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Today is the one day that you can look at and realize it fits in with the last several hockey seaosns….
Today there are no games played — as usual. There are no trades being discussed. There are no signings, there are no controversies.
Today is Christmas and I am wishing everyone the very best and happiest of holidays.
Tom Benjamin at Canucks Corner posted a link to the St. Louis Post Dispatch with regards to Gary’s Bettman’s plans post-lockout.
A clean slate summarizes what Gary is planning.
But Tom points out the worst comment in that article, a comment that effects all small-market fans who have fallen in love with the stars of there teams:
One scary quote for Stan Kasten, owner of the Atlanta Thrashers:
Let’s face it, hockey does not have a high profile right now. The top cadre of players aren’t well known enough. What can we do for a TV contract? Increase our appeal. The league won’t like me saying this, but Jarome Iginla, Martin St. Louis, Rick Nash – these players have to be in (bigger markets). Your best and brightest young players have to be in your biggest media markets to give us a fighting chance.”
So basically, financial restraint = good with help of salary cap; building a star team in a small market through financial restraint and wise decisions = bad….
My firend that I talk to about the Lightning and the labor dispute tends to say that Tampa will be hit hardest by this lockout — not just for not seeing the Cup Champions on ice so soon after their championship… This city won’t take toa mediocre club again (as the Falcons/Phantoms game attendance showed) and even replacement players would hurt things in Tampa…
But who gives a shit about Tampa when New York needs a winner? When Toronto needs a winner? WHen Montreal needs a winner? When LA Needs a winner all for the sake of the NHL? Who gives a shit if the front office staffs of these franchsies are solely to blame for their teams suckage? Or for their big-spending, little-return ways?
James Mirtle breaks the news that a Czech Coach was killed in an accident. He also restates a concern aobut the safety of NHL Players in Europe which this blog touched on after one of our own went down with an injury.
You know, I had wondered where Kristian Kudroc disappeared to…. I remember him being signed by the Panthers but I haven’t heard squat since. He’s not playing int he AHL this season…
He was just signed by Hammarby Hockey in Sweden.
Tom Jones at the Times rambles on about the impasse between the Owners and the NHLPA… That being said, there is one set of quotes that I do have to admire…
And they are from Phil Esposito – who has been vocal and adamantly in the players corner since he entered the National Hockey League….
The sides are split by ideology, each convinced it is absolutely right and the other side is absolutely wrong. It all hinges on a salary cap. The owners must have one. The players say, “Never.”
How can they get by that?
“I’m not sure they can,” Phil Esposito said.
Esposito understands both sides. He has been at each end of the players’ pay scale, once making the minimum as well as being the league’s highest-paid player. He spent the late 1970s as president of the union, fighting owners for things such as pensions, health care, better salaries. He also has been an owner, running the Lightning through the 1990s. And, adding even more perspective, he is a former GM of the New York Rangers, a franchise blamed for sending player salaries out of control.
“Every time there has been a problem, I’ve backed the players,” Esposito said. “Even the last time in ‘94, I thought the players were right. I was an owner then, but I thought the players were right.
“But, this time, for the first time in my life, I think the players are wrong, dead wrong. I don’t understand why they won’t accept a salary cap.”
espo wasn’t an owner, mind you… He was GM and he did have a vital interest in the Tampa Bya Lightning but he was never owner… That being said, I do find it strange that he happened to back the players in the 1994 strike. It was only a matter of years later he was bitching about player salaries on routinely…
Is he a hypocrit? I don’t think so. George W. Bush and Karl Rove would call him a flip-flopper… Does that change the fact he’s right that the Players are int eh wrong this time?
The essence of the article, however, is about what now… And that’s exactly how I would like to close this post — So, what now?
Players are adamant about no cap even though they don’t seem to understand the pratfalls. Owners are adamant about a cap.
So, what now? The fans get screwed. Just like the last few months. That’s what now.
