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Season is toast anyway. What's insane about wanting the source of another lockout gone?

Good grief... talk about bias. Clearly he is "feeling" the way he does based on all of the news on the topic... not a supernatural, emotional inclination like you tried to paint his opinion as with your quotation marks. I happen to also hold the opinion that we will not lose a whole season and I am quite surprised by the amount of people that think we will. Anyone want to make some bets to see who's "feeling" is right?

I voted yes, but the voices in my head have explained to me that I am not insane. This is filled with inaccuracies, he had plenty of options, a lockout should be a last resort, not a bargaining chip. He could have made more realistic proposals over the summer, he could have sat down with Fehr and a mediator to negotiate a deal, He could have had the players continue playing under the old CBA while he negotiated, and set a deadline, i.e. if we dont have a cba by December we cancel the winter classic and all preceeding it, so a mid-season lock-out, then the league wouldn't be losing revenue. He could have gotten a group of players, the owners, and fehr together and hashed out a rough deal of what everyone would be semi-happy with. To say the lockout is all the owners is pure ignorance, yes the players may be partially at fault for not negotiating better, blah blah blah but the main fact stands that Bettman is the one stopping THEM fromplaying NHL hockey right now, and it is all by his choice. I have said it before and will say it again, all owners are not on Bettmans side, they knew he had his 8 votes, so in order to seem strong to the pa they all voted yes to the lockout, but it was Bettmans idea, not the owners, most of the owners would love for the nhl to be in full throtle right now.

Problem is we cannot assume a new commissioner won't just pick up where uncle gary left off

Translation: I agree with the players so they are right and should keep talking. esteef

This is great news today. Even if the PA doesn't accept this offer, it's a move far in the right direction.

That is nothing but good news. To me, that sounds like they're backing off their asinine requirements on ELC's and prevention of salary arbitration. Fehr has called a conference call with the NHLPA's Negotiating Committee and the Executive Committee for 5PM ET.

Also, per Chris Johnston with the Canadian Press... And finally, LeBrun...

Per Dreger... We might actually have a season, if the NHL has moved to 50/50. I'd be willing to bet, however, that they didn't do anything to address entry level contract length, arbitration, and other things that I'm sure the PA sees as toxic...

I met him in a mall in Winnipeg a number of years back while wearing my Brandon Wheat Kings hoodie and he walked by me and shook my hand and said nice hoodie....so my perception is that he is a very approachable person. He was super nice and didn't have the slightest chip on his shoulder. As far as the polar bears go....gotta eat man! Different cultures have different tastes for food. I'm a chicken, beef and pork guy myself and that may seem weird to some people that i won't eat anything but those meats, but i'm a born and raised prairie kid. Go further north, there's fish and polar bears. I can't wait to see Tootoo suit up for the Wings.

Come on "Big Four" let's get to the core HRR today, enough bs about player health insurance. That will all sort out with a new CBA in place. Any legit reason for optimism for today?

it is a failure. but the owners are just as much to blame as bettman

Option one: Daniel Sedin for commissioner. Henrik Sedin for NHLPA leader. Option two: Henrik Sedin for commissioner. Daniel Sedin for NHLPA leader. If they can't work out a deal, no one can.

Thats the key right here. The owners locked out the players, not Gary. Who is to say that the owners won't lockout the players again? I know people like to point at Gary and say he caused a lost season and 3 lockouts in the last 3 CBA negotiations. The fact of the matter is that the owners did this, not Gary. The ownership will need to change hands first. Even then, the new head of the owners will still be doing what the ownership recommends. We need uniters in these positions though, so I will agree that Fehr and Bettman are not uniters. They both do need to be fired, but i don't agree that will be best for the NHL as a whole. The next people could be worse.

I suppose I am not surprised. In the end, the NHLPA has played the PR card to a T. Fans are blaming the owners hardcore.

I'm basing it more on the sum total of his career than any PR attempts by Fehr. 3 CBA negotiations. 3 lockouts. 1st major North American pro sport to lose a season due to a labor dispute. Other leagues have similar issues and problems but have managed to solve them without losing an entire season. 1,780 games lost to lockout under his watch and counting. That is by far more than any of the big pro sports. How is that not a failure? The NHL commissioner is not just a shill for ownership, part of his job is to protect the integrity and public confidence in the league. The commissioners of other leagues have to deal with owners just like Bettman does. 7 years after losing an entire season to implement a hard cap, with an increase in revenue of 50% since the last CBA, there's no way there should be a lockout right now. Bettman and his hardliners want too much too fast. And unlike in 1995, the owners aren't going to be able to overrule him and salvage the season.

^ They do it for the chicks!! esteef

Costs (not including player compensation) have been going down relative to revenue. At least over the first 6 years of the previous CBA. Eight years ago, with the league as a whole losing money, the owners decided that 54% growing to 57% was good enough. Now, with the league as a whole making money and other costs having dropped relative to revenue, 54% and likely dropping from there with revenue growth isn't. Yeah, that makes sense.

seriously, what is up with those two. they just have to do everything together

KHL is not as good as the NHL, but is ways better than AHL or any other league. And a salary that's 60% of NHL is actually a net after taxes. If you take into account all the federal ,state, and local taxes that the NHL players pay, the salaries are actually about equal. And they can play at home and will have no problem getting permission to play at the Worlds and the Olympics.

Thornton choking? but it's not the playoffs yet!!?!??! weird.

if you read other tootoo tweets, he doesn't seem like that bad of a guy off the ice. I've changed my opinion of him because who he is on the ice is completely different than who he is off the ice. (ex - team tootoo fund (his charity) and he's gone to rinks to help kids from his hometown with ice hockey). He's a role player on the ice because that's the way he can help his teams most.

So...you're offended by someone else's heritage, which was publicly displayed on a feed you chose to follow, so in turn you throw every insult you can his way and then go and post the same exact picture which you were offended by on another public forum?

Hockey players tend to have egos as big as their appetite for cash. As long as the NHL is the most competitive and historic league, they will come back to establish their legacy. Sure it's nice to get paid a competitive salary and be at home, but no one will ever give them props for being one of the greatest while they are in the KHL. They are mad and irrational like us fans, but they'll march right back when things are worked out like us too.

fyi "hockeyyinsiderr" is a teenage kid and all of his posts are completely fabricated by him. He has no inside info.