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This part made me laugh out loud. Yes, those poor poor GM's, who with their approval of their owners extended ridiculous contracts to the players, which the players then signed. The economic model of the NHL was not sustainable, which is why a cap was installed. The owners drove contracts up amongst themselves. Of course players (and certainly agents) were happy to take advantage of that. It's not realistic to think a player would pass up money for the good of the league, as if they gave up $3 million, the owner would use that money to somehow benefit all of the NHL instead of just putting it in his pocket. The responsibility of running a successful franchise ultimately is on the owners and GM's. We're lucky enough with Detroit to have a great owner who knows what he's doing.

You take your logic elsewhere, good sir. There is no place for that here. This is a "Buttman is eeeeevil hurr hurr" board.

Lets put it this way.... If the shoe was on the other foot, and the players were making 43% while the owners were making 57%, how many people would be crying foul if the players went on strike in an attempt to get an even split of revenues? The ownership in that case would not be gaining anything either.

"The Crappiest Place on Earth"™

Am I the only that read this as: "A Renowned Mediator wants to bring Crack (the drug) to the NHL Talks between the union and the owners." ???

I agree on both points. If he hasn't already, Fehr should tell the players to generally avoid off the cuff comments like that. And certainly to avoid calling Bettman names. It's not helping anything. I don't fault GM's for trying to make their teams better but when the cost exceeds something your franchise can afford, you stop bidding. If they keep getting outbid then it gets back to the underlying problem of disparity between franchises. That's not the fault of the players.

and they are with the make whole provision which the nhl revised in the lastest round of talks so that the owners pay 100% of the make whole provision. but the players didn't like that the make whole was based on projected growth, which is the ultimate hypocrisy considering that every pa proposal to get to 50/50 has been based on projected revenue growth. can't have it both ways. the issue now seems to be with the contracting issues, which i agree the nhl is making outrageous demands for. they can be honest all they want, just keep it within the conference calls and meetings and out of the media.

White and zette are just being honest..

http://www.sportsnet...wn_nhl_spector/

The NHL is using the faulty logic that they've conceded a lot because they moved off their insane first proposal. I guess Daly would've preferred that Fehr's first counter was to remove salary cap. Then the players could've made the large concession of agreeing to the cap all over again. It would also likely mean we'd lose hockey for the whole year. Instead, they started by accepting that the cap was here to stay. The players have moved from 57% to 50%. That doesn't count? It's also not a coincidence that the league started with the ridiculous 43% demand, so 50/50 would actually seem like a concession by the NHL (a falsehood that people seem to be falling for) instead of what it actually is, the players making the large concession. The league's concessions involve reducing the absurd demands they began with. The players concessions involve actually giving up millions of dollars.

You seem to be forgetting that the NHL's first offer (see July 13) was that exact same percentage, that you just "what-if'd"... But what you're overlooking is the fact that the League is not only demanding that the players take less a share of the HRR pie (to say nothing of the fact that they're refusing to honor contracts already signed), they're also trying to impose massive restrictions on the player's contracting rights and free agency availability. The League is in a "take-take-take" mode, and has not been willing to concede anything to the PA as an incentive. For instance, in 2004/05 the PA accepted a hard salary cap (which was a clear "win" for owners), and accepted that cap be tied to revenues (again, something the League insisted on), they still had things they could take away from the process as a "win" for their side. Most notably, the reduction in UFA age (was 31, dropped to 28 or 7 yrs) and the increase in the minimum salary (was $185,000, rose to $500,000 by deal's end). So, it begs the "elephant in the room" question. What exactly has the League offered to the players as incentive? The right to come back and play again? If negotiation is a "give and take" process, then the League is only halfway involved in the process.

Here's a compromise: How about Bettman and Fehr both take a break- a very long break- and bring in scrubs to do the negotiating?

