2012/2013 NHL Thread: Cup Quest

[The Incredible Hulk]

And then the Players told the Owners to go blow it out their asses



NHL lockout: Gary Bettman considers NHLPA offers a step backward

What seemed to be a small step forward in the NHL's ongoing labor battle quickly turned into several steps backward.


At least, to hear the NHL tell it.


Any optimism that may have found its way into the discussion following this week's talks seems to have been obliterated Thursday following an hourlong meeting between the two sides in Toronto.


The league, led by commissioner Gary Bettman and several owners, met with the players following the NHL's proposal on Tuesday. That meeting resulted in the NHLPA making three proposals of its own.


The league did not seem to be impressed with any of them.


"Today is not a good day," said NHLPA leader Donald Fehr. "It should have been."
Bettman said he is "totally disappointed" and considered Thursday's talks to be a step backward, while also adding that the NHLPA's proposals were simply a variation of its earlier ones and did not come close to a 50-50 split of hockey related revenue.


"The players' association came back and basically made three alternate proposals on the players' share, all variations to some degree of the one proposal that they made over the summer and really haven't deviated from since," said Bettman. "And none of the three variations of players' share that they gave us even began to approach 50-50 either at all or for some long period of time."


Fehr led a group of 18 players into Thursday's meetings, including Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews and Eric Staal.


Thursday was considered a huge day for getting the season started in a reasonable time frame and a lot of it was going to depend on how the NHLPA approached its proposals: Would it negotiate off the one the NHL made Tuesday (it was a very public proposal) or would it come back with something completely different.

The NHL obviously feels it's the latter, as Bettman added that it seems like the two sides still aren't speaking the same language.

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/blog/ey...step-backwards

[Pink Ranger]

I don't blame them. Bettman and the NHL publicly releasing in so much detail their offer to the public was an act of rotten faith. That is simply not how business negotiations are conducted.

[Immortalfire]

Sons of...

[The Incredible Hulk]

Islanders to Brooklyn is a done deal

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...9123--nhl.html

On Wednesday afternoon at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the following people are scheduled to participate in a press conference:

New York Islanders Owner Charles B. Wang, Barclays Center Majority Owner and Developer Bruce Ratner, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Islanders General Manager Garth Snow, and Barclays Center and Brooklyn Nets CEO Brett Yormark.

That's a collection of heavy hitters that aren't showing up for, like, a few preseason games and an appearance by John Tavares as a Nets game.
The NY Post reported the following on Wednesday morning:

Developer Bruce Ratner has scored a major goal by landing the Islanders ice hockey team for his Barclay's arena in downtown Brooklyn, sources said.
… Ratner had said earlier that he was "trying like hell" to lure the Islanders to Brooklyn from Long Island and called a planned exhibition game against the Devils, which was canceled due to the NHL lockout, an audition for the city's newest arena.

Well-connected former New York Islanders exec Chris Botta of Sports Business Daily confirms via a source: "Isles set to play in Brooklyn in 2015."

Great, great news. The team's need outgrew suburban Long Island, and this will bring big city money and expectations for the team. Not to mention they'll stay the Islanders.

Now hopefully Wang will eventuallt just sell to Ratner.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by The Incredible Hulk

Islanders to Brooklyn is a done deal

Great, great news. The team's need outgrew suburban Long Island, and this will bring big city money and expectations for the team. Now hopefully Wang will eventuallt just sell to Ratner.

At least they won't have to change the name. The Vegas Islanders would have been silly.

[runawayboulder]

Great news for the team. Bad news for the folks in Nassau. That arena is probably gonna close now and it's going to cost people jobs.

[The Incredible Hulk]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

At least they won't have to change the name. The Vegas Islanders would have been silly.

Las Vegas Treasure Islanders?

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by The Incredible Hulk

Las Vegas Treasure Islanders?

Aaaarrrr!

