Day 76 of NHL Lockout

CBA roundup
• Mediation has failed -- for now -- and the lockout continues into day 76. The NHL has missed 422 regular season games and lost the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, Mich., as well as the All-Star Weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
• There had been some speculation a couple of months ago that when the NHL lockout comes to an end expansion could be an option. But if you ask economist Todd Jewell the only real option for the NHL isn't expansion, but instead contraction. He called it a "necessary evil."

“You've got to get rid of some of these teams with so little public support that can't exist without subsidies from the rest of the league,” Jewell told David Ebner of the Globe and Mail. “I just don't think the National Hockey League can survive with as many teams as it has in the southern states. But contraction's tough for the league to do, because it's admitting failure. It's admitting they're not a big enough sport to survive in Phoenix.” [Globe and Mail]

• Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Steven Stamkos hasn't yet decided on whether he's going to Europe for the remainder of the lockout, but the lockout has been pretty agonizing for him.
For fans it's been pretty agonizing not getting a chance to see him play. [ESPN]
• An Ohio senator wants to help ease the damage that the NHL lockout has caused to local businesses in Columbus, not only due to the loss of the All-Star Weekend, but also the 11 (so far) regular season games that would have been held at Nationwide Arena. The office of Sen. Sherrod Brown sent a letter, which was obtained by the Columbus Dispatch, to the U.S. Small Business Administration looking for ways to help.

"This is not a natural disaster in the sense that everything is wiped out," Brown told Aaron Portzline of the Dispatch on Thursday. "But it's been an unexpected blow to small businesses. Maybe they need a 'bridge' loan to help them get through this. But we'll do whatever we can to help the business and the SBA to get together on something that can help. I suspect we'll hear back from the SBA fairly soon. We need to get going on this." [Columbus Dispatch]

P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens.

Mediation ends without helping lockout

Gone is the hope, at least for now, that the NHL lockout will be solved with the help of federal mediators. After two days of mediation, the league and NHL Players' Association broke off talks with no progress made. No more sessions are scheduled with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
 
"After spending several hours with both sides over two days, the presiding mediators concluded that the parties remained far apart, and that no progress toward a resolution could be made through further mediation at this point in time," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "We are disappointed that the mediation process was not successful."

There's no reason why mediators could not intervene in the process again, but for now the sides will go back to regular collective bargaining talks.

“Today, players and NHLPA staff, along with representatives of the league, concluded a second day of mediation under the auspices of the FMCS," NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said in a statement Thursday. "This afternoon, the mediators informed the parties that they did not think it was productive to continue the discussions further today. The mediators indicated that they would stay in contact with the league and the NHLPA, and would call the parties back together when they thought the time was right.”

The next step could be the NHLPA decertifying or disclaiming interest, which could put pressure on owners with antitrust lawsuits. Scot L. Beckenbaugh and John Sweeney were the mediators appointed by FMCS director George S. Cohen to help the sides bridge the current gap in CBA negotiations.

KHL only place for Crosby

Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby should only consider signing with a KHL team if he makes the choice to play in an overseas league while the NHL lockout is ongoing. According to Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, we might not have to wait much longer to find out if Crosby will play overseas this year. There would be no better way for Crosby to "get back at" the owners for not doing enough to end the lockout than by signing with a team in the NHL's rival league.

If Crosby chooses to play overseas, is the KHL the best league for him?

Yes

90.0%

No

10.0%

Total votes: 10

Crosby signing with a KHL team would likely make NHL commissioner Gary Bettman furious because the KHL would then become the only place to watch the face of the NHL. Any Crosby versus Alexander Ovechkin games in the KHL would be huge events and would shift the focus of the hockey world on the KHL for a few days. It's hard to determine what kind of impact Crosby going to the KHL would have on the CBA talks between the NHL and NHLPA, but it would certainly create some more pressure on both sides to get a deal. The other major reason why the KHL is Crosby's best option is because some of his current and former Penguins teammates are playing in that league right now. Current Penguins star Evgeni Malkin and former teammate Sergei Gonchar have been playing together for Magnitogorsk Metallurg during the work stoppage.

If Crosby goes overseas, he should sign with Magnitogorsk Metallurg. For Crosby to feel comfortable in Russia, he should go to a team where he will have some friends and/or ex-teammates that he can hang out with and take advice from. Playing alongside players who he knows would help Crosby make a smooth transition to a league far different from the NHL. He has played with Malkin for many years in Pittsburgh, and the two of them are arguably the best power play duo in the world. Deciding whether or not to play overseas during the lockout is a major moment in Crosby's career, and it will be a very hard choice to make. However, if Crosby does go overseas, choosing the league to play in and the team to sign with shouldn't be difficult at all. Magnitogorsk Metallurg of the KHL are the best fit.

How mediation could work for NHL

 

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to the press in September.

Although Wednesday's lengthy session failed to provide much information on the current momentum of negotiations, the majority of both in-the-know experts and on-the-sidelines fans have lost confidence in the system. Of course, after the Bettman vs. Fehr public relations chess battle of the last three months, any compromise between these two increasingly bitter foes seems impossible. Until a physical CBA is created, ratified and implemented, many will find it hard to believe that the lockout is moving toward a conclusion. But mediation could change that. After all, for head mediators John Sweeney and Scot Beckenbaugh, this is what they've made a living on—solving hundreds upon hundreds of seemingly-unresolvable conflicts. According to Temple University professor Joseph Folger (via Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer):

"It's all about the timing when mediation is involved. [It can work] if both sides are at a place where they realize the alternative is much worse than compromising."

While that's not an attitude we've seen much during this process, it's certainly possible that the two sides are beginning to much that realization. USA Today's Kevin Allen reports that, at this point, the owners are losing $18 to $20 million and the players are losing $8 to $10 million daily. If the two sides' positions are only about $182 million apart, both sides will have lost more money than they're arguing over in a mere two weeks.
Also per Folger:

"The mediation-made-me-do-it syndrome can [also] work in their favor." The side that makes what it perceives as the biggest concessions can "save face by implying it was pressure from the mediator that caused it. It wasn't that they caved, but they went with something the mediator [suggested]."

Given the plethora of PR ploys and press-conference duels that both sides have employed this fall, "saving face" may sound very inviting to some of those involved in the process. Remember, the 2004-2005 lockout ended disastrously for the NHLPA. This time, Fehr and Co. may welcome an opportunity to end this lockout as, in the eyes of the public, a virtual tie. Further, there's always the possibility that mediators Sweeney and Beckenbaugh could actually help the two sides find ways to compromise.

 

Will mediation lead to a CBA?

Yes

46.5%

No

53.5%

Total votes: 660

A Wednesday Forbes report on the growing NHL profitability gap could help the players' push for increased revenue sharing. A Toronto Star article last week indicates the NHL could be closer to getting its way with free agency-related issues, such as UFA requirements and entry-level requirements. Albeit slowly, progress has been—and, hopefully, will continue to be—made.
So forget the continent-wide pessimism, ugly press release exchanges and mood-dampening news leaks. Forget the last two months' endless stream of rejected proposals. Forget the feeling that this latest step is, yet again, not going to yield any progress. After all of this, mediation might be just what the 2012-13 NHL lockout needs.

Lockout reaches Day 74

CBA roundup

• The NHL has now canceled 422 regular-season games, lost the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, MI, and the All-Star weekend in Columbus.

• New York Rangers forward Brad Richards has remained stateside through this entire lockout, working out in New York and Tampa Bay, so he has been able to keep tabs on the talks. He told New York media on Tuesday that he's scared for the game right now and more or less laughed at the notion that the owners have given in on anything.

"That's the biggest crock I've ever heard of," Richards said of the league's concessions. "I still don't know what they think a negotiation is. None of us really do. Right now, [the league's offer] is take-it-or-leave-it and it's a deal that makes no sense for the future of the league, so we're trying to figure out a way to get some momentum and get it so it's good for both sides, not just one side."

