Showing posts with label Gary Bettman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gary Bettman. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 03, 2014

CBC: Gary Bettman shoots down NHL expansion talk



Of course he did... The NHL doesn't like others to break their news for them. I just don't believe it, the NHL stands to make a lot of money off of adding more teams to the league... I guess we will find out soon, right? Personally, for me, the more the merrier.

The Canadian Press -- Gary Bettman has vehemently denied the NHL is considering expansion.

But the commissioner said if it ever does, prospective owners may have to pay up big time.

Sports Business News reported via Twitter last week the NHL will expand into Las Vegas, Seattle, and Quebec City while adding a second franchise in Toronto by 2017.

On Wednesday, Bettman called the report a "complete fabrication," and took issue with the franchise fees cited in the story — $1.4 billion US, or $350 million per team.

'Nobody's moving. And speculation to the contrary not only is wrong, it's unfair to the team and their fans who are being speculated about.'

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

No NHL players in 2018 Olympic games?

I think it’s a horrible idea to not send the NHL players to the 2018 Olympics games. I like the concept of having the best players in the world playing in the Olympics games. The hockey this season has been amazing.
Steve Keating -- SOCHI, Russia (Reuters)The National Hockey League (NHL) was non-committal about players' future participation in the Olympics on Tuesday, leaving open the possibility that the Sochi Games might be the last to showcase the world's best players.

The three most powerful men in hockey - Rene Fasel, head of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players Association chief Donald Fehr - had no firm answers for reporters when asked whether NHL players would be back in four years' time.

"Yes, Rene would love for Don and I to say today that we are coming (to Pyeongchang), but he knows that's not the case," said Bettman. "This is the fifth time we have participated in the Olympic tournament - where we are in this process should not be a shock to anybody."

In North America, talk persists that Sochi will mark the final time that NHL players will be seen on Olympic ice. Bettman insisted nothing has been decided and negotiations would continue, as has been the case after every Winter Games.
I remain hopeful that will see the NHL players in Pyeongchang. Thoughts on this?
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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Bettman upholds Thornton's 15-game suspension

The Ruling has come down. The NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has upheld Shawn Thornton's 15-game suspension.


NEW YORK -- Commissioner Gary Bettman today upheld the 15-game suspension that was assessed to Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton by the Department of Player Safety for punching and injuring an unsuspecting opponent, Brooks Orpik of the Pittsburgh Penguins, in NHL Game No. 438 at Boston on Dec. 7.

Commissioner Bettman heard Thornton's appeal at a hearing in New York on Friday, Dec. 20. The original decision was assessed Dec. 14.

The incident occurred at 11:06 of the first period. Thornton was assessed a match penalty for violating NHL Rule 46.15.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Thornton will forfeit $84,615.45. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Click here to view Commissioner's complete ruling (PDF)

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Bettman upholds Buffalo Sabres "Rat" Patrick Kaleta's 10-game suspension

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007.
English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There was a some good news today. I love the fact that the NHL stood strong and wouldn't reduce Buffalo Sabres Foward/Rat Patrick Kaleta's 10 game suspension. I think it's the right call and it's the first step in the right diection in further preventing theses of dirty hits. Like I said before, I am all for gritty play and big hits, but there's no defending hits to head that violate the NHL's rule 48.
NEW YORK -- Commissioner Gary Bettman today upheld the 10-game suspension that was assessed to Buffalo Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta by the Department of Player Safety for an illegal check to the head of Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson in NHL Game No. 49 in Buffalo on October 10.

Commissioner Bettman heard Kaleta's appeal of the original decision, assessed Oct. 15, at a hearing in New York on Monday.

Kaleta is considered a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, will forfeit $152,439.00. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

The incident occurred at 3:08 of the first period.
You can read what the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had to say about the Kaleta Suspension and why he denied shortening the Buffalo forward's suspension. (Click to View)
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Monday, August 05, 2013

NHL Hockey: Yotes staying in the Arizona



Looks like the NHL's Coyotes are going to stay in Phoenix, Arizona. With the approval of the NHL board of Governors, this saga is over. There has been some question over the last few years. Finally, there is an actual deal... Here's the official press release for the sale.


