Is this another stunt? I don't trust either of them, so I don't know what to think.
Last time there was supposed to be a meeting it was another 20 minutes of optimism. Then Daly says they weren't gonna meet with Fehr, because he had no new proposals, and would not work off their one.
Well it's been longer than 20 minutes now. Still wouldn't be surprised if the plug is pulled between now, and then. Still not sure though. No expectations for me.
The players are so dumb, Fehr is an idiot, this is all so ****ed up it's ridiculous.
It's like a cult. Fehr will be telling them to eat the poisonous jello soon. Even Moose, and Bryce, and even Clarkie have me shaking my head at their praise for him.
At least Marty just said a simple ''I like the things they're fighting for'' cause he's not a union suck up like some of the other guys. At least he hasn't said he's willing to sacrifice his career yet. You think he likes all this BS? The last lockout cost him at least 35-40 wins, and probably 6 shutouts minimum. The first one probably cost him 10 wins at least, and maybe a shutout or two.
Is this another stunt? I don't trust either of them, so I don't know what to think.
Last time there was supposed to be a meeting it was another 20 minutes of optimism. Then Daly says they weren't gonna meet with Fehr, because he had no new proposals, and would not work off their one.
Well it's been longer than 20 minutes now. Still wouldn't be surprised if the plug is pulled between now, and then. Still not sure though. No expectations for me.
I don't see how you can't think it's a stunt given how duplicitous both sides are. Most fans assume the Classic means no season...voila they're meeting the day after the Classic gets canceled. Maybe the owners are assuming the players will crack now that they can't use the Classic as leverage.
One caveat is I hope Daly and S.Fehr are the only ones in the room...no Gary or Don until need be, no Jacobs or Toews ever. Just hammer out a somewhat equitable deal between the four of you.
I was working the Celtics game on Friday and after the game I ran into Charlie Jacobs.
I just said to him "It doesn't look good for hockey."
Charlie's reply stunned me.
He said "My dad wanted to settle 2 weeks ago saying 50-50 and honoring signed contracts was fine with him. Gary wants to settle as well but is 3 votes short. He needs 23 teams to say OK and right now he only has 20."
I just looked at him in utter shock and he said - "We just spent $10 million renovating the suites, of course we want openings. My father knows the Detroit owner is in poor health and wanted the classic badly but Mister AOL in Washington won't budge. He is willing to kill off the NHL season to attract fans to his ****** NBA team."
Because 10 owners are fine with 50/50 but are not fine with honoring current contracts.
I wonder if Minnesota is part of those 10. Think of the money they will save down the line.
I also would be surprised if we arent one of those 10.
I would be surprised if we were. Think about it, exactly how many contracts do we have after 2014? Granted, the only one we have is huge, but it's not as if we have tons of mistake contracts we could use a cut for. I very highly doubt that Vanderbeek would jeopardise a season's worth of income just to get a million every year off the books. Especially because he's already up to his neck in debt.
It wouldn't astonish me either way, but I think the Devils are more likely to be in the camp pushing for ending the lockout. The longer it goes, the less profit Vanderbeek can build up to pay down the debt, and therefore the less likely he is to find new investors.
Also, it would be completely illogical to piss away a large part of the season after a Cup Final appearance (and the boost in revenues that would surely have brought) just to save some $10-15 M on Kovy's deal spread out over the life of the contract, by which time Vanderbeek may no longer even be the owner still.
Tom Gulitti @TGfireandice
Some of the discussion about what the NHL may or may not have offered this week and if it was "formal" or not is just plain silly.
Tom Gulitti @TGfireandice
If something has to be "in writing" to be formal, the NHLPA never "formally" offered to go 50/50 split if NHL honors full contracts.
Poor guy has gotta be bored out of his mind some days. He's usually used to being on planes, and going to games in other cities this time of year. The transition has gotta be tough. Just as a fan for me it's hard to adjust.
I suspect that Minnesota is among the 10 wanting to continue the lockout. Flyers definitely in there as well.
The more terrible contracts on one roster, the more likely that team is among the 10 nancys.
You'd think that some of the teams that have better Cup chances would want to play the season though. That's why I doubt that Vancouver is pushing to keep the lockout going, and that rumour about Washington being one of the holdouts is also somewhat surprising.
Big market teams also have less incentive to keep it going, because they're going to make tons of money anyway.
So we're left with bad teams in small markets that possibly have more bad contracts than average.
