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With all due respect Mr.D, I think the players only need to be 76% fit, because you are going to pay them only 76% of what you agreed and promised to.

The percentages have no meaning unless we know what all the clubs expenses are. Without this information now can anybody say what is a good deal or bad deal for either side. And maybe 50% for doctors is fair. I have no clue. But the clubs did sign players to certain contracts and now they want to basically renegotiate them. Players agreed to this once and now owners are coming back for me. Unless players have the desire to keep giving back every few years they have to resist. Lets take Datsyuk for example. 24% rollback would turn his $6.7M into about $5M. There is a different between cattle and people, cattle can't leave the ranch.

I like it that he spoke honestly. The part about this whole thing being way too complicated for the average Joe to understand was a bit condescending, but maybe I'm over-estimating the average Joe. I do agree that the owners run the thing, but owners have to take their employees into consideration. If this was the players just demanding more money, I'd be on the owners' side, but this is about the players getting paid what the owners have said they will pay them. Good read, even if I didn't particularly like what was said. It's nice to hear someone just answering the questions rather than going all PC.

And pretty much bashes players in the process. Yikes. Not the best choice of words, Jimmy. http://islandsportsnews.net/component/content/article/1-hockey/3443-one-on-one-with-jim-devellano-detroit-red-wings-senior-vp

Fehr already said rollbacks are *not* an option. Whenever the NHL sense is coming back to earth. Players are willing to give so has to be the NHL. This is really different this time the system isn't broken see record revenues and tough luck if the owners can't control themselves. Jim D gave an atrocious interview here, hope he got a serios phonecall from Ken after it this was the most unreadwinglike stuff I have read since a decade. Sent from my BlackBerry

We should send all the owners and players involved to Siberia to hold their own Winter Classic in an ice shack until they work out their differences. This entire scenario is beyond aggravating at this point. It's becoming hard to remain a loyal hockey fan through hard times like these.

So much for my excitement about actually getting tickets. This whole things sucks. I would think the league would want to do everything in their power to make sure the Classic happens, given that they will be making asstruckloads of money. They're shooting themselves in the foot, and shooting all of us in the face.

Another mouthpiece for the league and Bettman -- just what nobody wants to hear anymore. Jimmy D's extreme defense of Bettman in that interview was pathetic. Three lockouts under his watch speaks for itself. He's a piss poor leader of the NHL in every sense except in the eyes of the 30 billionaires whining about the system they created with Betttman's help.

How exactly can the players' share go from 57% to 43%, of basically the same revenue amount, without rollback? Call it escrow or whatever, it is mathematically impossible to achieve what the league insists on, without reducing existing salaries.

We do know what the expenses are. For the first 6 years of the last CBA, average league-wide a little under $1.1B. Increasing by an average of around $58M/5.3% per year, though the increases have been lower in the last few years than the first few. They've averaged about 40% of gross revenue, but they're growing slower than revenue, so the percentages have been decreasing (39% in 10-11, the most recent year we have data for). Overall, the league showed a little over 4% profit for the 10-11 season, which is not a bad margin. Under the player's proposal, if the league continues decent growth (5% or more), the margin would increase to the 6-12% range. The high end of that is very good (and the disparity between revenue and "Hockey Related Revenue" could add a couple points to those margins). For comparison, MLB had about 6.8%, NBA about 4.5%, NFL about 15% (all the more strange that they were able to keep the player's share so low...) per the most recent data available. According to every bit of data available to us, what the players are proposing is a fair split. The onus should be completely on the owners to make that split work for each franchise, either through revenue sharing, widening the payroll range, relocating, or folding some franchises. If it came to folding some teams, then go to the players and see if they want to make further concessions to preserve some jobs. The only thing that might be missing from the player's offer (financially, not considering any contract limits, etc) is some form of stop-loss in the event that revenues decrease or increase by less than the needed amount. For reference, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/performers/industries/profits/. Old, but the most recent data I could find showing profit as % of revenue.

Owners are going to pay what they've agreed to, there won't be a 24 % rollback. Jim D can go jump of a bridge too after this ridiculous interview way to throw your best player under the bust, hope he gets fired soon.

What a pos talk about falling deep in the likable chart. The players are the heart of the game and without heart nothing can work, a ranch without workers is worth nothing. I'd rather use a car the owners are the chasis but the players the engine. Pretty harsch words, maybe the midget has found another cocksucker now who knows,disgusting. For you pro owners people: These guys aren't working in normal jobs so you really can't compare it. Your average NHL career is around 10 years, they are the 1 % very best of the whole world and you can bet the 1 % best doctors are making tons of money (rightfully so because they are saving life!). Today someone brought up a good point about the whole thing, what the owners are trying to do here might be even illegal so if both sides are really going for it Icould even see some court fights over that. Nobody absolutely nobody likes to sign a contract which is a binding agreement beteween two sides and then have it lowered some weeks ago!

Selänne said it best in one of his blogs, Wild GM signs 2 players to insane contracts then puts on his clown hat and claims that the players want too much money, whos the real ahole here? The players of the owners?

That entire article made me feel like punching someone in the crotch. I don't know who that someone is yet, but boy howdy is that someone gonna get it when I figure it out...

I'm cattle....you're cattle....the players are cattle....the owners have a nice ranch....Gary Bettman is a sheep f***er. Jimmy D has WAY too much respect for the main guy responsible for bankrupt teams being a part of the league and his smug **** attitude is NEVER gonna fly with the fans. Some of the article made perfect sense, but dissing Ron McLean for having the balls to call out issues with the game and calling the players cattle is not only bad for the NHL, but looks bad on the Wings organization when one of their leaders starts sounding like a Nazi General towards the players. This entire lockout has been a pissing contest between the NHL and NHLPA and now the owners and NHL team executives are chiming in with their hate mongering......great! Can't wait to see the 2005 lockout Stanley Cup Champion repeat...

Ive heard he's indeed going back to play for Zug, but just for a few games...and that he intends on playing for GR once the AHL season begins

didn't know we were playing soccer Drastically change the game I grew up playing? my father grew up playing? and his father grew up playing? no thank you. hockey without fighting ISNT HOCKEY. its a domino effect.....changing the fighting aspect results in shifts in many other aspects of the sport as well. If you can't take the fighting to the point you need to never see it, GO WATCH SOCCER

Strange rankings. Reminded me of the greatest ever imdb film list, which has Lord of the Rings ranked above Goodfellas and Casablanca.

Truth. My primary interest in hockey is the fighting and grit... it's what appeals to me and gets me out of my seat. Pacifistic, girly, European style hockey is uninteresting to me. They have already partly sissified the game by penalizing clutching and grabbing and for calling penalties on every little itty bitty iota of contact away from the puck... if they also move towards eliminating fighting they will likely lose a fan (me).

I was born in Midland, MI and unfortunately no NHL guys from there, but an extension would certainly be the Detroit area guys. Once the family moved to the Chicago area, there was not any guys from the city we resided in, but then again all of the guys from around the Chicago area itself including Brett Lebda, Mike Brown, Al Montoya, Jared Boll, etc. I did however attend prep school at Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota and had the opportunity to go to school with Zach Parise, Sidney Crosby, Jack Johnson and Drew Stafford as well as having the chance to play on the same team with Crosby, Johnson and Stafford during my last year there.

I have no interest in watching replacement players. I think you can tell from my posts I support the players. I always support the players, because I don't go to games to watch the owners, plus all the owners care about is profits.