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Friday, June 07, 2013

A Farewell to a Flagship, an interesting factoid, and an Interesting Comment by a Blowhard (RW77)

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007.
English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Say-Oh Nara Pittsburgh

Sad day for Gary Bettman, the NHL PR office, and the city of Pittsburgh.  Their glorious flagship franchise and their face of the NHL is now hanging up their skates for the offseason.   In truth, with the exception of Matt Cooke, there isn't a lot to NOT like about the Penguins... if you forget about all the media hype and attention lorded upon that franchise for seemingly no other reason other than Sidney Crosby.

The truth is, the same thing that haunted the Pens since Crosby was drafted reared its ugly head again:  Bad Team D and spotty goaltending.  The Penguins defense simply ISN'T GOOD.  In many regards, UND fans can understand this by stating the following:  Pittsburgh plays a similar game to Minnesota Gopher hockey.  The Penguins, like the Gophers, are a slick passing, great puck handling, finesse style team that can be disrupted and handled if you can play solid D and be physical.  The Bruins are solid defensively and played very physically.  They swept the Pens.  It was that simple.

The Bruins weren't flashy.  They weren't especially fun to watch (sorry Goon and B's fans).  They were sturdy, lunch pail type players... and Gregory Campbell wins the word for Oh my Goodness fortitude.  Good grief.  They don't nearly have the hype surrounding them as the Pens do.  And the B's let the Pens keep the hype.  I'm sure the media covered the victors only because they had to while really pining to get to the Pens lockerroom to see what the Golden Child had to say.

As for goaltending I don't know what to say about Tomas Vokoun.  I REALLY like Tomas.  I thought he was one of THE most underrated goaltenders in the entire NHL for about a 5 year stretch (until Halak stole that title from him while with Montreal).  It's sad that he's on the decline of his career and he'll have nothing to show for it.  Vokoun and Iginla (again, sorry B's fans) are two of the only players on the Pens I sympathize with.

As for Fleury, I said it before and I say it again:  Fleury is in the top 3 for most overrated goaltenders in the NHL.  The other two being Carey Price (Montreal) and Roberto Luongo (Vancouver), though Luongo is fading from this list because his career is fading as well.  I think Jonas Hiller of Anaheim may take Luongo's spot before long.  To be nicer to Fleury, though, Price is still #1 in this category.  But there's time left despite Price holding the edge in age.

Where do the Pens go from here?  To the Golf Course.

Good riddance.   Now Mr. Bettman... Now's the time to start marketting a team OTHER than your beloved.  Are you going to have the cahones to do it or are you just going to sit back in your office and sulk?

An Interesting Comment by a Blowhard

Speaking of Gary Bettman, I was listening to ESPN Radio blowhard Colin Cowherd the other day and he actually made a decent point (in between fluffing himself up as some sort of uber objective yackityyacker which only his fans actually believe is true).  He commented on the popularity of sports other than the NFL (he said that the NFL is far and away the most popular and there's no sport out there that will come close... and he's right) the NHL has a marketable product that is interesting and entertaining.  However, they don't market the product at all.  They don't make the media talk about the NHL at all.  They hide it away on a cable TV station (Versus) for a long time and then benefit by the purchase of Versus by NBC, which has the rights because they cannot wrest the rights to the NBA from the other networks.  They marketted themselves by saying "We're back" when that was outwardly foolish.