Just a little update, Brad was scheduled to meet with his doctor today here in Tampa before heading back to Canada and Murray Harbor, as was reported in both the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune.
Well, it took several months but Tampa Bay has finally experienced it’s first significant injury in a while — well, Tampa Bay in Europe that is.
TSN reports that Bradmaster has suffered a hip-flexor and lower-abdominal injury.
As many will remember during the Lightning’s incredible run last season, the team had only suffered minor injuries and very few lost man-games on it’s way to being crowned NHL Champions. Richards injury does not just show that the Lightning are mortal butthe team as a whole is at risk when players chose to play in Europe….
I remain with hardware problems on my personal compute so I am not able to make the posts I would like…. or WHEN I would like them….
While I found the NHLPA’s offer a starting point in negotiations, I find their reaction to the owner’s counter-offer the real reason why we all should throw up our hands in disgust. Let’s read one of Robert Goodenow’s quotes (out of context of course — as the NHLPA has claimed all quotes have been taken out of context 
):
In short, the league took what they liked from our proposal, made major changes and slapped a salary cap on top of it… Put simply, our proposal provides the basis for a negotiated agreement. The NHL’s does not.
Robert, you are completely full of shit, you know that?
You ran like a spoiled little girl to the media after the owners gave you a counter-proposal. You ran like a spoiled little girl to the media who have been giving you all the attention, love, nurturing and sexual favors you could desire (how is the oral gratification, Larry Brooks?) instead of bargaining in good faith.
For those who say the owner’s offer sucked — at least the owners spent a weekend reviewing the players offer before they came back and rejected it, and at least they bargained in their counter proposal. The NHLPA has yet to Collectively Bargain with owners instead of making demands.
One can make the case that players made the last offer to owners… Well, unless you forgot, that was the 3rd offer in a 18 month span while Owners had made several offers over that span — at least twice as many — and the players flat out rejected them and dragged their feet into this impasse.
It’s called negotiations, stupid… Instead of pissing and crying like the spoiled little girl you are acting like, Robert Goodenow, maybe you could do your players a service and find a common ground on some of those issues and then send back a counter proposal instead of a flat-out-rejection of anything that involves the word “Salary Cap.”
I’ve wanted to dish about the players offer to the NHL… And my lack-of comment might suggest that this is over my head or I am not being informed about what’s going on thanks to porous reporting in Tampa Bay…
The fact is Boltsmag is summering right now in part because of my own computer problems at home. I would LOVE to give a breakdown on what i think about the CBA offer (it’s a starting point – and if Gary says no then he should be hung and quartered), and how specifically the in-contract arbitration point is a devestatingly good idea (how many overpriced players could get their contracts turned around from mega-millions to zilch under that? How much money could the Lightning have saved from the likes of Darren Puppa and others, who could not perform or performed well below expecations in the past) .
But alas, my time online is short and I’m on a borrowed machine until next week at earliest. Ho hum…
As Charles says on Preds’ Den — these guys have the right idea.
(sorry it took me a few weeks to correct the source )
TV anyone?
Game Seven replay on Sunshine network, followed by the victory celebration (post game) and the Victory Parade…. All the fun starts at 7.
I was disappointed when I ventured over to Little Big Sticks to see a report on the Tampa Bay Lightning and their “prospects”.
Darren Rumble a defensive prospect? He had been a defensive liability but was a teacher for the younger D-men on the team. Jaimie Storr one fo the best -goalies in the AHL? Maybe, but he han’t inspired confidence from this blogger.
All in all, stick with Hockey’s Future if you want to know about the Tampa Bay Lightning’s minor leagues.
Not much to report — well, unless you talk TV but that is for another post…
The NHLFA has a new FanPoll out asking a couple of questions… All related to Thursday’s meeting between the Union and the Owners.
You know what I loved more than reading about Shane Doan’s comments about the forthcoming NHLPA offer to the NHL?
