Gary Bettman:"we believe that we are paying the players more that we should be."Jesse Spector of the Sporting News has a really good story on Bettman's comments that he made today and lets just say that the NHL's Commissioner isn't going to make a lot of friends with the fans and with the players.
— Renaud P Lavoie (@RenLavoieRDS) August 23, 2012
Based on the comments that Bettman made today - we can say that the good will is over and it's game on now.
As fans we just hope that we don't have another lost season. As it stands right now, Bettman is bound and determined to lock the players out because he can.
Jesse Spector Sporting News --- Another difference between Bettman of early August and Bettman of late August is that the younger Bettman expressed a “need” to lower costs, which was understandable. For teams that are struggling financially now, or that would be in several years under the current system as leaguewide revenues outpace local revenues, spending to the NHL’s salary floor is becoming an annual challenge. Seven teams finished 2011-12 under the projected $54.2 million floor for 2012-13 under the current CBA.I agree with Spector – seriously – how can these NHL owners pay these outrageous salaries to the NHL players and then turn around and in the next breath say that they are paying too much in player costs? It makes no sense what-so-ever – or at least from a sane person’s point of view.
Contrast that with Thursday, and “we think we’re paying too much in salaries.” That’s a shift from a statement of plain-to-see fact to difficult-to-grasp opinion, and one that comes off as entirely hypocritical in the face of the $196 million the Minnesota Wild spent this summer on Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, or the Nashville Predators’ matching the Philadelphia Flyers’ $110 million offer to Shea Weber.
The counterargument to that is that teams are just playing by the rules of the current CBA, trying to compete as best they can. But the NHL’s owners did not become owners by making stupid business decisions, and it would be a lot easier for Bettman to make his case if star players were only getting offers from teams in the biggest markets. There’s a salary cap and a salary floor, and when the small-market Predators talk about wanting to be a cap team, it doesn’t do much for the case that the players are currently overpaid.
Let’s not forget that they want to also limit player salaries to five years also – so what do they do they turn around and sign players to 6,7,8.9, 10-13 year deals.
I don’t think I am missing the point – if you’re hurting financially you don’t go out and spend a bunch of money that you claim that you don’t have.
Is anyone taking these guys serious when they wheel their representative – who is pompous, condescending, mealy mouth jerk – this is also the same guy that has preceded over two other work stoppages and in his smug way say’s that the NHL owners are paying players too much and they need to wheel back the players salaries and oh yeah the Edmonton Oilers just paid Taylor Hall who has played in the NHL a grand total of two seasons 6 million a year over 7 season.
