|
Post by Vera on Feb 15, 2005 13:26:48 GMT -5
NHL, Players Give Ground in Negotiations 1 hour, 9 minutes ago By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer NEW YORK - In what could be a last-second breakthrough, both sides of the NHL lockout have given significant ground: The players' association will accept a salary cap, and the league has backed off its demand for a link between revenues and player costs. Now they just have to figure out the money, and time has all but run out. Even while the negotiations were going on, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman already had planned to announce the cancellation of the season Wednesday, a source close to the negotiations told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday. Bettman was slated to speak Wednesday in New York, but the NHL declined to give details beyond the time and location. The NHL offered to give in on linkage, a "significant move in the players' direction" the union said early Tuesday following a meeting in Niagara Falls, N.Y. But when the players offered to accept a cap at $52 million in return — the first time they came off their opposition to a ceiling on salaries — the offer was rejected by the NHL. The league insisted on a salary cap that topped out at $40 million per team. "It is indeed unfortunate that with the major steps taken by both sides we were unable to build enough momentum to reach an agreement," players' association senior director Ted Saskin said. The NHL had no comment Tuesday on the union's statement. No new talks were immediately scheduled, but with the philosophical differences now bridged, there appeared to be room for the sides to negotiate dollar figures. "We probably could've gotten this thing done in the summertime," Chicago forward Matthew Barnaby said. "Am I mad, no? I want to get back to work. But at the same time, I'm just a little disappointed that it went this far to play poker and to have someone call your bluff." The 24 percent rollback on all existing contracts, originally offered by the union on Dec. 9, as well as more aggressive luxury tax rates and thresholds, were included in the players' counteroffer. Buffalo Sabres (news) player representative Jay McKee was surprised Tuesday when he heard the union would accept a cap. "If that's where we were going, I wonder why now," he said. With the major stumbling blocks now out of the way, the sides are only $12 million apart on what each team's cap should be. With the salary rollback, only eight of the 30 teams would be above $40 million. Until now, Bettman insisted that the 30 teams know what their costs will be each season. The only way, he said, that could be achieved was to tie to the amount of player costs to a percentage of league revenues. That was a solution the players' association refused. NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly was the only other person involved in the meeting that wrapped up early Tuesday. The NHL reported that no progress was made, but didn't reveal any details of what was discussed. If a deal is not reached quickly, the NHL would become the first major professional league in North America to lose an entire season because of a labor dispute. The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1919, when a flu epidemic canceled the finals. But more than two-thirds of the season and the All-Star game already have been lost to a lockout that started Sept. 16. Bettman said the sides needed to start putting a deal on paper by last weekend if the NHL was going to hold a 28-game season and a full 16-team playoff. The regular season normally is 82 games. Even a session with a federal mediator Sunday in Washington couldn't produce an agreement. But it did lead to the breakthrough in talks Monday. Bettman had said teams needed to have cost certainty to survive and the only way he could guarantee that was with a salary cap that linked league revenues to player costs. Now that position has changed for the first time since the NHL started gearing up for the lockout in 1998. The league has said teams lost $273 million in 2002-03 and $224 million last season, and an economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players get 75 percent of league revenues. The union has challenged those figures. A cap had been an automatic deal-breaker for the union even though it agreed that the financial landscape was flawed. The players' association contended that there are many other ways to fix it. "There is no question the system has to change," said New Jersey Devils (news) president Lou Lamoriello, who took part in earlier negotiating sessions. "We just have to keep working to find a solution. It's unfortunate we have to come this. "If the season does end, we can't stop. We have to continue working at this and get it rectified as soon as we possibly can." Monday, the 152nd day of the lockout, was to have been the last day of the All-Star break; the festivities in Atlanta were called off months earlier. Through Monday, 824 of the 1,230 regular-season games have been lost. "Everybody has to take responsibility," Lamoriello said. The sides have traded proposals throughout the lockout, but the salary cap had always been the sticking point. Other issues such as arbitration, revenue-sharing, and rookie caps never reached the true negotiating stage because the sides couldn't agree on the big issue. In recent days, the union and league seemed adamant that they wouldn't budge. "We're done," Saskin said Thursday after talks broke off. On Sunday, Daly said: "We will not be reaching out to them." _____________________________________ Pffffff........... whatever! I don't know about you, but I think Bettman is as useless as a commissioner can be. Anyway, we were all expecting the last min thing (as that's exactly what happened in the last lockout/strike in 1994 season). Not that I'm very eager about the season resuming now that it's such a mess, but I would be glad at least to see my captain coming back to play his last NHL games on our ice for another 2 months or so. So I hope they really do try to make it work and not just pretending as that's all they've been doing so far .
