chances14

fehr is one of the reasons for this most recent lockout and you can be sure he will be a huge reason there will be another lockout in the future even if bettman isn't around. i think it's pretty clear now that the owners seem to have a personal hate of fehr and i don't see that changing anytime soon. if both sides truly cared about the state of the game, they would clean house after this lockout is over and try to start anew, a working relationship that isn't so dysfunctional that the only way progress is made, is when the leaders of both sides aren't in the negotiating room.

more like the player he spoke to backtracked and now he's taking the heat claiming it was out of context. this is worth a read

that's awesome. i've met him a few times through my friend's dad who knows him quite well. really a nice guy. you would never think that if you only saw him on the bench during wings games lol

we need people who loved the game growing up, not basketball and baseball lawyers and if fehr is still head of the pa, you can be sure that there will be another lockout. i think this latest blow up in talks really showed how the owners truly hate fehr. both need to go or else another lockout is guaranteed. the same exact thing can be said about the players. they can't even figure out how to get a new cba after record revenues. i can't even imagine what would happen if there is declining revenue coming off the new cba

in the first stages of the lockout, revenue sharing was actually a sticking point, with the players wanting more revenue sharing and the owners being against substantial revenue sharing. the reason for that is the players do not want to see any teams fold. less teams = less jobs for the union. players are just as guilty of wanting these small market teams to succeed as the owners. it seems like these owners are in a no win situation. people get mad when owners don't spend money to make their teams better and only care about the bottom line, but then people turn around and get mad that owners are spending money that they can't afford to make their teams better.

yes in theory nobody is forcing the owners to hand out 8 yr contracts, just like in theory nobody is forcing the players to accept them. but once one owner steps out of line and offers a long term contract, the market value is set. if the owners had a gentleman's agreement to not offer a certain length contract, it could be considered collusion and grounds for legal action. that is what a cba is for. i strongly believe that fehr has brainwashed these players into thinking that the longer they hold off, the better the deal. they are going to be sorely mistaken. they still could have done an unofficial vote on the owner's proposal, even if it wasn't an official proposal. i think it's ridiculous for both sides to be arguing contract term lengths. and both sides should want the longest cba possible. it's ridiculous that a deal is being held up over these petty issues maybe if fehr wasn't so busy telling the media that the lockout was essentially over, he wouldn't have missed the nhl's call agreed. while i disagree with the owner's take it or leave it approach, fehr purposely misled the public. he knew full well that the league wasn't going to accept his proposal.

tsn guys talking about where talks go from here

http://triblive.com/mobile/m/msports/3089560-96/owners-crosby-fehr this sounds like a lame ass excuse to me i can already predict what future players are going to say, "no more concessions!"

you're right. i meant to say contract length and variance.

Ryan Rishaug ‏@TSNRyanRishaug Daly reaction to Hainsey saying owners told players that adding D. Fehr back in room could be a deal breaker.. “it was a reaction to the… …to players unilaterally terminating the players/owners-only dynamic, and telling us (2 or 3 times) that their decision was non-negotiable.. ..totally within their rights to do, but response of our owners was “if that’s the case, don’t expect us to stay involved.”

both sides refuse to budge on the contract term length and variance, which is infuriating to me because it only affects a small minority of the players. both sides should want the longest cba term possible especially the players. the longer they can go without being forced to make more concessions in another lockout, the better. it's mind boggling how they don't want the longest cba term possible.

fehr really messed up today and it may cost the players a ton of money. owners made it clear that they didn't want him in the room today but he insisted on being in there and he wanted mediators there as well. all this despite the fact that significant progress was made the last 2 days without him and bettman in there (i don't think that's a coincidence). then 2 hrs later fehr proclaims to the media that this lockout is essentially over, only to have it blow up in his face a few minutes later on live tv. All indications pointed to a lot of players wanting to put the deal that the owners tabled to the entire pa for a vote but fehr advised against it. that said the owners are being equally stupid with their take it or leave it approach to negotiating. there was no reason bettman had to come out and take everything off the table today. does anyone truly believe it's off the table anyways? I also don't like how the owners and bettman appear to have refused to start up negotiations again. i guess they are still too busy having their little hissy fits my fear now is what cherry brought up if that's the case and jacobs is back in control, this season is toast. but the bottom line is both sides hate each other with a burning passion and both sides are acting like morons and until that changes, no season will be played

very interesting

owners statementon cba talks i believe this is what pissed the owners and bettman off the most

oh boy if this is the attitude of the players and fehr, they are going to be in for a rude awakening. these nhl owners are a different breed than other pro sports owners

i dont buy that for a second. that is pure posturing.

agreed. i don't know what they are disagreeing on at this point. bettman isn't doing himself any favors right now. letting emotions get the best of him.

like i said in a post just before this news broke, the devil is always in the details. i'm willing to guess the latest pa proposal isn't nearly as good as it seems. need to hear the nhl's response before coming to a conclusion

either fehr pissed of the moderates owners so much that these negotiations are going back into the hands of the hardliners or fehr really put some pr spin on his proposal.

what a gong show

something big is going down

i'm not getting my hopes up until i see the owner's reaction to the pa's latest proposal. we have seen this before where the devil is always in the details.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2012/12/06/nhl-lockout-2012-ugly-including-radio-toronto/11978/

Nick Cotsonika ‏@cotsonika Owners are furious with Fehr, yes. I think they also sense a number of players want to vote on what is on table. Nick Cotsonika ‏@cotsonika My comment on a number of players wanting vote is not based on NHL sources, but players. Can't say I know ratio, though. John Shannon ‏@JSportsnet The Negotiations are on again. Curious to note, NO Bettman on the NHL side.

fehr wanting to bring in mediators is a perfect example of his stalling tactic. talks were progressing without the mediators, why bring them in now, especially since mediation was a complete failure last time. bob mackenzie went on tsn radio earlier today and said that he was getting comments from the rank and file players telling him that they liked the deal on the table. just like the moderate owners did to bettman and jacobs, hopefully these players step up and force fehr's hand in this.