The Fans responses at the bottom of the article.
**With this offer I see no reason they shouldn’t be playing hockey.
**I can’t believe the Players have to renegotiate a new deal! HEY! ITS THE OWNERS THAT RUN THE D*MN LEAGUE!!! Shouldn’t THEY be trying to fix it! But noooooooo, they’re still getting paid during the lockout so they don’t really care.
(excuse me for a moment while I continue to roll my eyes at that one)
**Shame Gary Bettman is unreasonable and probably won’t take this one seriously.
Why is the union so antagonized when they are the only ones willing to make any concessions in this dispute?
**The league is locked out for one reason and one reason only. They need a cap. So the NHLPA can come up with all the offers they want if there is not some kind of either (Team cap) or (Player salary cap) Then I don’t even know why the NHLPA is bothering offering this deal up to the NHL and it’s board.
**
What a joke. Let’s see if I got this straight… you can pay us 20 guys on your team $40 million US. But if you really want you can pay us more… which our agents will make you pay if you want our services. Not only will you pay us more, but you will have to pay the other teams for the right to pay us more. Oh yeah, the contract has to be guaranteed also, so that you (the owner) are really screwed. This represents a significant offer to you BUY us the players. Since we really won’t make crap in the real world and since our endorsement contracts are now drying up faster than ice in arizona… we will offer this “significant” concession to you.
**
Now we’ll see if the NHL is serious about fixing the game or out to break the union. I don’t think this luxury tax will work, but at least it’s a place to start negotiating. If Bettman and crew reject it outright, they’re trying to bust the union. If they start talking, then they’re serious about fixing the problem. My guess? Complete rejection.
**I run a tiny business and I have all the say ’cause I’m the one who put my money at risk hoping to make a buck. MMM, if I have to put up hundreds of millions to run a sport franchise you better shut up and do what I tell you to. OR I GET SOMEBODY ELSE TO DO YOUR JOB. Union was there to protect small people before, now they are there to rob the rich to pay the union boss. In fact, they rob small people who’s not in the union too.
More comments can be found on the YOUR CALL section at the bottom of the Doan article.
Just why are NHL jersey’s becoming so scarce?
I ordered a jersey as a gift and was informed that not only was this particular jersey out of stock but it had also been discontinued? I’m talking about Tampa Bay Lightning Center Ice jersey’s…
If you tool around the Internet you can find a lot of hockey paraphenilia on sale and jersey’s either cheap or all but gone…. And to be told that oen of the line is discontinued all together? It makes me feel like the NHL isn’t even trying to survive the lockout by doing anything that improves it’s bottom line (besides keeping Season Ticket deposits — which has been the case for at least one of my friends who wants refunds for games not played).
A CBA Meeting is scheduled for a week from today…
Just a few months late you assholes…
John Romano has been and remains my favorite sports writer – always being able to eloquently state a point, and always articulately show the foolishness of one party in sports.
This time, John declares that the Lockout will cost the NHLPA in the long run…
Instead of pretending they’re willing to go to the mattresses for this, the players should be negotiating as many concessions as possible. They should quietly accept that some sort of salary cap is inevitable, and then offer a long list of demands before agreeing to what the owners most want.
Free agency restrictions should be eased. Maybe earlier arbitration eligibility. Players can add whatever perks they’d like.
But they should take the negotiations to owners before the union begins to crack and their demands turn into desperate pleas.
How true is that? It’s remarkable that the Union’s plans call for many owner concessions that they term as concessions by the players, and yet they don’t seem to be willing to accept the fact if they make a single grand concession (the cap) they are due numerous concessions and perks by the owners.
And while Bob Goodenow has a meeting with a load of players in the coming days, I don’t believe this solidarity ploy is going to last with the lower-level players hurting the most… They are the ones still in North America while the players Goodenow is fighting for, have run off to Europe to avoid being involved in the situation to begin with.
