The Allen Americans of the Central Hockey League announced today, the signing of defenseman Alec Martinez to a contract for the 2012-2013 season.
Martinez, played in 51 games for the Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings in the 2011-2012 season, scoring 6 goals, and 6 assists for 12 points with 8 penalty minutes. He had two points during last year’s Stanley Cup Finals for the Kings, netting a goal and an assist versus New Jersey.
“You get a guy who just won a Stanley Cup last season with Los Angeles; he’s 25 years old, a great player, a power play guy who will really help our blue line," said Americans Head Coach Steve Martinson. With all the injuries on defense, Alec will really help our power play as well as provide some great leadership."It’s great timing for us.”
Martinez, who lives in Allen in the off-season brought the Stanley Cup to Allen, Texas with a stop at Top Golf over the summer. He will be suited up this evening and ready to go.
Gary Bettman outside office to talk to media. #tsn
Chris Johnston @reporterchris
Gary Bettman says talks should resume by noon tomorrow.
Katie Strang @KatieStrangESPN
#CBA NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said NHL in process of reviewing PA's counter-offer. Plans to talk to PA in am, possibly meet by midday
Katie Strang @KatieStrangESPN
#CBA Also declined to characterize union's offer. Both sides tight-lipped
I am hearing we are right there and a deal will be done within the next 72 hours or at worst this coming weekend.
I am confident that we will be seeing a hockey season and that players will be camp ready by or before the 15th of Jan.
Optimism shmoptimism. Its almost NHL hockey time!
It will be a true heartbreaker for me and several players/agents and NHL team staffers if they can't push these last two items into place.
@NYDNRangers Pat Leonard
Bettman tells reporters: “The (NHLPA) have come back with a comprehensive response, which is why we need some time to analyze it.” @NHL Expects meeting with NHLPA early Tuesday.
Fehr is going to crush your little soul, don't worry he won't disappoint.
jk....No really
He is my single X factor of concern. Everyone else is saying it looks good. It is in the league's court now and word is it isn't far apart at all from what they want. Compromises all around. I asked an agent about Fehr today and he said "we are hockey people, not Baseballers, we aren't looking for the same things. At some point we are willing to work beyond our negotiators wishes". This came from an agent but still......
This iupdate
@JSportsnet: PA proposal was 26 pages in length. Compared to NHL offer of 288 pages, might lead you to think there was some common ground.
The Allen Americans of the Central Hockey League announced today, the signing of defenseman Alec Martinez to a contract for the 2012-2013 season.
Martinez, played in 51 games for the Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings in the 2011-2012 season, scoring 6 goals, and 6 assists for 12 points with 8 penalty minutes. He had two points during last year’s Stanley Cup Finals for the Kings, netting a goal and an assist versus New Jersey.
“You get a guy who just won a Stanley Cup last season with Los Angeles; he’s 25 years old, a great player, a power play guy who will really help our blue line," said Americans Head Coach Steve Martinson. With all the injuries on defense, Alec will really help our power play as well as provide some great leadership."It’s great timing for us.”
Martinez, who lives in Allen in the off-season brought the Stanley Cup to Allen, Texas with a stop at Top Golf over the summer. He will be suited up this evening and ready to go.
I'll probably go to a game this weekend.
Saw him play tonight. Looks like he has not lost a single beat from the final game. His thought process is that much faster than anyone on the ice. He didn't get any points tonight but still looked good in his first game.
Saw him play tonight. Looks like he has not lost a single beat from the final game. His thought process is that much faster than anyone on the ice. He didn't get any points tonight but still looked good in his first game.
Maybe he wanted a game or 2 plus a week of practice to get ready for the season. He still is a bottom pairing player, can't risk a long period of rustiness like some more established players can.
Well if anyone cares, the Spengler Cup is over with Team Canada winning it...with Devan Dubnyk in net. Bernier played the first game, was just average in a OT loss to Adler Mannheim. The OT winner was a breakaway by Sabres forward Jason Pominville who is over in Germany playing for the Mannheim, who is the top team in the DEL. Dubnyk came in for the second game and was really solid getting an SO in a 5-0 win over Davos. Getting the bye to the Semi's Canada the NHL filled Canadian crushed the other Swiss team in the tourney HC Fribourg-Gotteron 5-1, then beat Davos again by 5 goals with a 7-2 win, with Dubnyk playing both elimination games. So not a great tourney for Bernier overall.
__________________
2012 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS LA KINGS!!! GO JETS GO!
It is thought the players asked for a $67-million salary cap in 2013-14, which is based on their 57-per-cent share of the 2011-12 revenue, and for a cap on their escrow payments. The owners have thus far refused to consider a cap on escrow.
Sources with ties to the players have said if the owners are willing to accept a $67-million cap in 2013-14, the players would be willing to sign a new agreement for 10 years, which was demanded by the owners.
Another major issue was salary variance. The owners originally wanted no more than 5-per-cent variance in a player’s salary from year to year but raised that to 10 per cent in last week’s offer. Sources close to the players suggested this could be acceptable to them.
