Bettman is not the bad man here. No one is. They all signed the CBA. The players got the early free agency the owners got a linked cap with escrow. The instability caused by the work stoppage has everyone scrambling around trying to outmaneuver each other in an unknown marketplace… players, GM’s, everyone. So, I chalk up a lot of the current situation to that.

The truth is that if the players believe half of the things that come out of their mouths then over time they will come to re-assess their priorities. Money will not be as big an issue as the quality of their work place, their teammates, where their kids go to school and the like. I’ve done it. They can do it. You can, after all, only wear one pair of pants at a time.

The culture hasn’t changed yet because the players are the same. They grew up in the spoiled years and are still acting that way, the wounds from the lockout are still fresh. I’d like to see how things look in 5 years. Will there be a higher percentage of players taking the ‘hometown discount’ than there are now? If so, then the CBA from that perspective is a success. If not, then it needs to be revised to acheive that.

There are real discrepancies between the financial potential of the 30 markets that make up the NHL and these need to be normalized in some way.

Frankly, if I were Feaster and Vinnie told me how much he wanted I would have shown him the door, wihtout a second thought. Anyone that selfish is unfit for this CBA. This is where I think Tom Benjamin is wrong. You can build an elite team under this CBA, but you are looking for elitism in slightly different ways than before. It’s going to come from within the players that make up the team, not the contents of the owners’ bank accounts.

Ta,

To call a guy selfish for doing what just about anyone would do says more about you than it says about the player you are talking about.

How can you expect these guys to take less than they can get? Be happy Vinnie signed with Tampa long term instead of choosing to test the open market next year.

I think (echoing bloggers like Tom and Lyle) you’re mad at the wrong people. If you don’t like the new NHL blame Bettman. There’s no room for teams like Tampa, Vancouver, and Ottawa in this league.

You guys lost Khabibulin and will probably lose St. Louis to parity in the short term and will likely lose Richards in the long term. Vancouver lost (or will soon lose) most of their defense to parity . Ottawa is going to lose either a world class forward or world class defenseman in the short term and more in the long term to parity.

It’s not fair for all the great work you guys have done, but it’s the system we have to live with.

Of course the players perspective hasn’t changed. It was well laid out before and during the lockout, that being they wanted a system where they could get “fair market value”. With free agency, loyalty to one’s self in most cases trumps team loyalty and that’s not going to change, no matter what. There’s no way you’ll get that genie back in the bottle.

I just wanted to point out that, as long as there’s another team willing to overpay, loyalty to a team will become of secondary interest to many players.

Unfortunately, that’s the business of hockey and of North American pro sports.

On a side note, I hope St. Louis takes a bit less to stick around a few years, and I hope the NHL does real well so we can get some more cap room to sign Brad next year.

They should all sit down and watch Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe. What’s best for the team is mix between what’s best for the players and the team, not the team or players in isolation. Is it worth it for everyone to give Vinny $1m less per year in order to sign Marty? I think so, why does Marty have to suck it all up? Given them each 5.5-5.75m/year contracts and have a much better chance at a repeat.