|
|
|
Post by Lee on Feb 15, 2005 16:04:26 GMT -5
*sigh* I really don't know if it's good or bad 'IF' the season is salvaged. Bettman is the guy that gradually leading NHL to this dismise, IMO. *shrug* Of course, he has the help of the owners who are so short sighted in non-stop expanding the league to it's existing size.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Feb 15, 2005 17:13:10 GMT -5
More crap on the "Greatest Scandal in Swedish ice-hockey ever". Now I read the whole interview myself. What I can gather the whole party was drunk, the hockey-players were too drunk to recognize how drunk the woman was and she was too drunk to know what she was doing. She even had a black-out during the incident. Just a very sad story. Even though the guys were out there in the moral grey-area.
|
|
|
Post by Lee on Feb 16, 2005 2:57:28 GMT -5
More crap on the "Greatest Scandal in Swedish ice-hockey ever". Now I read the whole interview myself. What I can gather the whole party was drunk, the hockey-players were too drunk to recognize how drunk the woman was and she was too drunk to know what she was doing. She even had a black-out during the incident. Just a very sad story. Even though the guys were out there in the moral grey-area. Why I'm not surprised?
|
|
|
Post by taysbest on Feb 16, 2005 12:29:17 GMT -5
Sigh.......
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Feb 16, 2005 13:55:03 GMT -5
NHL Commissioner Bettman Cancels Season 14 minutes ago Top Stories - Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - The National Hockey League canceled its season on Wednesday unable to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with locked out players becoming the first North American professional sports league to lose an entire schedule due to a labor dispute. A grim-faced league commissioner Gary Bettman began a news conference in New York by apologizing to fans than announcing the season had been canceled. "When I stood before you last September I said, NHL teams will not play again until our economic problems have been solved," said Bettman. "As I stand before you today it is my sad duty to announce that because the solution has not yet been attained it is no longer practical to conduct even an abbreviated season. "I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play for 2004-2005." Owners had been seeking to impose a salary cap on players, something their union had steadfastly refused to consider since the lockout began last September until Monday when they said they would be prepared to accept a cap of $52 million per team, which was rejected by the owners. That figure was lowered to $49 million, while the owners upped their proposal from $40 million to $42.5 million, but neither party was willing to budge any further. The Stanley Cup has been awarded every year since 1893 with an exception of 1919 when the finals were wiped out by an influenza epidemic. ___________________________________________ Well, expectedly so, still, sucks
|
|
|
Post by taysbest on Feb 17, 2005 12:43:27 GMT -5
This is just such a bad situation. When Baseball had a strike then never fully recovered and since hockey was in a bad way before- this will not help to improve ticket sales etc. Darn Hockey!!!! at least Tennis isn't on strike!
|
|
|
Post by Patrik Sjöberg on Feb 19, 2005 1:45:00 GMT -5
Go the strike. The NHL has been shit for years, this just confirms it even more.
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 19, 2005 2:31:24 GMT -5
Last-Ditch NY Meeting May Yet Salvage NHL Season Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:51 PM ET
TORONTO (Reuters) - The National Hockey League and the players' union will meet in New York on Saturday in an attempt to reach a collective bargaining agreement that may salvage the canceled 2004-05 season.
The Hockey News reported on its Web Site on Friday that the two sides had agreed in principal on a deal that features a $45 million salary cap.
No immediate confirmation or comment was issued by either the league or the National Hockey League Players' Association.
The NHLPA did confirm on its Web Site that its negotiation team would meet in New York on Saturday with the NHL, at the invitation of the league.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the 2004-05 season on Wednesday afternoon, even though both sides had apparently closed in on an agreement after frantic last-minute negotiations.