[Dr. Evil]

Ah yes, Donald Fehr, the same man who back in 2005, when he was head of the Players Union in Major League Baseball, was torn to shreds by Congress during the Steroid hearings and finally agreed to a comprehensive drug testing program after pressure from Congress.

[Hypestyle]

now that the election is over, the White House should step in and mediate a mutual agreement between NHL management/owners and the players union.

[Themanofbat]

I think something will come out today... it's been two consecutive days of long hour negotiations, and apparantly they have one more hurdle to clear... and that's the keepin the existing contracts "as is"... if they can come to a compromise on that, I can see the season starting by the end of the month.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by Hypestyle

now that the election is over, the White House should step in and mediate a mutual agreement between NHL management/owners and the players union.

Might as well; this issue is below the radar for most politicians, especially from the red states, so nobody will scream about government interference, and what it does impact in the USA is the blue northeast and west coast.

[The Incredible Hulk]

The White House has the whole "fiscal cliff" thing to deal with. People will blow their stack if they found out they were spending time mediating between the NHL and it's players, of all things.

That being said the sides have been meeting every day since Tuesday and will continue today with nary a peep to the media. Let's hope silence is golden in this case.

[les_stockton]

At a time when the customers (us) are having financial issues, the last thing we need is owners and players deciding that they want a bigger piece of the pie (and so they make the pie bigger and raise prices on the people who buy tickets).
I make more money than a lot of people but I can't afford to go to more than a couple of NHL games a season. I look at the cost of parking, food at the arenas, and then the tickets, and I see no way that a family can attend a game. It's crazy.
So I've been spending my money on minor league hockey where the prices are more reasonable. And although the NHL guys are faster and a little bigger, when compared to the cost, they're not that much faster, bigger or better. Minor league hockey is more fan-friendly too.

If I had my way, the NHL would fold and all parties involved would have to start over. Maybe then, the ticket prices would be more reasonable.

[The Incredible Hulk]

A deal this week maybe?

Getting Bettman and Fehr out of the room may be the best thing to happen to these negotiations.

[Themanofbat]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back to square One...

Bye bye 2012/2013 season...

[Matt]

Bettman should just cancel the season at this point. It is going to happen anyway and if both the owners and players are shown that they've lost an entire season and that Bettman is not afraid to cancel one, we may get an actual deal for next season.

Also, as soon as this is over, Bettman ought to resign (or be forced out). TWO cancelled seasons on his watch? Unacceptable.

[Pink Ranger]

Fine, let these jerks (both players and owners) sacrifice the entire NHL season, I'm done being cheerful and optimistic. One season lost is three more nails in the coffin of the more dubious US franchises, and the continued folding of these franchises just creates more gaping, oozing sores on Bettman's legacy. By Grabthar's hammer, I hate that guy.

[les_stockton]

they can cancel and never come back as far as I'm concerned.

[Immortalfire]

Man, puck these guys. I can't believe they're willing to get this close to losing an entire season AGAIN. First they take my team away, and just when I was getting close to picking a new one, the season hasn't even started.

What a load of jackwagons.

God have mercy.

[Matt]

Picking a new team, you say? When hockey does come back, can I interest you in some Penguins?

[Halcohol]

I can't even deal.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by les_stockton

they can cancel and never come back as far as I'm concerned.

Screw the NHL, I'm going to devote myself full-time to the Oklahoma Thunder from now on.




Oh yeah, and I don't mean the NBA team, I mean the developmental league football franchise.

[les_stockton]

Originally Posted by Pink Ranger

Screw the NHL, I'm going to devote myself full-time to the Oklahoma Thunder from now on.




Oh yeah, and I don't mean the NBA team, I mean the developmental league football franchise.

Wow. it's weird that you'd mention them. I'm the team photographer.

[Pink Ranger]

Originally Posted by les_stockton

Wow. it's weird that you'd mention them. I'm the team photographer.

Nice! Can I get an autographed photo of emergency second-string quarterback Lawrence Wesson?