Bob Mckenzie reporting that both sides are unhappy:
Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
I can tell you there's a hugely negative vibe emanating from both sides right now. Keeping this process on rails today will be challenging.
Don't get your hopes up and you won't be disappointed.
It's all a ruse. The nhlpa is making one last ditch effort to get the owners to give more. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear that the offer will be put to a vote within the next 24 hours after a meeting this evening.
Yep.
This is all part of the process. No one is going to jump at a deal when they've got one more day to chisel more from the owners.
So, if the NHL took the variance out but still had the 5 year limit, the 3rd/4th liners would still be affected in the same manner. You'd still have the big boys making 8-9 mil a year over a 5 year period. I'd think the NHL would be fine with getting rid of the variance as long as the length was still at 5 years.
Two huge fallacies I see being thrown around here:
This is only true if you believe that players are the reason that people follow a team. Most sports fans I know follow their teams regardless of who is currently playing for them. So, how much of a team's revenue is due to the players and how much is due to the brand?
Most fans tend to follow their team basically irrespective of what NHL-calibre talent is on the roster. Would you continue to back your team - dollar for dollar - if they iced Swiss-league calibre players?
im suppose to feel sorry for a guy making 575K for playing 5 min a night
wake up, there are many jobs like police/firefighters/miners/etc that risk just as much if not more than nhlers that only make 40-70K a year, just enough to put food on the table, and MAYBE have enough to take a small vacation once every year or two
im suppose to feel sorry for those greedy selfish idiots
im still shocked kyper even said that, i knew he was pro-player but my god, this whole pity party is insane
doug mclean is right, players need to take the deal NOW, can u imagine if we have no nhl because of this pity crap, players wanting another 5% on top of there already massive contracts
and the nhl doesn't owe the players a career, after the nhl go work another job if you have to, just like everybody else
i wish these players would go out in the real world for a year and see how fast they come running back
I must be alone when thinking the NHL contracts should NOT be limited to 5 years. A man has a right to earn what he is capable of. That being said maybe guaranteed money should be off the table.
Well he would still be making what he is capable of, and if her performed well would get re-signed, to a better or equal deal, or if her underperformed a lesser deal.
Except that there are more than 5 teams in the league and if it is about money, another team will provide the money. Don't forget that this only affects long contracts so players with big bucks on short deals won't have an impact on their teammates. Only the Parise/Suter/Weber deals.
No, because, if anything, the superstars will be more spread out from one team to another. Teams will have lots of difficulty trying to keep more than 1 or 2 superstar players on their teams. But its pretty simple. The bigger the cap hits of the better players, the less for the weaker players.
Its a simple mathematical concept. Its not jus about superstars, its about all the good young players who cant sign long contracts, or artificially reduce their cap hits. higher cap hits for better players = smaller cap hits for fringe players.
Why should 4th line guys be making more then 1.5 million? Seriously? They hardly play, and they are making some good money. People need to realize some of these guys play less then 10 minutes a night and they get good money. Seriously. That's the problem here.
This. I have loved a lot of our 4th line guys in NY but we're paying Rupp 1.5M to be useless. We let Prust go because he wanted 2M and got 2.5M in Montreal. Seriously, Pruster? You were living a rockstar lifestyle in NY with your teammates on your 700k before this. We all saw you (Rangers fans), not only on 24/7 but in many other instances, living it up. You cashed in HUGE with 2.5M over 4 years (10M GUARANTEED money! Are you kidding? For Brandon Prust?!) and now we have to hear about how we can't accept a 5% variance because guys like you might suffer? Please..
This crazy optimism from the league and most of it's sources could definitely be considered a "stunt". The Burton leak, Coaches calling Players, Gary's press conference, smiles and positive comments from most NHL brass, and many other little things that have happened in the last 2-3 days lead me to believe the owners definitely upped the deal, but not enough that they truly believe the players would accept with Fehr running the show. The media blitz of positivity is the owners now trying to bamboozle the deal through immediately. The owners really, really want to play, and NOW.
However, there's Donald Fehr on the other side. As evidenced, the guy is a feared negotiator, and one that rubs the other side the wrong way (on purpose.) Fehr truly believes, and may be right, that the owners still can go a little further, and he can, and will read right through this situation. So I would say unfortunately be prepared for a letdown in the next day/few days, as I think he will recommend to his constituents to reject any deal and hold out for more.
Because of the unbelievable amount of attention and optimism the last few days, if this occurs, it will feel like a crushing defeat. Mostly everyone will say the season is officially toast, etc. There will be a freeze in negotiations. Owners will institute a drop-dead date. More games will be cancelled.
However, this season will absolutely be played. They are way way too close to toss away billions of dollars. This is a fight almost entirely about money, not ideological difference. Since most reports indicate most likely there will be a schedule of less than the 62 games required to receive full compensation from advertisers and partners, as much as this sucks, there is still time for tactics and posturing in this negotiation.
One note though... If any deal gets put up for a vote by both sides in the next few days, it will 100% pass. So keep an eye out to see if Fehr allows the deal to go to vote. My guess is he won't, just yet.
I wouldn't be surprised if they avoid a vote like the plague. Because if the result would be to accept a deal (and I think it would) Hamrlik is going to look awfully right in his feelings. He looks right as it is but there would be a lot more egg to wipe off a lot of different faces (Fehr, Gorges, Cole, Brouwer, and anyone that demeaned him).
Except that there are more than 5 teams in the league and if it is about money, another team will provide the money. Don't forget that this only affects long contracts so players with big bucks on short deals won't have an impact on their teammates. Only the Parise/Suter/Weber deals.
Short contracts will affect the little guy too. If I'm a superstar and I know I can only sign a five year deal, then at my chance at UFA, I'm going to want maximum or close to maximum money (because I know that the next 5 year contract may have to be less due to declining skills), so assuming a $60M cap, that is going to be $12M a year with a cap hit of $12M a year. Without contract limits, I might sign a 10 year deal for $8 or $9M a year because I know I'll be getting that for 10 years. And that leaves $3M-$4M more for other players on the team.