Edit 1: DownGoesBrown, The TSN Stats Guy and Dustin Penner have all seen this list an congratulated me on it. It's fun to see your work get appreciated Edit 2: Thanks to UP2HERE for pointing out that Pominville has chosen to give his elegibility to the USA. He was replaced with Pascal Dupuis on the Right Wing. So, there I am, sitting in class, when the girl next to me mentions that Wayne Gretzky is from London, ON. I quickly realize that he's actually from Brantford, ON and then think to myself "I am such a nerd. I know where so many hockey players are from."So then I decide to make a sort of, "Olympic Team" for each province. I included New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland in "Team Maritimes" to make things easier. I also left out the territories. Sue me. So this is my interpretation of what the best players for each position are, depending on their province of origin. Some of these players were born in one province (or country) and grew up and played minor hockey in another, so I chose their "province of origin" to be where they played minor hockey. This isn't "the best team possible" from each province as it only includes active (as of last season) NHL players, and lists the best per position. Some people vary on how they would "build" a team so I'm doing it this way. Also, I tried to keep some lines intact from real NHL teams if possible. Each team also gets to carry a 13th forward, a 7th defenceman and a 3rd goalie. Here we go! Team British Columbia Benn - Nugent-Hopkins - Brouwer Kane -Horcoff - Connolly Lucic -Turris - Kobasew Ladd - Johansen - Santorelli Morrison Weber - Seabrook Hamhuis - Mitchell Jackman - Georges Alzner Price LaBarbera Thiessen Team Alberta Whitney - Little - Iginla Hall - Sutter - Heatley Lupul -Langkow - Doan Ennis -Versteeg - MacArthur Brodziak Phaneuf - Bouwmeester Stuart - Green Ference - Boychuck Morris C.Mason Auld Scrivens Team Saskatchewan Hartnell -Marleau - Eberle Kunitz -Getzlaf - Morrow B. Schenn - Bozak - Glencross Glass- Laich - Hordichuck Schwartz Coburn - Schenn Schultz - Cowan Brookbank - Sarich Aulie Ward Holtby Harding Team Manitoba Sharp - Toews - Tootoo Penner - Zajac - Glennie (AHL) McLeod- Helm - Weise Asham - Eakin - Orr Keith - Barker Hamonic - White Falk - Salvador Meech Reimer Lotz (WHL) Driedger (WHL) Team Québec Burrows- Bergeron - Briere Perron - Lecavalier - St. Louis Tanguay - Ribero - Pominville Gagne- Brassard - Parenteau Talbot Letang - Bergeron Vlasic - Beauchemin Bourdon - Picard Depres Luongo Fleury Bernier (Assuming Brodeur retires) Team Ontario Neal - Stamkos - Giroux Nash - Thornton - Seguin Cammalleri- Tavares - Perry Sullivan - M.Richards - Simmonds Spezza Doughty - Boyle Del Zotto - Burns Pieterangelo- Subban Campbell (Assuming Pronger doesn't play again) Smith (at the request of the TSN Stats guy, who read my list already ) Elliot S.Mason Team Maritimes Clowe - Crosby - Ryder Marchand - B.Richards - Cleary Greening - Ott - Purcell Gordon- Couturier - Cormier Boyce C. White - Jones Flood - MacGuire Pardy- Johnson A. MacDonald J. MacDonald MacIntire Chartrand (QMJHL) Some thoughts: Team BC would have the nastiest D-corps ever. I would not want to step on the ice against them. Team Saskatchewan and Team Manitoba would have the craziest 4th lines ever. Team Ontario would probably take this entire tournament. I think that's probably unanimous. Team Quebec has a very limited roster once you pass the first defensive pairing. Hopefully their stacked goalie corps could back them up. Let's talk about this! This lockout is making me crazy. What are your thoughts?

Does anyone care about hockey anymore? I've found I don't really miss it, and I didn't think I'd feel that way. All of these clowns have so completely soured the sport for me, if it comes back, I won't watch it. I'll follow the games to some extent here on LGW, but I sure as hell won't go out of my way for it. I did the same thing after the MLB strike in 1994, and it took quite a long time to re-ignite my love for baseball. Grown adults, all making a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge sum of money well beyond that of their fans, arguing over who should get more money. PATHETIC.

Blueadams' spidey sense is tingling.

We need Fil. He's money.

Who is this "Peace" guy you have in goal?

No love for Yukon? Give me a break.

That makes 2 deadline pickups for kenny. Good job Kenny.