Richards also said he wasn't optimistic one bit about mediation. (ESPN.com)

• The last time the two sides met, the NHLPA gave the NHL exactly what it had long been asking for; a full proposal. It still was dismissed by the league but, according to Larry Brooks, some of the owners are starting to get a little tired of this circus.

Believing a deal is there to be had, several team executives have told The Post of their frustration with the league's refusal to negotiate off the PA's proposal of last Wednesday and with the NHL's all-or-nothing approach to bargaining.
Team executives -- with the apparent exception of militant Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke -- have all but been eliminated from the process by the hard line Board negotiating committee. (New York Post)

• Remember that charity game the players set up in Atlantic City last weekend? Why wasn't that televised? It would have been great to watch some live hockey with NHL players and benefit a good cause. One report said the NHL told NBC to back off.

A source directly associated with NBC Sports has informed me that the NHL specifically requested to NBC that they not broadcast Operation Hat Trick. While it's not definite that NBC would have gone through with the broadcast, the NHL's intervention seems to have been enough to end all discussions of the possibility. (NYRangers Blog)

However, NBC Sports' vice president of communications denied that report to Dave Isaac, saying NBC considered it but couldn't.

"We had interest in the game, but pre-existing programming commitments made it impossible," McCloskey tells the Courier-Post. (Courier-Post)

• Fans and business parties alike are feeling more and more wronged by this lockout. Katie Carrera wonders how damaging it will truly be.

Whether involving a neutral third party will help create traction remains to be seen, but as the lockout drags on, fans' loyalty to their sport is becoming a frayed trust.
"The league has become known for lying to its fans, to its sponsors," said Ed O'Hara, senior partner of New York-based SME Branding, which helped devise the strategy for the NHL eight years ago and still counts the league among its clients. (Washington Post)

• It can be a super sad time without hockey, particularly in a good hockey city such as Chicago. That's why Megan Kluth of Chicago Side took to the streets on Black(hawk) Friday to spread some hockey cheer.


• The San Jose Sharks are beginning the ticket-refund process for fans. It's probably not going to do much to please already-angry fans, as David Pollak points out.

That first refund from the Sharks after the lockout-forced cancellation of 16 regular season and three pre-season games through Dec. 14 isn't likely to soothe many fans. That's because that first check comes to 1.8 percent of the 70 percent of the season that most season-ticket holders have paid for to this point. For example, a fan with two $80 seats in the lower bowl using the installment plan paid 70 percent, or $4,928 of the $7,040 total cost before the team stopped collecting the final payments with the lockout pending. That fan will be getting back $88.70. (San Jose Mercury News)

Hockey fix
Highlights from the CHL between the Denver Cutthroats and the Rapid City Rush. Major highlight is the shootout at the :58 mark. There is an absolutely beautiful toe drag that would make Pavel Datsyuk proud.

KHL update
Here's some action from the KHL.

Mediation might not dissolve dispute

As the league and NHL Players' Association have spent months trying to end the lockout, many ideas have been shared across the bargaining table and from the outside. Bringing in a federal mediator was one. “Couldn’t hurt,” NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr said in Toronto a few weeks ago. The NHL got on board with the idea and, beginning this week, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service will try to bridge the gap between the sides. But will mediators be able to help bring hockey back?
 
“My guess is just based on past history and the tone of the way things are going right now is that this is probably not going to produce a settlement,” said Gary R. Roberts, dean and professor of law at Indiana University. Roberts is a sports labor law specialist who has published articles and book chapters on antitrust and labor issues. He also has served as president of the Sports Lawyers Association.

“This isn’t like a hysterical couple doing divorces or a commercial dispute where one side or the other is just being totally unrealistic. These are two very sophisticated and experienced groups. I just don’t see how much a mediator can bring to the table other than to remind them of what’s at stake periodically.”

What’s at stake is $3.3 billion per year in revenues and the NHL’s reputation. That’s why deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the sides are ready to “try a new approach.” It’s an approach that the owners and players tried in 2004-05; three days after a mediator became involved, the season was canceled. But the salary cap was an issue no one was willing to budge on then, and that was much later in the process. Mediation was part of the NFL and NBA lockouts, too. Roberts said it appeared that the FMCS involvement in the NFL work stoppage “accomplished almost nothing.” The NHL situation might be different.

“Who knows how many seeds the mediator might plant that could eventually bear fruit,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to predict.” But it’s worth a shot, given the current state of talks. The sides haven’t met since Nov. 21, when the NHLPA’s proposal was rejected by the owners. “When you make a move toward them, if you’re going to have an agreement, somebody has to say, ‘Yes and now I can do this.’ Instead they said, more or less, ‘Yes, and what else can you do for me?’” NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said Saturday night.

Frustration is building up over the stalemate from owners, players and fans. It’s all too easy sometimes to get caught up in rhetoric and the idea of winning or losing the battle. “Mediation tends to me a mechanism whereby tempers can be cooled, and people who are operating from unrealistic perspectives can be brought to see what reality is,” Roberts said.

Roberts hasn’t followed the specific issues of the NHL lockout as closely as those in the NBA and NFL. But given how the sides have not been able to agree on splitting hockey-related revenue, contract terms and other player rights, his characteristic of the talks was not encouraging. “It sounds like they’re pretty much at an impasse,” he said. “Both sides have their perspectives and their objectives and neither side can accept a set of proposals that the other side insists is necessary. We really are at sort of a standstill.”

About $182 million apart on core economic issues, there’s further disagreement on matters such as contract length (players want none while owners want to institute a five-year limit) and arbitration rights. Even if mediators Scot L. Beckenbaugh and John Sweeney cannot bring about a quick settlement, perhaps the value of their presence is in the development of new ideas.

“These are very smart people, they’re very well prepared, they’ve run numbers out the wazoo. They know what’s going on,” Roberts said. “The only thing a mediator could conceivably do is come up with some complicated set of proposals that neither side has thought of up until this point in time that might pique their interest and get them started talking in a way that might lead to a result.”

Already 422 regular-season games have been canceled, along with the Winter Classic and the All-Star Game. The NHLPA is considering decertification to force the owners’ hand, and something has to give if the sides are to prevent the Stanley Cup from not being awarded for the second time in less than a decade. But it’s uncertain whether mediation will be the solution. “If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a soothsayer,” Roberts said. “I just don’t think anybody really knows.”

Locked out stars performing well in Europe

 

Instead of entertaining millions of North American hockey fans this holiday season, the NHL is tormenting its supporters with an ongoing lockout that shows no signs of ending. On Monday it was reported that both the league and the players' union have agreed to work with a mediator, just days after the NHL announced the cancellation of regular season games through mid-December plus January's All-Star Game in Columbus. With little if any progress having been made this fall, NHL fans would be wise to focus their attention overseas, where a plethora of locked-out superstars are showcasing the very skills that have made the NHL so popular.

Let's take a look at a trio of superstars that fans should be watching this season.

Evgeni Malkin, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Russia
Pittsburgh Penguins' center Evgeni Malkin is looking right at home in the Kontinental Hockey League this season, playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk in his native Russia. The reigning Hart Memorial Trophy winner (awarded to the NHL's league MVP) has been setting up teammates at an incredible rate, assisting 22 times in 24 games overseas this season. Malkin is on an even better pace than he was last year with Pittsburgh, when he recorded 59 helpers in 75 regular-season games. There's no doubt about it: The 26-year-old is incredibly talented and fun to watch. He also has 11 goals this season for Magnitogorsk, proving to be an unstoppable force with the puck.

