Equally Obnoxious Hockey Trash Talk Thread, eh?

[emjay]

At least I still get to PLAY hockey. To me that's much more important than paying to watch...

Oddly enough, I don't really care whether or not you get to play hockey.

 

[Boleslaus]

Oddly enough, I don't really care whether or not you get to play hockey.

Well you can come pay to watch, if that floats your boat! I'm assuming you played a little in your day?

 

[emjay]

Well you can come pay to watch, if that floats your boat! I'm assuming you played a little in your day?

Do you not see my location?

Yes. A "little".

 

[Boleslaus]

Do you not see my location?

Yes. A "little".

That's the only reason why I said so. I grew up in Buffalo. Feels like I spent half of my fall/winter in Toronto playing travel hockey.

 

[crosschk]

I want to know why the gms and owners are still signing players to contracts with only days left in the cba?

 

[paulster2626]

I want to know why the gms and owners are still signing players to contracts with only days left in the cba?

Because you cannot sign them to anything when they are locked-out. In fact, the NHL owners and teams are to have no contact with players while a lockout is in effect.

We're headed down the worst road, and I blame the NHLPA. They won't budge, despite the NHL's recent movements and willing to negotiate a reasonable settlement. The billionaire owners can outlast the millionaire players, there is no doubt. Why the NHLPA doesn't see this and simply move to a 50/50 HRR % split defies logic.

Splitting up a $3.3Billion pie among 30 teams and 750 players isn't that difficult.

Oh well, guess I'll be seeing a lot more Guelph Storm games.

Oh, I get to play hockey too.

 

[arturo7]

Ya buncha bastidges. After 4 knee surgeries, all I can do is watch...

 

[Boleslaus]

Ya buncha bastidges. After 4 knee surgeries, all I can do is watch...

Coach!

 

[MeatyPortion]

Ya buncha bastidges. After 4 knee surgeries, all I can do is watch...

Analyze!

 

[paulster2626]

Ya buncha bastidges. After 4 knee surgeries, all I can do is watch...

Capologist!

 

[Homercidal]

Tell me these quotes are from an awsome hockey movie that I haven't seen yet.

 

[arturo7]

I went to one game after the last surgery. Absolutely no fun. Haven't been to a rink since.

 

[arturo7]

Quote from Ken Dryden:

"The fact is, both the owners and players are doing relatively fine. Their fight is not one of economic necessity. Bettman needs to win because he won last time, and he’s a winner. The players need to win because they lost last time and have to prove they’re not losers. The two sides didn’t really start to negotiate until July because there wasn’t much to talk about, and because for each to win what he needed to win, neither could agree before the collective agreement expired. There’s no agreement because neither needs an agreement. It’s not a fight they need to have. They fight because they can."

 

[paulster2626]

Quote from Ken Dryden:

"The fact is, both the owners and players are doing relatively fine. Their fight is not one of economic necessity. Bettman needs to win because he won last time, and he’s a winner. The players need to win because they lost last time and have to prove they’re not losers. The two sides didn’t really start to negotiate until July because there wasn’t much to talk about, and because for each to win what he needed to win, neither could agree before the collective agreement expired. There’s no agreement because neither needs an agreement. It’s not a fight they need to have. They fight because they can."

So Ken Dryden is an idiot then. This really makes no sense.

 

[arturo7]

Makes perfect sense. He's basically saying there's no real need for a strike. It's as much about egos as anything else.

 

[paulster2626]

Makes perfect sense. He's basically saying there's no real need for a strike. It's as much about egos as anything else.

Well egos, and a $3.3 billion pie to fight over.

 

[arturo7]

Fvcking jackasses didn't even meet today...

 

[Boleslaus]

I think "slipped silently into lockout" pretty much sums it up. My men's league team held a moment of silence at the bar tonight, but thats pretty much the extent of the recognition.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

On NHL.com this morning:

Despite the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the National Hockey League has been, and remains, committed to negotiating around the clock to reach a new CBA that is fair to the Players and to the 30 NHL teams.

Thanks to the conditions fostered by seven seasons under the previous CBA, competitive balance has created arguably the most meaningful regular season in pro sports; a different team has won the Stanley Cup every year; fans and sponsors have agreed the game is at its best, and the League has generated remarkable growth and momentum. While our last CBA negotiation resulted in a seismic change in the League's economic system, and produced corresponding on-ice benefits, our current negotiation is focused on a fairer and more sustainable division of revenues with the Players -- as well as other necessary adjustments consistent with the objectives of the economic system we developed jointly with the NHL Players' Association seven years ago.
Those adjustments are attainable through sensible, focused negotiation -- not through rhetoric.

This is a time of year for all attention to be focused on the ice, not on a meeting room. The League, the Clubs and the Players all have a stake in resolving our bargaining issues appropriately and getting the puck dropped as soon as possible. We owe it to each other, to the game and, most of all, to the fans.

Thanks Gar, thanks owners, listening to you guys cry about players who you regularly, and willingly sign to dozen year, $100 mil contracts making "too much money" is far more important to the fans than actual hockey. In fact, I know most of us shell out hard earned dollars, to the tune of many billions, not for the love of the sport, but in hopes that some greed mongering suit who cares (and knows) little about the game uses this empowerment to insist that his players take a cut in the salary he agreed to.

 

[MeatyPortion]

I know there's a lot of intricate details and compelling arguments on why I should take seriously the negotiations between an international sports league and its many talented athletes but when they get into a situation like this it sounds to me like a nursery school class that's run out of juice boxes.

