Over the past few months, there have been many, many "crucial days" in the lockout that lead to further disappointment: deadlines passing, weeks of games being canceled, speculation that there could be no 2012-13. Welcome to the latest crucial day in the NHL lockout. Coincidentally, it comes on Election Day. The two sides will meet today for a bargaining session, with the meetings in NY being kept secret although rumored to start for 3 p.m.
At least one player sees something positive happening. "There's a lot of optimism I think, for sure; anytime Steve [Fehr] and Bill [Daly] are saying the exact same thing I think it's positive,'' Red Wings right wing Danny Cleary. "We'll see today, but for sure there's some light. As a player, just talking amongst the guys today, definitely excited about seeing what's going to happen today. There's a ton of time to get a deal done, I still think there's a deal to be made." We'll see if he and other players feel that way by the end of today.
Larry Brooks (New York Post) "Is this now or never? Maybe not, but it’s difficult to envision a settlement if talks this week collapse, and it is impossible to envision a settlement if talks collapse because of an absence of trust between the parties."
•Aaron Portzline (Columbus Dispatch) is concerned about who could retire if there's an entire year lost, the same way some legends left after the 2004-05 lockout. "Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson, Anaheim's Teemu Selanne and Dallas' Jaromir Jagr, all future Hall of Famers, might have played their last NHL games if this season gets canceled. And there could be others," he said.
•David Shoalts (Globe and Mail) "In his last offer, before the previous round of talks broke off on Oct. 18, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said teams would no longer be allowed to count player bonus money on their payroll in order to get to the [salary] floor," he said. He also proposed "all player salaries above $105,000 ... even those on a team’s minor-league roster, would now be included under the salary cap." That would have an effect on AHL players, who would have their salaries capped. It's also, as Shoals pointed out, a problem for owners with "razor-thin margins" who would have to spend more money in order to reach the salary floor.
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Monday, 5 November 2012
Optimism ahead of planned talks?
Generally talks between the NHL and the NHLPA have been received with tons of optimism from the fans. Mostly the optimism has been born from the fans wanting to be optimistic rather than there actually being traction between the two sides. But Saturday's meetings might have actually produced the latter.
Here's a tweet from Adrian Dater that came down after the meetings:
He also tweeted this on Sunday:
Since the talks on Saturday the NHLPA had a conference call on Sunday, and scheduled another for Today (Monday), at Noon. That can be looked at in two different lights, but even the most negative people out there can safely assume that Steve Fehr and Bill Daly gave each other enough to think about that they were even meeting so late in the first place. Remember, these meetings came after the owners announced that they would be willing to absorb some of the cost (how much has yet to be revealed) behind the "make whole" provision, which protects current player's contracts from being cut back. It's going to be a big week, especially since the two sides expect to meet again "early" this week. How big has yet to be seen. But for the first time in this process, there might actually be some real traction between the two sides.
Here's a tweet from Adrian Dater that came down after the meetings:
For what it's worth, Dater has been one of the "in the know" reporters during this process, and has been quick to shoot down some of the false optimism that has surfaced when the owners have made their moves. It seems to me that Dater is very well connected with the player's side of things, so to see this tweet is definite a good thing.Miracle alert: I'm told by usually skeptical people that some real progress was actually made late last night in NHL lockout talks
He also tweeted this on Sunday:
But that's to be expected at this stage in the process. Anyone expecting a new CBA signed last night was always going to be seriously disappointed. Still, there are major reasons to be optimistic. The fact of the matter is, neither side has actually sat down and negotiated during this entire process. Until Saturday night, neither side had actually sat down and talked face-to-face for more than two hours. It's very safe to assume the two sides bridged at least some gaps over the weekend, otherwise they would have done their typical two-hour meeting before breaking up with no progress made. Believe it or not the sides meeting without the presence of the media, along with ending the meeting without reporting to the media, are great signs as well. It means the two sides are no longer fighting the public relations war.Still got to get down to "nitty gritty" though
Since the talks on Saturday the NHLPA had a conference call on Sunday, and scheduled another for Today (Monday), at Noon. That can be looked at in two different lights, but even the most negative people out there can safely assume that Steve Fehr and Bill Daly gave each other enough to think about that they were even meeting so late in the first place. Remember, these meetings came after the owners announced that they would be willing to absorb some of the cost (how much has yet to be revealed) behind the "make whole" provision, which protects current player's contracts from being cut back. It's going to be a big week, especially since the two sides expect to meet again "early" this week. How big has yet to be seen. But for the first time in this process, there might actually be some real traction between the two sides.
More lockout talks scheduled for this week
A secret, long-awaited bargaining session has done some good in the NHL labor fight — so much so that the sides already have plans to get back to the bargaining table soon. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr met for long stretches Saturday in an undisclosed location, marking the first time the sides had gotten together for talks in more than two weeks.
“We had a series of meetings over the course of the day and had a good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us,” Daly told The Associated Press in an email Sunday morning. “We plan to meet again early in the week.”
Daly and Fehr hadn’t met since Oct. 18 when both sides rejected offers, but a series of phone conversations this week did enough to produce a new round of talks. It is unclear how long they were together Saturday, but the discussions lasted well into the night.
“I agree with what Bill said. Hopefully we can continue the dialogue, expand the group, and make steady progress,” Fehr said Sunday in a statement.