Tyler Seguin, EHC Biel, Switzerland
It's shocking to think that Tyler Seguin is only 20 years old. The Ontario native has lit up the NHL for two seasons already and is now dominating on the ice for Switzerland's EHC Biel.
In just 20 games this fall, the Boston Bruins center has 32 points: 20 goals and 12 assists. We knew Seguin was talented and could score with the best of them, but he only had 40 goals in 155 career NHL games coming into this season. His hat trick against HC Ambri-Piotta proves that the sky is the limit for Seguin. You won't find another locked-out NHL star averaging a goal per game overseas this season. Seguin's play truly is must-see hockey.

Ilya Kovalchuk, SKA St. Petersburg, Russia
Just over five months ago, Ilya Kovalchuk was helping lead the NHL's New Jersey Devils to the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, but now he's shredding defenses with KHL club SKA St. Petersburg.
The 29-year-old Kovalchuk was drafted No. 1 overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2001, and has since developed into a lethal left winger. The Russian star has 29 points (fifth-most in the KHL this season) in 22 appearances for SKA. Thanks to Kovalchuk's consistent brilliance, SKA is in first place in the Western Conference. After a dominant playoff performance for the Devils last spring, with 19 points in 23 games, it looks like Kovalchuk will soon be powering SKA to a KHL title run. Provided he stays healthy, Kovalchuk will be a star to keep an eye on as the NHL lockout wears on.
 

Federal mediators set to join stalled labor talks

Federal mediators are entering the stalled NHL labor talks, with the season's first 2 1/2 months already lost because of the lockout. George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said Monday the parties had agreed to use the agency. He assigned three mediators to assist negotiations – deputy director Scot Beckenbaugh, director of mediation services John Sweeney and Commissioner Guy Serota. The sides are to meet separately with the mediators Wednesday.
 
"While we have no particular level of expectation going into this process, we welcome a new approach in trying to reach a resolution of the ongoing labor dispute at the earliest possible date," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

Cohen has worked with the players' associations for Major League Baseball, helping end the 1994-95 strike as an outside counsel, and the NBA. He was an adviser to the NHL players' union before joining FMCS three years ago.

"We look forward to their involvement as we continue working to reach an equitable agreement for both the players and the owners," said Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players' Association.

Cohen mediated during the 2010 negotiations in Major League Soccer and 2011 talks in the NFL and NBA, along with this year's dispute between the NFL and its on-field officials. Hockey players and management have not negotiated since last Wednesday. The NHL has canceled more than one-third of its regular season, including all games through Dec. 14, the New Year's Day outdoor Winter Classic and the All-Star weekend scheduled for Jan. 26-27 at Columbus, Ohio.

"I have had separate, informal discussions with the key representatives of the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association during the course of their negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement," Cohen said in a statement.


"Due to the extreme sensitivity of these negotiations and consistent with the FMCS's longstanding practice, the agency will refrain from any public comment concerning the future schedule and/or the status of the negotiations until further notice."

Reaction to Roman Hamrlik's criticism of Donald Fehr and the NHL players' course during the lockout has been far and wide. Over the weekend, New Jersey Devils goaltender and future Hall of Famer Marty Brodeur weighed in, calling it a “sign of weakness” from the NHLPA's perspective.
 
“Everybody has their own way of coping with things, but I think in the situation that we're in and the hard work that people are putting in, I think it's got to be [handled] internally,” Brodeur said. “And I don't think he ever addressed it inside of our locker room as far as the PA's concerned, and he has to go out in front of the media and then show a sign of weakness from a player that should know better at his age. Asked if he really thought it was a sign of weakness for Hamrlik to speak out, Brodeur said “for sure. When players talk about things that they don't know, they're not well-informed about it, it makes it like you're not informed,” the 40-year-old said. “I think it's your duty as a player to get yourself informed. And then if you don't, you should just not talk about it.”


That was the most pointed criticism directed toward the Washington Capitals defenseman from players at Boardwalk Hall for the Operation Hat Trick charity game Saturday night. It wasn't so much about what he said, but that he wasn't speaking from a place of authority because he hasn't been on conference calls or in on meetings.

“I think any one of the players is entitled to their opinion. I have no problem with that. But I think it's important that you be educated and if you have a voice, voice that within the union,” said New York Rangers forward Jeff Halpern, who played with Hamrlik in Washington last season. “I think anyone would have that feeling; if you're disgruntled, you don't take it to the media. It's the same as the way a hockey locker room works: You don't air your laundry out in the public. You do it within yourself. And the fact that he chose the media as opposed to within the union to voice that is very disappointing.”

This is the 38-year-old Hamrlik's third NHL lockout. He has remained in Montreal instead of returning to his native Czech Republic.
But his comments to Daily Sport in the Czech Republic, which included his being “disgusted” with the process and a claim that Fehr should be out as executive director if the season is lost, did not garner many positive reactions from younger players.

“It's tough to hear. I think you've seen with some of the other players' reactions, guys who have been to meetings, at least the majority of the meetings and are really understanding what's going on,” Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos said. “If you know what's going on, you're not going to be saying those comments. It's sad to hear that, but at the same time, it's only one or two comments, and the good thing is we're unified and we have everyone on the same page, and we're going to support each other through this whole process.”

Fellow Caps defenseman John Carlson said "I'm not going to talk about that" when asked about Hamrlik's comments. Stamkos said, based on conversations with older players, that this is the most informed players have been during a work stoppage. Because of that, so many are quick to defend Fehr against comments such as what Hamrlik offered up last week.

“When you know what's going on, I think you look at it as a small distraction,” Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Jody Shelley said. “We've got to stay where we're going and try to get the deal done. We're trying to get the deal done. That's what we're trying to do. We want it done. And Don is trying everything he can to get it done.”

Saturday evening, speaking to reporters in the lobby of Caesars in Atlantic City, Fehr defended Hamrlik's right to free speech. "Democracy can be a bit of a messy process sometimes. But if you believe in free speech and you don't believe in censorship, and you believe everybody's entitled to their opinion, they speak it," Fehr said. "And sometimes it's what they mean; sometimes people get angry and frustrated and they vent. And then you talk to them, other players will talk to him from time to time, staff will talk to him and make sure you get the questions answered. We don't believe in censoring anybody. We don't believe in telling anybody they can't come to meetings and see for themselves. We're different than the owners."

Shelley said he considered it "part of the process" for some guys to speak out. But he said it's important for all players, not just Hamrlik, to have an understanding of what's going on.
"Maybe he doesn't know, [maybe] he needs to have a conversation with Don or someone in the know because you would think that there's thought that the union's kind of shaken," Shelley said. "But when you speak with Don and the guys in the meetings and they report exactly what's going on and you hear the plan, it really settles you down."

With the lockout more than two months old, settling down might be hard to do. But that's why so many players said Hamrlik and others should get on conference calls and attend meetings and collective bargaining talks. "No one's happy that we're not playing, but you have to understand what's going on and you have to be on the calls and you have to voice your opinion within the group," Halpern said. "He has every right to be entitled to his opinion."

2013 NHL all-star game cancelled

More than a third of the NHL regular season and two of its marquee events have now been called off. The league announced its latest round of cancellations on Friday – Day 69 of its labor lockout. All games through Dec. 14 were wiped out, and this time All-Star Weekend, scheduled for Jan. 26-27 in Columbus, Ohio, was lost, too. The New Year's Day outdoor Winter Classic already was scratched. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said losing the All-Star festivities is "extremely disappointing."
 
"We feel badly for NHL fans and particularly those in Columbus, and we intend to work closely with the Blue Jackets organization to return the NHL All-Star events to Columbus and their fans as quickly as possible," Daly said in a statement Friday.