 

[paulster2626]

On NHL.com this morning:


Thanks Gar, thanks owners, listening to you guys cry about players who you regularly, and willingly sign to dozen year, $100 mil contracts making "too much money" is far more important to the fans than actual hockey. In fact, I know most of us shell out hard earned dollars, to the tune of many billions, not for the love of the sport, but in hopes that some greed mongering suit who cares (and knows) little about the game uses this empowerment to insist that his players take a cut in the salary he agreed to.

That's the point though. In order to try to make money, teams have to be competitive. In order to be competitive, they have to work within the limits of the CBA. This means giving players what they want, and having to worry about it later on (i.e. a new CBA).

It's a two-way street you know. A team has to offer a certain contract sure, but a player still needs to sign it. Something tells me Parise and Suter weren't all that concerned with the profitability of the Wild or the effects of their contracts on the rest of the League when they sat in their crystal palaces waiting for the highest bidder to come and woo them.

Something tells me Weber wasn't all that concerned with the future of Nashville when he signed that offer sheet the Flyers gave him.

The owners may have shot themselves in the foot with some bad decisions, but it's not like the players have been looking after the health of the game over and above their own bottom lines either.

Both parties are responsible, and both parties will have to give up a little bit of the $3.3Billion+ pie. It's just a matter of time before they realize this.

 

[Homercidal]

That's the point though. In order to try to make money, teams have to be competitive. In order to be competitive, they have to work within the limits of the CBA. This means giving players what they want, and having to worry about it later on.

It's a two-way street you know. A team has to offer a certain contract sure, but a player still needs to sign it. Something tells me Parise and Suter weren't all that concerned with the profitability of the Wild or the effects of their contracts on the rest of the League when they sat in their crystal palaces waiting for the highest bidder to come and woo them.

The owners may have shot themselves in the foot with some bad decisions, but it's not like the players haven't been looking after the health of the game over and above their own bottom lines either.

Both parties are responsible, and both parties will have to give up a little bit of the $3.3Billion+ pie. It's just a matter of time before they realize this.

Ok, this is just crazy. NO team is going to show their financials to a prospective player. Period.

The player HAS to leave the decision-making to the teams owners.

Negotiating for a contract is, and always will be part of the game. The player can never force a team to pay them more than they can afford. The team can always decline to pay a player more than they can afford.

 

[Goofynewfie]

I dont blame the players for signing the contract. are you telling me that if I came up to uou with a 100 million contract to work for me for the next decade that you would tell me no it was too much money?

 

[paulster2626]

I dont blame the players for signing the contract. are you telling me that if I came up to uou with a 100 million contract to work for me for the next decade that you would tell me no it was too much money?

That's not what I said.

I wouldn't take it and then tell you that I was concerned about the whole health of my industry. I would take it and tell you I was concerned about me making as much money as I could possibly make.

Then I'd piss and moan about any mention of a salary rollback, and as soon as a lockout started I'd shuffle off to Russia to play in a lesser league for very little money, and take a job away from some Russian scrub trying to scrape together a living playing over there.

I'd probably just be honest and tell you that I've only ever looked out for myself, and really I don't care about the rest of the league, any other hockey players in the world, or any of these precious fans either. I'd admit to my greed and hopefully help everyone move on from BS rhetoric and get to dividing up the billions of dollars on the table as greedily as possible.

 

[Homercidal]

Wow. That's some spin right there.

Bettman, is that you??

 

[paulster2626]

Wow. That's some spin right there.

Bettman, is that you??

Not spin. The greed on both sides is unbelievable. But people say the NHLPA are innocent bystanders who are going to get screwed by the League, and it's just not true.

$3.3 Billion to divide between 30 owners and 700 or so players? EVERYONE can still make their millions. It shouldn't be this difficult.

 

[Goofynewfie]

Ok, not a spin but Bettman would pay his speechwriters alot of money for coming up with something like that.
I do agree with you though that they should be able to come up with a solution, there is no innocent party in this. I just feel that if the owners were really serious about stopping these type of contract they wouldn't propose to get rid of them and then continue to offer them afterwards. ever since the league said they wanted to limit the contract length to 5 years how many players have signed a contract longer than that?

 

[paulster2626]

Ok, not a spin but Bettman would pay his speechwriters alot of money for coming up with something like that.
I do agree with you though that they should be able to come up with a solution, there is no innocent party in this. I just feel that if the owners were really serious about stopping these type of contract they wouldn't propose to get rid of them and then continue to offer them afterwards. ever since the league said they wanted to limit the contract length to 5 years how many players have signed a contract longer than that?

Thing is, if you're in a group of guys who are going to make the new rules, you can basically do whatever you want. Does anyone honestly think these players are going to get all the money that they just signed deals for? I don't. The teams are just trying to lock in their assets for the maximum term possible.

The owners will win this one. It's up to the players to decide when they're going to start playing the same game and try to mitigate their losses.

 

[Homercidal]

"The league has parity - but we still want more."

"Record revenue past several years - but we still want more."

"We could allow playing while we continue negotiating - but that would weaken our position a little, and we still want more."

"Every portion of the proposed CBA takes from the players and gives to the teams - but we still want more."

-Gary Bettman, paraphrased.

 

[paulster2626]

"The league has parity - but we still want more."

"Record revenue past several years - but we still want more."

"We could allow playing while we continue negotiating - but that would weaken our position a little, and we still want more."

"Every portion of the proposed CBA takes from the players and gives to the teams - but we still want more."

-Gary Bettman, paraphrased.

So you're saying the owners are greedy? Can't argue with that.

Problem is we've got greedy players as well. Greed + Greed = No Hockey For You!

OHL, here I come!!