Getty Images Players haven’t been shy about slamming owners during the lockout, but many expressed guarded optimism regarding the latest proposal from Gary Bettman & Co.
A “grinning” Alex Tanguay told the Calgary Herald’s Vicki Hall the following:
“This gets the ball rolling,” Tanguay said. “That’s what we were talking about. We were hoping something would come out – whether it was on their side or our side.”
His teammate Jarome Iginla called it a “big move.”
Henrik Lundqvist told ESPN that he’s putting off signing overseas to see what happens with these developments.
As happy as some players were, a big chunk probably agree with Steve Montador that there’s still much work to do.
Jody Shelley is one of several players who treat the proposal as the start of talks rather than a big breakthrough, as he told CSNPhilly.com’s Tim Panaccio.
“Glad they’re talking big issues and seems like it may be a point to which we finally get serious. But who knows,” Shelley said.
An anonymous player admitted that he isn’t sure Nov. 2 is a “realist date” to start the season, according to CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty.
Even so, the tone is much-improved from just a day ago, when players such as Shawn Horcoff were slamming the NHL’s stance while pointedly referring to Gary Bettman by his first name.
We’ll see if Thursday’s meetings create more positivity or send things back to the ugly, spin-heavy zone.
Related
More details regarding the offer
When to expect an NHLPA response
Deal must be done by Oct. 25 to preserve 82-game season
Teams would be able to go above salary cap with new offer
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- jsmayer181 - Oct 17, 2012 at 6:30 AM
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Nothing says “shared sacrifice” like a 50-50 split, eh?
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- somekat - Oct 17, 2012 at 7:33 AM
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this is going to drag on for months. You can see it in the quotes. Do these clowns really think this is a “starting point”, or it “gets the ball rolling”? This is the owners best offer, because obviously the idiots at the NHLPA couldn’t even get an offer together (or they would of put one up in the 3 weeks since the owners last offer). Typical union, get concessions, then pretend like it’s where you should be starting, not where you should be finishing.
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- puckish27 - Oct 17, 2012 at 3:05 PM
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I’ll take 8 Mil per year, first class travel and free VIP seats to any games to come up with 50/50; make me commissioner!!
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