The Blue Jackets said fans holding tickets to the game, the skills competition, and other events during that weekend could receive refunds. Brian Jack, a 35-year-old IT director who grew up in Pittsburgh, moved to Columbus 17 years ago and converted from a Penguins fan to a Blue Jackets supporter after the expansion team hit the ice. "We knew the All-Star Game, the longer it went, was probably going to be one of the first special events they cancelled," said Jack, a season-ticket holder for all of the Blue Jackets' 12 seasons. "You knew it was coming, but I hoped that they would get together and fix it (labor problems) up. For season-ticket holders who have watched the Blue Jackets struggle for a number of years with the product on the ice, the All-Star game was supposed to be a bright spot. Now that's gone."

A lockout in the 1994-95 season shortened that campaign to 48 games. A similar scenario could play out this time if the sides can find some common ground. Or the whole season could be lost, as it was in 2004-05.

The new cancellations come as little surprise. Owners and players had an unproductive negotiating session on Wednesday that produced no movement to break an impasse over splitting more than $3 billion in revenue and also player contracts. "All players felt that this week would lead to something," Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "However as of today unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. It's very disappointing."

Daly said he spoke to union officials on Friday, advising them about the cancellations, but at this point no face-to-face talks are scheduled. The possibility exists that Daly will speak to union special counsel Steve Fehr by telephone this weekend, but even that isn't certain. The sides had stayed apart for eight days before reconvening on Monday night and then again on Wednesday when the union presented a comprehensive proposal the NHL requested. Players' association executive director Donald Fehr said Wednesday that the sides were closer financially than the NHL has claimed. The further cancellations Friday will cause significantly greater losses for the league.

"On Wednesday, the players presented a comprehensive proposal, once again moving in the owners' direction in order to get the game back on the ice," Donald Fehr said in a new statement. "The gap that remains on the core economic issues is $182 million. On Wednesday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that the league is losing $18-20 million per day during the lockout, therefore two more weeks of cancelled games far exceeds the current economic gap. It makes the NHL's announcement of further game cancellations, including the 2013 All-Star Weekend, all the more unnecessary, and disappointing for all hockey fans – especially those in Columbus. The players remain ready to negotiate but we require a willing negotiating partner."

The union made its offer that was based on a framework the NHL had given, which included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue and a $393 million in deferred payments for the players, who earned 57 percent of revenues in the collective bargaining agreement that expired in September. The NHL offered only $211 million to the players in a proposed deal that took into account that a full 82-game schedule would be played this season. Players previously had proposed they receive a guaranteed amount of income each year. Management wants a seven-year deal, which the union says is too long because fewer than half the current players will be active by the last season.

End game for in sight? we can only hope

As ESPN’s John Buccigross put it well today, both sides (NHL & NHLPA) already have betrayed our trust. There is real danger that the NHL has already suffered serious damage with its loyal fan base because of this utterly foolish lockout.

“I was talking with a serious fan today at the supermarket, and he said he’s done, he ain’t comin’ back…”

That’s the kind of stuff you read a lot from within the hockey media. “They might never recover from this…”
As the former Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman said about the movie business: nobody knows anything. I do believe there is some genuine uncertainty among all the main principals in the media, who don't want to come out and say there wil be a season this year. Just keep in mind: the parties are just too close on all the main issues to walk away from what would still be a lot of money to be had the rest of a season. Too many owners want to play, not at the price of capitulating to the players on the rest of their wish list, the same goes in reverse for the players’ side, but they do want games played and they’re too close.

There have been several good takes on the situation of late, including one from Bill Simmons at ESPN. A good line from the piece: “It’s the ultimate team sport, and really, that’s the best thing about hockey — there’s a guaranteed level of entertainment night after night after night that transcends star power.”

As Simmons went on to point out, hockey players don’t have the star-power leverage in the U.S. that those in the NBA and NFL enjoyed in their most recent lockouts – and yet even they still were forced to take 50-50 deals when all was said and done. If NHL players think they are worth more than 50 percent of overall revenue, worth more in the U.S. (where 23 of the league’s 30 teams reside) than NBA and NFL players, then they are simply not in the reality-based community.

What the NHLPA don’t want to admit is, they made a killing in the CBA from 2005-12. Their average salaries rose from $1.4 million to about $2.4 million. Guys like David Jones got to become unrestricted free agents by age 28 and land themselves four-year, $16 million contracts. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter – two very good but not great players, with zero Stanley Cups between them – got $98 million EACH on the free-agent market this summer from Minnesota. Guys like Paul Stastny and Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar and tons of other guys coming out of their first contracts made an absolute killing on their second deals, thanks to the reduction in age of UFA eligibility from 31 to 27 (teams wanted to keep them off the UFA market, so they were forced to give them rich, long-term deals after their first contracts expired) and because of strong increases every year in the salary cap ceiling (and, just as important and probably more so – the vast increase in the salary cap floor). A lot of people forget: the NHLPA voted twice to extend the CBA, based on their right to do so in original contract language. They loved the CBA. And it’s why they are fighting so hard to keep as much of it in place as they can.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, meanwhile, is trying to close all the loopholes he didn’t foresee being such a problem. Probably the biggest in contract term length. It truly is hard to believe the owners/Bettman didn’t see that having no limits on contract term lengths would become such a problem. But it is precisely why the league became littered with too many deals like the 10-12-15-year contracts to guys like Rick DiPietro, Marian Hossa, Suter, Parise etc. You can’t blame players for saying “Hey, they are the ones who wanted that last CBA so bad, they’re the ones who said it was a great deal for them, now they want to take it all back and we’re not going to let them”, etc.

If I was a player, I’d know when to cut my losses and cut a deal, and I think, it’s that time. I would also be pretty happy with how things have gone with Don Fehr as leader. Their first offer was 43 percent. Now it’s 50. The revenue-sharing offer from the league is higher than it was. Arbitration was on the table before, now it’s off. At first, they weren’t offered anything as part of a “make whole” provision, but now they have an offer to have that money come out of the owners’ pockets, plus interest. Their decision to keep sitting back and fielding offers has gotten them better offers. That’s surely a win.

It might not be everything they wanted, but they have gotten “concessions” in recent weeks. I really dont think they’ll get much more than this? I suspect they don’t either. Don Fehr is a bit of a different bird altogether. To me, he’s the guy I’m most worried about in this final endgame. As TSN’s Bob McKenzie nicely put it, his “passive-aggressive” demeanor is a tough one to read, for everybody. But Fehr would be a fool to believe the offer will/could get much better, and I don’t think he’s a fool.

For Bettman and the owners? They’ll still get a reduction in payouts from 57 to 50 percent. That’s a win! And they’ll almost certainly get an increase in the age of unrestricted free agency. If not that, almost certainly a tightening of entry-level contract terms. Maybe both. Another win.
I don’t expect a deal to be announced Wednesday, after that day’s crucial meetings in New York. I think we’ll see one final stand-off from each other, and then one last meeting soon. But hopefully by then, we’ll finally see a deal. We could even start the season as early as Sat, Dec 15. What a nice Christmas present that would be for Hockey fans

NHLPA to propose new CBA

You've probably heard this before, but Wednesday is a "crucial day" in these negotiations. There is a serious lack of trust between both sides right now, and no one wants to make the first significant concession and risk any advantages they may have in negotiations. Should the NHLPA give its best offer to the league right now, or wait until there is more pressure on the owners to start the season? It's a difficult question for the players to answer, but they definitely need to make a better offer(s) than they did last month. What will happen if the league does not like the NHLPA's proposal on Wednesday? Expect more regular season games to be cancelled soon, and the next block will likely include the 2013 NHL All-Star Game in Columbus. Wednesday will either be a day when real progress is made and meaningful negotiations will commence, or the level of frustration felt by everyone will raise even higher. Hopefully the NHL and NHLPA finally exhibit some common sense and realize that wasting more time is going to inflict real damage on the sport. Crafting a proposal using percentages is a significant move by the players, and should lead to positive negotiations. The $182 million gap between the two sides (five-year deal proposed) is about $36.4 million per season, which is bit more than $1 million per team (30 teams). There's no reason to lose a season over this amount of money, especially when the NHL earned $3.3 billion of revenue during the 2011-12 season. It will be interesting to see if the NHL also thinks that the two sides are $182 million apart. We have seen both sides have a different view on how far apart they are on certain issues a few times over the last few months. Hockey fans shouldn't be too optimistic about this morning's meeting because we have been excited before, only to have the NHL respond with an offer that the players did not like. However, this is the farthest that the NHLPA has gone toward the owners in this process, so there are reasons to be optimistic. When the NHL responds this afternoon, it will be much easier to determine how much progress has actually been made today. Hockey fans will hope that Wednesday's meeting is a lengthy one because that would probably indicate that the league doesn't find the NHLPA's proposal outrageous. A short meeting would not be a good sign, and probably tell us that the league was not pleased with the union's offer(s).