I agree.  I can't believe it but I agree with Cowherd.  ESPN doesn't care about hockey.  He says its because of this failure to make themselves marketable and in the mainstream.  That's probably most of the issue but not all of it.  ESPN's bread and butter is the NBA.  And whenever it mentions the NFL ratings go through the roof.  So, that's where they focus.  ESPN did put in a bid for the NHL TV rights but the bid was low and the priority was such that the NHL would invariably be buried or preempted if something they felt was more important was on.  I have no confidence that, outside of the NHL playoffs (provided they didn't conflict with the NBA playoffs or finals), would even appear on ESPN itself.  Mostly likely it would have been ESPN 2 or 3.  NHL Tonight, even during the years that ESPN did air NHL games, was aired closer to midnight than to primetime.  Why would Bettman, as questionable as his intelligence is at times, want that for his league?

But in truth, Cowherd is right in that the NHL does a VERY VERY VERY VERY bad job of marketting itself.  They put commercials on NBC and the NHL Network and NHL Center Ice does get some Ad time but that's it.  I bet they could find ways to get Crosby on ABC or Ovechkin on Fox Sports pushing the NHL.  I'm sure they could find storylines to push for just about every NHL team if they wanted.  But they don't.  They focus mostly on the Penguins, Crosby, and the Finals and let the rest twist in the wind.

Let's face it:  The NHL will NEVER EVER be as popular as the NFL.  I'm not suggesting they even try to compete with even COLLEGE Football.  But I'm pretty darn sure they could garner more of the viewership market than they are getting now.  Baseball is a slow, tedious, and downright boring sport to watch.  It takes FOREVER to get through a game... heck, it takes too long just for the pitcher to decide upon a pitch and then start his windup.  The NHL is fast, exciting, physical, challenging to play, and ENTERTAINING to watch.  It's time it was marketted that way.

A Final Interesting Factoid

I'll leave this rant with an interesting factoid.  Unless my research is off, if Chicago finishes off L.A., this finals will mark the first time Boston has faced Chicago in the Stanley Cup Finals.  How mindblowing that you could have two Original Six teams that have NEVER faced off since the Stanley Cup finals began (1927)
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Sunday, January 06, 2013

So the NHL wants us back... (RW77)

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007.
English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So the NHL is back with pretty much a joke of a season...but wait!

They have to get all those players back...  Will they succeed?  I'm not sure everyone will return.  There has to be concern that injuries may take control and there is no room to develop talent and anything that makes a team a team.  It's basically the ultimate scramble tournament format.  Who can get started fastest and play the best the quickest.  That's the test.

What does the NHL need to do to get the fans back?

Barry Melrose talks about how the fans always come back after a work stoppage, but I am hoping that they do come back... next season.  I think the fans should sit back and watch what the teams and the league does to try to earn our support back.  Here's a list of things that should be done:

1.  You know NHL Center Ice?  Yup.  Free for the season, playoffs, and ALL of preseason next year.  If they do anything for the offseason, that's free too.

2.  NHL Network - Free view for the same period of time NHL Center Ice is free (if possible... this might be more on the cable providers than NHL Network itself).

3.  The Players become available more than ever before.  ENDLESS autograph signings, school visits, community outreach programs, volunteer sightings.

4.  Promotion nights fall on EVERY GAME IN THE SEASON.  Teacher in the metro area?  Show us your ID and get $5 tickets!  Military?  FREE tickets to you and $5 tickets for one friend or nonmilitary family member with the display of a Military ID.  Civil Servant Night (see Teacher Night).  Got a hockey team of 12 year olds or younger?  Call ahead for seating and your entire team gets $1 tickets (Coach goes free) when they show up wearing their jerseys!

5.  Radio promotions - Give away ticket packs to the local radio stations

6.  The average ticket prices for NHL games (per Hooked on Hockey Magazine) for the 2011-12 season ranged between just under $30 (Dallas) to just over $123 (Toronto).  Well....  Dallas residents can look forward to $15 tickets.  I can see a Detroit game in Detroit for $25 (regularly $53.28).  Toronto residents still overpay at $61.50 per ticket but still...  Season tickets would be restructured to accommodate for the loss of games either by making this season tickets cost less than 50% of normal cost or discounting next year's season tickets by, say, 40% (I don't know....  either way it should be SIGNIFICANTLY discounted).