The players' union moved off its long opposition to a salary cap and the owners removed their long-standing instance that the cap be linked to league revenues in a secret bargaining session in Niagara Falls on Monday.
Those sudden significant moves led to speculation that a deal was within reach but the sides failed to agree on the amount of the cap, with the NHL's latest offer a $42.5 million cap and the players' $49 million.
Wednesday's deadline imposed by the NHL passed with no communication between the two sides, leading to Bettman's cancellation press conference.
The NHL would become the only major professional sports league in North America not to play a single game in a season due to a labor dispute if the season cannot be saved.
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 19, 2005 18:18:44 GMT -5
Gretzky, Lemieux in Revived NHL Talks By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer Saturday, February 19, 2005
(02-19) 13:18 PST New York (AP) -- The greatest save in NHL history might come at the bargaining table _ with assists from Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, who took part in negotiations Saturday that lasted about 6 1/2 hours.
Gretzky, the managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and Lemieux, the player-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, joined talks Saturday aimed at getting a deal done that could save the already canceled hockey season, two sources close to the talks told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
There was no immediate word on whether progress was made.
Just three days after the season was called off because of the protracted lockout, the NHL and the players' association restarted talks at 9 a.m. Saturday at an undisclosed location in New York.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and players' association executive director Bob Goodenow were not at the meeting. Goodenow, however, was in New York, one of the sources said.
Gretzky and Lemieux were joined on the owners' side by NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly and outside counsel Bob Batterman, while the union was represented by NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin, director of business relations Mike Gartner, players' association president Trevor Linden, vice president Vincent Damphousse, and outside counsel John McCambridge.
"It's the right thing," New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello said Friday night. "I've always said that you should do it as quickly as you possibly can and not let any time go by."
The union denied online reports Friday night that an agreement had been reached on a $45 million salary cap. An NHLPA spokesman told The Associated Press in an e-mail that the report was "absolutely false."
On Wednesday, Bettman canceled the season, saying it was too late to play any semblance of a schedule. That made the NHL the first major North American sports league to lose a full season to a labor dispute.
Or did it?
"I think the timing has always been to get an agreement so that we can play," said Lamoriello, who has taken part in previous negotiations. "Right now, it's still get an agreement, and then if we get an agreement, then can we play?
"I think it's a little different than it was before."
In a statement released Friday night, the players' association said the NHL made the offer late Thursday night to get together.
"The way everything has transpired, nothing surprises me," Lamoriello said.
There hadn't been any official contact between the NHL and the players' association since Tuesday night _ when the sides traded what they said were final offers.
All proposals were rejected, and Bettman canceled the season at a news conference that was scheduled Monday.
"I don't think anything was premature. It was a necessity," Lamoriello said. "It didn't appear to be going anywhere and there was too much jockeying going on.
"Right now, there's a chance of people getting down to possibly getting this done."
Bettman said in a letter to Goodenow on Tuesday that the league's salary-cap proposal of $42.5 million was as far as he could go and that there was no time or flexibility for negotiation.
Goodenow sent a letter back, proposing a soft cap at $49 million that could be exceeded by as much as 10 percent by teams twice during the course of the six-year deal.
It appeared there was momentum toward reaching a deal and the season had a chance to be saved, because the sides were only $6.5 million apart on their cap numbers. But talking ceased after each side sent two letters to the other on Tuesday night.
"A lot of players, owners, managers saw how close the two negotiating teams got to a deal and I think people are just exploring if that can be explored any more," agent Pat Morris said Friday. "I don't know if it'll have a successful conclusion."
There were big breakthroughs Monday in Niagara Falls, N.Y., when the NHL agreed to drop its demand that player costs be linked to league revenues, and the union, in turn, came off its steadfast opposition to a salary cap.
"We got through the philosophical end of it, so there's a better chance, but I think there is still a lot of work that has to be done," Lamoriello said.
Bettman said the NHL couldn't afford the union's final proposal and said if all 30 teams spent $49 million on player costs, then more money would be paid out to players than last season.
The commissioner said that teams lost more than $1.8 billion over 10 years, the last time a collective bargaining agreement was reached. The previous lockout cut the 1994-95 season down to 48 games per team.
NHL clubs claim to have lost $273 million in 2002-03 and $224 million last season.
