"Now [NHLPA director] Donald Fehr would have you believe by getting rid of the cap, the owners would make more money and that the sky is the limit, but trust me Scott, the owners would lose their asses. We've tried that. It doesn't work. There is just too much cost involved in running and owning a team. It's very complicated and way too much for the average Joe to understand, but having said that, I will tell you this: The owners can basically be viewed as the ranch, and the players, and me included, are the cattle. The owners own the ranch and allow the players to eat there. That's the way its always been and that the way it will be forever. And the owners simply aren't going to let a union push them around. It's not going to happen."Devellano also remarked that Gary Bettman doesn't deserve the scorn of hockey fans, as he's simply doing the work of the 30 team owners from across the league. He said that Bettman does care about his public persona, but that in the end, he only needs to answer to those 30 owners and not the fans. A harsh truth. If Devellano is correct and those 30 team owners fail to give in even the slightest bit to the players' union in these talks, the cancellation of another season is certainly in play. If that happens, the blame from the fans is undoubtedly going to fall on Bettman harder than ever before. But as long as the owners are happy when all is said and done, Bettman doesn't really need to answer to us.
EDMONTON: The NHL players’ union says the argument is simple: Alberta labour laws apply to the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. The NHL Players’ Association was in Edmonton on Friday to try to get the Alberta Labour Relations Board to declare the current lockout illegal. NHLPA lawyer Bob Blair told the panel that the teams are Alberta businesses, so provincial labour laws have to be followed. He argued that players from the Oilers and Flames have never agreed to forgo their rights under the Alberta Labour Code. A lawyer for the NHL argued that it’s impossible for a league spanning two countries to operate under different laws for each franchise. Peter Gall pointed out that 23 of the 30 teams are in the United States and already work under the same rules because labour laws there are federally regulated.
Bob Blair Quotes: “No one gets to choose what labour laws apply to them in this province,” Blair said. “The law is the law is the law. It applies to every employer and employee. That is the starting point. It would be extremely destabilizing to how we do business and how we conduct this sports league. I don’t know how we would proceed in the face of separate units in Alberta.”
Gall Said: “So all of the players on all of the teams have been included in one bargaining unit. The NHLPA has never bargained with individual teams. It has only bargained with the NHL”
Bill Daly, the league’s deputy commissioner, told the panel that there’s never been any individual bargaining between players and their teams. He said it’s important that all teams operate under the same rules. Blair countered by saying the way the league and union have operated in the past is irrelevant. It’s unclear what might follow if the board were to rule in favour of the NHLPA’s request, but Daly said he couldn’t imagine the fallout if that were to happen. About half a dozen players attended the hearing, including Oilers forward Sam Gagner, goaltender Devan Dubnyk and veteran Ryan Smyth. Last week, players from the Montreal Canadiens launched a similar case in Quebec and the labour relations board there turned down their request for a temporary injunction against the lockout. But it also ruled that more hearings are needed to make a final decision on the application. No date for those hearings has been set. The lockout is nearly a week old and there have been no formal talks between the two sides since Sept. 12. Training camps were to have opened Friday. The league has already cancelled pre-season games through Sept. 30 and several players have signed with teams in Europe. The 2 sides remain far apart on key economic issues. The NHL believes too much money is being paid out in salaries and has proposed a system to address it. Their most recent offer called for the players’ share in revenue to be set at 49 per cent next season, down from 57% in the deal that expired last weekend, and proposed that it drops to 47% by the end of the six-year deal. The union tabled an offer where the salary cap would be set to fixed increases of 2%, 4% and 6% over the next 3 years. The system would then revert to a percentage-based system for the final 2 years.
Bob Blair Quotes: “No one gets to choose what labour laws apply to them in this province,” Blair said. “The law is the law is the law. It applies to every employer and employee. That is the starting point. It would be extremely destabilizing to how we do business and how we conduct this sports league. I don’t know how we would proceed in the face of separate units in Alberta.”
Gall Said: “So all of the players on all of the teams have been included in one bargaining unit. The NHLPA has never bargained with individual teams. It has only bargained with the NHL”
Bill Daly, the league’s deputy commissioner, told the panel that there’s never been any individual bargaining between players and their teams. He said it’s important that all teams operate under the same rules. Blair countered by saying the way the league and union have operated in the past is irrelevant. It’s unclear what might follow if the board were to rule in favour of the NHLPA’s request, but Daly said he couldn’t imagine the fallout if that were to happen. About half a dozen players attended the hearing, including Oilers forward Sam Gagner, goaltender Devan Dubnyk and veteran Ryan Smyth. Last week, players from the Montreal Canadiens launched a similar case in Quebec and the labour relations board there turned down their request for a temporary injunction against the lockout. But it also ruled that more hearings are needed to make a final decision on the application. No date for those hearings has been set. The lockout is nearly a week old and there have been no formal talks between the two sides since Sept. 12. Training camps were to have opened Friday. The league has already cancelled pre-season games through Sept. 30 and several players have signed with teams in Europe. The 2 sides remain far apart on key economic issues. The NHL believes too much money is being paid out in salaries and has proposed a system to address it. Their most recent offer called for the players’ share in revenue to be set at 49 per cent next season, down from 57% in the deal that expired last weekend, and proposed that it drops to 47% by the end of the six-year deal. The union tabled an offer where the salary cap would be set to fixed increases of 2%, 4% and 6% over the next 3 years. The system would then revert to a percentage-based system for the final 2 years.
