to a hard cap. He stated his "opinion" and "beleif" that nothing but a hard cap would work, but his language was not as forceful as I have heard in the past.

I have a feeling that the PA has been working on this offer for months now, and that it's a big leap from where we were not too long ago.

 

[MrMackey]

The luxury tax is a step back from what they were offering before.

I'd love to see the players take a 24% paycut, but it really doesn't help things that much in the long term.

I'm hoping that the player's offer was an attempt for them to save face prior to accepting something more punitive on the tax/cap side with less of a rollback.

i.e. accepting a soft cap linked to revenue with no rollback looks better on the players after offering 24% than offering 5%.

I think Gee Wally's right though, and I hope this does mean they're back at serious negotiations.

 

[IcemanTBI]

Well, I was expecting a stiffer luxury tax than what they are proposing, more along the lines of a tax starting off at 30 cents and going up to 75 cents at 60 mil. The owners aren't going to accept that, never in a million years. And I get the impression Bettman and the owners are in it for the long haul, with his remark about work stoppages " working themselves out ". In other words, impasse.

 

[incawg]

NHLPA has their press conf. on now...

 

[Seachd]

The 235-page proposal is here: http://www.nhlpa.com/Content/Feature.asp?contentId=3398

 

[ranold26]

here is the offer in total detail.
http://www.nhlpa.com/Proposal/PDFTransferFile.asp

 

[PecaFan]

Lots of detail in this pdf. Props to them for putting that out.

Hah! I knew Kovalchuk had made 3.5 million in bonuses in 01-02. Now where is that thread where someone challenged me on that?

 

[FLYLine27*]

Your right its a GREAT START....BUT when Tuesday comes it will be an end of a good start one Bettman waddles in the room on Tuesday with him stack of paper that have the word CAP written all over the place on them.

He saids they have to do anything to be certain teams will be not loose money or whatever but I dont know HOW he thinks the NHL will still be alive in half the cities after this year long lockout. I dont think 2000 people in Car. a game will be able to bring in any income.

all he wants is an even playing field...and that has been his hidden agenda this whole time.

 

[Son of Steinbrenner]

Your right its a GREAT START....BUT when Tuesday comes it will be an end of a good start one Bettman waddles in the room on Tuesday with him stack of paper that have the word CAP written all over the place on them.

He saids they have to do anything to be certain teams will be not loose money or whatever but I dont know HOW he thinks the NHL will still be alive in half the cities after this year long lockout. I dont think 2000 people in Car. a game will be able to bring in any income.

all he wants is an even playing field...and that has been his hidden agenda this whole time.

can you please stop with the useless bettmen bashing!!!!!!!

sometimes its better to say nothing.

 

[txpd]

Basically the NHL thinks the NHLPA offer is reputable and has drastic points in its ability to help towards a framework. NHL won't comment, but they said it will be reviewed systemically and a counter-offer will be drafted and given to the NHLPA on Tuesday, after the GMs review it.

PS.....This means they are really talking now, just not putting on a show for the media. Believe me, this could of been totally different. Seeing Bettman talk on this, leads me to believe he think something can be done, because he could of been spewing a total NHL stance.

Its just my opinion, but I think what is going on is the owners will take the parts of this proposal they like or think they can negotiate with and put them into a counter offer based on a salary cap system.

that way the the owners have dodged being the one to say "hell no" and put the "hell no" in the players court.

 

[Egil]

The owners just need to respond with this CBA, and add in a section that trigers automatic rollbacks if player revenues exceed a certain % of revenue. See what the PA does to that....

 

[ranold26]

lots of interesting stuff in the appendix pages re: drafts, season length etc.

 

[Lobstertainment]

okay, totally OT but Donovan Bailey is on The Fan ripping into Ben Johnson.

KICK ASS!!!!!!!!!