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Lockout links: Could a luxury tax be the solution?

Gary Bettman, Bill Daly

Just a few things to read while sitting at your desk, eating a sandwich, and waiting for your escrow checks to arrive. What, you don’t get escrow checks too? Oh, well...enjoy your sandwich.

Dr. David Shoalts has the cure for the lockout. Take “a soft salary cap that would allow the rich guys to spend more on payroll as long as they paid a luxury tax that would be distributed to the poorer teams” and call him in the morning. (Globe and Mail)

Bruce Arthur on the CBA standoff: “The players are not willing to accept losing money this season, and to prove it they are willing to lose money this season. The league is not willing to pay the players what it is currently paying the players, and in a lucky coincidence is not paying the players.” (National Post)

Elliotte Friedman, also on the CBA standoff: “The NHL horribly misunderstood how much its first ‘offer’ would anger the players and stiffen resolve. The players, believing many of the high-revenue teams would not want a stoppage, underestimated league commissioner Gary Bettman’s ability to keep his collective in line.” (CBC.ca)

Kevin McGran lists the pressure points that could lead to a resolution. One of them is “social media and alcohol.” To alcohol! The cause of, and solution, to all of life’s problems. (Toronto Star)

Damien Cox on why the NHLPA won’t be broken this time: “Power has been diffused to such a great extent within the union that no individual but [Donald] Fehr has muscle now. So this standoff - blame the owners if you want, but neither side is negotiating - will go on for as long as Fehr believes it must.” (Toronto Star)

Michael Grange thinks it’s on the NHL to “defuse what is shaping up to be an unnecessarily volatile situation.” And how to do that? Stop demanding the players take a pay cut in the first year of the CBA. (Sportsnet)