Archives for February 16, 2005

'Quinn said the Sabres lost an estimated $7 million by not playing this year less what they would have lost had the season been played. He worries fans will be put off by the lockout and the game's descent to rock bottom, but sees a silver lining in the opportunity to reform. ''We're all living through it here in Erie County and the city of Buffalo,'' he said. ''The problems we're facing in our community, our government, were also all predictable, and yet we all hit the rocks.'''

'“This is not about greed, this is about a fair deal,” said Goodenow. “If you want to talk about greed, I suggest you ask the other side.”'

'It's not a certainty but it's widely speculated the next step in this dispute will be the filing of an impasse by the league with the respective labor boards in the United States and Canada. As the majority of NHL franchises are located in the U.S., it's anticipated the league will file with the National Labor Relations Board first. It could take longer to get a decision from the Canadian boards since labor laws in Canada are done at the provincial rather than federal level and the laws differ in each province. Such a move would be potentially time-consuming, complex and fraught with legal pitfalls. Boiled down to its essence, if Bettman files for an impasse, he could point to the offers to increase the hard cap level and removing linkage of salaries to revenues as genuine attempts on his part to negotiate in good faith, painting the association as unwilling to compromise. Conversely, Goodenow could argue that his offers of a 24 percent salary rollback and acceptance of a higher cap level tied to revenue sharing nullify any claim of impasse from the league.'

'“This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided.'''

'“We were not as close as some people we speculating,” said Bettman. “We were not talking about some small difference at all, we were still very far apart.”'

'How can Goodenow go back and look his union in the eye after caving to a cap earlier this week. It isn't the fact that he caved — that often has to happen for labor strifes to be settled — but it's when he caved. If the NHLPA would have come off its no-cap stance a month ago, perhaps I'd be here writing about an actual game or player rather than this junk. And Mr. Bettman, why come off your demand for linkage after your ominous weekend deadline passed? Again, if this happened in December maybe the gaps that have been partially bridged since Monday could have actually been completed.'

'The animus that will have festered during this protracted labor dispute will make it virtually impossible for Bettman and Goodenow to continue to serve effectively — if you think eviscerating the sport is service.'

'All I can say is I've never seen a worse display of bad faith bargaining and disingenuous dithering. No matter how much either side conceded, Bettman and his squinty-eyed, toothpick-chewing henchmen were intent on turning the NHL into a designer label version of the minor leagues where a fair patch of readers say they are enjoying hockey at reasonable prices.'

'The league and union were roughly $6.5 million away from a possible deal, as a last-ditch effort to save the season brought about new numbers from both sides.'

'A lockout over a salary cap shut down the game before it ever got a chance to start in October. Now the NHL, already low on the popularity scale in the United States, becomes the first major pro sports league in North America to lose an entire season to a labor dispute.'