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Why should the players budge? Bettmans proposal is take, take, take, take, take, take, take and take. Not a single proposal to sweeten the pot, no "we want to take this, but we'll give you that in return" to make them go "OK". Bettmans proposal isn't a negotiation, its an ultimatum. He's treating the NHLPA like a vanquished foe trying to get the least punitive terms out of an unconditional surrender, rather than an equal partner in negotiations for the mutual good. I was on the owners side last time around, and as I've mentioned previously he did some good things for the players such as significantly raising the minimum salary (important when ~ 40% of the NHLPA are on mimimum salary), but this is just pure greed and stupidity. Bettman needs to go as point 1 of any new CBA.

The NHL is not in trouble, some teams are in trouble, and most of those wouldn't be if the owners were smarter.. And the players are willing to make concessions. They are willing to lower their share of the revenue. They're reportedly even flexible on the one option year. The players want to increase revenue sharing. They proposed allowing cap space to be traded, which would allow teams struggling to reach the floor to spend less and gain assets for doing so. How are they not trying to address the issues? The players don't want to accept another salary rollback, and they shouldn't. League revenues will likely be around $3.5 billion, and as of now there's about $1.75B in salary commitments with almost all teams having full rosters. So it seems we're pretty close to a 50/50 split right now. It's not the players fault that the wrong teams are spending money. Buffalo is and has been hemorrhaging money but they have the highest salary payroll in the league. $20M this year for Myers and Ehrhoff. $6M for Leino. Minnesota, San Jose, Tampa Bay are no better. Middle of the pack in revenue but trying to spend at the top while teams that can afford it like the Wings, Leafs, Rangers, Canadiens, and Flyers can't get enough players worth spending anything on. You want to call people uninformed and ignorant, but it seems you have no idea what the players are proposing and haven't looked at any of the numbers available. I think you just want to blame the players regardless of any facts.

So, in your opinion, the players need not make any concessions because there are no issues with the league finances right now? Lets face facts here, the NHL is in trouble. What the owners are proposing won't fix the problem and the NHLPA doesn't want to see the salary floor go down. So far, the NHLPA just wants to keep everything they have right now and the owners don't want to address the problems that they have with their ownership group and clubs that are not financially secure. Its a dangerous mix, and one where both sides really need to address. The greed on both sides is going to drive the league to initiate a lockout. Sure, the uninformed and the ignorant people will say the league is at fault for locking out the players. The ones who have looked at the issues that are dogging the league as a whole right now will be able to see greed and stupidity as the biggest problems right now.

Opulence, he has it.

I feel you may be right, but it boggles the mind that adults can sit around a table and say, "I don't want someone else to have more than me, so I'm going to make sure that we both get zero." A cranky four-year-old who needs a nap, maybe, but a group of adults? Oh, heavens. It's going to be a long year.

I was at a Taylor Cup clinching game for the 5 Time West Coast Hockey League Champion San Diego Gulls!! Talk about awesomeness!! Notable players to play for the Gulls include Willie O'Ree and Lindy Ruff. esteef

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend games 3 and 4 of the '98 series against the Caps. The MCI Center (as they called it at the time) was easily filled with more Wings fans than Caps fans, and the section where I sat had just about everyone on the roster represented on a jersey. Before the clinching game, I remember a rather attractive blonde in a McCarty jersey distributing gummi octopi to the Wings fans in the section. On the concourse there was a Motown style band playing before the game (they weren't bad), and bashing the Detroit team, fans, etc. in a somewhat good natured way (just a bit ironic, IMHO since they were being paid to play Motown). At one point they started playing "We Want the Funk" which almost immediately was sung along to by a bunch of Wings fans as "We Want the Cup". The game itself in many ways is a blur to me, but It was almost like a party in the stands where I was for most of the evening. During the third they showed Konstantinov on the screen and there was a Vladdy chant that was pretty loud. The Cup ceremony was surreal. Lots of tears of joy, and when Vladdy was handed the cup, they flowed even more.