A lack of trust between the NHL and NHLPA is stalling the CBA talks and helping prevent the lockout from ending, but with the NHLPA reportedly bringing a new offer to the bargaining table on Wednesday (via ESPN New York's Katie Strang), will either side be willing to make the first major concession?

Katie Strang@KatieStrangESPN NHL, NHLPA set to resume negotiations in NYC today at 10 a.m. NHLPA expected to deliver new proposal. 21 Nov 12

 

Chris Johnston of The Canadian Press has some more information on the next meeting:

As with the previous NHLPA proposals, it sounds like there will be a healthy player turnout in New York tomorrow. Donald Fehr says new proposal is "about as good we can do."

The first CBA meeting of the day has ended, and the two sides are expected to meet again in the afternoon, according to Ren Lavoie of RDS:

Don Fehr:"NHL will respond to us around 1 PM."

  

The NHLPA made a proposal to the NHL Wednesday morning, and the core economic issues were addressed. Dan Rosen of NHL.com has some information on the economics of the league's proposal.

Fehr said of the 2 sides that "at the moment we are exactly $182 million apart" in the players share over 5 years. Fehr acknowledged that the proposal was based on dividing HRR on a percentage base.

 

According to John Shannon of Sportsnet.ca, the players' offer also includes some movement on player contract rights.

As part of the PA proposal, union would agree to small variance on contracts, but not agree to terms limit on deals.

 

Kraft Hockeyville 2013 cancelled due to NHL Lockout

Kraft Canada has cancelled its 2013 Hockeyville program due to the ongoing NHL lockout, the organization announced Tuesday. The Kraft Hockeyville 2012 winner announced last March was Stirling-Rawdon, Ont. The town received $100,000 in arena upgrade money from Kraft Canada and $10,000 in food bank donations. Stirling-Rawdon was supposed to host a NHL preseason game this fall between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets, but the lockout wiped out the event. There still was a celebration in late September, with the Stanley Cup on display for photographs. The town will get a chance to host a preseason game once the NHL and its players come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement. Kraft Canada is investing in a new program called Kraft Hockey Goes On, which will award $1 million to Hockey Canada-affiliated minor hockey associations across the country.

Labor talks resume

The NHL and the locked-out players are talking again, just not for very long. After an eight-day wait between bargaining sessions, as hockey remained on ice, negotiations resumed Monday night at the league office, but were over in less than two hours. There wasn’t any visible anger between the sides when talks wrapped up for the night, and both camps spoke optimistically that discussions would continue soon, perhaps face-to-face again as soon as Tuesday.

 
“We will be in touch with them in the morning,” union executive director Donald Fehr said on a chilly Manhattan sidewalk Monday night. “It’s certainly a good possibility of it. I would say it’s more likely than not.”


The only question is when, or whether, one side will say something the other really wants to hear. These negotiations have been going for a while, yet there hasn’t been any kind of breakthrough to pave the way to a deal that would allow the already shortened hockey season to get started. The lockout entered its 65th day on Monday and has already wiped out 327 games. More cancellations could be coming soon, but the NHL hasn’t said when another such announcement might be coming. For now the focus is still on trying to get a deal as quickly as possible. Both sides know the lockout has inflicted a lot of damage on the sport that produced record revenues of over $3 billion last season. Every day of lost time is hurting everyone, and at some point owners and players will have to decide how much of the losses each side will have to absorb.


“I think every week is important in the process,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “I don’t attach a particular significance to this week over last week or next week. I want to play tomorrow.”


Not a whole lot was accomplished on Monday, but the sides at least looked forward to the next time they will get together.


“We talked about various things,” Fehr said. “No new proposals were made, they were not expected to be made. We had hoped to engage them in a discussion about the player contracting issues that are so important to the players. At least tonight they were unwilling to do that.”


The league contends that it is waiting for the players to present a full proposal on all the major issues, including core economics and player contracting, which deals with the entry-level system, arbitration and free agency. After the request was made, the players’ association asked for a break and the meeting adjourned soon after.


“We’ve never heard a full proposal from them,” Daly said. “They have given us a variation of the same proposal on economics a couple of times and there was no change in that position. They are still suggesting that they are moving in our direction on economics, but until we know exactly what their position is on economics now, we think it’s all tied together and would like to hear it all together. It’s our position that we’ve made a couple comprehensive proposals in a row. We’d like to know where they are on all of the issues. We asked that they put together a comprehensive proposal for us to consider.”


Union representatives, along with 18 players who were in attendance, returned to the players’ association office to have further internal discussions Monday night. Those could stretch into Tuesday, when the sides are expected to at least talk by phone. Another face-to-face meeting could take place Tuesday, or perhaps on Wednesday. It is unclear if talks will continue through the Thanksgiving holiday if any momentum is generated in the earlier part of the week. The players tried to put the focus on player-contract issues on Monday night before returning to specific revenue and economic areas, but the NHL wasn’t interested in that because the league considers everything to be intertwined. Neither side wants to agree to anything, or make concessions in one single area, without knowing how those will affect other parts of the CBA that still needs to be negotiated.


“Our position all along has been on the player contracting issues that they become considerably more important to players as the cap becomes limited,” Fehr said. “We made proposals in a couple of areas in this regard, which moved toward them, but we wanted to talk about the rest of these to see where we were. We indicated to them the last time we met and again today that if we put aside for a moment the effect of the lockout on revenues, we didn’t think we were too far apart on the share, and if that was right we can back into a discussion on the revenues. We wanted to know where we were on the player contracting stuff first, and they were unwilling to do that, at least tonight.”


Fehr said the NHLPA would consider the NHL’s request for a full proposal, and try to figure out what the next step will be. No one would say if they thought such an offer would come Tuesday.
After turning down a suggestion from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to take a two-week break from negotiations, the union requested another meeting with the league.


“We could’ve taken a couple of weeks off, I suppose,” Fehr said. “It’s hard for me to see how you make an agreement if you aren’t talking, so you talk. Sometimes it doesn’t lead anywhere, and perhaps very often it doesn’t lead anywhere, but if you aren’t talking it’s 100 percent sure it doesn’t lead anywhere. They were willing to have the meeting if we said we wanted to meet. That is about as far as I can go.”


Daly said the NHL is always willing to listen if the players have something meaningful to say.
“We’re never going to shut down the process,” he said. “If they think there is a reason to meet and we can make progress, we’re happy to meet. That’s what we told them and that’s what led to today’s meeting.”


It was the first bargaining session since Nov. 11, when a busy week of negotiating wrapped up with a session that lasted just over an hour and didn’t produce any results. All games through Nov. 30 and the New Year’s Day Winter Classic have been called off. One area in which the NHL hasn’t budged is in the area of guaranteed dollars to players.


“If their proposal continues to be a guaranteed amount of player-share dollars, we have told them that that is not a proposal that is acceptable to us or would ever to be acceptable to our owners right now,” Daly said. “If that continues to be where we are, we are a long way apart.”


