Ice Hockey: * NHL lockout for dummies *

for myself i could care less along about now, with spring training opening up and the hockey season already in the trash bin i feel that if they tried to start a season with playoffs now it would be meaningless, i wouldn't buy a ticket, got better things to spend my money on

*sound of TAPS plays in background*

With no miracle save in sight and a weekend deadline long gone, the NHL made plans for a news conference Tuesday to cancel what little remained of a season already decimated by a lockout.

A public relations executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that planning was under way Monday for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to make the announcement at a news conference in New York.

LINK....

In what could be a last-second breakthrough, both sides of the NHL lockout have given significant ground: The players' association will accept a salary cap, and the league has backed off its demand for a link between revenues and player costs.

Now they just have to figure out the money, and time has all but run out.

LINK...

I personally dont think there is going to be another NHL season for a while, and if there is something next year its going to be a bunch of farm players.

NHL will be vastly different when.....if.....it returns.

Maybe Pat Quinn should ask for his money back. The Toronto Maple Leafs coach was fined $100,000 by the NHL a couple of years ago when he mused out loud that the league's labor war would become its Armageddon. Can anyone really argue with that now?

Not likely. Especially since the NHL is about to make its best effort to implode with a precedent-setting cancellation of an entire season, all because its collection of billionaires and millionaires have failed to come up with a way to divvy up what was once a $2 billion pie.

Fortunately, they won't have to worry about that in the future because whatever shape the NHL takes -- when or even if it does return next October -- it will be an entirely new animal. Familiar levels of revenue and fan support certainly won't be there, and quite possibly, neither will the same number of teams.

Instead of faithfully exercising the custodial nature of their jobs to reach a workable deal for their constituents while safeguarding the best interests of their game, Bettman and Goodenow have engaged in a strategy of mutually assured destruction that has effectively destroyed any claim the NHL had to the notion of a "big-league" sport.

The details of how it reached that point, including all the public-relations exercises that each side claimed were good-faith negotiation, are maddeningly familiar to fans, at least to the few who have bothered to stay abreast of the arguments of cost certainty vs. free market.

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Whatever happens, the NHL is in no position to handle it. The league's popularity was already in a state of extended decline in the U.S. -- its principal market -- when the lockout began and the signs for the future are not encouraging.

The over-expansion of the last decade, the loss of virtually all national television revenues and the lack of a compelling spectacle by a bloated league that emphasized defense as a way to remain competitive were all elements of a business that cried out for visionary leadership.

Instead, the powers that have decided to let the league disappear and become a distant memory for its core base of fans and a punch line for everyone else. The league has spent the last five months criticizing its stars -- and in effect its product -- as self-centered, selfish individuals who care nothing about what goes on around them, while the players have done little to offset that image with their militant responses.

www.sportsline.com...

I have an inside source, pretty reliable, that is telling me that they are meeting right now and there is a good chance that they are going to come to an agreement and set a 30 game schedule and full playoffs. The commissioner has a press conference scheduled for tomorrow already and he's either going to cancel the season or announce that an agreement has been reached and there will be an abbreviated season.

I cant believe that the players backed off the salary cap issue, that's what had to happen and apparently it did. I think they realize if they dont, then there's no end in sight. The owners were more than prepared for this lockout. They started a huge "war chest" years ago to compensate in case what happened did. The owners also budged though, they backed off their demand for a link between revenues and player costs.

I really hope they can get this together by tomorrow, I'm not too optimistic though.

With NHL season on the brink, NHL presents players its final offer

NEW YORK (AP) -- The NHL made its final offer just hours before it was set to cancel the season.

The league bumped its salary-cap proposal from $40 million to $42.5 million Tuesday and gave the players' association until 11 a.m. Wednesday to accept. If they reject it, the season would be canceled two hours later, according to a letter sent by commissioner Gary Bettman to players' association executive director Bob Goodenow.

``This offer is not an invitation to begin negotiations -- its too late for that,'' Bettman said in the letter obtained by The Associated Press. ``This is our last effort to make a deal that's fair to the players and one that the clubs (hopefully) can afford. We have no more flexibility and there is no time for further negotiation.''

In the final bargaining session between NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly and players' association senior director Ted Saskin, the league dropped its longstanding demand for a link between revenues and player costs.