There is a sense of urgency now because nearly two months of the season and the prized Winter Classic have been called off. The hope of a full season being played is gone, and if a deal isn’t reached soon, the NHL could be looking at its second lost campaign since 2004. The lockout reached its 50th day Sunday, but a glimmer of optimism emerged. A big point of contention between the NHL and the players’ association has been the “make whole” provision, which will ensure that all existing player contracts will be paid out regardless of any changes made to the split of hockey-related revenues or contract language. The NHL appears set to cover more of the costs of those deals as opposed to making them part of the players’ share of revenue in future years. In its most recent offer last month, the NHL said it would honor the current contracts in deferred payments, but those would be included in the players’ share of revenues. The union balked at that offer. The labor dispute, which began Sept. 16, forced all games from Oct. 11 through Nov. 30 to be called off. It isn’t known if any of those games will be rescheduled if the sides come to an agreement soon, but an NHL deadline has already passed that would have allowed for each team to play all 82 games. The season needed to start by Friday for that to happen, but the only hockey activity that day was the cancellation of the outdoor game at Michigan Stadium between the host Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. Losing the major attraction on the regular-season schedule was the biggest blow yet for the league and its players. The sides couldn’t even manage to get together since the previous bargaining session in which the players’ union countered a league offer with three proposals that were quickly rejected by the NHL. Daly indicated that cancelling the Winter Classic doesn’t necessarily mean more games in the regular season — or the All-Star game — will be wiped out soon.
“I don’t foresee any further cancellation announcements in the near term,” Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Friday.
In its most recent proposal, the NHL offered the union a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue, which exceeded $3 billion last season, but that offer was rejected. The players responded with three offers that went nowhere. The NHL offer was pulled back because it was contingent on the league playing a complete season.
“Last week we had a proposal to save a full season on the table. That has since been withdrawn,” Daly told the AP. “That creates a different environment for talks.”
Players earned 57 percent of revenue in the recently expired contract, in which a salary cap was included for the first time. Owners sought to bring that number below 50 percent this time before their most recent offer. The union tried to get talks restarted last week without preconditions, but was turned away after refusing to agree to bargain off the framework of the league’s offer or issue another proposal with the league’s offer serving as a starting point.
This is the third lockout in NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s tenure. The first forced a shortened 1994-95 season, and the second led to the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season — the only time a major North American professional sports league lost a full season to a labor dispute.
“We had a series of meetings over the course of the day and had a good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us,” Daly told The Associated Press in an email Sunday morning. “We plan to meet again early in the week.”
Daly and Fehr hadn’t met since Oct. 18 when both sides rejected offers, but a series of phone conversations this week did enough to produce a new round of talks. It is unclear how long they were together Saturday, but the discussions lasted well into the night.
“I agree with what Bill said. Hopefully we can continue the dialogue, expand the group, and make steady progress,” Fehr said Sunday in a statement.
There is a sense of urgency now because nearly two months of the season and the prized Winter Classic have been called off. The hope of a full season being played is gone, and if a deal isn’t reached soon, the NHL could be looking at its second lost campaign since 2004. The lockout reached its 50th day Sunday, but a glimmer of optimism emerged. A big point of contention between the NHL and the players’ association has been the “make whole” provision, which will ensure that all existing player contracts will be paid out regardless of any changes made to the split of hockey-related revenues or contract language. The NHL appears set to cover more of the costs of those deals as opposed to making them part of the players’ share of revenue in future years. In its most recent offer last month, the NHL said it would honor the current contracts in deferred payments, but those would be included in the players’ share of revenues. The union balked at that offer. The labor dispute, which began Sept. 16, forced all games from Oct. 11 through Nov. 30 to be called off. It isn’t known if any of those games will be rescheduled if the sides come to an agreement soon, but an NHL deadline has already passed that would have allowed for each team to play all 82 games. The season needed to start by Friday for that to happen, but the only hockey activity that day was the cancellation of the outdoor game at Michigan Stadium between the host Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. Losing the major attraction on the regular-season schedule was the biggest blow yet for the league and its players. The sides couldn’t even manage to get together since the previous bargaining session in which the players’ union countered a league offer with three proposals that were quickly rejected by the NHL. Daly indicated that cancelling the Winter Classic doesn’t necessarily mean more games in the regular season — or the All-Star game — will be wiped out soon.
“I don’t foresee any further cancellation announcements in the near term,” Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Friday.
In its most recent proposal, the NHL offered the union a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue, which exceeded $3 billion last season, but that offer was rejected. The players responded with three offers that went nowhere. The NHL offer was pulled back because it was contingent on the league playing a complete season.
“Last week we had a proposal to save a full season on the table. That has since been withdrawn,” Daly told the AP. “That creates a different environment for talks.”
Players earned 57 percent of revenue in the recently expired contract, in which a salary cap was included for the first time. Owners sought to bring that number below 50 percent this time before their most recent offer. The union tried to get talks restarted last week without preconditions, but was turned away after refusing to agree to bargain off the framework of the league’s offer or issue another proposal with the league’s offer serving as a starting point.
This is the third lockout in NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s tenure. The first forced a shortened 1994-95 season, and the second led to the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season — the only time a major North American professional sports league lost a full season to a labor dispute.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Could the lockout help Canada's junior hopes?
