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.
Paper exchanged between NHL/ NHLPA. Bottom line: Big mkts. have told Bettman a cancelled season is no-go. Fehr knows this. So will grind.
— bruce dowbiggin (@dowbboy) January 2, 2013
If and when a new CBA is signed, word on the street is the NHL will make Centre Ice free for the season.
— Josh Rimer (@JoshRimerHockey) December 30, 2012
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.
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.
This is what the Commissioner of the NHL Gary Bettman had to say about the NHL Owners second proposal.
"We need to get on the same page on the economics," Commissioner Bettman said, "and we're hoping that by virtue of the proposal we made today that there will be some traction and that there will be a framework for the negotiation."
"We believe we've made a significant, meaningful step," he added. Bettman also said, he said it was "a significant proposal with meaningful movement."
This what the head of the NHLPA Donald Fehr has to say about the proposal.
"It's a proposal that we intend to respond to," said Fehr. "I'll leave it at that."
“There’s not a lot to say today,” Fehr said. “We want to work further on it overnight. We have an expectation, based on what we know now, that we’ll get back together tomorrow afternoon.
“It is different in some respects from before, but I don’t want to categorize it until we have an opportunity to really go through it and we understand it and come up with an appropriate response.”
Looks like the owners latest proposal is asking for a 52/48 split from the players - so there is some movement.
Darren Dreger from TSN tweeted this break down of what the Owners proposed today - you can see that the owners are going for the 50/50 split.
It sounds like the NHL CommissionerGary Bettman is taking NHL fans for granted – his logic is – because the fans came back after the two previous lockouts - they will come back this time again.
I am sure there were a lot of fans that weren't happy today with Bettman's condescending, pompous and arrogant statement statement, I don't like reading that statement.
Tim Panaccio, Flyers Talk --- And that’s what NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is counting upon. That you, the fans, will come back again when he locks the doors on Sept. 15.
A week, a month, an entire season. He’s pretty confident you’ll come back.
How do we know that? The Commish all but said so today in Toronto at the CBA meetings.
After a brief, 90-minute negotiating session with the NHLPA in which nothing was really bargained and nothing was gained on either side, Bettman was asked about the damage another lockout could do.
“We recovered last time because we have the world's greatest fans,” Bettman said.
That, in a nutshell, is why the owners are willing to do it again. They know the sport will recover. They have past history to prove it.
Hockey fans are like addicts. They can’t resist the ice. They come back. Again and again.
First, I am not sure how Gary Bettman can start making ridiculous comments like he did today – does he have research to back up his claims? How does he know that the fans will be back after the lockout is over – there might be some fans that might just decide to not renew their season tickets or spend the money on something else – the country is in an economic down turn and some fans might decide that they won’t by the tickets and save the money for a rainy day.
This is one of the reason I believe that there is no reason to remain optimistic. The owners and Gary Bettman are taking NHL fans for granted – the owners and Bettman are making the assumption that the fans will forgive the owners for locking out the players after the labor dispute is over.
Today Gary Bettman said, "the only way to make progress in ongoing labour talks is to solve the "fundamental economic issues."