You cannot change existing TV contracts so unfortunately there is no free TV showings outside of what's mentioned but if it was possible, I'd do it.

I'd love to say Gary Bettman resigns but the smug so and so survives yet again to pull another work stoppage in 8 years.  You can market Sidney Crosby all you want but Gary Bettman is the face of the NHL and NO ONE outside of the ownership likes him.  What a better image saver than to offer Bettman early retirement?  The owners will never fire him, but surely Bettman could take the golden parachute and have roses pave his way back to obscurity if the League really cared about fan opinion (but they don't).

In any case, we'll see how things pan out but...  It's now or never for Columbus' Stanley Cup hopes.  :D
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After 113 days NHL Lockout is over… Yay!

I woke up this morning to find out that the winter of discontent is over; the NHL and the NHLPA have agreed to sign a new CBA, according to Minnesota Wild beat writers Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.
"We have reached an agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement," Commissioner Gary Bettman said at a joint news conference with NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr at 5:45 a.m. ET. "The details have to be put to paper. ... It's good to be at this point."
Do you hear that? Yay! The NHL lockout over! The NHL will no longer be the No Hockey League. I suppose now the NHL will try very hard to win back the millions of fans that they upset and too for granted. If the reports that I have been reading are correct, the new deal is for 10 years with a mutual opt-out after eight years.

So we shouldn’t have to go through another lockout until the 2021 season. Winning back the fans that they took for granted is not going to be an easy task, especially in this economy. Many fans will stay home and watch the game on NHL Center ice or get the games through their regional sports channels. I can say many.

Now the NHL teams have to fish their players out of the different European hockey leagues, especially the KHL.
The Kontinental Hockey League was a favoured (sic) destination, especially with the Russians as Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, Washington's Alex Ovechkin and New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk were among that league's scoring leaders, just as they usually are in the NHL. [TSN.CA]
So basically, for 113 days the NHLPA and the NHL owners who acted like a bunch of spoiled children. Finally got to work and signed a deal. This should have been done last summer. I think the fact that the NHL owners put that ridiculous proposal out in September, kind of slowed things down and polarized the two sides.


Now the NHL wants us back. I think they have one hell of a marketing job to do. It’s not going to be easy getting some of the casual fans back into the NHL arena’s to watch the games. The NHL had a lot of mojo after last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and they squandered that momentum.

There might be some people that don’ want to spend that $70.00 - $200.00 to see a national hockey league game. I spent $70.00, for lower bowl seats the last time that I went to a Minnesota Wild game in March of 2011.

Honestly, I will be back watching the game from my living room, and I can’t wait to see the Boston Bruins play hockey again. I can’t wait to watch my Bruins smash P.K Subban and the Canadians again, but I am still angry.

I can’t wait to watch the Brad “Little Ball of Hate” Marchand’s antics as he drives the opposition fans and players nuts. I already have a shot across the bow to one of my buddies that hates Marchand.

Lastly, I still think that the Vancouver Canucks led by the Sedins Twins and Alex Burrows are still a bunch of diving frauds.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Make this happen NHL and NHLPA



This is something that I have seen tweeted and written print a few times in the last week, the is that the NHL owners have told the Commissioner Gary Bettman that cancelling the season is not an option.





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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Santa Goon handing out thanks and more lumps of coal…

Tis the season to be jolly… For me personally, Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of the year. While I am not a big fan of cold weather and snow, I do love NHL and college hockey and ice fishing.
I have many things that I am thankful for… I am lucky to blog about of the best hockey teams in the nation with best fans in the world. I would like to thank the fans.
I would also like to thank my editor Andrew Eide for giving me an opportunity to write for the Hockey Writers Combine.
Big thanks to UND's Women's Hockey SID Derek Koenen, Matt Schill and @UNDSID Jayson Hajdu for all of their help in the pressbox and after games getting us the players and coaches to interview.
Now I am going to hand out some lumps of coal.