Frustration is building on both sides, and it has spilled over in recent days. The NHL has placed a gag order on its personnel throughout the league, but players are free to speak out, and are welcome to attend any bargaining sessions. The latest verbal shot toward Bettman and Daly came on Monday when Florida Panthers forward Kris Versteeg was interviewed on a Toronto radio station.


“You’ve got to look for the cancers and you’ve got to cut out the cancers,” Versteeg said. “I think when you look at Bill Daly and Gary Bettman, they’ve been looting this game for far too long.”


Those remarks came on the heels of Detroit Red Wings defenseman Ian White, referring to the commissioner as an “idiot.” Daly publicly brushed aside the comments and chalked them up to aggravation that is being felt on both sides of the lockout.


“I don’t think either Gary or I take those personally,” Daly said. “I understand there is a lot of frustration in this process. I’m frustrated in terms of being where we are and not playing hockey. I think that’s just human nature.”

Can Bill Daly and Donald Fehr save the season?

It’s day 63 of the lockout, and the two sides seem to be no closer to a deal that would have even a shortened season back in play by January 1st. Both sides have been balking at the idea that those they represent should be the ones to fold. With Donald Fehr fighting for the purposed rights of the players, Gary Bettman is the steadfast voice for the owners.

The Vancouver Sun reported on November 17th that a proposal was issued for the two sides to be once more taking a break from negotiations for two weeks. If the negotiations do not resume before November 30th, there will be more games cut from the season. At the beginning of November, Gary Bettman cancelled the Winter Classic (NHL.com). If more games need to be cancelled, the next big attraction to be cancelled will be the All-Star Game.

There are a number of fans who feel that this game is no longer relevant in the NHL of today. There are others, including sponsors who helped the NHL see record earnings in the 2011-12 season, who disagree. Should the All-Star game get cancelled, the owners will lose out not only on the money brought in by the fans, but on the large sponsorship deals they get for that game. With both Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr taking a hard line stance to the proposals from their respective counterparts, it seems that there are only two people truly trying to make a deal work.

   

According to CTVNews.ca, one day after Bettman suggested a break, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and union special counsel Steve Fehr met. While Bettman and the owners wait on a response from Donald Fehr, it seems that Daly and Steve Fehr are at least attempting to find common ground to end the lockout. The two spoke Friday after negotiations reached an apparent standstill on Thursday. While the two sides are no closer to a deal, the fact that they resumed talks is a good sign. If negotiations can continue next week without interruption, there is a chance that the NHL could be back by mid-December or the beginning of January. If the two sides do, in fact, want to get a deal done, then taking a break for two weeks will only be counterproductive.

The painful truth of the 2012 lockout has been that this lockout has been filled with possibilities that prove to be fruitless. So far the attempts to salvage the season have been pushed aside by long breaks on both sides. Bill Daly and Steve Fehr, on the other hand, make it seem as though the two sides do want to have a deal in place to start a season before the start of 2013. Should the two sides manage to come to terms before the end of November, it will more than likely be due to these two men. Not Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr. Fans of the NHL are watching these negotiations, waiting for the owners to announce the 2012-13 season will be cancelled. Though these words will come to the fans through Commissioner Gary Bettman, it will be the doing of the owners. The fans will blame Bettman, should this season be cancelled, but they also need to remember that Donald Fehr was just as much to blame.

Similar Story with NHL Lovkout

In 1994, soon after he became NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman shut down the league for the first time by locking out the players. Bettman’s rationale - then, as now - was that the NHL needed to fix the economics of the game, because the players’ share of the proceeds was running too high. Everything that’s old is new again in the 2012 edition of the NHL lockout, including the player rhetoric which ramped up last week, when Detroit Red Wings’ defenceman Ian White called the NHL commissioner an “idiot.”

Kris Versteeg, the ex-Leaf and now Florida Panther, brought it to an even higher level Monday in an interview with TSN radio, in which he referred to both Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly as “cancers” who’ve “been looting this game for far too long.” Versteeg also called for both Bettman and Daly to step down once CBA negotiations are complete, and set off a discussion about the civility of the discourse, which has featured a lot of commissioner bashing right from the get-go.


Emotions run high every time the players face an unknown future and all you need to do is turn the calendar back to the first lockout, when Chris Chelios famously suggested: “If I was Gary Bettman, I’d be worried about my family and my well-being. He’s going to affect a lot of people and some crazed fan, or even a player, who knows, they might take it in their own hands and figure if they get him out of the way, then things might get settled. You hate to see something like that happen, but he took the job.”


Chelios’s diatribe didn’t end there, with just a veiled threat. He went on to venture that Betman’s tactics might involve “this little man syndrome thing,” and concluded: “The main thing is, he doesn’t know anything about hockey, that’s obvious. He doesn’t recognize players like Jeremy Roenick and Brendan Shanahan at meetings.”

Thanks to YouTube, you can watch Chelios’s comments leading off an ESPN report on the state of negotiations that also includes an interesting snatch of conversation from then Boston Bruins’ forward Cam Neely. Of the NHL’s strategy, Neely says in a visibly disgusted tone: “It’s not shooting themselves in the foot, it’s shooting themselves in the head as far as I’m concerned.”


That is the same Cam Neely, by the way, who is now the Bruins’ president and works for Jeremy Jacobs, the NHL’s chairman of the board, and one of the key players in the current round of negotiations. If Bettman didn’t recognize Shanahan then, he sure does now. Shanahan works for the NHL as a vice president of hockey and business development. Loyalties, and perspectives, can shift over time. You'd have to think there would be some merit to bringing the likes of Neely and Shanahan to the bargaining table in the next round of talks, on the grounds that both previously endured a lockout from the players’ side of the fence. Logically, it might also be the reason why the NHL is reportedly including Joe Nieuwendyk, GM in Dallas, as part of the negotiating team when talks resume Monday. They too saw things from a players' perspective and are still admired by players currently in the league.


Two Fridays ago, there was an obscenity-laced shouting match between a player and an owner that ultimately drove the last round of negotiations off the rails. Maybe that sort of vitriol could be lessened if current and ex-players were exchanging views at the bargaining table, with the lawyers sitting it out for a time. The way things stand right now, two months into a lockout that shows no signs of ending, you’d have to think, it couldn’t hurt.

League Reclaims Advantage Ahead of Talks

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks during the announcement that the NHL's New York Islanders will move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn from 2015 in New York October 24.

Late last week, the NHL announced interest in taking a two week break from negotiation. However, Sunday, the two sides came to an agreement to start negotiating once more on Monday in hopes of not losing the 2012-13 season.
"We can confirm that we have tentatively agreed to get back together on Monday, either late in the afternoon or early evening," said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. "The meeting was requested by the Union and it's their agenda. We will see what they have to tell us."
The two sides last met on November 11 after almost five straight days of meetings. The lockout is now in its 65^th day heading into Monday's negotiations. The NHL seems to have gotten exactly what they wanted. The league has been putting forth the majority of recent propositions and the NHLPA has resorted to shooting each one down and focusing on a pointless PR campaign to win fan support. The problem with that approach is that the fans do not care which side is in the right; they just want their season back. If Daly's statements are true, then the league has taken back the advantage after offering up a two week break from discussions. A two week break would ultimately end any hopes of a December start and jeopardize the season. The players are starting to lose paychecks and some may be feeling a bit anxious about losing more money if the season is lost. This could potentially create divisions within the Player's Association down the line and damage Executive Donald Fehr's tenure quickly. If it is true that the NHLPA requested the meeting and have new offers to make, then it is possible that they may finally be willing to concede some of their points. It is hard to say if this meeting will lead to any progress, but it is always better than a two week break and the certainty of no more hockey for a few more weeks.

Does Ed Snider support Gary Bettman?

You'll find in the course of labor disputes, there's always a lot of rhetoric. Most of it is just noise. Most of it is misinformed. There's propaganda. It's just a fact of life that you live with.