As unpopular as the NHL lockout is, its continuation would greatly increase Canada’s chances of winning gold at the world junior hockey championship. Canada dominated the tournament en route to gold during the last lockout in 2004-05. The question traditionally put to the Hockey Canada’s head scout at this time of year is “Which players do you think you’ll get back from the NHL?” The lockout currently makes all but one eligible player immediately available to Canada. They’re playing for their respective junior clubs while the NHL is dark.
“This team would certainly give us a high-end chance for a gold medal with all the guys we’d have,” Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast said Friday from Kelowna, B.C.
Hockey Canada will announce a month from now its roster for selection camp Dec. 10-15 in Calgary. Twenty-two players will be chosen for the 2013 world junior championship opening Dec. 26 in Ufa, Russia. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is the only 1993-born Canadian player in a pro league right now. The Edmonton Oilers assigned the 19-year-old centre to the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons prior to the lockout. Nugent-Hopkins made the Oilers roster as an 18-year-old. The centre played in the NHL last season and not in the 2012 world junior tournament in Edmonton and Calgary. He played for Canada in this year’s world championship.
“The big question mark for us is if the NHL is not back, is Nugent-Hopkins going to come and play?” Prendergast asked. A decision not required for another month, the Oilers aren’t answering that question yet. “I think it’s still too early yet to really get into that,” Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini said. “I really haven’t had any discussion at all with Hockey Canada or with Ryan at this point. I’d want to have a conversation first with Ryan and with our coaches here when the time comes, but I really think its premature at this point.” The agent for Nugent-Hopkins expects he’ll discuss the idea of playing for Canada with his client later in November.
“I think we’ll probably circle around to that probably the second or third week of November and have those conversations and go from there,” Rick Valette said. “I just don’t know at this point.”
In the meantime, Nugent-Hopkins is at the top of Prendergast’s depth chart at centre.
“He’s an elite hockey player,” Prendergast said. “There’s going to be high expectations of this kid if he comes in absolutely.”
If the NHL and the players solve their labour impasse in the next month, it significantly impacts the selection camp roster in size and personnel, he said. Prendergast wouldn’t be surprised if centres Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg), Ryan Strome (New York Islanders), winger Boone Jenner (Columbus) and defencemen Ryan Murphy (Carolina) and Doug Hamilton (Boston) were summoned to hastily-called NHL camps.
“If that was the case, we’d lose our top three centres and if you throw Nugent-Hopkins in there, we’d lose our top four,” he said. Those half-dozen players were among those who won bronze in Alberta and extended the country’s streak of medals won in the tournament to 14 consecutive years. Canada last won gold in Ottawa in 2009. “Guys like Scheifele and Strome and Dougie Hamilton, these kids went through it already once,” Prendergast said. “They’re physically a lot stronger and far closer to playing in the National Hockey League than they were last year.”
Instead of holding its traditional summer evaluation camp, Hockey Canada invited 28 players born in 1993 and 1994 to play Russia in a four-game series in August. Prendergast doesn’t foresee inviting more than that number to selection camp should the NHL lockout continue. He wouldn’t have to go as deep into his depth chart to fill positions as in other years. But the NHL removing even a few elite players from the mix means casting a wide net over that player pool to find replacements.
“If we lose high-end players, normally it’s going to take at least two players to look at that one position for us,” Prendergast explained. “We could go from a camp of 27 or 28 to 40 or 42.”
So the Canadian Hockey League’s Subway Super Series versus Russia remains key in backfilling the selection camp roster should the NHL resume. Prendergast will scout prospects in the annual six-games series. It features players eligible to play for Canada — born in 1993 or earlier — from the Quebec, Ontario and Western leagues. The tour opens Monday in Blainville-Boisbriand, Que., followed by games in Val-d’Or, Que., Guelph and Sarnia, Ont., and Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.
“There’s a lot of young kids playing in the series who are on the bubble,” Prendergast said. “If the NHL does go back to work then they come back into play for us. How are they going to respond to these games? In some cases they only get one chance, but when you get into the world junior championship, one game determines where you go.”
“This team would certainly give us a high-end chance for a gold medal with all the guys we’d have,” Hockey Canada head scout Kevin Prendergast said Friday from Kelowna, B.C.
Hockey Canada will announce a month from now its roster for selection camp Dec. 10-15 in Calgary. Twenty-two players will be chosen for the 2013 world junior championship opening Dec. 26 in Ufa, Russia. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is the only 1993-born Canadian player in a pro league right now. The Edmonton Oilers assigned the 19-year-old centre to the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons prior to the lockout. Nugent-Hopkins made the Oilers roster as an 18-year-old. The centre played in the NHL last season and not in the 2012 world junior tournament in Edmonton and Calgary. He played for Canada in this year’s world championship.
“The big question mark for us is if the NHL is not back, is Nugent-Hopkins going to come and play?” Prendergast asked. A decision not required for another month, the Oilers aren’t answering that question yet. “I think it’s still too early yet to really get into that,” Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini said. “I really haven’t had any discussion at all with Hockey Canada or with Ryan at this point. I’d want to have a conversation first with Ryan and with our coaches here when the time comes, but I really think its premature at this point.” The agent for Nugent-Hopkins expects he’ll discuss the idea of playing for Canada with his client later in November.
“I think we’ll probably circle around to that probably the second or third week of November and have those conversations and go from there,” Rick Valette said. “I just don’t know at this point.”
In the meantime, Nugent-Hopkins is at the top of Prendergast’s depth chart at centre.
