If anyone still has interest (NHL season)

[ddubs]

The PC tomorrow will be to announce the start of the shortened season. The schedule has been drawn up. It is all but a done deal. This is copied and pasted from another site......

"Bettman has sent a memo to all clubs to inform their AHL affiliates to expect to lose their NHL players within one week."

Game on! :mj14:

 

[Penguinfan]

The PC tomorrow will be to announce the start of the shortened season. The schedule has been drawn up. It is all but a done deal. This is copied and pasted from another site......

"Bettman has sent a memo to all clubs to inform their AHL affiliates to expect to lose their NHL players within one week."

Game on! :mj14:

I just saw that on Eklunds blog, like I said earlier, take everything he says with a grain of salt. He has announced done deals before on that blog only to have nothing happen. I'm not saying he lies, but I question his sources sometimes.

 

[Snafu]

agreed about Eklund, but on these lockout talks he has been quite well on target.

i hope that some one remebers to give this information to european teams too :

"Bettman has sent a memo to all clubs to inform their AHL affiliates to expect to lose their NHL players within one week."



i think that deal is really close to be done, and btw if NHL gave their proposal there must have been some talks tonight too.

 

[Penguinfan]

The problem I have with Eklund is that if you predict the end of the world every single day then, yea, eventually you will be right.

According to TSN Canada Betteman has offered a 42.5 million cap as his final offer. I don't know how FINAL that offer really is or if it has been accepted (this may be the case). If it has the players should be pissed this deal was not done in September.

 

[ddubs]

TSN's reporting that NHL just countered with a 42.5mil cap with "no room to negotiate". Basically saying take it or leave it. I think Buttman' or TSN's full of shit. They'll probably settle on somewhere around 45. Even a shortened season is better than nothing (for all parties involved, including the fans), and both sides have come too far the last couple of days to call the whole thing off on a couple of mil on the cap.

IMO the 52mil cap is a joke. There're a handful of teams last season operating well under 40mil and struggling to stay afloat. They won't come anywhere close to 52mil. Supposedly only 4 teams will go over 40mil with the immediate rollback. Somethere around 45mil cap would be more palatable.

We'll know for sure tomorrow, I guess.

 

[ddubs]

Correction: 44.7 mil cap now (42.5 mil salary + 2.2 benefits)

 

[saint]

I agree with Ddubs, NHL asked for 40mil, players 52 million, so it will be somewhere in the middle. The NBA has a cap with 52 million, the NHL generates nowhere near the revenue of the NBA so that figure is a joke.

Barry Melrose was on Sportscenter tonight and said he is pretty sure the season will be announced, 28-32 games with full playoffs.

 

[ddubs]

Buttman......what an ass. I think no-Good-enow's still gonna counter, and maybe slip a little "suck my left nut" message in there, too.


February 15, 2005


Mr. Robert Goodenow
Executive Director
National Hockey League
Players? Association
777 Bay Street, Ste 2400
P.O. Box 121
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2C8

Dear Bob:

We attempted to reach out to you with yesterday?s offer of a team maximum cap of $42.2MM ($40MM in salary and $2.2MM in benefits) which was not linked to League-wide revenues. As Bill told Ted, ?de-linking? a maximum team salary cap from League revenues and total League-wide player compensation has always been problematic for us, especially since we cannot now quantify the damage to the League from the lockout. This presents the risk we will pay out more than we can afford. As you know, if all 30 teams were to spend to the maximum we proposed, and if the damage to our business is as we discussed at our meetings in New York, then the League would continue to lose money.

I know, as do you, that the ?deal? we can make will only get worse for the players if we cancel the season ? whatever damage we have suffered to date will pale in comparison to the damage from a cancelled season and we will certainly not be able to afford what is presently on the table. Accordingly, I am making one final effort to reach out to make a deal that will let us play this season.

We are increasing our offer of yesterday by increasing the maximum individual team cap to $44.7MM ($42.5MM in salary and $2.2MM in benefits). This offer is not an invitation to begin negotiations ? it?s too late for that. This is our last effort to make a deal that?s fair to the players and one that the Clubs (hopefully) can afford. We have no more flexibility and there is no time for further negotiation.