RealKyper 8:38pm via Twitter for BlackBerry® Although it hasn't been brought up in negotiations both #NHL #NHLPA have had internal discussions on 4 more teams qualifying for playoffs
JSportsnet 8:35pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®
PA now gleaning NHL Counter offer. Will inform League early tomorrow of their intention to re-engage. Suspect a long day again in talks.
JSportsnet 8:29pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®
NHL inches closer to a deal with PA.
jessespector 8:26pm via HootSuite
Today was the most important day of NHL negotiations yet. We're now 34 minutes to the most important day of NHL negotiations yet. Again.
SunGarrioch 8:23pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Okay so now we find out tomorrow if both sides are in the mood to make a deal when NHLPA responds. We know league is now.
So all in all a solid day of hammering from both sides. Closer and closer. The players agree to a 10yr deal which is a big step and the league has upped the cap among other things. End of the week for a deal imo.
The NHL doesn't need anymore teams making the playoffs. It ruins the magic of making the playoffs when virtually more than half the league makes them(already).
16 teams already make it. That itself is pushing it. Could you imagine 20 ? Also the damn season runs too long, Hockey in June.
I would be in favor of knocking off 12 to 18 games off the schedule; starting the playoff's earlier, and having the season end sometime around late April, Mid May.
It's going to have to be written anyway. Might as well have the verbiage there.
The lawyers can do that at anytime. Once a verbal agreement is in place, they can get the players from the far reaches of this planet back on North American soil and start preparing for a season, as well as get all the administrative stuff done.
What's important is getting to an "agreement in principle."
The NHL doesn't need anymore teams making the playoffs. It ruins the magic of making the playoffs when virtually more than half the league makes them(already).
16 teams already make it. That itself is pushing it. Could you imagine 20 ? Also the damn season runs too long, Hockey in June.
I would be in favor of knocking off 12 to 18 games off the schedule; starting the playoff's earlier, and having the season end sometime around late April, Mid May.
agreed
the current 16 is just perfect, allows for the top teams and few dark horses into the tournament.
i also agree the season needs to be shortened, but the owners will never allow it because of money. i doubt the PA would endorse it also because of loss of cash.
personally i would like to see a mid-October through March season. the playoffs run April and end around Memorial Day Weekend.
- 54 games (play each team home/away) so the fans see every team, every season
- 16 games within division (4 other teams, 4 games each)
total of 70 games. each team plays every team in the league and the focus is on divisional play to win your seed into the tournament. by shedding 12 games it would cut 3-4 weeks off the regular season.
the current 16 is just perfect, allows for the top teams and few dark horses into the tournament.
i also agree the season needs to be shortened, but the owners will never allow it because of money. i doubt the PA would endorse it also because of loss of cash.
personally i would like to see a mid-October through March season. the playoffs run April and end around Memorial Day Weekend.
- 54 games (play each team home/away) so the fans see every team, every season
- 16 games within division (4 other teams, 4 games each)
total of 70 games. each team plays every team in the league and the focus is on divisional play to win your seed into the tournament. by shedding 12 games it would cut 3-4 weeks off the regular season.
Bang on bro.
The regular season would mean more, Players would play harder, and none of that playing for OT crud.
Also less injuries due to a shorter season.
I think the on ICE action would greatly benefit from making the season shorter, and making the regular season games mean more.
The NHL doesn't need anymore teams making the playoffs. It ruins the magic of making the playoffs when virtually more than half the league makes them(already).
16 teams already make it. That itself is pushing it. Could you imagine 20 ? Also the damn season runs too long, Hockey in June.
I would be in favor of knocking off 12 to 18 games off the schedule; starting the playoff's earlier, and having the season end sometime around late April, Mid May.
Baseball added teams because they had the fewest amount of teams making the playoffs. 162 games should be more than enough to determine who the best teams are, which is why baseball used to have just the 4 division winners in the postseason.
If there is a league that doesn't need more playoff teams, it's the NHL. It was 75% of teams making the playoffs at one time. It's now at just over 50%. That's plenty.
I would like divisional playoffs to come back though, as was the thinking with realignment. I started being a fan when it was set up that way, so I am a little biased. But it also just makes some sense because the current Western Conference is so big. Two divisions that span 3 time zones, and the entire conference spans all 4 time zones.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...79/?cmpid=rss1
Dowbiggin: Owners have only themselves to blame Quote:
What makes the worn-out drama so repellent for fans is that this farce was entirely preventable from the owners’ point of view. While NHL sources blame Donald Fehr, the player’s executive director, for stalling and equivocating the past six months, it was the owners themselves who drove players into the arms of Fehr’s classic labour perspective.
Few of the players who’d had one or two previous labour stoppage were up for another costly sacrifice this time. They’d given millions at the office. There was a deal to be made that would have placated these influential veterans and allowed a season to start on time in October. One that acknowledged the right of the NHLPA to exist as a very junior partner to the league.
Instead, the league’s hawks won out in the Board of Governors. Frustrated by Fehr’s laconic approach to talks, they delivered a scorched-earth proposal to the NHLPA membership in the summer. Having conceded significant rollbacks last time, the players were being publicly asked to bail out the NHL’s failed business plan again.