“He’s an elite hockey player,” Prendergast said. “There’s going to be high expectations of this kid if he comes in absolutely.”
If the NHL and the players solve their labour impasse in the next month, it significantly impacts the selection camp roster in size and personnel, he said. Prendergast wouldn’t be surprised if centres Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg), Ryan Strome (New York Islanders), winger Boone Jenner (Columbus) and defencemen Ryan Murphy (Carolina) and Doug Hamilton (Boston) were summoned to hastily-called NHL camps.
“If that was the case, we’d lose our top three centres and if you throw Nugent-Hopkins in there, we’d lose our top four,” he said. Those half-dozen players were among those who won bronze in Alberta and extended the country’s streak of medals won in the tournament to 14 consecutive years. Canada last won gold in Ottawa in 2009. “Guys like Scheifele and Strome and Dougie Hamilton, these kids went through it already once,” Prendergast said. “They’re physically a lot stronger and far closer to playing in the National Hockey League than they were last year.”
Instead of holding its traditional summer evaluation camp, Hockey Canada invited 28 players born in 1993 and 1994 to play Russia in a four-game series in August. Prendergast doesn’t foresee inviting more than that number to selection camp should the NHL lockout continue. He wouldn’t have to go as deep into his depth chart to fill positions as in other years. But the NHL removing even a few elite players from the mix means casting a wide net over that player pool to find replacements.
“If we lose high-end players, normally it’s going to take at least two players to look at that one position for us,” Prendergast explained. “We could go from a camp of 27 or 28 to 40 or 42.”
So the Canadian Hockey League’s Subway Super Series versus Russia remains key in backfilling the selection camp roster should the NHL resume. Prendergast will scout prospects in the annual six-games series. It features players eligible to play for Canada — born in 1993 or earlier — from the Quebec, Ontario and Western leagues. The tour opens Monday in Blainville-Boisbriand, Que., followed by games in Val-d’Or, Que., Guelph and Sarnia, Ont., and Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.
“There’s a lot of young kids playing in the series who are on the bubble,” Prendergast said. “If the NHL does go back to work then they come back into play for us. How are they going to respond to these games? In some cases they only get one chance, but when you get into the world junior championship, one game determines where you go.”
Lockout update
It's the 50th day of the NHL Lockout, and news of the cancellation of the Winter Classic has fans everywhere wondering if the 2012-13 season will ever get underway. Don't despair, NHL junkies, as the latest news points to things getting started before it's too late.
The NHL and NHLPA apparently held "secret" meetings in an undisclosed location on Saturday, trying to amicably solve this issue that has cost the league over a quarter of the 2012-13 season.
NHL players are trying to stay in shape for an impending season, but this latest cancellation of the January 1 game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs does leave the season further in doubt with every passing day. Although the Winter Classic is a heavy blow to an already disheartening situation, the league can still salvage both the game and the season in the next couple of weeks. It is not the last straw in keeping things together for the league, nor is it all bad news on the lockout front. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly was impressed with the volume and direction of the CBA talks this weekend. The article states that the NHL is willing to budge a little on the "make-whole" issue that has been slowing talks down, a form of revenue sharing that leaves the players with less value in future earnings. NHLPA council Steve Fehr was reportedly heavily involved in the meetings, another good sign towards lifting the lockout and setting out some tentative dates.
"We met on and off for most of the day and covered a lot of ground," Daly told The Canadian Press via email. "We plan to meet again early in the week."
As the war of legality rages on for the third time in two summers in major pro sports (NFL, NBA lockouts last season), all signs point to things coming to a head in the next week or so.
If the league can't come to an agreement before the middle of November, it could be entering uncharted waters in crafting a schedule, getting in a brief training camp and finding a way for teams to prepare for one of the most physical sports on the planet. But for now, don't take the Winter Classic as something that completely steals hope for the NHL season. The game can easily be rescheduled into the framework of a new schedule once the season is officially back on. The league and the players' association both have some major work to do this week.
The NHL and NHLPA apparently held "secret" meetings in an undisclosed location on Saturday, trying to amicably solve this issue that has cost the league over a quarter of the 2012-13 season.
NHL players are trying to stay in shape for an impending season, but this latest cancellation of the January 1 game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs does leave the season further in doubt with every passing day. Although the Winter Classic is a heavy blow to an already disheartening situation, the league can still salvage both the game and the season in the next couple of weeks. It is not the last straw in keeping things together for the league, nor is it all bad news on the lockout front. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly was impressed with the volume and direction of the CBA talks this weekend. The article states that the NHL is willing to budge a little on the "make-whole" issue that has been slowing talks down, a form of revenue sharing that leaves the players with less value in future earnings. NHLPA council Steve Fehr was reportedly heavily involved in the meetings, another good sign towards lifting the lockout and setting out some tentative dates.
"We met on and off for most of the day and covered a lot of ground," Daly told The Canadian Press via email. "We plan to meet again early in the week."
As the war of legality rages on for the third time in two summers in major pro sports (NFL, NBA lockouts last season), all signs point to things coming to a head in the next week or so.
Friday, 2 November 2012
Winter Classic cancelled
The Winter Classic was canceled by the NHL Friday, the league's signature regular-season event becoming the most recent casualty of the lockout. Scheduled for Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, the 2013 Winter Classic was expected to break attendance and revenue records. The decision to call it off came the day the first payment was due from the NHL to the University of Michigan.
