2458 replies to this topic

[Jedi]

Trying to stay on top of this today....hoping for some good news. Personally, I think today we might know whether there will be a deal in the next week or so, or the two sides go away for a long time and the season is close to lost.

Agreed. Today is the biggest litmus test of the process so far. Hoping to hear news of "good progress, more talks, etc" instead of "sizeable gulf, no further scheduled talks, Bettman/BoG kick puppies, Fehr punches babies, etc".

But Gary probably does kick puppies...

[chances14]

@JoshRimerHockey: Told by an NHL player, "NHL's latest Proposal is not great but I want to play hockey!"

[toby91_ca]

This was tweeted by Elliotte Friedman around the time the NHL was arriving at NHLPA headquarters (about 100 metres or so down the street as I look out the window).








Fan named Barry Murphy told Bettman that as a fan he feels disrespected and neglected...what are you going to do show us you care about us?


Bettman: we're "going to get a deal done." Was an interesting, respectful exchange.

[Johnz96]

As in...




Just remember that the Onion is satire, and is not meant to be taken seriously...

Looks like some big guns are coming to the table on both sides today. Beyond the usual 4 (Bettman, Daly, Fehr & Fehr), looks like Jacobs (Boston), Leipold (Minnesota), Edwards (Calgary) and Leonsis (Washington) will be present for the League. The PA will have Craig Adams, Brad Boyes, Chris Campoli, David Clarkson, Dan Cleary, Carlo Colaiacovo, Sidney Crosby, Mathieu Darche, Shane Doan, Shawn Horcoff, Jarome Iginla, Robyn Regehr, Eric Staal, Matt Stajan, Shawn Thornton, Jonathan Toews, Kevin Westgarth, and Dan Winnik.

Good to see two Wings players there.

In a conference room where the NHLPA are meeting, a man is at the drawing board writing equations trying to explain the financial implications of the NHL's proposal.
One of the players stands up "So if we meet projections for league growth we will still be losing a substantial amount on contracts already signed. But what if the fans really are pissed off for being locked out 3 consecutive times? What if they don't come back this time? What if..."
He is interrupted by a creepy looking clown barging into the room with makeup that appears to be rain smeared although it's not raining.
Everyone turns around to see what the commotion is all about. The room is silent now all eyes on the clown
"It's simple" he says
"We kill the Bettman"

[Jedi]

Thought I'd share this interesting tidbit that Khan(!!!!) retweeted from L.A. Lariviere with TVA Sports in Montreal.

According to my colleague Mathieu Dandenault, the NHLPA will submit 4 different offers to the #NHL. All include 50-50 clauses on rev sharing

To me, that sounds like the players are coming to the table with equally reasonable proposals. And that's a good sign, if you ask me...

[toby91_ca]

Thought I'd share this interesting tidbit that Khan(!!!!) retweeted from L.A. Lariviere with TVA Sports in Montreal.



To me, that sounds like the players are coming to the table with equally reasonable proposals. And that's a good sign, if you ask me...

I had heard that they discussed the 4 different proposals on the NHLPA conference call today and the merits of each....with the view to decide which to present or to present all this afternoon to the NHL.

[Jedi]

I had heard that they discussed the 4 different proposals on the NHLPA conference call today and the merits of each....with the view to decide which to present or to present all this afternoon to the NHL.

That's a certain possibility, bringing 4 and deciding which one to present. If all 4 have 50/50 split, then perhaps we'll have a season after all.

Of course, it could be that having a 50/50 split means the 7th year of a 7 year deal is 50/50, with the first 6 years being more player tilted, so... Still too early to get too excited.

[Jedi]

And here we go. Per Lebrun, the meeting is over and the NHL is going to address the media soon.

McKenzie's tweeting that 3 offers were presented to the NHL.

[BottleOfSmoke]

Oh please let this be good news...

[Jedi]

OUCH. Not good news...

Dreger...

Bettman calls todays meeting and 3 PA proposals a "step backwards.".

LeBrun...

Bettman confirms NHLPA made three counter proposals. Says none of them "even began to approach 50-50." Not encouraged

And Dreger again...

Bettman says the league and union are not speaking the same language. Concerned by lack of progress.

[haroldsnepsts]

I guess it's hard to know without seeing the details, but presenting three offers seems weird to me. As if the union would be okay if the league accepted any of the three?

They need to be clarifying details and finding common ground, not adding more options.

OUCH. Not good news...

Dreger...


LeBrun...


And Dreger again...

Definitely disappointing, but not surprising. I'm guessing the league's position is this is basically their final offer with some minor concessions made over the course of the next week.

[Jedi]

And LeBrun again...

Bettman says today's offers "nowhere close" to what league offered Tuesday

"I don't know what the next step is. I'm obviously very disappointed." - Bettman

And Bettman pulls out the Winter Classic Cancellation card, per Chris Johnston with the Canadian Press...

Bettman says Winter Classic cancellation date is "rapidly approaching."

[skyphoenix]

This is a joke right? The owners make some compromises on their proposal and the players won't even approach the 50/50 number on 3 separate proposals?

[BottleOfSmoke]

This is a joke right? The owners make some compromises on their proposal and the players won't even approach the 50/50 number on 3 separate proposals?

According to Bettman. I would be curious to know the details of the three proposals, perhaps the three outline three different ways in which the PA thinks are acceptable to get down to an equitable share?

[sleepwalker]

This is a joke right? The owners make some compromises on their proposal and the players won't even approach the 50/50 number on 3 separate proposals?

Don't kid yourself, the NHLs offer the other day didn't come close to 50/50 either, nor did it include "no salary rollbacks" like they said, they just tried to spin it like it did with the help of Luntz.

This is just as I predicted. Neither side is budging, they are both just turning up the spin.

[Barrie]

I saw Bettman's presser, he didn't look good. I think he knows he met his match, or worse.

Fehr's been brought in for a reason. The players are getting sick of being pushed around!

[Jedi]

This is a joke right? The owners make some compromises on their proposal and the players won't even approach the 50/50 number on 3 separate proposals?

According to Bettman. I would be curious to know the details of the three proposals, perhaps the three outline three different ways in which the PA thinks are acceptable to get down to an equitable share?

This, a hundred times over. The actual details of the 3 proposals haven't even been leaked, so it's far too early to say that the players didn't actually approach the 50/50 split.

Everything said by BOTH Bettman/League and Fehr/PA needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because they're going to try and spin the story to be the other side's fault.

[skyphoenix]

Well I meant that Bettman's statement was the joke, not the 3 proposals. I don't think the NHLPA would counter with 3 different offers that don't even approach what they were just offered.

[Jedi]

David Backes to LeBrun in a txt, tweeted by LeBrun...

"We feel our newest proposal took a great step towards getting a deal done. It's too bad the owners don't feel that way and I fear that we may miss an extended amount of time now."

Not looking good...

[rrasco]

Well s***...