The 5% variance would mean the salary can't anymore than 5% year by year, no? Wasn't that one of their more pressing issues? Just get them to agree to that and drop the year limit.
imo that is the key proposal about contracts. if you can't vary by more than 5% per year than its impossible to make a kovalchuk-type contract with fact years. this rule pretty much makes all of the other contract rules and limits redundant
Tim Panaccio @tpanotchCSN
my opinion: i think union wants mediators to move this along while holding Bettman and Fehr back from creating a stall over dicey issues
If the mediators left the first time because they were too far apart, bringing them back might mean a fair amount of progress has been made.
true. its not necessarily a bad thing that they want them to bring in. maybe they think that enough progress was made on certain issues that now the mediator can help them close the gap the rest of the way.
I guess. But if they'd really rather make no money because they can't prevent themselves from paying stupid amounts of money, maybe they should just cancel the season.
"Prevent themselves" is a pretty simplistic argument. Just like with the cap-circumventing deals they can have a decisive disadvantage if they indeed do "prevent themselves" while others don't.
I saw Marty St. Louis and another player(It looked like Mathieu Darche from looking at the headshots of the players who has attended the meetings)walking towards the Westin on 43rd. Two blocks later I saw David Backes making his way towards the hotel. He is one big dude. He had a carry on bag with him. Maybe he is going home early. The PA are having internal meetings this morning.
Quote:
Further attrition to the NHLPA side, David Backes has left the CBA meetings
The real issue (I can see) with mediation is what does this due to the timetable. When is the earliest it could happen? Mid next week? Tack on another week or so after they ge thrown out or to finalize things?
__________________
"Here we can see the agression of american people. They love fighting and guns. when they wont win they try to kill us all." -HalfOfFame
And MLB doesn't have term limits, nor a salary cap. And yet nearly all of the teams post operating profits (27 of 30). Term limited contracts are not a prerequisite to a successful league or profitable teams.
It's fiscal irresponsibility on the part of management that drives these massive deals. They think, "We have to spend big bucks to compete!" when in fact they don't. Smart utilization of resources is what makes a consistent winner. But these guys in front offices across the league get into bidding wars and piss themselves. Then they try to correct their idiocy by making rules that state they can only act stupid to a certain degree. At the expense of the players, of course.
The baseball model might be profitable..... if you are willing to let about half of the NHL's franchises be the Minnesota Twins where they have no shot of ever winning anything.
The real issue (I can see) with mediation is what does this due to the timetable. When is the earliest it could happen? Mid next week? Tack on another week or so after they ge thrown out or to finalize things?
I want a deal by Friday, otherwise just cancel the season. 40-something games is poor at this point. If you can get this far and then have a stalemate like this then screw it.
I felt like telling Backes to get a deal done. He had his carry on with him. I knew he was going home. Toews and Craig Adams(Pitt)went home yesterday. All three of the guys are vocal about the labor stuff. Backes isn't as militant as Toews. Adams is Pitt's player rep. They all left to go home. Stay here to finish the deal. What's more important? The NHL money puts food on their table. These guys are too much.
The baseball model might be profitable..... if you are willing to let about half of the NHL's franchises be the Minnesota Twins where they have no shot of ever winning anything.
I'll take the NFL or NBA's model.
No shot of ever winning anything? Is that different in the NFL? It sure as hell isn't in the NBA, which is constantly dominated by the same handful of teams. Let's see how many different teams have won titles in the past 20 years:
NFL: 13
MLB: 11
NBA: 8
NHL: 13
???
Seems like with the exception of the NBA, each league is pretty competitively balanced.
EDIT: As I fear that I'm taking us off track, I'll bring it back to my initial point--contract length limits are unnecessary, especially with a small yearly deviance cap. I'm not advocating for the baseball model, simply illustrating that a lack of contract length limits hasn't been detrimental to the competitive balance of that sport. The "broken" system in the NHL has been just as successful as any other system when it comes to allowing numerous teams to succeed. Capping contract lengths won't suddenly make poor teams profitable, and it won't make them more competitive.
“@KatieStrangESPN: #CBA Apparently mediators are available for today, but NHL would have to consent first and mediators would have to travel from DC”
“@KatieStrangESPN: #CBA Regardless, next meeting between 2 sides -- if it still happens this afternoon -- won't likely involve one. NHLPA still mtg internally”
No shot of ever winning anything? Is that different in the NFL? It sure as hell isn't in the NBA, which is constantly dominated by the same handful of teams. Let's see how many different teams have won titles in the past 20 years:
NFL: 13
MLB: 11
NBA: 8
NHL: 13
???
Seems like with the exception of the NBA, each league is pretty competitively balanced.
Not only winning titles. The NFL and NBA simply don't have black hole franchises that do not compete like the MLB does. You would get that but worse if the NHL continued to move towards the MLB product.
The NBA has had a couple that are horribly run but it's not due to lack of income so much.
Nick Cotsonika @cotsonika
The NHL has kept backing off. But at some point, it will stop and this will be best deal players can get. They must not misjudge that point.
I agree. Take a deal before you lose more.
Tom Gulitti @TGfireandice
NHLPA feels mediators could help get deal done. NHL not convinced.