“The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today’s decision unavoidable. We simply are out of time,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “We are extremely disappointed, for our fans and for all those affected, to have to cancel the Winter Classic and Hockeytown Winter Festival events.”
When this lockout began Sept. 15, it seemed nearly impossible to comprehend the NHL sacrificing the Winter Classic. It looked like the perfect jump-start to a shortened season and a way to attract hockey fans back after the bitterness of the past few months. Instead, it's gone. The league and NHL Players' Association have not had formal talks since Oct. 18. "The Big House" in Ann Arbor will host the 2014 Winter Classic, still between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs. That means Washington will have to wait until at least 2015 to host the event.
“The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today’s decision unavoidable. We simply are out of time,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. “We are extremely disappointed, for our fans and for all those affected, to have to cancel the Winter Classic and Hockeytown Winter Festival events.”
When this lockout began Sept. 15, it seemed nearly impossible to comprehend the NHL sacrificing the Winter Classic. It looked like the perfect jump-start to a shortened season and a way to attract hockey fans back after the bitterness of the past few months. Instead, it's gone. The league and NHL Players' Association have not had formal talks since Oct. 18. "The Big House" in Ann Arbor will host the 2014 Winter Classic, still between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs. That means Washington will have to wait until at least 2015 to host the event.
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Lockout troubles for Tampa Bay & Dallas
There seems to be no end in site for the NHL lockout, and for some players like Tampa Bay Lightning All-Star center Steven Stamkos the loss of hockey isn't just about the paycheck its about the loss of a livelihood too.
Another day, another week and still no meaningful negotiations in the ongoing NHL lockout. The threat of the cancellation of the Winter Classic and All-Star Game looms with some even saying that if the NHL is going to cancel the season's biggest regular season game for the league, then what incentive does Gary Bettman have to not just go ahead and cancel the entire season now?
It's becoming clear that the rhetoric, from both sides in this matter, is failing. No one is on one side or the other any longer; instead, the fans are increasingly angry and upset that for the second time in less than a decade the threat of a lost season of hockey is getting more and more realistic. The league has already canceled games through November and even if the NHLPA and NHL come to some magical agreement in the next few weeks, this season is going to have a very dark cloud hanging over it when play resumes. Fans will cheer the return of hockey, for certain, but I wonder if things will ever quite be the same again. More importantly, I wonder if the Dallas Stars will ever be the same again. There is a good amount of discussion regarding the "casual fan" and how this lockout will affect that subgroup of hockey fans, the all-important group that ebbs and flows with the ups and downs of the league and the team. Some may refer to the casual fan as "bandwagon" fans but it is clear just how important they can be to a team; when a team is doing well, these fans flock to the franchise with open wallets and, more effectively, can be convinced to jump ship from the "casual" side of fandom to the hardcore fans that stick with the team through thick ad thin. The Dallas Stars have a very dedicated and knowledgeable fanbase that has stayed with the franchise through the frustrations of the past four years, through disappointing seasons and an absentee ownership. Unfortunately, this core group of fans has slowly dwindled over the years; more accurately, we could say the core fanbase is the same, it's just the more "casual" of this group have dropped off over the past few years. The concern regarding the effect of the lockout has little to do with the casual fan and much more to do with these hardcore fans. These are people who have spent hard-earned and valuable income as fans and on this team, through season tickets, merchandise, television packages and more. These fans have made a significant investment in the Dallas Stars and the NHL, not just financially but also emotionally and through the expense of their time. This investment is made with the promise from the team that at some point in the future it will be paid off by having a winning team on the ice or at the very least a franchise that actually shows an interest and desire in improvement. There are no promises in sports but fans want to see their investment being put to actual progress or the desire for progress; the stagnation of the Dallas Stars under the banks and at the end of Tom Hicks' ownership drove many fans away since it was their belief that their investment was no longer worth the financial or emotional cost. After all, if the team isn't even going to be making the investment to improve and win then why should the fans? This brings us to the current lockout and the effect it will have on a fanbase that was already on shaky ground. It is clear that fans are taking this lockout as a personal insult, that the league, and to some extent the players, have taken the fans for granted and instead of working together to build the game and improve the league moving forward, the battle has become more about "winning" and egos and who will come out on top. This sort of approach, coupled with the fact that the league has apparently never been more healthy overall and that revenues have soared to a record high in the midst of a recession, has created an increasing sense of anger that has morphed into apathy regarding the NHL. Fans know just how many actual jobs have been affected by what is obviously a needless work stoppage, with hundreds of workers laid off or facing reduced wages or thousands of others are directly affected by the lack of games. People who don't make millions of dollars a year have lost incredibly important income, a fact that only adds to the sense of anger and exasperation when it comes to the fact that neither side has yet to participate in actual meaningful negotiations. This leads to an erosion of the core fanbase that is already well underway. We've heard from several long-time season ticket holders who say that even if hockey returns next week, they will no longer be making the annual investment in the future. The NHL has stated that the fans returned en masse following the last lockout and will do so again, but with each passing week without a new deal it's becoming clear that this notion is far from realistic. When Tom Gaglardi purchased the Dallas Stars in November of 2011, he purchased a franchise where the hardcore fanbase is all that remained of what once existed. The "casual" fan had moved on, to the Texas Rangers or Dallas Mavericks, and the team would have to make big strides in winning those fans over once more. The core group was still there, just as they always had been, and now the team was faced with the task of building upon that once more and hopefully creating a legion of fans similar to what existed just five or seven years ago. The problem, as we all know, is that the Stars were stuck in a rebuilding mode. Ownership issues prevented the Stars from ever truly being able to move forward and build upon what existed on the ice and the team was left with a decent but wholly mediocre team. Because of this, the window passed on the core group of players that were in place and the team was obviously in need of a rebuild from the ground up. Rebuilding usually means more losing, and that was something the Stars could not afford. So the team set off on a mission to "reset" the franchise for the future while also building a team that could be competitive in the short term. The Stars made a series of highly aggressive moves over the summer, specifically for the 2012-13 season, with the desire to show the core fanbase that their investment was noted and that the team does understand the importance of improvement and winning. This would also put a product on the ice that could be sold back to the "casual fan," to put a winning product on the ice that could be used to sell the sport and the team once again so that these casual fans would be added to the extremely valuable hardcore fanbase. Which is why it's inconceivable to consider that Tom Gaglardi and the Dallas Stars are in the group of "hardline" owners that seek to force steep salary cuts on the players and that anything less would be unacceptable. Elliotte Friedman of CBC Sports has stated a few times that Gaglardi is part of this group.
