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That's the exact thing I was talking about with my dad a couple days ago. Ted Lindsay started the NHLPA because guys were getting injured and getting dumped by their teams and they were paying for their own moves when they got traded from team to team and the last straw for Lindsay was when an old teammate of his died in his car after he got cast from the team due to injuries. The union was brought in to give the players their HUMAN RIGHTS, not to make it so they can use things like decertifying the union to take the cowards way out of the lockout and try to basically scam the owners, which will tie the lockout up in court and we'll be lucky to see hockey next year let alone this year. I'd love to hear what Terrible Ted has to say about decertification. Maybe a pioneer of the game that used to make $7,000 per year to be one of the greats can talk some sense into the millionaires. I've been on the players side from the beginning, but i'll lose the players respect if they decertify the union that's given them so much over the years.

This lockout to me at least is just bogus. Players offered to continue under the old CBA till a new one is finalized, league declined add to that the shameful lowball starting offer, I don't even have to think about whom to side with. I watch the players not a bunch of havanna smoking CEO types, who aren't in this business to win it but to make a quick buck. I am glad the best owner in all of sports is against RS and all that crap just shows us how lucky we as Red Wings fans can be, to have such an outstanding person running the show. Let's not forget this is an owners - BOG? - lockout. Yes, the money has to go to someone but I'd rather see it going to the guys who are giving their all each and every night, risking injuries and are working their asses off just to entertain us, instead of a bunch of "we are losing money" guys who at the same time are buying secondary mansions worth 20 m$.

Parise cant play 3 roster spots

People keep repeating that but it's not true. According to Forbes analysis with the financial info they have available to them, those teams have a negative operating income before things like taxes, depreciation and amortization. But it's inaccurate for them to simply say they're losing money. These owners have multiple corporations with revenue and expenses moving between one and the other. The goal with corps is not to show a huge profit because you want to reduce your tax burden. Clearly there are teams that are struggling financially but the Forbes report isn't a complete or accurate financial picture. In 2004 Bettman had an extensive audit of franchises to show in irrefutable detail how many were losing money. Strange how he didn't do that this time. There's the secondary issue of how much it's actually the players fault that these franchises aren't profitable. Unlike 2005 the real issue is the disparity of the franchises, not the un-capped costs of player salaries.

Holland came out and said at the end, atleast from what I remember, that he went after Suter strictly near the end. Parise had become out of range for money, and he dropped the interest in grabbing him. He wasn't willing to spend that much money, nor tie the hands of the franchise for just two players. While they are great players, this is where GM's become good and better. There are way too many GM's nowadays that would throw the checkbook out the window for the talent, just in hopes that it improves their team regardless if it ties the hands of their franchise. The great GM's like Holland won't let this happen, and have enough knowledge to know what it causes. Do you want one championship, or the shot at 8 over the course of 8 years? I'll take the continued success everyday of the week, and twice on sunday. Too many GM's are willing to put everything forth for one championship, then they go on a firesale when players want increased salaries. Once that happens, everyone starts complaining about player salaries and the inflation. Listen, you don't have to sign the contract, you can develop a team through the draft and insert pieces where needed.

This whole thing is so sickening. Even though I feel like the NHLPA still has some measure of additional support from the public/media as compared to the owners...it feels like even the people who support the NHLPA have allowed this entire debate to be stuffed into the framework laid out by the NHL. The idea that "we have to get to 50/50", which is really just a completely arbitrary distribution that SOUNDS non-arbitrary, necessarily called for a massive reduction in player revenues and a lockout. What rationale could there possibly be for completely shutting down the product and asking the players to shift hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue back to the owners, when the product (as a whole) was actually generating far more money than seemed possible in 2005? We don't see the actual numbers behind these purported losses by the 18 NHL franchises. What part does the players share of revenues have in the fact that about half of the league can't operate at a profit...any more than the players have to do with the fact that some other franchises have turned CONSIDERABLE profits? Moreover, if the cap floor is fixed at $16 million below the cap maximum, why don't we see 15-20 teams bottoming out as close to that floor as they possibly can, if they're hurting for money so bad anyways? Heck, you have a greater chance of making the playoffs as you do missing the playoffs anyway (16 out of 30), why not just save $10 million a year by bottoming out and hoping that enough other teams do the same? If Nashville and Phoenix can make the playoffs multiple times with all the issues they have financially, couldn't anybody? The surprising truth is that most owners actually want to win. They want to win so badly that they will cheat their own CBA provisions as much as they can, waste money on stashed minor leaguers, backloaded deals, and bonuses that don't even appear in the cap, and overpay undeserving players like Ville Leino, Mike Cammileleri, and Jeff Finger chasing the dream. Then, when the bubble bursts again, they'll just ask for more money every 7 years. I'm sorry, but that's not the way to run a business. I don't blame Jeff Finger for taking huge money to play a game he loves, to support a career that could be over tomorrow if he crashes into the boards wrong. I do blame the guys who thought paying that money was a good idea, and drooled over expansion fees without putting any type of revenue sharing in place to support struggling teams.

