For example, if the Flyers wanted to jettison goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who already looks like a colossal mistake and has eight years and 45 million remaining on his deal, to their minor league affiliate, his salary would still be counted against the cap. Again, this is something the NHLPA will not be so sanguine on, as it takes money directly from its coffers.
At the same time, in my opinion and likely the opinion shared by many mid-to-low revenue clubs , teams like New York and Philadelphia ought to be penalized for making ill-advised personnel decisions. The NHL suffered an embarrassment on Monday when Deadspin revealed that it had hired a Republican Party strategist to help minimize damage in terms of public opinion. Theres no question the league was losing the PR battle, as many fans viewed the owners as a bunch of greedy billionaires who were looking to line their pockets with money that was already promised to the players.
Well, if the players reject todays NHL proposal outright, theyll risk losing that majority support from the fan base. Its hard to argue a split is anything but fair, especially if the league is promising to honor current signed deals in full. Although it was their decision to lock the players out, the owners and Bettman have helped to oversee a league that has grown to 3.
They assume all the risk, and have run the league on just 43 percent of revenues. Lockout aside, its hard to argue that theyve been successful in doing just that. Several players, including the Sharks' Dan Boyle, have said in recent weeks that they knew there would have to be certain givebacks to the owners.
We'll find out now if they were serious. For those of you who havent been paying attention to the NHLs collective bargaining process: First of all, I envy you. We can't tell. Things go back and forth more often than eyeballs at a tennis match. One moment things seem like they're progressing well; the next, they are breaking up a meeting after a short day and having a relatively nasty exchange in the media.
The latter was the case after Sunday's meeting in New York produced "no progress" as they discussed contractual rights, the latest sticking point in these conversations.
It led Donald Fehr to say he doesn't see a path to a resolution right now. All along, though, Bill Daly and Steve Fehr have seemed to get along a little better and produce some reason for optmism. Well, that's awfully intriguing. The obvious question that begs for an answer is why isn't the moment right now? We've already seen the dream of an game season disappear, and the Winter Classic has been sacrificed. Labor-management dustups occurred off and on over the decades, but the first really big issue of the modern era was the NHL strike of Fortunately for fans, the strike was resolved in 10 days, salvaging the season — but just barely.
The outcome of the strike included an expansion from 80 to 84 regular-season games and bigger playoff bonuses for players. However, because the new contract was only a one-year deal, and other prickly issues such as distribution of trading card revenue lingered, the specter of a hockey lockout still loomed on the horizon. The main issue in this lockout was the salary cap, which management favored and players opposed, both strenuously.
The lockout lasted from October 1, to January 11, Forty-eight regular-season games were lost, making the game season the shortest in the NHL in more than half a century. The lockout created a lot of animosity between ownership and players, setting the stage for future troubles. This lockout caused the cancellation of the entire season, and for the first time since , there was no Stanley Cup champion.
This was also the first time, in any major North American sport, that an entire season had been cancelled — a major disappointment to hockey fans around the world that led many to sour on the league. Owners wanted a salary cap linked to revenues; the players did not want the link.
0コメント