Bettman said a deal would have to be in the drafting stages by the end of last weekend if there was going to be time to play a 28-game season and a standard 16-team postseason.
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 19, 2005 18:21:30 GMT -5
Lengthy New York Meeting to Salvage Season Ends Saturday, February 19, 2005 5:39:01 PM ET
TORONTO (Reuters) - The National Hockey League (NHL) and the players' union met in New York for several hours on Saturday in an attempt to reach a collective bargaining agreement that may salvage the cancelled 2004-05 season.
"The NHL is expected to issue a statement shortly, which will be posted on NHL.com," the NHL said on its official Web site after the meeting ended.
Numerous media reports have said that hockey greats and current owners Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky were invited to the meeting where they were a part of the process.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman cancelled the 2004-05 season on Wednesday afternoon, even though both sides had apparently closed in on an agreement after frantic last-minute negotiations.
The players' union moved off its long opposition to a salary cap and the owners removed their long-standing instance that the cap be linked to league revenues in a secret bargaining session in Niagara Falls on Monday.
Those sudden significant moves led to speculation that a deal was within reach but the sides failed to agree on the amount of the cap, with the NHL's latest offer a $42.5 million cap and the players' $49 million.
Wednesday's deadline imposed by the NHL passed with no communication between the two sides, leading to Bettman's cancellation press conference.
The NHL would become the only major professional sports league in North America not to play a single game in a season due to a labor dispute if the season cannot be saved.
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Feb 19, 2005 21:15:22 GMT -5
I find this year's ski season and hockey season has striking similarity. It's been so warm this winter and the ski season can hardly get started. Some of the hills haven't even open yet cos the snow is on strike and refuse to fall. Then there'll be one or two days that there's patches of snow falling getting everyone's hopes up that the ski season can finally begin, then 2 days later, the warm weather came back and the snow disappear and we all felt so cheated. Ring any belt with the NHL? I heard about they reopening the negotiation on late thurs. All I can think of then is: WHAT NOW , not to mention feeling extremely annoyed that they just couldn't stop irritating the fans any more than they've already had.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Feb 24, 2005 13:43:37 GMT -5
Do you know about this team, Ak Bars Kazan, from the Russian league? They have Vincent Lecavaalier, Ilja Kovaltjuk, Nikolaj Khabibulin, Darius Kasparatitis, Alexej Kovaljev, Mikael Nylander among others on their team.
Supposedly the best club team in the world now in off-NHL times. And only because the City of Kazan celebrates it's 1000 year birthday. I should add there are lots of oil and natural gas in that part of Russia.
Are you afraid Russia will outcompete the NHL if the conflict goes on to long? Some Russian are filthily rich and hockey is pretty big there.
|
|
|
Post by Lee on Feb 24, 2005 15:51:30 GMT -5
at the new title. But very appropriate.
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Mar 2, 2005 21:25:12 GMT -5
N.H.L. Players and Owners Are Still Keeping to ThemselvesBy JOE LAPOINTE Published: March 2, 2005 www.nytimes.com/2005/03/02/sports/hockey/02hockey.htmlEd Snider has owned the Philadelphia Flyers for their entire 39-year history, including their era in the 1970's as the Broad Street Bullies when they won back-to-back Stanley Cups. Snider has also helped negotiate collective bargaining agreements with the National Hockey League Players' Association. As he left the N.H.L. board of governors meeting in Manhattan yesterday, Snider was asked whether he would join the negotiations with Bob Goodenow, executive director of the union, to end the bitter lockout that caused the cancellation of this season and threatens the next. "No," Snider said. "I don't need aggravation from Bob Goodenow. I might jump over the table and try and choke him to death. That wouldn't be good. That's why they keep me out of the negotiations. I'm a throwback to the old hockey." Not all voices were as confrontational as Snider's yesterday, when the owners met in New York and the players met in Toronto. Gary Bettman, the N.H.L. commissioner, said he hoped to resume bargaining soon. But Bettman and some owners implied a different kind of threat as they answered questions about the use of replacement players next season. Asked several times in different ways about declaring an impasse, putting new work rules into effect and using replacements, Bettman was vague. He did indicate, however, that those were among the possibilities discussed in a gathering of more than 100 representatives of the league's 30 teams. "We haven't made any decisions other than to plan to open the rinks and hopefully with our players under a new C.B.A.," Bettman