Sidney Crosby
“I think a lot of the guys are frustrated with just the not talking, We understand the business side – that there’s negotiations and proposals going back and forth…but I think the whole process is just frustrating. I mean if we really want to get something done, I feel like we have to be there every single day, no matter what if we want to find a way to get it done. Whether or not that’s going to happen, I don’t know, but I think more than anything, the process is more frustrating than anything.”

My comment: his lack of business experience is apparent

About Hamrlik’a and Neuvirth’s comments.
“They have a right to state what they think and…to be honest, to get 750 guys to have the exact same outlook on every single detail it’s pretty tough and pretty much impossible. But I think a good chunk of the guys realize what’s going on and I think if you look at Roman Hamrlik’s situation, this is his third lockout. He’s probably got a couple years left of playing in his mind and for this to be happening, I’m sure he’s beyond frustrated, I think everyone’s got that right.”

Alex Ovechkin about Hamrlik’s comments
“I’m not on his side, I’m not on Hamrlik’s side to be honest with you. I played last year with him and he always tells what he thinks, but right now it’s not that time to say what you think. You can say that at the bar or with your friends, but you can’t show you’re upset to the media. Again, I’m not with him and I’m kind of disappointed in what he said.”

My comment: a Captain must not speak out publicly against a teammate. Grown men solve issues face to face.

Alex Ovechkin about other teammate’s comments

“Couple guys pissed off, they say bad things, but we stick together and we’re not going to listen to those guys. We have a team and of course, everyone wants to play, but we have to stick together…and I don’t know if everyone’s on the same page as those guys.”

Complete lack of restraint and leadership. Evidence that he is not worthy of wearing the C.

Concussed Henderson had to plead to play in ’72 Summit Series
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/concussed-henderson-had-to-plead-to-play-in-72-summit-series/article5714620/

lawyers love to complicate sh|t. should have continued my education a few more years. I could resolve this dispute on 400 billable hours

The reality is the players In the NHL make substantially less than those in other leagues (the top players in ALL the other leagues make in the $20m-$30M range), however Bettman, he makes $8M a year ($3.3 Billion revenues). Which means there are what 3 players who make more than him? Compared to the other leagues: NFL – Roger Goodell’s $10.9M ($9 Billion in revenues) tons of players make more than him. NBA – David Stern $10M ($7 Billion revenues) More than half the league makes more than that. Even MLB Bud Selig who makes a whopping $18.4M a year ($7 Billion in revenues) and comparatively makes about the same salary compared to revenues (if you doubled NHL revenue and doubled Bettmans salary its relatively close) he STILL has 12 players who get paid more than him. As sick as that is, Bettman makes more than 2 of the others in comparison to revenue. Meanwhile the SUPERSTARS in the NHL make as much or just a little more than the commish… So WHO exactly are we just plain paying too much? I think that’s the better question here Gary!

The reality is the only way to save these teams that are failing is pretty simple, but the owners don’t want to do it… REVENUE SHARING! The boys at the top need to take a lot less every year and move that money down to those that can’t make it, as long as you want them there, YOU guys need to pay to keep them there. IT is NOT the players salaries that killed these teams. Its the markets the EXISTING OWNERSHIP chose to put these teams in. Meanwhile there are places that all of these teams could be at least breaking even or turning substantial profits. Since, contraction is going to be shot down by both sides… NHL wants their expansion teams and NHLPA wants to keep those jobs, then relocation is the only other viable option. Will reduction to 50/50 split help these teams… sure a little, but really all it does is give the big boys more money out of the jar. I mean look at the reality here… IF a team who couldn’t pay the floor of last years cap ($48.3 million) and make a profit.. if they get 7% more thats what… $3.13 Million more dollars if the revenues were the same this year, so these teams are going to be just fine with just $3M more dollars.. yeah right!!

Bettman constantly wants to bring up other leagues as models for what they want to do… well WTH does he think the NFL does with its revenue sharing… While it probably wouldn’t work for the NHL if they just copied it (since so much of the revenue generated by NHL teams are from local sources)… the fact of the matter is small markets can compete every year because the big boys give a lot of money every single year and the big boys in hockey… Make A LOT of money!! Toronto and New York Rangers ALONE could save all these teams just off of they’re profits! A bigger piece of the pie for the NHL just makes it so Toronto and New York Rangers will make more ‘profit’.

The players have offered to go directly to 50/50 (gain for the owners, loss for the players). The players have offered to eat some of the make whole (gain for the owners, loss for the players). Tell me, what has Bettman offered? That’s what I thought.

“We’re not prepared to let them impose a system on us that eliminates guarantees, reduces contract lengths, diminishes all our increases. We’re saying no way. We fought too long and made too many sacrifices to get where we are.”

Billy Hunter, NBPA Executive Director

Owners and players met again on October 18–20 for 30 hours of talks over three days. They met before a federal mediator, George Cohen—the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Cohen earlier in the year tried unsuccessfully to resolve the 2011 NFL lockout.At the conclusion of the meetings, the sides remained split on the revenue split and the structure of the salary cap. The league proposed a 50–50 split of BRI, and the players proposed a range that would allow them as low as 50 percent of BRI to a maximum of 53%, depending on the league’s revenues. Gilbert told the players to trust that the salary cap issues could be resolved if they accepted the 50–50 proposal. Hunter responded, “I can’t trust your gut. I got to trust my own gut.” Silver and San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt told reporters that the players refused to negotiate after the 50–50 proposal. Fisher told the press “that you guys were lied to” by the owners. Hunter said the owners told them, “Take it or leave it.” Cohen decided that there was “no useful purpose” to continue mediation with the two sides.Tentative agreements were reached on smaller issues, allowing a one-time exemption for teams to waive players without counting against the salary cap, granting teams an annual exemption to waive players and prorate the impact to the salary cap over multiple years, and a mid-level exception of $5 million.

“When you’re in the environment of a lockout, most of it will not be good. It’s really about maintaining what you have. At the end of the lockout, you look at how much you were able to keep and what you had to give away.”

“There was a time that decertification worked, and that was many years ago. It was before the legal system caught up with the system whereby a union would decertify itself to put more antitrust scrutiny on management. Back then, the application of decertification was so new, that the machinery wasn’t tuned and the court couldn’t figure out that this was a maneuver. More recently though, the courts have adjusted. Ultimately, we all knew when the agreement expired that we would be facing a lockout. The problem though, is what happens to the players in the meantime? The NBPA could say, ‘We’ve got this lawsuit going which will allow the guys to keep working.’ That would be great, but that is not the way that the system works. As a strategic plan, I no longer see the value of decertifying. If anything, it was demonstrated in the recent NFL and NBA labor negotiations that the unions need to re-think that strategy going forward.”

“Put ‘em in a room with a lot of water, and no bathroom breaks.”

The mediation may not be binding in a legal sense; perhaps the mediator can take this advice and make it “binding” in a MEANINGFUL sense.