From the start it's been a firm belief of mine that the Stars were on the short list of teams that absolutely could not afford any sort of work stoppage, that a delay to the season, and if we were so unlucky a canceled season, would have a detrimental affect on the franchise. I wrote last week that the league and the players were tempting fate by assuming that hockey would be the same again after a lengthy lockout; that concern is only magnified when applied to the Dallas Stars. This is something the ownership of the Stars must understand and it's something that is more than obvious considering the moves made during the offseason. The Dallas Stars could have very easily jumped into the deep end of a rebuild and "youth movement," acknowledging that the 2012-13 season is effectively lost (on the ice at least) and made moves to ensure the future of the team in 2013 and beyond. While this approach may have been effective in rebuilding the roster and the team, the chance of continued mediocrity, or worse, an even more disappointing team, was too much of a risk for a franchise doing its absolute best to repair the damage of the past five years. The Dallas Stars traded Mike Ribeiro and Steve Ott for a prospect and a center under contract for just one season. The team signed veteran Ray Whitney and the legendary Jaromir Jagr, moves made to improve the team in the short term and to specifically help the Stars become playoff contenders for this very season. The roster may look drastically different again in 2013-14, but the Stars were aggressive in ensuring the transition under the rebuild would not mean the team was abandoning it's quest for the postseason. This is not the approach of a team preparing for a lockout and certainly not the approach of an owner who would belong to a group that feels that a canceled 2012-13 season is better than actually playing. This was the approach of a team that understood the investments made by the fans and wanted to pay that back, to repair those torn relationships with the loyal fans and to forge new ones with new fans moving forward. The Dallas Stars don't sign Jaromir Jagr to a one-year contract and then take the stance that they'd rather lose the season than play with him on the ice. Which is why this lockout has been so painful for Stars fans to endure. This was the season we were supposed to see a hockey legend take the ice in a Stars sweater, when the team was supposed to make a significant leap forward with several of the young players that are a part of the future while continuing to develop budding superstars Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson. This was the season Benn was supposed to learn from players like Whitney and Jagr on how to be the leader on the team and the example for his teammates. This was supposed to be a new beginning after four long years of stagnation. Instead, those hardcore fans that have stuck with the team for so long are now jumping ship. They'll still be fans of the team but those investments that were made, the ones that franchises like the Stars need, will certainly go away. The task of rebuilding the fanbase has now become increasingly difficult as trust between the fans and the league has withered away until absolutely none remain. The fans are personally insulted by this lockout, as they should be, and it could have dire consequences on the Dallas Stars. Tom Gaglardi and the Stars know this. The team is not ready or willing to push for a canceled season. No employees have been laid off, no drastic salary cuts have been made. Gaglardi and the Stars, more than any other team, understand the value of actually getting on the ice this season has for the health of this franchise. If this entire season is lost, the Dallas Stars might as well approach the 2013-14 season as an expansion team would. The Dallas Stars, if they haven't already, would have fallen completely off the sports radar in Dallas. The hardcore fanbase would be a fraction of what it once was. The casual fans would have to be re-sold the game all over again and while it might not be exactly like it was in 1993, the Stars would certainly have a much steeper hill to climb when it comes to building this franchise back into what is once was and has the potential to be. In fact, we might already be closer to that situation with the lockout than we realize. It's a shame that the players and the owners are so close and yet so far away, that personal biases and egos are getting in the way of progress. If the league cannot see just what sort of detrimental effect this lockout is having on the fans, and if the players refuse to acknowledge this as well, then the overall health of this league is in grave danger. So, we wait. To see if the two sides can find some sense amongst themselves. To see if a fractured ownership group could change things. To see if the league can find a way to actually salvage this season before irrevocable harm is inflicted not only on the league as a whole, but on teams caught in the crossfire than can ill-afford what a lost season would mean for their futures. We wait. We hope. But we will eventually move on.