said, referring to a collective bargaining agreement. "We have not been more specific in terms of what our plans will be. I am not going to take a step back and let the lines of communication shut down. And if the union chooses to continue not to want to negotiate and solve the problems jointly, I can't force them to." Speaking about future negotiations, Bettman used precise language. "I assume they'll discharge their legal obligations to bargain in good faith," he said of the union. "I'm hopeful them choosing to not come to the table for some reason will not be an issue." Cal Nichols, chairman of the Edmonton Oilers, said, "We plan to play a season however it happens this coming year," and that replacement players would be used "only if we can't work out a deal with the union." But he added, "The Edmonton Oilers are planning to open the season as we always have, early in October." When asked whether the N.H.L. would hold an entry draft, Bettman's answer was ambiguous. "We won't have a draft until we have the new terms and conditions of employment in place," he said. Sidney Crosby, a 17-year-old native of Nova Scotia and considered the best junior prospect since Eric Lindros in 1991, is eligible for the draft this year. In Toronto, the union concluded two days of meetings among the membership, although union executives will also meet with player agents today. Trevor Linden, the president of the union, did not sound as eager as Bettman to resume collective bargaining. Negotiations between the sides broke down two weeks ago, despite a series of late compromises that suggested momentum toward a settlement. "It's important for both sides to take a little time to reassess," Linden said. "To get right back at it and start firing proposals, I'm not sure that's the right way to do it. To reflect, to decide which way to go, I think is important. At the appropriate time, there'll be discussion and we'll get back to it." The union offered a 24 percent rollback of salaries on Dec. 9. Two weeks ago, after the league said it would abandon its demand for a fixed link between wages and revenue, the union offered to drop its opposition to a salary cap. But the sides did not find a compromise between the league's figure of $42.5 million per team, with no exceptions, and the union's figure of $49 million, with a few exceptions. Other components were also in dispute; a final session of talks, three days after the formal cancellation, ended in disappointment on Feb 19. St. Louis Blues defenseman Chris Pronger, who worked with a splinter group of players to try to broker a deal outside the union's official channels, said a players-only session yesterday without Goodenow and his aides brought up "a lot of rumors, speculation and whatnot" that were put to rest. Goodenow said additional union meetings were necessary because so many players, more than 300, were playing in Europe. Referring to a resumption of collective bargaining, Goodenow said, "Once we're able to complete our internal communications, at the appropriate time we'll be continuing discussions." Each side dismissed suggestions that its ranks were not united and did not support their leaders. Goodenow said: "I don't think solidarity was ever really gone. In the 15 years that I've been in this position, every time the players get together, there's positive results. It's uncanny the way that it works." Bettman, when asked whether he could never make a deal with Goodenow, called it "a pessimistic and unfair characterization of the executive director of the union." After a larger gathering of owners and front-office staff members, the league meetings broke into executive session, with only one representative from each team. Bettman called the owners' unity absolute. Rick Westhead contributed reporting from Toronto for this article.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Mar 27, 2005 14:12:43 GMT -5
Finals time in the Swedish Championship: Frölunda, Göteborg vs. Färjestad, Karlstad Frölunda are favourites, they won the Elitserien and they have among others, Daniel Alfredsson on their team. Modo, with Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund and the Sedin twins, lost to Färjestad in the QFs, after they deliberately injured Forsberg. I know, the world of sports is beautiful. But I guess you're still in the "hockey, who cares?" mode. I know I am . Not that I've cared much after all the debacles of Team Sweden the last couple of years.
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Mar 28, 2005 0:01:37 GMT -5
Modo, with Peter Forsberg, Markus Näslund and the Sedin twins, lost to Färjestad in the QFs, after they deliberately injured Forsberg. I know, the world of sports is beautiful. What a line-up for the losing team. So are you happy or sad that they lost? I mean, which one is your team? And Forsberg, injured again, what's new? But it's not nice that someone deliberately injure him.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Mar 28, 2005 3:46:15 GMT -5
My team doesn't even play in the Elitserien. They got relegated a couple of years ago. And then again for financial trouble.
|
|
|
Post by leena on Mar 28, 2005 12:12:38 GMT -5
I miss hockey.
