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www.EVZ.ch announces it on their homepage happy day. Being from Zug, having a Red Wing play here is amazing

We should all support dissolving the players union. When that is done, we will never have to worry about another lockout. If players don't like the terms the NHL owners offer, they can play elsewhere. If the best players are choosing to play outside of the NHL, the owners can choose to offer better contracts to entice them to play in the NHL. Free market economics... it works amazingly well. In the long run, it is market competition that ensures fair wages and treatment... not unions. Edit: Well shucks, I meant to post this in the lockout thread. Could someone please move it for me? Cheers.

Flat out, anyone who uses the "Bettman is doing what the owners want and working for them" defense of him is just proving the point of why he should be removed. A GOOD commissioner of any league does what is the best for the league and makes the hard stances AGAINST the owners when need be, they do not just give the spoiled brats whatever they want, whenever they want and be a yes man. A commissioner works for the league, not the owners. Bettman is a spineless yes man that bends over at all of the bog's whims and never tells them no, even when it's what is best for the LEAGUE. More games lost than ALL of the other 3 major sports combined under Bettman's watch... Tell me again how he is doing a good job... The NHL needs a leader and a visionary, not a spineless weasel that won't stand up to the owners in the best interest of the league when he needs to... and to put it quite bluntly, if you disagree with this post, then you are beyond logic and not worth debating with anyway.

Caring about the fans does not mean capitulating to the other side. I would hope they love the game more than it's fans. This deal also will affect hundreds of players not even in the league yet, there are more things to consider than "will fan X have something to do after work tonight?" I want hockey back also, but in no way am I pretending I am the victim here. The simple fact: The OWNERS locked out the PLAYERS, because the OWNERS saw a opportunity to take back guaranteed contract money and use it to subsidize teams in non-traditional markets. I sign contracts with people all the time, never has anyone ever suggested that I take less money and do the same amount of work. I don't know why people feel entitled to these players, they don't owe you anything, they owe their family for all the time they are gone and cutting their household income by 1/4 doesn't fly. If Mario had to give back 1/4 of his money back in the day then there might not be a Penguins team today. Yet now he has the balls to demand that of the people he inspired to join this profession. Bottom Line: The league is not losing money, it is earning a profit. Some teams are winning, others losing. The heaviest contributing factor to the losing of said teams is that they don't have a big enough fan base in their non-traditional market. Taking money from the players allows owners to operate the flawed system longer, but does nothing to fix the problem. If there is no problems then what will they point to next time they feel like changing all the rules because their team can not win the cup.

You better come back to us, Drew. Ya heard?

You really need to read back this thread. Your misconceptions were exhaustively addressed earlier. In short, without the union, what the owners are doing would be illegal. They would have no way of getting out of the already signed player contracts, without going to court and paying penalties for breach of contract or declaring bankruptcy. Without a salary cap the owners would (and did) spend much more on salaries relative to revenue then they do now. Without the pro sports antitrust law exemption, (that is if they had to operate like any other industry in America) it would have been illegal for the owners to consult with each other on hiring/salary decisions, let alone bargain as a single unit. And lastly, the union's existence has nothing whatsoever to do with the owners spending insane amounts of money to get free agents. If you run a restaurant and hire a famous chef for $$ millions, but your revenue stream isn't enough to pay him, you don't get to leach off of more successful/better-run restaurants, nor can you lock out the chef and force him to accept lower salary. The owners do not and absolutely don't want to live under real free market conditions. They get the best of both worlds now.

I've been sitting here thinking, "Well Z isn't gone yet, there's still hope." Just awesome...

Ok, it's Saturday night, I'm drunk and despite my poor English speaking, I 'll speak about Swiss league. Tonight was the 4th night of our regular season. Davos vs Lakers: Nash put an hat trick with one assist and Thornton 4 assists in a 9-2 win. Ok, we don't care about them. So Brunner scored twice in a 6-3 win over ambri, à team from the italian side of Switzerland. For the people who don't know about Swiss, we speak 3 languages: French (for me) German and Italian. There is an another one but nobodies knows it: romanche. A mix between the 3. Very strange.

Z playing in Switzerland! It's like Christmas for all Swiss Redwings'fans! Maybe I'll find some tickets to see him in real rather than in my pc. Of course, I prefer NHL games but sometimes, a dream come true.

Free market competition would mean no salary cap. The players aren't striking for more money. The owners are refusing to let them play even though they have current valid contracts in the NHL. The league had market competition before the cap and the owners apparently couldn't manage to run their business under that construct. It's not like the players were striking because they felt they were underpaid. The owners locked them out to implement a device that artificially suppresses employee salaries. Once again, the big problem is the disparity in the wealth of the clubs. The rich clubs are what's driving up the players salaries, not unions. It was just a couple months ago that the Flyers put together an offer sheet for Weber that was specifically constructed to try and financially cripple Nashville so they wouldn't be able to match. But that's somehow the unions fault?

The players are not only employees but also the product

I passed the BARS. It's a group of dippy do-gooders who go around to make sure you're carding everyone under 30 for cigarettes. I asked the guy for his ID. He gave me the pretty green card for my manager. I tried to give him the Death Glare, but I was prepared for a snippy female, not a friendly male. Apparently my Death Glare looked more like the Glazed Stare of Stupidity, so he started talking to me as though I was a terrier. "Good job! You give this to your manager and maybe you'll get something nice! Keep up the good work!" Had he not left, I'd have felt compelled to start humping his leg. Bastard. The person below me has done something this season to prepare their home for winter.

I love it, some superstars are already threatening the NHL because now they do have alternatives and other leagues to play in. If we lose Datsyuk because of this I'll swear I gonna lose it.

Anyone that misses hockey is a tool!

I hope you won't mind a minor correction which might answer your question. owners of ranch = owners of NHL teams cows = players cowpies = bettman field = ice feed = paycheck supermarket = fans

I've stopped buying NHL merch. VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET.

I already unfollowed NHL, NHLPA, and all players. I understand where you are coming from and I already went down the road you suggested when the lockout started. None of these people deserve your support at this stage.