>> Gary Bettman, speaking Sunday with the Winnipeg Free Press

 

 

Gary Bettman should know this better than anybody else in the sporting world. The NHL commissioner has been through three work stoppages since taking over in 1993 and he's more used to the back-and-forth of labor talks than anybody else in professional sports. Yes, even more than his adversary, Don Fehr. His experience also means that he's really good at using rhetoric and adding to the noise and spreading the misinformation and the propaganda. It's just a fact that he lives with.

 

Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote a great piece on how Philadelphia Flyers chairman Ed Snider has grown discontent with this ongoing lockout. Snider has of course been a loyal follower of Bettman for years, and it's pretty clear why. The Flyers have made a ton of money since the last lockout. Player costs have gone down dramatically, ticket prices have risen, they've hosted a Winter Classic, participated in another, have been in the Stanley Cup Finals and the NHL under Bettman's watch is married to Snider's corporate brothers at Comcast/NBC Universal for the next decade. Things have been good to Ed Snider in the last seven years and Gary Bettman is a big part of the reason why. But as the 2012 lockout continues, the Flyers are among those hurting more than most. They lose money with every single home game lost, and it's no surprise that sponsors both locally and nationally are losing interest with the game. How can they support a league that stops playing every time the CBA is up for renewal? Beyond that, the revenue split is almost certainly already nailed down at 50/50 or somewhere close to that figure. The remaining issues at stake are mostly contracting issues, all of which are targeted at limiting teams like the Flyers from doing business and finding loopholes like they have over the last seven years, no more front-loaded contracts, a tighter hold on free agency, etc. The revenue sharing debate will almost certainly hurt the Flyers as well, since the union is firm on their desire to have big-market clubs like Philly contribute more to the pot. In short, 60-plus days into this lockout, it's hurting the Flyers more than it could ever help.

 

From Seravalli's report on Saturday:

Put simply: Snider and the rest of the NHL's owners were promised a big win by Bettman, with player concessions on revenue division and contracting rights. The best they'll get now is a small win in revenue split - coupled with a demoralized fan base and all-important corporate sponsors that are ready to quit. A source familiar with Snider's thinking characterized it as: "If this is the deal we are going to get, what's the point of dragging this out?"

The Flyers essentially have nothing to gain from this lockout at this point. They want to play hockey, and they have every reason to believe we're reaching a point where the lockout is hurting more than it could possibly help. We're all pissed off and completely disinterested and turning to other entertainment. The Flyers brand is hurting. As you'd expect, Snider denounced on Seravalli's report in a released statement Saturday afternoon.

"An article appearing in today's Philadelphia Daily News is absolutely erroneous," Snider said. "I am a solid supporter of National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman and the League in this unfortunate situation. "Like all fans, players, owners and League officials, I am extremely hopeful that an agreement can be reached and we can eventually be playing hockey again soon. League rules prevent me and all owners from making any comments on the labor negotiations. I will continue to honor that and not make any further comments."

The Daily News stood by their reporting following Snider's statement, as you'd expect. Then, on Monday, Bettman's interview with the Winnipeg Free Press was published. The commissioner was asked about the DN story.

It was a fabrication. Ed Snider is the one who told me about the article when he found out about it and he was terribly upset. He's in Europe and it was his idea to put out a statement. Anyone who doubts the resolve of ownership is either uninformed or (being) intentionally misleading.

Calling a journalists work "fabricated" is quite the accusation, and again on Monday morning, Seravalli and the Daily News stood by their reporting. It's really not all that hard to cut through the bullshit here. Of course Bettman is going to lash out at a report that claims one of the most powerful owners in the league has gone rogue during his lockout. Of course that owner will stand by his league publicly, even if behind the scenes he's against this now officially ridiculous lockout. But as Bettman says, and he knows better than anyone, remember, there's a lot of rhetoric thrown around during work stoppages. Cut through it all and just look at the facts.
Is Ed Snider benefitting from lockout as it enters Day 66 and beyond? As his team has missed 13 home games? As the Flyers are rapidly being forgotten about, at least for the time being, behind other sports and other entertainment options? It's pretty clear that Ed Snider is fed up with this lockout, even if his public rhetoric says otherwise.

NHL in no hurry to resolve lockout

 

A fan holds up a 'Please end the lockout' sign while wearing a Boston Bruins jersey during the game between the Boston Celtics and the Utah Jazz on November 14, 2012 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

Negotiations had already hit a wall in the ongoing hockey labor fight, and now the NHL has suggested the sides take an official two-week break before getting back to the bargaining table.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman floated the idea of a break to players' association executive director Donald Fehr. The union hasn't responded to the league yet, but the players maintained their position on Thursday night that they are ready and willing to meet at any time, and the only way to reach a deal to end the long lockout is to keep talking and negotiating.

"Gary suggested the possibility of a two-week moratorium," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday night. "I'm disappointed because we don't have a negotiating partner that has any genuine interest in reaching an agreement. Zero interest."

The suggestion of a break was first reported by The Canadian Press on Thursday night.
With no new negotiations scheduled, and communication in general shutting down, the NHL appears to be getting closer to calling off more games, putting the entire hockey season in jeopardy.

"I hope not, but I'm more discouraged now than I have been at any point in the process," Daly said. "I responded to Don saying he did not know how to proceed from here."

The players' association wants to keep the bargaining going, despite how frustrating recent sessions have been.

"Of course everyone on the players' side wants to reach an agreement," union special counsel Steve Fehr said in a statement Thursday night. "The players have offered the owners concessions worth about a billion dollars. What exactly have the owners offered the players? We believe that it is more likely that we will make progress if we meet than if we don't. So we are ready to meet. If indeed they do not want to meet, it will be at least the third time in the last three months that they have shut down the dialogue, saying they will not meet unless the players meet their preconditions. What does that tell you about their interest in resolving this?"

 

The sides put on a push to make an agreement last week when they met over six consecutive days in New York. However, Friday's session ended with a heated exchange, and talks lasted only about an hour on Sunday. The 61-day lockout has already claimed 327 regular-season games, including the New Year's Day outdoor Winter Classic, and more could be wiped out within a week. It is believed that an agreement would need to be in place by the end of next week for the season to get under way on Dec. 1. That is starting to look unlikely because of the mere fact that the sides are unable to find common ground on the big issues keeping them apart. It is more than just finances preventing a deal. The disagreements over player contract terms have emerged as just big an impasse. The NHL wants to limit contracts to five years, make rules to prohibit back-diving contracts the league feels circumvent the salary cap, keep players ineligible for unrestricted free agency until they are 28 or have eight years of professional service time, cut entry-level deals to two years, and make salary arbitration after five years. A few hours into last Friday's session, negotiations broke down over the core economic differences that separate the sides. A lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.

Bettman and Fehr still at war

     

There may only be a sliver, in reality, probably even smaller, of hope of seeing some NHL action this season, but there is a silver lining. The chance of commissioner Gary Bettman or NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr ever recovering from the atrocious way in which they have dealt with this entire situation is much more minute. The more we have to deal with a lockout, the less amount of time Bettman and Fehr will be around. To be fair, dealing with a lockout isn't exactly as easy. There's a reason, after all, it's called a lockout. Two sides aren't able to reach an agreement on a stance that neither is willing to budge from in the first place. By the nature of the definition, it's not only an inevitable situation, but will undoubtedly be a difficult problem to solve.

 

Who's to blame for the extensive lockout?

