drwscc

Yeah, interesting how the owners can identify that something specific is not included in the offer, and reject it based on that. That'd be like going to buy a Ferrari at the Ferrari dealership, and the salesman said "Here is a great Volkswagen." You mean you'd need a day or two to discuss the Volkswagen with everyone you know before saying "Uh. I asked for a Ferrari. No Volkswagen."

Boy, it sure is easy to tell other people what to do with their money, since it's not yours. If the owners agreed to the player's side of 100 million dollars, would any of what you just mentioned happen? Not on your life.

That's the thing. At some point, there has to be a line where you say "This is as far as I can come," and that's what's happened here, per Daly, I believe. Fehr is the one that blew things up this round. According to Adrian Dater, a player involved said that the players were ready to take the latest offer to a vote with all the players, and Fehr said not to, because they were going to get a better offer. I hope that that's true, but I am betting this pushed the more moderate owners into the hardline camp.

Donald Fehr in a rare candid photo from his presser yesterday.

There you go. You missed the other half of your post.

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.

Hurr hurr. You go, man! It couldn't possibly be because everyone, including the mods, has already covered the pants on head stupidity of "It's all Buttman cancer midget's fault. If it wasn't for Buttman, the owners would give the players 99% of HRR and they'd be playing hockey right now" Nah, couldn't be that it's already been covered, so what's the point of repeating it. Not everyone feels the need to say the same thing over and over and over, as if repetition makes it true.

As kipwinger put so elegantly above, "It's easy to point a finger at one (or both) sides of this because in reality its not OUR millions of dollars on the line. It's always easy to tell someone else what they ought to do when the tough decisions aren't ours to make, and the consequences aren't ours to accept."

Uhhh..I think I did. But feel free to ignore the rest. Just like your homie Fehr. Like someone pointed out before, if Bettman doesn't budge, he's being an obstructionist ass. If Fehr refuses to negotiate, he's standing firm. Fehr and Bettman are BOTH the wrong people to be negotiating. They're having a pissing contest because Fehr thinks he has something to prove. He's gonna beat the Bettman! Yeah! Who cares if it's bad for the game, and hockey may never recover. As long as Fehr appears to win. If Fehr does end up winning, guess what? Expect another lockout at the end of the next CBA. If the owners end up taking a bath, you can forget about an easy CBA negotiation the next time.

Man, the level of vinegary Summer's Eve in this thread is astounding. Acting like Gary Bettman (Buttman Midget hurr hurr hurr) is the sole cause of this lockout is so stupid as to border on mental disability. Even Ryan Lambert admits that Bettman has been good for the game, and hasn't ruined everything, Is Bettman (Troll Dwarf idiot cancer durr durr durr) doing a great job in selling the lockout? No. Is the Players' Bettman doing a good job with the PR war? Absolutely, as evidenced by all the paint chips eating responses in this thread, and others around the boards. Everyone is white knighting the players side like they are absolutely blameless in this whole mess. Just like the BCTWGMIU is completely blameless for the death of Hostess. At this point, I really fail to care about the NHL anymore. Both sides have demonstrated multiple times that they are petulant children who don't want to share their Legos. If neither side is willing to budge, there's no way to move forward. BOTH sides are at fault. Keep on believing that if the owners would just fire Bettman and bring on Bob Goodenow that everything would just move along nicely.

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

I thought it said Shanahan at first. I was thinking "Oh boy, that's it for the Shanabans."

OMG dude. Buttman?? Hahahahaha. That is so awesome. Where did you come up with that? You should do standup. Hahahha. wow.

Still elitist, but good try, --- Lets use your logic and talk about the teams that have been losing money (looks to be about 18 of them according to Forbes.) Screw all the teams that aren't able to make money. "They can put an NHL team anywhere they want as long as they can support themselves" So, goodbye to: Phoenix, Florida, Nashville, Columbus, Carolina, which would make you happy. However, you also lose St. Louis, Winnipeg, NYI, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, New Jersey, San Jose, Anaheim (don't you live in the CA area? Would suck to lose your opportunity to go see games, no?) Washington, and the Cup Champion LA Kings. Man, what a great league with lots of exposure that would be./s Revenue sharing is something built in to the league. All of the major sports league incorporate it. Most of the teams I listed would take advantage of it if they were able. However, there are restrictions that prevent some teams from utilizing the program, which would help them at least break even. Not every team can be the Wings or the Leafs with so much tradition that you have a built in fanbase, no matter how the team performs. It takes time, and lean seasons sometimes, to build up the tradition. But, what do I know? I'm just one of the fans that could have given a crap about hockey growing up, due to no teams even remotely close to me, but became a rabid fan once hockey became available to me.

Aaaand done. http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8583243/nhl-cancels-winter-classic-toronto-maple-leafs-detroit-red-wings-source-says

What does that mean? If you're going to lose anyway, why wouldn't you try to preserve a good relationship with the other teams? You don't think the owners know how the vote is going to turn out before they have it. If Illitch found 2 or 3 other folks on his side, and the other 26 owners were all in favor, it doesn't make sense to shoot yourself in the foot going forward to no purpose.

"At every opportunity we have continued to state that we are ready to meet and willing to discuss all open issues, including the owners' last offer," Fehr wrote. "Nonetheless, to date, their group has declined to commit to a meeting unless it can dictate what the agenda is. We will update you further as soon as there is anything more to report. Regards, Don." What does that even mean? What other agenda is there aside from "Let's Make a Deal?" Sounds like more PR garbage, and lack of urgency.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Keep dreaming. The owners will *never* hire someone who won't do what they say. Anyone else they bring in will be Bettman part 2.

And the less jobs available for NHLPA members.

Ian White picture accompanying quote.

NBC TV contracts. Bye bye.

That is pretty apropros. The vegetables are something the children need to stay healthy. But hey, hope the players continue to enjoy their scurvy. Some day, candy coated vegetables will come to them if they just keep refusing to eat them, right?

Good use of PR by Fehr again. NHLPA "We demand to negotiate off of one of our proposals, and we'll talk" NHL "No, let's work off of our plan" NHLPA "The league refuses to negotiate with us.