I want to watch these European leagues in Sweden or Switzerland, or wherever.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Mar 29, 2005 10:06:55 GMT -5
I wish the fat old guys in charge could recreate the European league. And decrease the number of matches in the national leagues. In Sweden it's really boring to see some of the teams square off six times even before the play-offs.
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Mar 31, 2005 0:39:50 GMT -5
I wish there is a European league here . I'm not missing hockey a bit anymore, which is kind of sad . I'm not sure if I prefer they play replacement players next year or not have a season at all. I mean, minor league hasn't interest me a bit so far, the replacement players wouldn't be that much better. And would that do any good to have a National Hockey League without the best hockey players? Certainly replacement players aren't enough to build the league back up from this year's disaster anyway, so why bother. Teams play each other 5 or 6 times during regular season here if they are in the same division. Usually, they are bitter rivalry for playing so much against each other and their game are extra fun. So it's not so boring for me.
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Mar 31, 2005 0:41:06 GMT -5
I don't miss hockey so much, but I surely miss the hockey talk :red: .
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Mar 31, 2005 14:41:46 GMT -5
Teams play each other 5 or 6 times during regular season here if they are in the same division. Usually, they are bitter rivalry for playing so much against each other and their game are extra fun. So it's not so boring for me. I'm more into soccer and in soccer teams usually only meet twice a year.
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Apr 9, 2005 13:40:48 GMT -5
Sweden beats Finland 5-2 in bronze-medal game at women's worlds April 9, 2005 LINKOPING, Sweden (AP) -- Maria Rooth scored twice, leading Sweden to a 5-2 victory over Finland in the bronze-medal game Saturday at the women's world hockey championship. It was the first third-place finish for Sweden in nine championships. Later Saturday, eight-time defending champion Canada played the United States in the final. Finland led 2-1 after two periods, but Anna Vikman and Emilie O'Konor scored power-play goals four minutes apart early in the third to take the lead for good. At Norrkoping, Kazakhstan edged Russia 2-1 after a penalty shootout to finish seventh. _______________________________________ Congrats. Hey, your women national team wins something, the men team should try it sometimes. Go Canada!
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Apr 20, 2005 4:26:24 GMT -5
20 players have said no to Team Sweden for the upcoming World Championships. Among them are Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin and Niklas Lidström. They can go to hell. They will be known as the generation that never lived up to the hype anyway. In Finland they're laughing at us. Kudos to Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg, the Sedins and the others who aren't quitters. Ice-hockey has become the sport I love to hate the last couple of years, mainly due to Team Sweden's many fiascos in the big tournamnents. Nevertheless, I'll probably sit there like a sucker in front of the telly, come QF or Swe-Fin time in the WCs.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Apr 20, 2005 4:29:34 GMT -5
Btw, Frölunda, Alfredsson's team won the Swedish Championships. They beat Färjestad 4-1 in the finals series. They were clearly the superiour team all season, so well deserved victory for them.
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Apr 22, 2005 19:06:33 GMT -5
20 players have said no to Team Sweden for the upcoming World Championships. Among them are Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin and Niklas Lidström. They can go to hell. They will be known as the generation that never lived up to the hype anyway. In Finland they're laughing at us. Kudos to Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg, the Sedins and the others who aren't quitters. Ice-hockey has become the sport I love to hate the last couple of years, mainly due to Team Sweden's many fiascos in the big tournamnents. Nevertheless, I'll probably sit there like a sucker in front of the telly, come QF or Swe-Fin time in the WCs. Do they say why they aren't playing? Is Naslund playing? Just curious. lol. The sad thing about addiction, you can hate it, you can't get away from it.
|
|
|
Post by Vera on Apr 22, 2005 19:07:25 GMT -5
NHL won't start next season with replacement players By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer April 21, 2005
NEW YORK (AP) -- The NHL is searching for a deal, not replacements for its locked-out players.
With speculation mounting that hockey would return next season no matter what, even if that meant using replacement players, commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday that the league won't return to the ice in October if a new collective bargaining agreement hasn't been reached with the players' association.
No deal, no hockey.
That's the party line for now. There is no telling how long that will last.