To the University of Minnesota Head coach Don Lucia for not scheduling the University of North Dakota for at least the next four years.

A big lump of coal to the NHL and NHLPA – Unfortunately, we have no NHL Hockey because of this moronic lockout and I would like to extend a lump of coal to the NHLPA and the NHL owners. I find both equally culpable. There is also no reason they shouldn’t have a deal by now. Get your butts to the conference room and get a deal hammered out. Enough is enough. Let’s get this thing figured out before we lose the second full season in less than eight years.
A lump of coal to the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee for not letting the players play with the half shields – if they’re good enough for the junior hockey players to wear – they should be good enough for the NCAA Division I hockey players to wear as well.
A lump of coal for the on ice officials in Division I college hockey – so far this season – I have seen some of the worst on ice officiating that I have seen for a very long time. I know it’s easy to sit in the stand or watch a game on TV and pick apart the officiating but it is what it is.  Almost nightly, the officials are blowing the checking from behind penalty, this needs to be called consistently, yet it’s not. The level of college hockey has never been better – unfortunately, the officiating is at an all-time worst. I will be handing out lumps of coal to the NCHC if they hire any of the current WCHA officials.
A lump of coal to Brandon Veal of the Mining Gazette and his hit piece that he wrote about UND Hockey and the NCHC.  Here is what UND head coach Dave Hakstol had to say about Veal’s moronic and bufoonish article. “I think honestly the guys read some of the press clippings around here and I don’t think they were real happy with an article that was in the paper here on Friday,” Hakstol said. "There was also all these tweets and twitter and all this, that were predicting that we were going to have packed it in because of a long first half, finished for finals and a big three week break coming. I think If we needed anything extra we certainly had it there.”   
A lump of coal to the NHL owners for signing a bunch of player’s right before the lockout and then not wanting to pay the players the full amount of the legal contracts that they agreed to pay the players. The owner of the Minnesota Wild, Craig Leipold should be ashamed of himself.
A huge lump of coal to the commissioner of the NHL Gary Bettman – just because – this is the third lockout since he has been the commissioner of the NHL and he will always go down in history as being the Lockout Commish.

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

NHL proposes meeting between owners, players

National Hockey League Players' Association
National Hockey League Players' Association (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This newspaper article came through my twitter feed. After reading a few of these articles it would appear that the owners are pulling out all the stops to break the NHLPA. I can't think of anything else that they're trying to accomplish.

Seriously! What else could this be?

It would also appear that the NHL owners are trying to check the unions solidarity as well. I suppose they think they can peal a few of the players off to pressure the union to sign their deal that they presented earlier.

Like some have said, this lockout just might be about the players with the big contracts. I am beginning to lean that way.
Rob Rossi, Triblive --- Now with a second lost season in eight years a growing possibility, the league has proposed a meeting between only owners and players, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

Daly declined to provide details, and he would not say whether all NHL owners or representatives would be available for the meeting that would exclude league and union executives such as commissioner Gary Bettman and union head Donald Fehr.

The Players’ Association did not say if it would agree to the meeting – though many players, including Penguins from Sidney Crosby to union rep Craig Adams, have said they would like to hear from more owners.
What do you think?

It would appear that the NHL owners have no intention of negotiating and seem to be dead set on cancelling another season if the players don't take their offer that is on the table. So we wait.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Hump Day links... Just give me my hockey now!

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007.
English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well there are quite a few news stores of note this morning in the college and professional hockey world.

The NHL Labor mess continues on and is proving to be an absolute gong show and it appears that there is little evidence that a solution is forth coming.

Like my friend Chris Wassel said on Twitter, they should just cancel the season already, instead of dragging out the agony.

Seriously!