In return, the union came off its reluctance to a salary cap -- and proposed one.

The cap the players offered was a soft cap of $52 million, a source close to the negotiations told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Teams would be allowed to spend up to 10 percent above that three times in six years, but would be subject to an escalating luxury tax on anything above $40 million.

Bettman scheduled a news conference on Monday with the intention of announcing that there wouldn't be any hockey until at least next fall.

``Hopefully, the press conference will not be necessary,'' Bettman said in the letter.

CANCELED!

No deal, no season.


The NHL canceled what little was left of the season Wednesday after a series of last-minute offers were rejected on the final day of negotiations.

A lockout over a salary cap shut down the game before it ever got a chance to start in October. Now the NHL, already low on the popularity scale in the United States, becomes the first major pro sports league in North America to lose an entire season to a labor dispute.

"As I stand before you today, it is my sad duty to announce ... it no longer is practical to conduct even an abbreviated season," commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play for 2004-05."

"This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided," he said.

The league and players association traded a flurry of proposals and letters Tuesday night, but could never agree on a cap. The players proposed $49 million per team; the owners said $42.5 million.

This will be the first time the Stanley Cup isn't awarded since 1919 when a flu epidemic forced the Finals to be called off. There was a lockout in 1994-95 that ended in time for teams to play 48 games, still more than half the regular season.

rest of story.............. cbs.sportsline.com...




I hope they never recover from this!! Greedy $%&#;s!!!

this news comes almost as a relief to me, hockey is a great sport to watch, but it has gotten way way out of hand, i understand that part of the negotiation strategy is to sway public opinion to your side but these guys remind me of a school yard fight where both boys stand there and keep telling the other to "come on, come on...why i oughta" any attempt to start a season up at this late date would have been foolish and meaningless,,,the playoffs a sham, lets hope both sides pull their heads out and we get a season next year

I'm so pissed off about this BS.

All these months go by and no one budges, so we as fans accept that there will be no season. Then both sides give up some ground on the last day and get all of the fans hopes up again only to pop our balloon again. This is ridiculous. Why did the players union wait 6 months to finally accept a salary cap? Screw 'em all!

Text of statement by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman

Full text of the statement by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announcing the cancellation of the 2004-05 season:

"Every professional sports league owes its very existence to its fans. Everyone associated with the National Hockey League owes our fans an apology for being unable to accomplish what is necessary for our game and our fans. We are truly sorry.

"Five months ago, I stated that the National Hockey League could not function without an economic system that will bring our league into the 21st century. I said that our 30 clubs were united in their dedication to an economic system under which the teams and players, sharing common objectives and a commitment to our fans' satisfaction, would work together as partners.

"The time since then has been devoted to the pursuit of that goal. Today, I can tell you that our determination remains every bit as strong as it was in September to secure the partnership required to protect and ensure the future of the league. .. for the benefit of the clubs, the players, and our devoted fans.

"When I stood before you in September, I said NHL teams would not play again until our economic problems had been solved. As I stand before you today, it is my sad duty to announce that because that solution has not yet been attained, it no longer is practical to conduct even an abbreviated season. Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play for 2004-05.

"We profoundly regret the suffering this has caused our fans, our business partners and the thousands of people who depend on our industry for their livelihoods. We will continue to explore and pursue all available options in order to achieve a successful resolution to this dispute and to get the best game in the world back where it belongs -- on the ice, in front of the best fans in the world.

"As I also said in September, what we must do now is not about the present or the short-term needs of this season. Rather, it is about the future of our league and 30 teams.

"The National Hockey League was formed in 1917, and it has played a season through to a championship in every year but 1919. Through the decades and the generations we have faced a variety of crises and challenges -- some of which seemed catastrophic at the time. The league persevered through all those adversities and the league will persevere through this one, as well -- to emerge with a framework for the future, one that is fair to everyone -- where our players are fairly paid, receiving what we can afford -- no more, no less.

"This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided."

Former ice hockey champion Wayne Gretzky has expressed his concerns for the future of the game after the entire NHL season for 2005/05 was cancelled.

The decision to scrap the entire season followed the inability to resolve a labour dispute between players and owners that has been running for several months.