Riley states he took it without Brendan's permission.Smith in turn does not press charges. ID problem solved.

Tatar has been lighting up the AHL with Nyquist, but it still holds the same point. I'd rather go with the latter in that situation and take the 3 players over parise that 9mil. It's just fundamentals, we didn't sign them long-term but it gives us time to allow our minors to develop properly. Rushing a player into a league that he can't compete in, is worst for the player. They won't instill the confidence they would've if they were given more time in the minors. We talk about maturity and at the same time we got one of our leaders giving out his ID for an underage to go drink at the bars (i know how it works, but it just looks bad when you're a star prospect and leader for the team. just don't get caught) and the one using it getting a second alcohol infraction, this one being a DWI @ .3. So no, as much as I wanted parise to come to us, I don't want to give him the world and everything he wants. It should be hand in hand when dealing with a franchise. They supply you with a contract and money, and you supply them with the product. Sometimes, even the most wanted product isn't worth what it cost in the end. Not saying that Parise isn't worth money, or isn't a great player, but he certainly isn't a player that you throw 9mil/yr at.

I really hope they do decertify the union. Just blow everything up, and take it to the courts for years and years. You want to talk about some rancor between the players and ownership now? Just wait until the 3rd and 4th liners get released when they get hurt, or take below current league minimum since that will be gone, because you know they're not going to have the pull a Crosby or a Datsyuk has, and 3rd/4th line talent is everywhere. Ryan Miller is a star, so of course he'll be fine. But Justin Abdelkader is going to have to be very careful under that system. However, I think it's really moot. The league will just argue that the players are doing it for leverage, and the courts will throw it out. You can't be a union when it suits you, and then not be a union when it gets tough. Plus, as soon as the lockout ended, they'd just reform the union. It's posturing.

Not sure which is worse: Sid chasing my daughter or Sid chasing my mom.

Of course the players were willing to play under old CBA, They were raking in the money. if the players felt the same way about the current CBA as the owners do, we would have seen a strike. And with fehr's history of striking during the playoffs, there was no way the league was going to risk getting the playoffs (their biggest revenue making part of the season) wiped out. That would have given the players basically all the leverage. Back in 1992, bob goodenow led the players on a strike on the eve of the playoffs. Bettman was promptly brought in the following year. I know that the players are the ones who put on the entertainment, but without the owners, the players wouldn't be able to put on that entertainment in the same capacity as we have now. They pay the players and they assume all the financial risks that comes along with putting the product out on the ice. Bottom line, the players and owners both need each other in order to survive and prosper.

The lockout needs to end. This is a serious sign.

Might've been me. - I've done my fair share of drinking. - I'm not saying he's necessarily an alcoholic. Just a consideration. - Agree with the rest of your post.

...and I just lost all respect for Ryan Miller... Decertify the Union and return to the good old days of owners actually "owning" players.... Everyone out there who thinks the Union is the bad seed here please go watch the movie "Net Worth." The owners are no different than the CEO's of this world...If Hostess hads't taught you anything then nothing will...liqiudate the company and STILL award CEO's and Top managment MILLIONS of dollars in bonuses...They sure were hurting for money, eh?

It's not an "angle" it's true lol. Other teams wait for many years for their entire team to rebuild...wings fans are not even patient enough to wait for 1 or 2 years while their mediocre defense gets rebuilt into a great one. Commit to guys like Ehrhoff and Wisniewski for big money for 5+ years? or sign gappers like Colo on cheap short contracts and wait to have Sproul, McKee, Ouellete, Marchenko, DeKesyer on reasonable contracts? I'll take the latter Wiz for over 5.5 for 6 years is bad business. Waiting a few years and having guys like Sproul for 3.5 is good business. Not to mention wasting big money on long contracts on guys like Ehrhoff and Wiz means we won't have that to spend on our own young guys when they come up. So the Kings don't need a good blue line because "theyre comitted to winning"....what? Quick played lights out. 5 bad post season games and now we suck? gotcha

Ask downtown Detroit.

Are we really sure it was Sheahan & not Tinky Winky?

They should have a hockey game to settle their dispute. Winner takes all. Hopefully Bettman gets Kronwalled

That's some funny stuff right there. Really he should have just left his car at home if he was gonna go for a night out on the town and cabbed it.