It's beginning to look like this is where the NHL owners led by the lockout commissioner Gary Bettman are going. I used to get excited every time someone would post a story with a theory about a possible solution to the lockout that is now in its 74th day and chugging towards 80.



Notre Dame head hockey coach Jeff Jackson was fined for his comments he made about the officials in the post-game news conference. I don’t like this because I think that if the officials blow a call a head coach should be able to relay his displeasure about the officiating within reason. Over the years in college hockey I have seen some brutal officiating in college hockey.

There is a great story about former UMD Bulldog J.T. Brown in Tampa Bay online.

There is also a great story in Grantland about college hockey that mentions the WCHA and Minnesota and Wisconsin leaving and also the formation of the NCHC hockey conference. Obviously, there are some points of interest in this story will bring up all kinds of emotions and feeling from college hockey fans around the spectrum.

Apparently, the Toronto Maple Leafs are worth 1 Billion dollars. Yeah! 

There is a really nice story in All Habs about UND forward Mark MacMillan; Up Close with Mark MacMillan: Habs Prospect with Discipline, Character.

The College Hockey Rink Report ranks the college hockey conferences. Currently the WCHA is ranked second in his rankings.

Chris M Peters from the United States of Hockey had a very nice piece on the B1G teams and their struggles so far this season.

Joe Haggerty CSNNE makes a pretty good point about where the blame for the 2012-13 lockout lies, it's not Bettman. Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs is one of the big power broker owners that is driving this lockout and Haggerty is letting fans know where the blame lies. 
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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Some CBA tidbits

Good afternoon, this is day 73 of the NHL lockout and we're no closer to getting an agreement than we were yesterday.

The NHL CBA talks have now decided to hire a federal mediator to help them in their squabble. Which for a short period of time gave NHL hockey fans a “sliver” of hope that there could be an end to this ridiculous work stoppage – the recommendation by the mediation team is non-binding.

This might be nothing more than window dressing. I am not giving up hope that just maybe, we finally can have a break through – we’re running out of time to have a meaningful season if this lockout drags on much longer.
Ed Tait; Winnipeg Free Press --- The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service announced Monday a pair of mediators will now be involved in negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA in an effort to bridge the gap between the two sides.

"I think both sides are prepared to try a new approach," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Washington Times. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Added NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr in a statement: "We look forward to their involvement as we continue working to reach an equitable agreement for both the players and the owners."
Then one of the first official actions to come out of the federal mediators coming on board was to have one of the mediators removed from the team because of a twitter kerfuffle.
Kevin McGran; The Toronto Star --- In what could only be described as a bizarre twist, mediator Guy Serota was removed from the talks only an hour after being appointed due to the odd postings on his Twitter account (@GuySerota). Some of the tweets included references to masturbation and religious attacks on comic Sarah Silverman. He said it was hacked. It has since been deleted and replaced with nothing controversial on it.

He was replaced as a mediator by John (Jack) Sweeney, director of mediation services, once the hockey world got a look at Serota’s sometimes awkward musings on the social media site that has famously seen its share of hoaxes (recently during Hurricane Sandy), impersonators and the humbling of celebrities, like Alec Baldwin.
The ole my twitter account was hacked excuse. You really can’t make this stuff up – twitter references to self-gratification – some people should not post on twitter. When will people realize that you have to safeguard your twitter account but also; one tweet could ruin your whole life with one click of a mouse.

This is one of the best eye opening articles that I read today.
Barry Rozner; Daily Herald --- The reason there’s no agreement yet is that Gary Bettman has made promises he can’t keep. And if he doesn’t keep them and loses half an NHL season — or more — in the process, he will be out of a job that pays him $8 million a year.

That’s why there’s been little negotiation from the NHL. That’s why there’s no hockey. And that’s why there won’t be hockey until the owners order Bettman to sit down and negotiate, or a union decertification forces the league to bargain instead of bleed.

See, Bettman promised seven or eight owners that he could get another lopsided deal. If he doesn’t get it after losing a billion dollars in league revenue, he’s probably out of a job.

