Comments on: Bettman suggests players, owners meet without league or union leaders

By: hazlydose

hazlydose — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:26:13 +0000

Craig Adams, penguins fourth liner, graduated from Harvard and is the team’s player rep…

By: williplett

williplett — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:30:10 +0000

Since the last lockout there have been seven Cups awarded and it has been a different team each time. It was the first title for three of those franchises (Carolina, Anaheim and Los Angeles), the first title in decades for two original six teams (Chicago and Boston), the first title in nearly twenty years for another team (Pittsburgh) and Detroit won again after a six year “drought”. Plus, three different Canadian franchises made it to the finals during the post lockout era. This lockout has NOTHING to do with parity and a chance for every team to win it all. The post ’04-’05 era has given us the greatest run of diversity in champions that the NHL has ever seen.

Also, the price of beer has been high at events of all kinds for years. I’ve been to dozens of hockey games in my life and if there is one thing I’ve learned it is this: if you wanna drink, do it somewhere else before you get inside the arena. Kinda like how everything at movie concession stands cost three times as much as it does outside of a movie theatre. Everybody knows this and has known it for decades. This is not something that can be blamed on the NHL over-paying fourth liners.

By: fortwaynekomets

fortwaynekomets — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:52:30 +0000

who gives a ********* s**** anymore???

By: 4everflyers

4everflyers — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:31:07 +0000

heres a stupid idea…nhlpa put up their contract, have the owners line up and sign if they like it. if they get 16+ teams to sign, start the season. the owners that didn’t sign, keep them locked out.

By: woodstakes

woodstakes — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:29:10 +0000

Comparing a sport PA whether its NHLPA, NFLPA or MLBPA to UAW, Teamsters or any of the other major unions is NOT a fair comparison. Professional athletic unions are way more dissimilar than they are similar to other standard unions.

By: valoisvipers

valoisvipers — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:44:27 +0000

@williplett Yes I am on the owners side. My reasoning being that I want a league where all 30 teams can have an equal chance at winning the Cup and not just the wealthy few. I’m sure everyone here at PHT has had sometime complained at how much this player or that player signed for. Grinder wages are 2.5 million a year. Last year $5.70 of a $10 beer went to the players, owners buy the beer, pay the vender and all other expenses out of their $4.30 and if there is no profit left well then go ahead and raised the price of the beer to $12. The same way it has driven up ticket prices over the years to the point where it is no longer affordable for the average fan. It is a viscous circle and is not healthy for the league nor the fans.

By: williplett

williplett — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:23:03 +0000

I’m just curious why anybody would describe themselves as “pro-owner”? Can you explain what led you to that position?

By: manchestermiracle

manchestermiracle — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:20:45 +0000

To hell with mediators and any more meetings, where’s the binding arbitrator when you need him?

By: davebabychreturns

davebabychreturns — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:06:58 +0000

Kind of like how a small group of owners are being represented by Gary Bettman in the CBA negotiations and a large group of owners who just want to put their teams on the ice are being more or less ignored.

By: kikinite01

kikinite01 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:46:02 +0000

Another Ivy League guy – Dominic Moore.

By: valoisvipers

valoisvipers — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:05:58 +0000

@isit I would love to have this meeting happen but the deck would be well stacked against the players. Who do you think would have the edge, billionaire businessmen with their ivy league educations and wealth of experience or young men with high school degrees (maybe)? Lets face it when Fehr says 50-50 the players think that is the offer but we all know Fehr’s 50-50 is no where close to 50-50. I’m sure you have read most of the proposals as have I and I must be truthful, that to fully understand the wording and gramifications of the text one would need a lot of specialized education.

By: desertfan

desertfan — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:02:07 +0000

I am a 30 year veteran of the world of FREE ENTERPRISE and have grown up not really liking unions period.
As with most unions this one does fall into a mold of representing ALL vesus letting the chips fall as they should.

I have been forced to fly with air flight attendants who hated their work but wanted to protect their tenure.

I I were ever forced and have nearly been there buy the sloths who use backdoor means to force a union on a business I would sell or close it immediately.

Here you are witnessing a failed business because of a union.

Decertify but not as a negotiating tactic but for real.

When formes some 30 years ago the players we uneducated, without representation and tossed around easily by the owners.

The world has changed and it is time for the NHL to join it.

Imagine a league in which all teams must thrive or perish and players can sign for 50 years or 1 year for $100M.
Intelligence would return.
Better find a smart GM or you are dead meat.
One that can sell tix, negotiate local TV deals, sign players and run a business.
Franchises would be where they belong based on fiscal intelligence and fan support.
The Unions days have passed us by.

By: tfaltin

tfaltin — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 13:08:08 +0000

Good idea, Gary. The first step to recovery is admitting you (and Donny) are the problem. I’m very skeptical of his reasoning for this. I’m sure he has connived some way for him to emerge in a positive light among the owners, but this can be viewed as a concession (his only thus far) that he cannot effectively do his job. If an agreement happens (I’ll take “traction”) through this meeting, isn’t it essentially grounds for his own dismissal? If he’s the agent of the owners, and the owners had to do it themselves, why should he be kept around?

On the other side, if the meeting happens and everyone just wants to get the season started, Don has to accept that the players are satisifed to whatever terms may exist and let it happen.