"I don't feel there will be a lot of negotiating before next September," said Gretzky.

"My gut instinct is this could be on the shelf for a while. Everybody loses, it's a horrible feeling."

Gretzky, the NHL's leading scorer and now a managing partner with the Phoenix Coyotes, also said it would be difficult to repair the damage done to his franchise.

"In Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, people are going to be mad but eventually they will come back 18,000 strong," added Gretzky.

"But that's not the project. Our project now is in places like Phoenix, Miami and Los Angeles where we've been on the back burner."

"We've worked so hard to build a foundation and we've disappointed a lot of fans and a lot of corporate sponsorship."

"Only time will tell how we're going to win those people back."

Players Association president and Vancouver Canucks centre Trevor Linden also expressed his dismay that a deal could not be reached.

"You talk to any manager out there and they knew the system was workable," said Linden.

"When you talk about last year, player payrolls were US$80m, 70m, 60m and we were proposing to bring it to 49m tops. I'm shocked."

However, Mario Lemieux, player-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, said the players were unaware of the financial position of the teams.

"I've been on both sides and a few years ago before I acquired the team I thought the owners were hiding money and all that stuff," said Lemieux.

"But once I got on this side I saw the losses this league was accumulating."

Inside Sport

in my opinion this is getting old...the on again off again, it's cancelled, no wait a minute...maybe it's not is making the nhl a laughingstock league....i still think they would be better off calling the show off for this year and starting fresh next season

NHL labor talks to resume Saturday in New York

By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer
February 18, 2005


NEW YORK (AP) -- There might be an NHL season, after all.

The NHL and the players' association will meet in New York on Saturday after the league requested the sides get together again.

On Wednesday, commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the season, saying it was too late to play any semblance of a season. That appeared to make the NHL the first major North American sports league to lose a full season to a labor dispute.

Or did it?

In a statement released Friday night, the players' association said the NHL made the offer late Thursday night to get back together. There was no immediate word on who would take part in the meeting.

NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly was involved in a closed-door meeting Friday evening and declined to comment.

There hadn't been any official contact between the NHL and the players' association since Tuesday night -- when the sides traded what they said were final offers.

All proposals were rejected, and Bettman went ahead and canceled the season Wednesday at a news conference that was scheduled two days earlier.

Bettman said in a letter to NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow on Tuesday that the league's salary-cap proposal of $42.5 million was as far as he could go and that there was no time or flexibility for negotiation.

Goodenow sent a letter back, proposing a soft cap at $49 million that could be exceeded by as much as 10 percent by teams twice during the course of the six-year deal.

It appeared there was momentum toward reaching a deal and that the season had a chance to be saved since the sides were only $6.5 million apart on their cap numbers. But talking ceased after each side sent two letters to the other on Tuesday night.

There were big breakthroughs Monday in Niagara Falls, N.Y., when the NHL agreed to drop its demand that player costs be linked to league revenues, and the union, in turn, came off its steadfast opposition to a salary cap.

But the sides couldn't get together on an agreeable number.

``A lot of players, owners, managers saw how close the two negotiating teams got to a deal and I think people are just exploring if that can be explored any more,'' agent Pat Morris said Friday. ``I don't know if it'll have a successful conclusion.''

Bettman said the NHL couldn't afford the union's final proposal and said if all 30 teams spent $49 million on player costs, then more money would be paid out to players than last season.


Rumors began to swirl on Thursday, once the realization set in that the season had indeed been canceled.

One report had Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux joining forces to try to get talks restarted. But while Gretzky, the managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes, said he spoke to Lemieux -- the Pittsburgh Penguins' player-owner -- he said they didn't discuss getting negotiations restarted.

Daly said Thursday that unless the league hears from the players' association, any rumors are ``meaningless.''

Ted Saskin, the NHLPA senior director, said Thursday that he didn't expect the resumption of talks that could un-cancel the season.

``A lot of that is, nobody's willing to deal with the reality that the season is over. There's no way to get it back,'' New York Rangers player representative Tom Poti said Friday. ``I'd say there's zero chance of anything happening.''

Bettman has said that teams lost more than $1.8 billion over 10 years -- the last time a collective bargaining agreement was reached. The previous lockout cut the 1994-95 season down to 48 games per team.