"I guess it's the old saying, you don't realize what you have until you lose it," Stamkos said. "For me, my whole life has been hockey, and now you don't have that. It's tough."According to Cristodero's report, Stamkos, 22, has been trying to stay in shape by putting in extra work in the gym and training room with former Lightning player Gary Roberts. In-game situations are simulated through pickup games at the local rink. However, the extra training and skating can only be a stopgap for a top-tier player like Stamkos for so long. Eventually, the 60-goal scorer will need to decided if playing in Europe is an option.
"For now," Stamkos said, "I'm planning that there will be some sort of a season."Already, the NHL has canceled a large chunk of games including the 2012 Winter Classic. Those cancellations could hurt the progression of Stamkos' development, however, Lightning head coach Guy Boucher isn't worried about that.
"He's picked up all the tools to be able to be a consistent two-way winner," Boucher said. "He wants to take another step this year."According to the Lightning's official website, their first regular-season game is scheduled for Dec. 1 against the Winnipeg Jets.
"He's one of the fastest skaters in the league and wants to be faster," Lightning captain Vinny Lecavalier said. "That tells you how hard he works."
Another day, another week and still no meaningful negotiations in the ongoing NHL lockout. The threat of the cancellation of the Winter Classic and All-Star Game looms with some even saying that if the NHL is going to cancel the season's biggest regular season game for the league, then what incentive does Gary Bettman have to not just go ahead and cancel the entire season now?
It's becoming clear that the rhetoric, from both sides in this matter, is failing. No one is on one side or the other any longer; instead, the fans are increasingly angry and upset that for the second time in less than a decade the threat of a lost season of hockey is getting more and more realistic. The league has already canceled games through November and even if the NHLPA and NHL come to some magical agreement in the next few weeks, this season is going to have a very dark cloud hanging over it when play resumes. Fans will cheer the return of hockey, for certain, but I wonder if things will ever quite be the same again. More importantly, I wonder if the Dallas Stars will ever be the same again. There is a good amount of discussion regarding the "casual fan" and how this lockout will affect that subgroup of hockey fans, the all-important group that ebbs and flows with the ups and downs of the league and the team. Some may refer to the casual fan as "bandwagon" fans but it is clear just how important they can be to a team; when a team is doing well, these fans flock to the franchise with open wallets and, more effectively, can be convinced to jump ship from the "casual" side of fandom to the hardcore fans that stick with the team through thick ad thin. The Dallas Stars have a very dedicated and knowledgeable fanbase that has stayed with the franchise through the frustrations of the past four years, through disappointing seasons and an absentee ownership. Unfortunately, this core group of fans has slowly dwindled over the years; more accurately, we could say the core fanbase is the same, it's just the more "casual" of this group have dropped off over the past few years. The concern regarding the effect of the lockout has little to do with the casual fan and much more to do with these hardcore fans. These are people who have spent hard-earned and valuable income as fans and on this team, through season tickets, merchandise, television packages and more. These fans have made a significant investment in the Dallas Stars and the NHL, not just financially but also emotionally and through the expense of their time. This investment is made with the promise from the team that at some point in the future it will be paid off by having a winning team on the ice or at the very least a franchise that actually shows an interest and desire in improvement. There are no promises in sports but fans want to see their investment being put to actual progress or the desire for progress; the stagnation of the Dallas Stars under the banks and at the end of Tom Hicks' ownership drove many fans away since it was their belief that their investment was no longer worth the financial or emotional cost. After all, if the team isn't even going to be making the investment to improve and win then why should the fans? This brings us to the current lockout and the effect it will have on a fanbase that was already on shaky ground. It is clear that fans are taking this lockout as a personal insult, that the league, and to some extent the players, have taken the fans for granted and instead of working together to build the game and improve the league moving forward, the battle has become more about "winning" and egos and who will come out on top. This sort of approach, coupled with the fact that the league has apparently never been more healthy overall and that revenues have soared to a record high in the midst of a recession, has created an increasing sense of anger that has morphed into apathy regarding the NHL. Fans know just how many actual jobs have been affected by what is obviously a needless work stoppage, with hundreds of workers laid off or facing reduced wages or thousands of others are directly affected by the lack of games. People who don't make millions of dollars a year have lost incredibly important income, a fact that only adds to the sense of anger and exasperation when it comes to the fact that neither side has yet to participate in actual meaningful negotiations. This leads to an erosion of the core fanbase that is already well underway. We've heard from several long-time season ticket holders who say that even if hockey returns next week, they will no longer be making the annual investment in the future. The NHL has stated that the fans returned en masse following the last lockout and will do so again, but with each passing week without a new deal it's becoming clear that this notion is far from realistic. When Tom Gaglardi purchased the Dallas Stars in November of 2011, he purchased a franchise where the hardcore fanbase is all that remained of what once existed. The "casual" fan had moved on, to the Texas Rangers or Dallas Mavericks, and the team would have to make big strides in winning those fans over once more. The core group was still there, just as they always had been, and now the team was faced with the task of building upon that once more and hopefully creating a legion of fans similar to what existed just five or seven years ago. The problem, as we all know, is that the Stars were stuck in a rebuilding mode. Ownership issues prevented the Stars from ever truly being able to move forward and build upon what existed on the ice and the team was left with a decent but wholly mediocre team. Because of this, the window passed on the core group of players that were in place and the team was obviously in need of a rebuild from the ground up. Rebuilding usually means more losing, and that was something the Stars could not afford. So the team set off on a mission to "reset" the franchise for the future while also building a team that could be competitive in the short term. The Stars made a series of highly aggressive moves over the summer, specifically for the 2012-13 season, with the desire to show the core fanbase that their investment was noted and that the team does understand the importance of improvement and winning. This would also put a product on the ice that could be sold back to the "casual fan," to put a winning product on the ice that could be used to sell the sport and the team once again so that these casual fans would be added to the extremely valuable hardcore fanbase. Which is why it's inconceivable to consider that Tom Gaglardi and the Dallas Stars are in the group of "hardline" owners that seek to force steep salary cuts on the players and that anything less would be unacceptable. Elliotte Friedman of CBC Sports has stated a few times that Gaglardi is part of this group.
