NHL 2012-2013: A hooligans game played by hooligans

What are you talking about? I mean I know about the no Betteman, no Fehr, players owners meeting, but is there any actual movement on that?

Yeah there has been burblings all over my twitter about it last night and this morning. I follow a lot of hockey sportswriters, and many of them seem a little more excited and hopeful than before, where they've been really depressed/cynical. It might just a glimmer of hope, but I am crossing my fingers, and toes, and everything else.

I was chilling out, waiting for this AHL game to start, when there was a breaking story on the sports news show: NHLPA thinks they have a full agreement on dollars.

Still need to hear from the owners, but his is the best news I've heard in weeks.

Well Donald Fehr just came back out and is basically saying that negotiations have broke down and the two sides aren't going to be talking for a few days. So, yeah.

Bah

I knew Don Fehr would fuck things up!

FIFY

I understand why the players brought in Fehr, but you are talking about a guy who came from running what is arguably the strongest players union in sports so he isn't really interested in any deal that doesn't give the NHL players something similar. And you can argue that the MLB players union is too strong, what with all the rules and guaranteed contracts and so on.

My guess is that this season is not going to happen and we might as well not bother paying attention again until next fall, when hopefully some realism and sanity comes back to these idiots on both sides.

I don't see how anything happens until the owners lose significant money. It's not like when the NFL had some issues to resolve like the rookie salary structure and the possibility of extending the season. The NHL had a working deal in place and the owners said "Yeah, so, we want more money." Basically what needs to happen is for the owners to back down, and that's not likely until they're up to their ankles in their own blood.

Ideally, it happens after various teams in the sun belt fold or move, and Bettman loses his job.

Pretty much any extended labor conflict in sports favors the owners, as far as I can see. The players will start feeling the pinch long before they do.

I'm surprised there hasn't been any sort of new league set up. Last lockout the NHLPA organized a four on four tournament. It seems crazy that you have all these players sitting around, all these fans who want to watch hockey and all these empty slots in the TV schedule and nobody's put it together.

That's really only true for rich teams like the Canadian clubs, the Red Wings, and the Rangers. IIRC, something like half the teams in the league are unprofitable or are barely in the black. And I don't just mean poorly-run basket cases like Phoenix.

If there is such a disparity in income for the owners then why are they going after the players? The bottom 25 or whatever teams should just enact a hostile takeover of the negotiations and force the higher profiting teams to share more revenue, rather than try to take their share out of the players' cuts.

That's why, as I said a page or so back, but this is a proxy war being fought between the rich and poor owners.

Probably it doesn't hurt the rich owners' cause that Fehr is (seemingly) such a jerk.

I don't have the stomach to read all of this, but what I did read was interesting. I have resigned myself to another lost season.

If they dissolve the union and void the contracts, what will happen to Rick DiPietro?

The NHL needs to reduce the number of teams, if that many teams aren't making money its a market issue.

Than so do the NFL, NBA, MLB, and every other professional league, because the same situation exists in most of those leagues as well, but they have better revenue sharing methods in place, which is basically the gist of the article CheesyPoof linked.

Do you actually watch hockey?

Yes I do, and I think the NBA and MLB have too many teams, the NFL which pretty much sells out every game and gets most of its money from the huge tv contract is a different story.

He's Minnesotan, so chances are good.

I disagree with the notion that fewer teams are the solution, though. Sure, maybe you could shed a few without sacrificing much competition, but Nashville is never going to draw as much fan support as would a team in, say, Quebec City. The demand's out there but, as Sallah would have it, they're digging in the wrong place.

Fewer teams would be a solution to the shitty quality of play, moving teams out of the sun belt would merely help with the revenue issue.

What shitty quality of play? I don't remember seeing much of that (except when the Leafs are on the ice).

I do wish they'd get rid of the trapezoid, though. I miss Marty handling the puck along the boards.

I just can't blame the players here. There's no way to reach a fair deal when the owners are fighting amongst themselves. They instigated this and their first few offers were absolutely insulting, as was their behavior pre-lockout (when they were signing players to deals knowing that they'd be asking for part of that deal back. Now they're faced with the nuclear option - union decertification and the inevitable anti-trust suit that entails. And when they go in front of a judge, that first offer they gave the players is going to look really bad.

I'm with the players because the league not long ago blew an entire season and pretty much brought the players to their knees. Trying to do it again a few years later seems rather unsporting.

CBC periodically replays old games, which is a good reminder that it's not just rose-coloured glasses, the game actually was more entertaining back then. Obviously there are other factors like the size of goalie equipment and the ever-creeping leniency toward obstruction and hooking, but a big factor has to be the talent level. Fewer teams means fewer players who aren't good for anything except clutch-and-grab.

Yes, Virginia, there will be a season.

Fewer teams means less third/fourth line grinders who get out there and waterski behind the stars to prevent goals while their own team's superstars rest up for a minute before getting back on the ice. Balanced teams with a shared workload like the Kings are not the standard in the NHL.

They're going to kill it, aren't they?

There's some rumors that another deal might be close, but I'm pretty apathetic about it.

Yea, I don't want to hear anything until it's all over.

Same here. I've mentally written off the NHL 2012-13 season. If any deal gets done now, great, but I'm not really paying attention anymore or hoping that everyone gets their heads out of their asses anytime soon.

Once the Winter Classic got cancelled I was just too fed up and disappointed to contine caring - that was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event around here.

They don't skip it entirely though do they? You'll still get your Winter Classic next year.

Yeah, supposedly next year's WC will have the Wings playing in UM stadium, but at this point I'll believe it when I see it. It's not so much that it's gone for good, but that that was the breaking point in my anticipation of a 2012-13 NHL season.

Cause Athryn doesn't need any hope getting up.

My sources say owners have privately informed Bettman cancelling the season is not an acceptable option.

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) December 28, 2012

Watch, I bet she follows this jerk already.

At this point I just want them to think long term health of the league. Find a solution that will prevent another work stoppage from happening for another 10-15 years. Don't slap a band-aid onto it just to wring a half year's worth of revenue out of the current season. Most people have already made their peace with the fact that this season isn't happening. Starting this season up again only to have another lockout in the next 5 years will just make things much worse.

No, but I remember someone I *do* follow retweeting them. :P There's a lot of bonkers rumors flying around, I think my favorite was the supposed Winnipeg and Columbus switching conferences for the next season pending realignment.


I get all my official lockout news from @notbryzgoalie30:

they dont know about lock out until pony Expres deliver newspaper)))) RT @mirtle: Three NHL teams gave their cancellation #s. Winnipeg = 0.

— notbryzgoalie30 (@notbryzgoalie30) December 29, 2012

Something about a memo sent to off ice officials and arena techs.

Sure was a great Winter Classic today at The Big House.