So Bettman is holding up the game to save himself, and one imagines he’s still convincing a small group of men that he can squeeze more from the players. That small group of owners, in turn, is keeping the arenas silent.
Doesn’t paint you a very good picture about the hopes of gaining a settlement for the CBA, unless certain owners want to have a new agreement.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Ian White calls Bettman an Idiot

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007.
English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I am sure that my buddy Redwing77 will be happy to see than one of the players from his favorite team called Gary Bettman an idiot.

Personally I agree with White, when I see Bettman's face it reminds of all of the bad things that have happened to the NHL.

 Lets think about this for a minute. Bettman is the NHL commissioner that under his reign of terror has had three labor disagreements that have led to work stoppages. Also, Bettman is threatening to cancel his second season in eight years. Marvelous!!! Let's not forget the fiasco in the desert.
The Detroit News — Ian White has been one of the more vocal and frustrated players during this NHL lockout.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has caught most of White's verbal frustration the past two months, the length of this lockout thus far.

After learning of Bettman's suggestion for a two-week moratorium in negotiations, White called Bettman "an idiot.

"I personally think he's an idiot," said White Friday after a group of locked out Red Wings finished a workout. "Since he's come in, he's done nothing but damaged the game.
It will be interesting to see how long this plays out. Will we see more players speak out against the NHL Commissioner?  One also has to wonder if there are NHL owners that agree with White but aren't allowed to speak up at the current time.
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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Tweets of Silliness - Bettman wasn't two week Moratorium.



I really don't know why the two side can't come to an agreement and get a deal done. The NHL can't afford to lose another whole season. The NHL owners lead by one of the most unlikable people Gary Bettman is trying to break the player union or at least weaken it. If the season is lost, the blame in on the NHL Commissioner in my opinion.












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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Did Bettman over play his hand?

Here is my question as the lockout continues towards day 60 – has the NHL owners and Gary Bettman over played their hand? From reading some of the articles that I have seen the last couple of days it would appear so.
Mark Spector; Sportsnet.ca --- Somehow, commissioner Bettman and his deputy Bill Daly have made it their quest not just to get the players to a 50-50 share of Hockey Related Revenues, but also to dictate when a player can become a free agent, when he qualifies for arbitration, how long he can sign for, what colour his car should be, what he should name his dog…

Bettman wants half the pie for his owners, but also wants to tell the players what kind of ice cream to put on their half. Even people who work with the teams don't see the wisdom in losing games over that, we're starting to learn.

The rest of the hockey world sees it as a sign of unparalleled greed by the owners.

"The dollars are set. Why are the teams so concerned about how the dollars get split up among the players?" a prominent agent asked on Monday. "Why the heck do they care if Player A gets 20 years at 20 million, or 1 year at $500,000? The players' pool is fixed."

 Perhaps it is a snapback from all those previous CBAs in which Bettman failed to close enough loopholes to keep salary escalation from occurring.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Is there a solution looming.

This is good news... Right?



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Is a deal close between the NHLPA and the NHL Owners

You have to wonder if a deal is close to being done. Articles like this give me hope that we can salvage a NHL season.
Dan Oldfield, CBC Sports --- We've heard that the No. 2 guys in the NHL and the NHLPA, Bill Daly and Steve Fehr, held a "marathon" bargaining session this weekend. We also learned there are plans to bring the parties together for more formal talks this week. What does that mean?

I’ll be bold here and say it means a deal is inevitable.

