Hate to break the news to you twinkle toes, but I’ll have you know that “your” contributions here at PHT are neither fun, interesting or informative … no sir ! … in fact I’ll have you know that your “predictable & pathetic” contributions here at PHT equate to nothing more than useless flotsam … or in other words, what a “million” other sheep are inclined to say … so “FU” mgp1219, you stupid, boring and predictable junk ! … and “FU” to you and your fellow “pathetic & weak-kneed” ilk !

The players are available for work….some of them in fact are actually playing in Europe….

The players are being locked out. No work has been offered to them. Also, they may be considered contractual labor (hence….contract negotiations)
So, although I disagree with your assessment of their unemployment eligibility, I can say I don’t know how they fall legally either. And being part of the Union, it was up to the Union to have a pay structure in place when a work stoppage was imposed outside of the Unions doing. Like NOW!
This is not a strike. This is a labor lock out.
And while I am on the subject, I wonder two things. 1) which book did Boolmburg cut and paste from and 2) why do people dis Fehr? If I were a worker and my boss was trying to take all of my benefits away, I would want him fighting for me…his job is to represent the players. Clearly the players want him there. It’s either him or concede.

Of course those were the prophetic words of the illustrious General Sam Hood when speaking to General James “Pete” Longstreet after the conclusion of action on the second day of battle at Gettysburg. For those not in the know, what Hood was referring to was the fact that a “flanking” maneuver “around” the Union lines would have made far more sense than attacking the Federal positions “head on” the way they did up the slopes of Little Round Top. Of course, the Confederate’s failure to break the Union position that day, led directly to Lee’s “fatal” decision making the following morning.

The point is that much can be learned from history past. And I would submit that what Bettman’s now doing is in no way dissimilar to that “flanking” maneuver suggested by General Hood at Gettysburg in 1863. Fehr has shown himself to be “stubborn and dogged” during these proceedings, much like Colonel Chamberlain’s 20th Maine Division at the Little Round Top. So instead of continually trying to force the issue with the conventional “direct” approach, what I now see happening this weekend is Bettman shrewdly moving to “outflank” Fehr with a bold “new” approach and thus carry the day for us “real” hockey fans. Yes siree, Fehr and his lieutenants are about to get the surprise of their lives !

As for you lovers of “formality” and protocol ? Well all I can say to you people is PFFT ! Some of life’s biggest decisions or agreements are made on just a whim … and that applies to countries, corporations or the lone individual. Colonel Tom Parker sketched out Elvis’s Vegas concert deal in 1969 on a lousy scrap of paper ! Anyway, you pessimists just watch what happens now !

GO ELVIS !

GO BETTMAN !!

GO STANLEY CUP CHAMPION LA KINGS !!!

*SIGH*