papazoid

again, this is all about Donald Fehr.....he wants to go down as the greatest sports players union head of all time.... does anyone think that he would agree to whatever was bargained in his absence ???.....it's laughable, this was an attempt by Bettman to circumvent Fehr.....thats not happening..... if Fehr had told the players, i think this is the best deal we can get....they would have followed...overwhemingly !! but he didn't, he told them to hold out, that he, the great Don Fehr could do better.....

NHL REJECTS NHLPA'S OFFER, NO FUTURE TALKS PLANNED.... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=411086

A source told ESPN.com that the NHL offered to raise the amount of the "Make Whole" provision, one of the key bargaining points in negotiations, to $300 million in total, up from $211 million in its last offer. Other details of the league's offer, as confirmed to ESPN.com: • The league is backing off contracting rights demands on unrestricted free agency age (27) and salary arbitration, offering to keep both the same. • However, the league is staying firm on asking for five-year term limits for contracts and a 5 percent salary variance; the only exception is a team signing its own free agent, in which case a contract could go to seven years in term. • The league wants a 10-year term on the new CBA; a source told ESPNNewYork.com that the idea behind the 10-year deal is to ease the initial burden for clubs on transition payments. As details filtered out about concessions made by the league, so did concerns about the players-owners-only format moving forward. Multiple sources told ESPNNewYork.com that there is some concern among the union's membership that the format may be an attempt to divide the players. Additionally, one source informed ESPNNewYork.com that the union told the league that, going forward, there are no restrictions as to who is in the room and each side can bring back whomever it wants. The source described the day's negotiating sessions as "bizarre" and said that while the two sides are closer in some ways, in others they are further apart. The evening session was described as "very delicate," a source inside the room told ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8718146/nhl-players-union-exchange-proposals-sources-say

tuesday's meeting....COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME..... neither side can be seen as rejecting an opportunity/offer to meet and bargain....hence another sham meeting...

other than the lawyers....

it hasn't even gotten ugly yet..... the union will decertify....before the decert vote is even final, the NHL will be the first to court, to get a favorable jurisdiction, calling it a sham move. then all hell will break loose with all sorts of lawsuits..... mark my words....one year from now.....still no hockey....

Fehr's master plan is total free agency for players.....

The National Hockey League and NHL Players' Association wrapped up two straight days of meetings with federal mediators in Iselin, New Jersey on Thursday trying to spur negotiations towards a new collective bargaining agreement. Sources indicated that no progress was made and that no more meetings with mediators were planned. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=410527

Legal Look....everything you need to know on Mediation..... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=410377

NEW YORK -- Marvin Miller, the soft-spoken union head who led baseball players in a series of strikes and legal battles that won free agency, revolutionized sports and turned athletes into multimillionaires, died Tuesday. He was 95. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8682184/marvin-miller-mlbpa-first-leader-dies-95 "Marvin possessed a combination of integrity, intelligence, eloquence, courage and grace that is simply unmatched in my experience," said Donald Fehr, a successor to Miller as union head. "Without question, Marvin had more positive influence on Major League Baseball than any other person in the last half of the 20th century."

Cohen originally assigned three mediators to assist negotiations -- deputy director Beckenbaugh, director of mediation services Sweeney and commissioner Guy Serota. But Serota was removed later in the day because of a Twitter account that may have been tampered with. Cohen said Serota was removed because "within one hour after I issued a press release ... it has been called to my attention that there are issues involving an allegedly hacked Twitter account associated with commissioner Guy Serota." He said Serota was removed "to immediately dispel any cloud on the mediation process, and without regard to the merits of the allegations." http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=410329

Legal Look....everything you need to know on NHLPA Decertification..... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=410312

federal mediator......just going thru the motions/playbook.......complete waste of time......union will decertify, then players head to court. at this rate, all of this season and half of next season will be wiped out.....

Nothing is officially planned yet, but NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly expects collective bargaining to resume this week, http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/26/daly-expects-negotiating-to-resume-this-week/

here are Fehr's most recent comments from saturday's Atlantic City charity game... “If the cap is going to be limited, the player contracting rights – which is where the individual player has an opportunity to get his share of the pie – have to be constricted too, those become more, not less, important to players as cap space is limited,” Fehr said. “And so when you say we have to have with the right hand, and I’m going to give you with the left hand that’s one thing. If they say we have to take with the right hand and we’re gonna take with the left hand too, that becomes very difficult. When you add to that that the rights of the players they believe they must maintain are what they got in the last negotiation in return for massive concessions there, it becomes very difficult.” http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/rangers/2012/11/don-fehr-meets-with-players-in-atlantic-city-reaffirms-importance-of-protecting-cont

Leigh Steinberg slams lockout, NHL’s “disappearing act” The National Hockey League and their players have performed a magic trick that would leave David Copperfield speechless. They have taken a profitable and exciting 2011-2012 season that brought them increased attendance, television ratings and exposure, topped by a captivating battle between teams in the nation’s two largest media markets and managed to disappear the following season into thin air. As NFL playoff races heat up, the battle for BCS supremacy and bowl game positioning in college football is at its peak. The NBA season has started to take shape, and we move towards Holiday Season–does anyone really care? http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/25/leigh-steinberg-slams-lockout-nhls-disappearing-act/