One can only believe that a marathon session (with several breaks) means that Daly and Fehr had something to talk about and they were clearly checking compass directions with other key players. More than that, there obviously is reason to return to the table. They would not be doing this merely to restate positions already well known to each other.
The two sides are meeting today in New York City. According to the NHLPA the following players Craig Adams, David Backes, Martin Biron, Chris Campoli, Sidney Crosby, Mathieu Darche, Ron Hainsey, Johan Hedberg, Milan Lucic, Manny Malhotra, Steve Montador, Shawn Thornton, Kevin Westgarth.
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Tuesday Morning ponderings

I haven’t really been following the CBA lack of a negation’s as closely as I was before the college hockey season started. It’s becoming evident that the NHL owners are trying to see if the NHLPA’s resolve will develop fissures and start to fall apart. It doesn’t really appear to be happening just yet, although according to Michael Russo, “there are some players that are starting to fret over lost wages.”

I suppose, if you’re an older veteran NHL player like former SCSU Husky forward Matt Cullen, you only have a finite number of years to play before in the professional ranks before you become too old to play in the NHL anymore.

The thing that really bugs me is that this is the third lockout of Gary Bettman’s 19 year tenure as the NHL commissioner – so in my opinion he will go down in NHL history books as being the lockout commissioner. Bettman is highly unpopular with the NHL fans and the players – but he isn’t going anyway fast according to Christopher Botta of the Sporting News.
Octagon agent Allan Walsh, a persistent critic of Bettman’s, struck a similar chord last week. “The writing is on the wall,” said Walsh, whose clients include Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. “Every sports commissioner has a certain shelf life, and Bettman’s has expired. We all know the lockout will end at some point, but Bettman has become such a toxic commodity for the game, it’s untenable after three lockouts that he be the person to grow revenues in partnership with the players going forward.”

ut unlike Logan, Bettman—who answers to the owners of a 30-team league and has the support of an overwhelming majority of them—is not going anywhere.

“Gary’s in this for the long term,” said Harvey Schiller, the former president of the Atlanta Thrashers and now chairman and CEO of GlobalOptions Group, a risk management and business solution company in New York. “He has majority support of ownership. Gary has made a commitment to them and they have made one to him.”
I consider myself a big time NHL fan and I watch at least 5-6 NHL games every week on the NHL Center Ice package, “when” the NHL is playing and not locked out. While I am saving myself $170.00 by not having the NHL this season, I would much rather spend the money.

So I find myself at a loss to find anything decent to watch on the television most nights. I guess I would rather watch the NHL than Broke Girls and Revolution, even though I do think both are decent shows.Personally, I would much rather watch the Minnesota Wild and the Boston Bruins, however, we don’t have that option right now.

I have seen some of the people that I follow on twitter say that they won’t be watching the NHL once the lockout is over – myself I will be crawling back the minute they solve this mess.

I do think that blame is on the NHL owners, I am with Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter who said.
“If you can't afford to (sign contracts) then you shouldn't do it. (Owner Craig Leipold) signed us to contracts. At the time he said everything was fine. Yeah, it's disappointing. A couple months before, everything is fine, and now they want to take money out of our contracts that we already signed.”
So for the time being – a fair number of us just have our college hockey – I know that’s how I am going continue to fill my NHL void with NCAA hockey until the NHL owners and the NHLPA come up with a solution. There have been a few other options that popup from time-to-time, I currently have a KHL game to watch on my DVR at home and there is going to be another KHL game on MSG on October 31st.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

NHL Islanders moving to Brooklyn after 2014-15 season

ST PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 17: Jared Spurgeon #46 ...
Here is an interesting story, the New York Islanders are moving from Long Island to Brooklyn and will play in a Barclays Center after the 2014-15 season.
Tim Panaccio, Flyers Insider --- The familiar refrain for most sports fans in the United States when it comes to trying to figure out some of the things the NHL does has always been, "it’s hockey."

That would explain how, in the middle of the NHL’s third lockout under commissioner Gary Bettman, in which the season is in peril and there are no collective bargaining talks scheduled, the league would announce a franchise transfer.

The New York Islanders, according to the New York Post, New York Daily News and TSN, will announce Wednesday they are moving to Brooklyn to play in Barclays Center when their lease at Nassau Coliseum expires after 2014-15.







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