By: isithockeyseasonyet

isithockeyseasonyet — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:27:19 +0000

for serious? what do you think will happen? the owners pull out some jedi mind trick and convince the PA they dont need fehr? (and maybe they dont but im not saying that). is there really something to lose by trying? its nard not to be pessimistic, or am i wrong? so if thats the case, let them try.

By: rainyday56

rainyday56 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 08:06:25 +0000

The meeting would be the players, Jacobs and a couple of Boston bozos with lead pipes to help drive home the point, old school. Just like they did in the good ol’ daze.

By: woodstakes

woodstakes — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 06:30:20 +0000

I agree with you bcsteele.. but ONLY if ALL the owners are there and only if ALL the owners can speak!! Not just Jacobs… may as well have Bettman in there then. I want to here what Mike Ilitch(Det), Craig Leipold(Wild), Jeffery Vanderbeek(NJ), James Dolan(NYR), Mario Lemieux & Ron Burkle(Pit) have to say. WE already know what Jacobs has to say. I’d like to hear from a mix of high profit NHL ownership (Dolan), not so profitable (Leipold/Vanderbeek) and from someone who knows this fight from BOTH sides of the wall (Lemieux). Because, I may be alone here but I don’t think everyone of those owners are behind this lockout going this long on the issues that are the sticking point right now.

By: sreske93

sreske93 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 05:52:22 +0000

Doesn’t matter when this “50-50″ split gets done. When this CBA runs out, the owners are gonna lockout again until they get the majority of the money anyways

By: sabatimus

sabatimus — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:08:36 +0000

Only if Lucic gets to punch Jeremy Jacobs.

By: sabatimus

sabatimus — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:08:23 +0000

Only if Lucic gets to punch his Jeremy Jacobs.

By: sabatimus

sabatimus — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 04:05:51 +0000

All we need is Shawn Thornton, Eric Boulton, and Chris Neil, and the matter is settled.

By: valoisvipers

valoisvipers — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 03:46:02 +0000

Sadly being pro-owner I must agree with you ID4joey, sending the players in to meet with the owners would indeed friend be like taking candy from a baby.Just as you say Fehr will have to not agree to this type of meeting to protect the players from them selves.

By: capsfan19

capsfan19 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:16:35 +0000

Get milan lucic in there, he’d say this, “god id like to hit him like i did to ryan miller…”

By: id4joey

id4joey — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:59:58 +0000

It’s not about their lack of brains, but more so about their lack of experience. Do you seriously think they can go head to head with the owners to resolve their issues? Besides, it like asking a couple to negotiate the terms of their divorce.

By: atwatercrushesokoye

atwatercrushesokoye — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:59:12 +0000

The NFL lockout didn’t get any momentum going towards a settlement until they got the lawyers out of the room and got people like Jeff Saturday and Robert Kraft into the room to work through their issues. If the season is going to be cancelled why not look into the eyes of the other side and tell them exactly what your issues are rather than letting your representative tell their representative.

By: tatdue

tatdue — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:23:24 +0000

Fehr does what the players want him to do….If the players want to do this they will, simple as that. There are no special rules like Bettman has. When it comes to Fehr, if the players want him gone then he’s gone. The PA is democratic unlike the owners side of things….

By: tatdue

tatdue — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:09:44 +0000

@somecat – You’re a funny guy I’ll give you that….I really love the line about “Anyway you slice it, this is 100% on the players at this point”…..that has to be the funniest line that anybody has written yet!!! You must be Bettman or Daly or some other owner in disguise because I just refuse to think that there are actually people stupid enough to actually believe the nonsense that you just wrote….The players are the ONLY side that has moved at all in this fiasco!

Now as far as blaming Bettman goes…..People keep saying “he’s just the messenger” and “it’s not him, it’s the owners”…..What those people are over looking is the fact that as long as the NHL owns Phoenix Bettman is an owner because he controls the Phoenix vote (which I very much doubt is coincidental) So I say blaming Bettman is not only smart but totally just! As long as this a$$hole is in charge of the league we (the fans) will keep having to endure these f’n lock outs!……He has to go period!

By: stakex

stakex — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:57:43 +0000

While most hockey players (and pro athleats in general) are dumb as fence posts, there are some smart guys mixed in. Some of them have been been heavily involved in the discussions thus far, and could easily lead the players into one on one talks with the owners.

In the end any deal will still have to go through Fehr and the union, so what is there to lose?

By: delsj

delsj — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:56:29 +0000

So you have a problem with greedy owners wanting more profits, but see no problem with Crosby wanting to secure his own interests in high end long term contracts that the “4th liner” will never see. A union is supposed to protect all its constituents. I guess some folks in the NHLPA are more equal than others.

By: stakex

stakex — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:55:11 +0000

Agreed. Bettman and Fehr seem to really hate eachother, and are both fighting to get a deal done for someone else. It might be easier for the players/owners to talk to eachother directly.

That is of course if Fehr ever lets that happen. If he honestly does want to see a deal done, he will. If however he is in fact not being completely up front with the players (as the owners have suggested), he’ll never go for this.

By: id4joey

id4joey — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:54:18 +0000

If my job was to protect the best interests of the players, then there is no way this would fly. This would be like throwing children in the lion’s den. No way! If we’re an owner, then I’d be licking my chops. Bring into our den.

I think Fehr owes it to the players not to let them fall for this.