NHL clubs claim to have lost $273 million in 2002-03 and $224 million last season.

Bettman said that a deal would have to be in the drafting stages by the end of last weekend if there was going to be time to play a 28-game season and a standard 16-team postseason.

Unbelievable, huh tj?

I gotta say though, as mad as I am over all of this and as ridiculous as it is, I really hope they can pull it off. I dont think they would even bother meeting tomorrow if there wasn't a good chance to get a deal done. I think after Bettman called off the season, everything finally sunk in their thick heads that they are ruining the league.

I really hope they can strike a deal and have an abbreviated season. They cant do this to us AGAIN, get our hopes up only to knock us back down. :loudhorn: LETS GET IT RIGHT!

You have NO idea how much I miss hockey.

i think too much damage has been done to the game to start the season now even if they can agree on something other than the color of the puck...the length of the playoffs has been a sore point for many people for years, to have a year where the playoffs were actually longer than the regular season would just be too much,,,
what i think needs to be done is drop a few of the teams (pittsburgh would be the first) and consolidate the league back to the area is the strongest....canada and the northern us. break the remaining teams up into 2 leagues, as in baseball, have the teams play each other more often during the regular and renew some of the old rivalries.....montreal-toronto broad street bullies-bobby orr's bruins, too many teams, too many players that except for the hard core fans are unknown

Originally posted by toejam
i think too much damage has been done to the game to start the season now even if they can agree on something other than the color of the puck...the length of the playoffs has been a sore point for many people for years, to have a year where the playoffs were actually longer than the regular season would just be too much,,,
what i think needs to be done is drop a few of the teams (pittsburgh would be the first) and consolidate the league back to the area is the strongest....canada and the northern us. break the remaining teams up into 2 leagues, as in baseball, have the teams play each other more often during the regular and renew some of the old rivalries.....montreal-toronto broad street bullies-bobby orr's bruins, too many teams, too many players that except for the hard core fans are unknown

I'm with you 100% on this, they have too many warm location teams, like Callas, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, LA...

The NHL needs to realize that it is not the NFL or any other major sports league. Hockey is a northern game, playing to a "selective" audience.

The salaries aren't going to be nearly the same, they can't fit as many people into the arena as they can the other sports, even basketball. Deal with these differences, and thissport may survive.

As for this season? I think it's too late. Like tj said, why have a regular season that is shorter than the playoffs? It just doesn't make sense.

Originally posted by Gibbs Baby!!!
they have too many warm location teams, like Callas

Are you suggesting the Stars and Flames merge? :party-smiley-018:

Originally posted by Gibbs Baby!!!

As for this season? I think it's too late. Like tj said, why have a regular season that is shorter than the playoffs? It just doesn't make sense.

I disagree. First of all, a 30 game season would be longer than any playoffs. If a team was to go all 7 games in each of the 4 rounds and win the Cup, that's 28 games and what are the chances of 4 straight 7 game series?

Secondly, although plenty of damage has already been done, the damage would be much worse if there is no hockey until at least September. If they resumed and the games were good, at least that would be stuck in the fans minds all summer as opposed to the current situation. Either way they've already hurt themselves, but I think it would be a teeny-weeny consolation if they gave us something.

My .02

Talks resume, hopefully they can get things sorted out before next season -

The NHL and the players' association met for 1½ hours Friday in Toronto and expect to talk more next week.

The meeting that began around noon was the first between the sides since Feb. 19 -- three days after commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the 2004-05 season.

"It was just general conversation," players' association executive director Bob Goodenow said in a telephone interview. "We talked about how we might proceed on a going forward basis."

source

ESPN

The National Hockey League (NHL) said today it was cancelling the league's entry draft in June because there is no collective bargaining agreement with the players' union. The league had already cancelled the 2004-2005 season because of the labour dispute. The draft had been scheduled for June 25-26 in Ottawa.

"In the absence of a collective bargaining agreement, we are not able to conduct an entry draft in the traditional sense on the dates scheduled," Bill Daly, NHL executive vice president and chief legal officer, said in a statement.

The league has said repeatedly it would not conduct a draft until a collective bargaining agreement was signed. It most likely will hold a teleconference draft once a labour agreement is signed.

LINK