The commish has three groups of owners: the ones who want to play; the ones in the middle, including Tampa and Nashville, who want a better collective bargaining agreement but recognize not playing is worse; and the hardliners. It would be a mistake to underestimate the last group. There are several who would rather cancel the season than accept a bad deal because they are hemorrhaging money and need immediate satisfaction.Now, to be fair, Friedman states this merely as an "educated guess" as to which owners are among the hardliners blocking a potential compromise. While it's just an assumption, it is one that does not add up when you consider the scope of the moves by the Stars in the offseason and the state of this franchise heading into what was going to be a crucial 2012-13 season.
While the players believe Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs is calling the shots, an educated guess at the final group includes but may not be limited to Anaheim, Columbus, Florida, the Islanders, Phoenix, St. Louis, Washington and Dallas -- enough to block any agreement from getting done (It's tough to lock it down because owners are forbidden to discuss this stuff. Attempts to talk to a couple were politely shot down).
From the start it's been a firm belief of mine that the Stars were on the short list of teams that absolutely could not afford any sort of work stoppage, that a delay to the season, and if we were so unlucky a canceled season, would have a detrimental affect on the franchise. I wrote last week that the league and the players were tempting fate by assuming that hockey would be the same again after a lengthy lockout; that concern is only magnified when applied to the Dallas Stars. This is something the ownership of the Stars must understand and it's something that is more than obvious considering the moves made during the offseason. The Dallas Stars could have very easily jumped into the deep end of a rebuild and "youth movement," acknowledging that the 2012-13 season is effectively lost (on the ice at least) and made moves to ensure the future of the team in 2013 and beyond. While this approach may have been effective in rebuilding the roster and the team, the chance of continued mediocrity, or worse, an even more disappointing team, was too much of a risk for a franchise doing its absolute best to repair the damage of the past five years. The Dallas Stars traded Mike Ribeiro and Steve Ott for a prospect and a center under contract for just one season. The team signed veteran Ray Whitney and the legendary Jaromir Jagr, moves made to improve the team in the short term and to specifically help the Stars become playoff contenders for this very season. The roster may look drastically different again in 2013-14, but the Stars were aggressive in ensuring the transition under the rebuild would not mean the team was abandoning it's quest for the postseason. This is not the approach of a team preparing for a lockout and certainly not the approach of an owner who would belong to a group that feels that a canceled 2012-13 season is better than actually playing. This was the approach of a team that understood the investments made by the fans and wanted to pay that back, to repair those torn relationships with the loyal fans and to forge new ones with new fans moving forward. The Dallas Stars don't sign Jaromir Jagr to a one-year contract and then take the stance that they'd rather lose the season than play with him on the ice. Which is why this lockout has been so painful for Stars fans to endure. This was the season we were supposed to see a hockey legend take the ice in a Stars sweater, when the team was supposed to make a significant leap forward with several of the young players that are a part of the future while continuing to develop budding superstars Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson. This was the season Benn was supposed to learn from players like Whitney and Jagr on how to be the leader on the team and the example for his teammates. This was supposed to be a new beginning after four long years of stagnation. Instead, those hardcore fans that have stuck with the team for so long are now jumping ship. They'll still be fans of the team but those investments that were made, the ones that franchises like the Stars need, will certainly go away. The task of rebuilding the fanbase has now become increasingly difficult as trust between the fans and the league has withered away until absolutely none remain. The fans are personally insulted by this lockout, as they should be, and it could have dire consequences on the Dallas Stars. Tom Gaglardi and the Stars know this. The team is not ready or willing to push for a canceled season. No employees have been laid off, no drastic salary cuts have been made. Gaglardi and the Stars, more than any other team, understand the value of actually getting on the ice this season has for the health of this franchise. If this entire season is lost, the Dallas Stars might as well approach the 2013-14 season as an expansion team would. The Dallas Stars, if they haven't already, would have fallen completely off the sports radar in Dallas. The hardcore fanbase would be a fraction of what it once was. The casual fans would have to be re-sold the game all over again and while it might not be exactly like it was in 1993, the Stars would certainly have a much steeper hill to climb when it comes to building this franchise back into what is once was and has the potential to be. In fact, we might already be closer to that situation with the lockout than we realize. It's a shame that the players and the owners are so close and yet so far away, that personal biases and egos are getting in the way of progress. If the league cannot see just what sort of detrimental effect this lockout is having on the fans, and if the players refuse to acknowledge this as well, then the overall health of this league is in grave danger. So, we wait. To see if the two sides can find some sense amongst themselves. To see if a fractured ownership group could change things. To see if the league can find a way to actually salvage this season before irrevocable harm is inflicted not only on the league as a whole, but on teams caught in the crossfire than can ill-afford what a lost season would mean for their futures. We wait. We hope. But we will eventually move on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)