Pskov Wings Fan

Much better game comparing to Dynamo - Lev. Looks much faster, maybe because of the bigger ice surface.

It is difficult to enforce US contract in Russia. If Ovechkin liquidates all his US assets prior to bailing then I really do not see how Capitals can get anything out of him. But I do not think he will shut the door on NHL at this point in his career. Maybe later.

Did any proposal from either side include changes to how contract cap number is calculated? Using actual salary for a particular year as a cap number would prevent (most of) the current cap circumvention schemes.

Interesting read. I like this bit about the value of the players (and also the idea of replacements).

My guess is that players would take 51.5% as long as already signed contracts are not reduced in value.

So it is somewhere between 49% and 47% over the lifetime of the deal, not 49%.

To each his own. Having said that, this was one of the least entertaining KHL games I've seen this year. CSKA - SKA game from couple days ago was a lot of fun.

Much less puck digging in the corners than in NHL. I kinda like it. Less hitting, which I do not mind either.

It would still be 3-0.

I haven't seen this possibility proposed anywhere. I think players are happy with the status quo. I do not think they were planning to strike to increase their 57% share.

Owners know exactly how much they would have to pay for players services. This is the "cost certainty" Bettman and owners were fighting for last time around. Not many businesses can claim to have that. Yes still some of the owners are unable to make "responsible business decisions". NHL is not the kind of business where costs can be cut by firing some percentage of the workforce (outsourcing to lower wage countries probably would not work well either).

The necessity of the players union is decided by the players and only by the players. Not by the fans. If the players think that having a union is more beneficial for their own business (which is not the same as NHL business) than having "economic competition in the free market" I do not think there is anything to stop them. They are "professional" hockey players. They play the game for money. Fans tends to forget this part.

The word you are looking for is "collusion". The same reason why anti-poaching agreements between Silicon Valley companies are illegal. I believe 'sibiriak' is saying that without CBA and union there can be no league-wide salary cap. NHLPA is meant to provide "tangible benefits" to its members, the NHL hockey players. Without players there is no league.

I think that for a good portion of hockey fans it does matter who is one the ice.

I think the principle players are talking about is the rollback of the existing contracts. They agreed to it once and feel that as a result owners are trying to do it again and will try it the future. So they would like to reset the precedent.

The fact that owners at some point agreed that they need 2/3 of the votes to overrule the commissioner make me question their judgement.

CSKA won 2-1 and Pavel scored both goals (first one was vintage Datsyuk - stealing puck from an opposing player trying to exist his own zone and then scoring).

Datsyuk plays for CSKA. He has a game today against Spartak.

It would appears that just like the NHL this thread has reached an impasse. Maybe if we would have started to argue in January we would be done by now.

I did not know ESPN3 existed, but now thanks to KHL I found a place to watch Premier League football in good quality. And maybe some KHL hockey on top of that.

The quote below suggests that it is not lack of negotiating time, which causes the impasse. Sides understand each other, they just do not agree. So more meetings would not achieve much until some change to the circumstances of either side occurs.

KHL had made it to ESPN before NHL. This is just great. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1355710-nhl-lockout-espn-khl-deal-could-take-some-power-from-the-owners

Apparently end of lockout by January 1 is already considered optimistic. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=406504

Here is a quote from this article which covers the current state of affairs.

I do not know what NHLPA's plan is. They certainly knew that lockout was a possibility. But if we assume that NHLPA is approaching negotiations rationally then apparently they think they can get a better deal even having to go through lockout. Will their plan work out? I haven't got a clue. In the end they might just lose money for missed games and not get a better deal anyway. But it is player's prerogative to do what they think is best for them. Owners are doing the same thing. In other news Europe just won Ryder Cup.