``We are planning to open on time. If we don't have our players we won't be able to, but our effort is going to be gearing up to open the regular season on time,'' Bettman said after meeting with the board of governors for four hours Wednesday.
After the last board meeting March 1, Bettman and the governors seemed certain that there would be hockey in the fall, CBA or not.
Bettman wouldn't address potential scenarios of how the league could get back on the ice without an agreement with the union, but the use of replacement players appeared to be the only other solution. That is no longer the case as the lockout drags on into its eighth month.
``If we do not have a new collective bargaining agreement, we will not open the season on time,'' Bettman said. ``If that is an eventuality at that juncture, we will have to start again on what options we will pursue.''
Already having the negative distinction of being the first major sports league in North America to lose an entire season to a labor dispute, the NHL doesn't seem anxious to jump into the arena of substitute players.
``We have stayed out of the replacement player debate since we thought it was a poorly conceived and ill-advised strategy,'' Bob Goodenow, the executive director of the players' association, said. ``Finally, it appears the league has come to realize it would be bad for the fans, the sport and the business.
``The NHL should focus its efforts on reaching an agreement with the players.''
Bettman was adamant that the board was as unified as ever and said there was plenty of support for all scenarios should a deal with the union fall out of reach.
``Exploring your options, doesn't mean you're doing it or not doing it,'' Bettman said. ``It doesn't mean it's a good idea or bad idea.''
Bettman wouldn't even use the term replacements, choosing ``new players'' instead.
He didn't set a deadline for a deal and he hasn't presented one to Goodenow. The lockout was imposed last Sept. 16 after the expiration of the previous agreement.
Representatives from all 30 NHL teams met in New York for the second time in seven weeks.
``It was really just a far-reaching discussion of all the alternatives and updating us,'' said Richard Peddie, the president of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment. ``In the end, everyone agreed 'let's keep focusing on trying to get a deal.'''
Both the NHL and the players' association said that no progress was made during a six-hour negotiating session Tuesday.
That was the fifth trip to the table for the sides since the season was called off in February.
NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly said he was hoping to schedule multiple meetings per week with the players' association over the next couple of weeks. Negotiations could even take place in Austria, where the hockey world championships will be held from April 30-May 15.
``They're inching toward an agreement,'' Dallas Stars president Jim Lites said. ``We're on the same page. We're talking concepts that maybe a year ago were pretty foreign to both sides.''
In an April 4 meeting, the union came up with an idea that addresses the relationship between player costs and league revenues.
The concept, discussed extensively Tuesday, contains an upper and lower salary cap that would float among the teams depending on revenues from year to year. Financially successful years would increase the thresholds, but poor seasons would lower them.
Where the numbers fall and what the range would be is not close to being agreeable.
``The union said for as long as anyone can remember that they'll never, ever, ever agree to a cap, but is now negotiating a cap. That's the good news,'' Bettman said. ``The bad news is there is no economic reality to what we need. But at least now we're in a negotiating session where it's dollars and cents.''
The topic of revenue sharing -- what the players' association contends is a key to any deal -- was not broached by the board on Wednesday.
Nor was the draft, and what team will have the chance to pick Canadian phenom Sidney Crosby with the first selection.
``For Gary to say the negotiations are now only a matter of dollars and cents is both simplistic and misleading,'' Goodenow said. ``There continue to be a myriad of issues to address, including player rights and system issues that impact the daily lives and careers of players, the way the game is played and marketed, and the growing financial disparities between clubs in a league with no meaningful revenue sharing.''
The league is still negotiating with ESPN, which has until June 1 to decide whether to exercise its option to broadcast games next season.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on Apr 23, 2005 0:42:41 GMT -5
Do they say why they aren't playing? Is Naslund playing? Just curious. lol. The sad thing about addiction, you can hate it, you can't get away from it. Markus Näslund is not playing either . Mats Näslund was better.
|
|
|
Post by fatboy aphex on May 2, 2005 15:35:26 GMT -5
The 2005 Ice-hockey World Championships ,in Austria, started yesterday. This is the official web-site: web1.icehockey2005.com/But it really doesn't start properly until the QF's , at least not for big-shot ice-hockey countries like Sweden, Canada and USA among others.
|
|