Gary Bettman

37.2%

Donald Fehr

9.5%

Both of them

50.7%

Someone else

2.6%

Total votes: 1,491

Bettman and Fehr's negotiation tactics have been downright awful and aggravatingly flawed. If not, we still wouldn't be so far away from playing hockey and the "serious" negotiations would have happened a long time ago. The NBA and NFL have both gone through lockouts in the very recent past; in both instances, the sides worked tirelessly through the nights to obtain some progress at the very least. In those situations, there was always hope. In this one, the only real hope is that we won't lose two seasons. The NFL ended up reaching a deal in time for the season. The NBA lost some games but still managed to come to an agreement before the season was banished. Bettman and Fehr, meanwhile, are in danger of losing the entire season and it seems like they aren't even worried (via CBC Sports):

Now the NHL and the locked-out players' association aren't even talking by phone.
With the lockout entering its third month, communications between the fighting sides have come to a halt with no clear sign of what the next step will be or when it will be taken.
"No, we have not communicated today," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press on Wednesday in an email. "No meetings scheduled, and no plans to meet."

Moreover, with the NBA, you were either on one side of the other. Either it was commissioner David Stern's fault or it was the NBPA's fault. In this situation, however, both sides have been so painstakingly bad that the majority of fans are smart enough to realize Bettman and Fehr are both to blame. There's no question that these two men have a tough job on their hands, but other commissioners and executive directors have proven it's a doable task.
Bettman and Fehr have the power in this situation. They are the two leaders with the ability to keep this process moving in a positive direction. Instead, with every day they fail to show a willingness to find some type of resolve, they are damaging the sport of hockey further and further.

The Great One speaks about lockout

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky waves before the start of game Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup hockey finals between the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, June 4, 2012.

Wednesday saw the 60^th day of the 2012 NHL lockout pass without any activity. Worse still is the fact that there have been no meetings scheduled for the near future either. After one week of serious bargaining and negotiating, many have found it surprising that the league and NHLPA have withdrawn from making any progress. Despite the negative energy this brings about, there are still some that are hopeful that it could be settled. One is hockey icon Wayne Gretzky.

The Great One stated during a radio appearance that, "My gut still tells me that over the next six weeks I think that they will get a deal done, and I think there's too many people that want to play, and I still see hockey being played come January for a 40- or 50-game schedule. Let's all try and stay positive."

However, Gretzky's optimism should not be taken as the final word. Back in October Gretzky stated that he believed the sides would make a deal and that the season would begin on January 1 with the Winter Classic. Unfortunately that was not the case and despite his best wishes, it is impossible to know if his current prediction of a 40 to 50 game slate is likely. NHLPA Donald Fehr recently showed some optimism and stated that he believed that when both sides were ready a deal would be struck quickly. Meanwhile, the entire NHL fanbase awaits.

Hall of Famers sound warning

 

Hockey Hall of Fame 2012 inductees (L-R) Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic, Adam Oates and Pavel Bure pose with their rings during a news conference in Toronto November 12, 2012.

On Monday night, the NHL had a major reason to celebrate despite entering the 58^th day of the lockout. On Monday, the NHL inducted four new members into its Hall of Fame including Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure, and Adam Oates. Despite the celebration, the conversation regarding hockey's future was brought up to those representing its past.


Hall of Famer Brett Hull sent a cautionary message to the league and the players in dealing with the current negotiations. "They need to figure out right now how to fix it, and so it doesn't happen again, because, let's face it, we're not baseball, we're not football, we're not basketball," said Hull. "We're kind of the fourth kid in the major sport market, and if you keep doing this, the fans are going to leave-and we need the fans. Hall of Famer Dino Cicarelli added that "I think people will accept it if they start playing again soon...But I think it's getting to the point, in Michigan, where the fans are getting impatient. I think if they get to Christmas, it's really going to hurt the game."

Despite the warnings from Monday night, the NHL entered its 59th day of the lockout and made no new progress. According to the Washington Post, no meetings were established for Tuesday or for the near future between the two sides. "There is nothing new, and no meetings have been planned," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press on Tuesday via email. Last week the two sides met almost everyday but little progress was made regarding any of the major issues. The NHLPA stated that the owners would make no concessions on contracts and were hurting players' abilities to negotiate their contracts. NHL Poster Boy Sidney Crosby also expressed annoyance with the lack of progress. "I don't really know what (the owners) have given up to this point," Crosby told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "They're trying to take away all the contracting rights."

New York Rangers focus

The New York Rangers have a pretty deep and talented roster, but like every team, there's some dead weight. The Rangers should have a goal of getting leaner. That means getting faster, and in many cases, younger. Getting rid of some dead weight can do just that. We'll tell you which players the Rangers should consider trading before the season starts.

Mike Rupp is just not made for the new NHL. He's slow in a game (and a system) that's getting faster by the minute. He's a decent fighter, but offers really nothing else. He chipped in four goals, but is not a consistent offensive threat. He's weak on the forecheck and will be burned by faster, younger players. He's a fourth-line player who plays less than 10 minutes a game. He takes a bunch of dumb penalties too. Yes, he's a leader, and that was shown in HBO's 24/7. That's valuable to have, but there are plenty of leaders on this team. He's not part of the top leadership group and there are plenty of guys like him who contribute more. I think the Rangers would be wise to, instead of Rupp, play Kyle Jean, who is now in Connecticut. In 11 games, Jean has four goals and six assists. He's big at 6'4" and—here's the kicker—is only 23. Rupp, on the other hand, is 32 and has knee issues. To me, this is an issue of age and speed. Rupp is getting up there in age. Jean is young and showing promise in the AHL. Remember, AHL competition is a bit better this year, with the influx of young NHLers staying sharp during the lockout. The Oklahoma City Barons, the minor league affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, for example, have Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on their roster.  And Jean is flourishing, in his first pro season, no less. He's younger, cheaper, faster and has much more offensive upside. This is a no-brainer. Yes, Rupp will only fetch a seventh-round pick, but remember, Henrik Lundqvist was chosen in that round. All draft picks are valuable. The more you get, the more chances you have to get it right.

The Rangers made it pretty clear how they feel about Bickel when, in the triple-overtime thriller against the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, he played only three minutes. You would think that if a game goes into overtime, you would want all your defenseman. Once you get into double and triple overtime, it's all hands on deck. Not for Bickel. They have such little faith in him that they would rather exhaust their stars then risk playing him. That's an indictment if there ever was one. Coaches make clear how they feel about players by how they play him. For example, John Tortorella rides Ryan Callahan in all situations. That's a good sign that he trusts Callahan and wants him on the ice in key moments. Tortorella didn't play Bickel when they could've used him. So why keep him? Why not try to get something in return? A low draft pick is probably in order. Steve Eminger, in my opinion, is the better option at defenseman. I actually think there's a better option in Connecticut and his name is Matt Gilroy. Yes, Gilroy struggled with the Rangers and has not lived up to his promise, but he has a lot of offensive upside and could be a factor on the power play. He put up 20 points last season with Tampa Bay and Ottawa. Getting a low pick for someone you're not going to play is just good business. Yes, Bickel is physical and is willing to drop the gloves, but that's really all he's good at. I'd rather give that roster spot to someone who can play in all situations. Eminger and Gilroy fit that bill.

Yes, the Rangers just signed Arron Asham to a two-year deal worth $2 million. It would seem odd to get rid of him before he plays a game in Blue. But I never agreed with the Asham signing, and I know many Ranger fans feel the same way. Despite putting up decent numbers in Pittsburgh (five goals and 11 assists) as well as playing the "pest" role, he's 34 years old and will be 35 by season's end.  That's not the direction the Rangers need to go in. They need to go younger and faster, not older and slower. The lockout gives them a chance to re-think things. Instead of having Asham until he's 37, why not bring up Brandon Segal, who is 29 and bigger? Segal is more physical and a better fighter. Will he score as much? No, but it's not like Asham scores 40 goals. The Rangers can make up that five goals, especially when they have stars like Rich Nash. And, for what it's worth, Segal has seven points in 11 games so far in the minors. It's not sexy, but this is all about the Rangers getting younger and faster and leaner. In my mind, Asham is dead weight. Bringing up Segal (or someone of his ilk) would be a step in the right direction.