If this offer is acceptable, please let me know by 11:00 A.M. tomorrow, in advance of my scheduled press conference. Hopefully, the press conference will not be necessary.

Sincerely,



Gary B. Bettman
Commissioner

 

[Penguinfan]

What do you find unreasonable about the last offer from Betteman? I think a counter offer will probably come very early tomorrow just so Goodenow can save some sort of respectability from the players, but I also think this is it.

 

[stomie]

Greedy fvcks. I will not renew my season tickets. Hockey will be dead once baseball starts.

 

[ddubs]

P, I'm actually more on the owners' side than the players, who wants to run a losing business, anyways. And as mentioned before, a cap of 52 was ridiculous, and even 45 might be still too high for many teams. I just think with better wording and tone, this might have been it. Maybe it's just gamesmanshp between them two, but I agree with you, NHLPA will probably still counter, and better be tonite. Buttman maybe bluffing about the final figure, but I don't think he's bluffing about cancelling the season tomorrow.

 

[Snafu]

even if the cap is $48m it doesn't mean that teams have to pay that much, situation after cap effects most to the very top teams with their +60m salaries. each team has a budget to go with and below average teams just can't fart out $10m to hit the salary cap.

question is how top teams share part of the "won" money to players, buy hockey sticks $10000 a piece so KOHO can do a "sponsor deal" with player ? too low cap leads to this, high enough doesn't.

allso too low cap is bad in future

 

[Snafu]

Ekman :

Rumor
The players may have already rejected the letter...They are probably only 2.5M apart...Get it done fellows...For the game.


hmmm......

 

[edludes]

Please.........cancel the season,like forever.The NHL is dead,they just don't know it yet.It is so nice not to have those toothless idiots taking up space in the newspaper or on TV.I was stuck on a plane for three hours with the Anchorage Aces a few years ago,generally a bunch of assholes.The next time the winter olympics are played,try watching womens hockey.Its played without the checking,grabbing and fighting and it was the first time in my life the sport looked watchable and interesting to me.Skill and speed prevailed.If the NHL were played like that they'd have a marketable competitive product.If the cap is lowered to $100,000 (Canada money not US) per team its still to much for those goons.

 

[ddubs]

The players have formally rejected Buttman's offer, and have countered with 49mil :scared

www.nhlpa.com

Who's gonna blink first??

Stay tuned

 

[RexBudler]

:scared :scared

 

[saint]

WTF this is SO GAY....each is just gonna budge until they meet in the middle. At this point you'd think they woud cut the shit and get this over with but it seems even at the 12th hour they still want to play games. This has gotten to be such a joke it makes me furious.

NHL: 40mil
NHLPA: 52mil
NHL: ok 42 mil
NHLPA: ok 49mil.......

NHL: ok 44mil
NHLPA: Ok 46mil
NHL: Ok FINAL OFFER 45mil
NHLPA: Ok 45.5mil and we've got a deal
NHL: Deal

Lets get this over with.

 

[ddubs]

No kidding, saint. This is getting ridiculous. They're fighting over the air now.

The latest: Buttman has just turned down the NHLPA's counter.

www.tsn.ca

I'm sure there will be more. I'm fairly confident there will be a season.

Buttman will have to counter, because if the situation stands as is and the season is cancelled, Buttman has NO grounds for an IMPASSE.

 

[chuckdman]

If they cancel the season for a 6mil difference in salary cap numbers, I am going to snap.

I think they get the deal done in the morning. :mj14:

 

[ddubs]

Buttman will have one more offer around 9am est. No words on the exact figure. My guess is 44mil or a little more (since the players have publicly said they will take 45mil, namely JR, Pronger, Esche), and the PA will have 2 hrs to take it.

For the 6 hockey fans left in the US. Time to go to bed. :mj07: Big day tomorrow. We should have hockey come next week.