STRONG WORDS: According to the Washington Post, Troy Brouwer, one of the Capitals' two player representatives to the union, was frustrated by the recent comments made by his teammates about the NHLPA and the current lockout. "For me, I think those guys selling us out, being selfish like that and making those comments..." Brouwer continued. "Me being on their team, how am I going to trust them as a teammate from now on? Because you know they're not going to support players in the big scheme of things when you go and you play on the team with them; it's going to be tough to want to back those guys from now on." http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=410109

Bill Daly says decertification “would likely lead to the end of the season” Friday in an interview with Sportsnet radio, Daly called decertification a “time consuming process that would likely lead to the end of the season.” http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/23/daly-says-decertification-would-likely-lead-to-the-end-of-the-season/

oh, it's happening.....all part of Fehr's diabolical master plan.....the players don't even realize it yet.....but it is in their best interest to get rid of the salary cap....and Fehr's ultimate goal, is to do just that.....

this is heading to the courts.... Step #1- DECERTIFICATION....... On pretty much every NHLPA conference call with the players in past weeks, there's been some discussion on the potential of decertification as an NHLPA strategic tool. But on each of those calls, the emphasis always turned towards negotiating a settlement with the NHL and decertification was shelved. Until last night's conference call, that is. For the first time, when decertification was brought up, there was no stated objective to it. A number of NHL players who might have otherwise have raised an objection or concern to it didn't because they said the climate on the call, after the NHL rejected what the players thought was a significant proposal, was too hot to talk of moderation. After last night's player call, it is fair to say that NHLPA executive director Don Fehr has the mandate or green light to go down the decertification road. That doesn't necessarily mean decertification is imminent or that the actual process is underway, but multiple sources say it is unquestionably on the next page of the NHLPA playbook and that is a viable option that may soon become reality. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=410081 Once a union or association is decertified, its legal counsel must seek a preliminary injunction in court that basically says this mass of individual players with contracts is ready, willing and able to fulfill those contracts and that any existing lockout is illegal. And if the court rules in favor of the players, they would be returning to a league with no legal CBA in place and the league would not necessarily have any anti-trust exemptions. What's that mean in English? The lockout would be considered illegal. No draft, no salary cap, no real rules of any kind, in theory. Potentially, it's chaos. Often times, the mere threat of decertification and going down that uncertain road is what pushes together warring CBA factions.

the biggest problem with a boycott in sports......besides, the fact they don't work.....is that season ticket holders have already paid in advance and are expected to not attend/use them as some show of protest ?? that is an unfair burden on them.....then, by the time renewals roll around, most have forgiven the owners & players. when it's all finally over, it's the fans who will take it in the azz, as ticket prices in future years will go up, to make up for this recent lost revenue.

NHLPA memo to the players outlining the union's Nov. 21 proposal that was sent to the National Hockey League: The NHLPA's Negotiating Committee today provided the NHL Owners with a comprehensive 6 page proposal on the key issues (see below). As you will read in the proposal, the players have made substantial moves in order to address all of the owners' concerns, end the owners' lockout and get the game back on the ice. Our proposal works off the league's proposed language/structures and moves off our position that there be a guaranteed players' share. These are major moves in the owners' direction. Regarding player contractual issues, we have also addressed the owners concerns regarding back-diving contacts and NHL contacts being "buried" in the minors. Now that we have made this proposal, there is no longer any doubt as to how far apart the parties are in dollars. As you will recall, we had previously said we thought the gap was less than $200M, while the owners had said that the gap was much larger and close to $1B. Under our proposal, it is now undisputed that the gap is only $182 M over 5 years. Now it is up to the owners to finally make a move towards the players. At the same time, we have protected player rights by refusing to accept their proposals restricting free agency and salary arbitration. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=409992

folks ?

Hamrlik thinks Fehr should be ousted if season gets canceled “I am disgusted,” Hamrlik said. “We have to push Fehr to the wall to get the deal. Time is against us. We lost [one-quarter of the] season, [about] $425M. Who will give it back to us? Mr. Fehr? There should be voting between players. Four questions – YES or NO – then count it. If half of players say lets play, then they should sign new CBA. If there is no season he should leave and we will find someone new. Time is our enemy.” http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/21/hamrlik-thinks-fehr-should-be-ousted-if-season-gets-canceled/

NEW YORK -- Donald Fehr said a new proposal in collective bargaining is "about as good" as the NHL Players' Association can do, according to reports. The offer was put on the table on Wednesday morning, according to the Canadian Press. Fehr said the union had put forward a percentage-based proposal that takes into account the damage caused by the lockout. He said the sides are $182 million apart over the five-year deal, according to the report. http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8659872/nhl-nhlpa-182-million-apart-donald-fehr-says-report let's see, if my math is correct....$182 million divided by 5 years is $36.4 million divided by 30 teams is about $1.25 million per year, per team...... $3 Billion in revenue per year, times 50 %(owners share) is $1.5 Billion, divided by 30 teams, is $50 million per team.