Asking for massive rollbacks in what Gary Bettman had bragged was a successful business took hubris of a rare sort. And after hubris comes nemesis.
Nothing Fehr had said or done in the previous 18 months could have worked better to push players into Fehr’s hard-line approach to negotiations. From the moment Bettman proposed a drop in players’ share of revenues from 57 per cent to 46 per cent with four-year maximum contracts, players united behind Fehr. And the league had the disastrous fight it spoiled for.
I think that this article makes a couple of solid and interesting points that are worth remembering. The owners initial offer was so far removed from anything that could be considered acceptable that they did force the PA to swing the pendulum in the other direction. In the end they will both end up somewhere in the middle proving yet again that this entire mess could easily have been avoided.
In the end they will both end up somewhere in the middle proving yet again that this entire mess could easily have been avoided.
this shouldn't happen ever. the two sides with the track record they have proven to date, should be sitting down 2-3 years in advance of an expiring CBA to work on the new one. i'm not talking about once a month bs. i mean meeting M-F from 8-5 to hammer **** out and get a new CBA in place before the current one expires.
the lost revenue one would think would dictate this. the damage to the game itself should dictate this even more so. the game is bigger and larger than one league and one PA.
especially going forward let's pray the league and PA learn from this. the damage they continue to cause, while trying to grow the game and fan base is maddening. the diehards like myself will return. in some cases we will curtail our spending. some won't return at all and say enough of the madness. they will get 'their fix' from other levels of hockey.
successful businesses DO NOT have labor/work stoppages every 5-10 years. especially when that business is considered a leisure or entertainment service. people WILL find alternatives
Baseball added teams because they had the fewest amount of teams making the playoffs. 162 games should be more than enough to determine who the best teams are, which is why baseball used to have just the 4 division winners in the postseason.
If there is a league that doesn't need more playoff teams, it's the NHL. It was 75% of teams making the playoffs at one time. It's now at just over 50%. That's plenty.
I would like divisional playoffs to come back though, as was the thinking with realignment. I started being a fan when it was set up that way, so I am a little biased. But it also just makes some sense because the current Western Conference is so big. Two divisions that span 3 time zones, and the entire conference spans all 4 time zones.
You have to admit though, with the run that the Oilers and now the Kings made since the cap was in place, the thought of adding a 9th and 10th seed is an interesting one. The only issue I'd have with it would be what to do with the format. DO you just tack an extra best of 7 series? The Stanley Cup is already the most difficult trophy to win in sports, having to win 16 games... Do you really want to make that 20 games? Who gets to sit out a round? Change the first round to best of 3 or 5? It'd completely screw up a format I really like.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...79/?cmpid=rss1
Dowbiggin: Owners have only themselves to blame Quote:
What makes the worn-out drama so repellent for fans is that this farce was entirely preventable from the owners’ point of view. While NHL sources blame Donald Fehr, the player’s executive director, for stalling and equivocating the past six months, it was the owners themselves who drove players into the arms of Fehr’s classic labour perspective.
Few of the players who’d had one or two previous labour stoppage were up for another costly sacrifice this time. They’d given millions at the office. There was a deal to be made that would have placated these influential veterans and allowed a season to start on time in October. One that acknowledged the right of the NHLPA to exist as a very junior partner to the league.
Instead, the league’s hawks won out in the Board of Governors. Frustrated by Fehr’s laconic approach to talks, they delivered a scorched-earth proposal to the NHLPA membership in the summer. Having conceded significant rollbacks last time, the players were being publicly asked to bail out the NHL’s failed business plan again.
Asking for massive rollbacks in what Gary Bettman had bragged was a successful business took hubris of a rare sort. And after hubris comes nemesis.
Nothing Fehr had said or done in the previous 18 months could have worked better to push players into Fehr’s hard-line approach to negotiations. From the moment Bettman proposed a drop in players’ share of revenues from 57 per cent to 46 per cent with four-year maximum contracts, players united behind Fehr. And the league had the disastrous fight it spoiled for.
I think that this article makes a couple of solid and interesting points that are worth remembering. The owners initial offer was so far removed from anything that could be considered acceptable that they did force the PA to swing the pendulum in the other direction. In the end they will both end up somewhere in the middle proving yet again that this entire mess could easily have been avoided.
Nothing Fehr had said or done in the previous 18 months could have worked better to push players into Fehr’s hard-line approach to negotiations. From the moment Bettman proposed a drop in players’ share of revenues from 57 per cent to 46 per cent with four-year maximum contracts, players united behind Fehr. And the league had the disastrous fight it spoiled for.[/B]
I think that this article makes a couple of solid and interesting points that are worth remembering. The owners initial offer was so far removed from anything that could be considered acceptable that they did force the PA to swing the pendulum in the other direction. In the end they will both end up somewhere in the middle proving yet again that this entire mess could easily have been avoided.
Why is 43% for the owners ok, but 46% for the players is outrageous / draconian??
I'm gonna use the word "draconian" in a meeting this afternoon.
And just like last lockout, the players are losing money that they will NEVER get back. yeah, great advice Fehr.
agreed
yeah, great advice Fehr. 
