NHL info

[Lisa L from MI]

NHL Season Put On Ice
The National Hockey League will lock out its players Wednesday night.


The work stoppage threatens to keep the sport off the ice for the entire 2004-2005 season.

The decision to keep the players out of training camp was confirmed Wednesday afternoon by the owners after a meeting in New York City.

The two sides have not met since a bargaining session last Thursday, which ended with representatives from both sides far apart.

The current collective bargaining agreement ends at midnight Wednesday.

Previous Stories:
September 2, 2004: Another Session Comes, Goes In NHL Talks
August 27, 2004: NHL Exec Says Union Engaging In 'Charade'
July 19, 2004: NHL Lacking Sense Of Urgency

 

[spagheddie]

As big a hockey fan as I am, I'm kind of looking forward to a season that starts in January. It will make the regular season exciting. The season is way too long.

 

[sunkissed212]

As a fellow Michigander ( as is the OP), and a hige hockey fan as well...I'm bummin right now. I wait all summer for hockey season to start and now it looks like I'm going to have to wait even longer than usual....Thanks Mr. Bettman!

 

[CamColt]

This is going to be a loooong winter. Hockey is the only thing that gets me through it.
Whats worse is Ive wanted to take my kids to a Bruins/Ducks(their 2 favorite teams) game for so long now, but its always on weeknights. Wouldnt you know this year they are scheduled on a Saturday and I was so excited to take them to that game!

 

[NHAnn]

Originally posted by CamColt
This is going to be a loooong winter. Hockey is the only thing that gets me through it.

I have two words for you Katie:

HOCKEY EAST!


OK, maybe a few more AHL Atlantic Division!!


Maybe we should have a Boston area hockey DISmeet like we were talking about last year

 

[iluvdisney]

I think, no, I know that my dh will drive me absolutely crazy now - he purchased a big DLP screen tv to watch his hockey on. Hope this doesn't last all season but it doesn't look good.

 

[DIZNYFAN]

This sucks especially having to endure tv on saturday nights without HOCKEY it is even worse living in Canada the country that dominates and loves the game so much. I still think they should shorten the season from 80+ games a year down to 60 it will mean more games will count for something and every game will be exciting.

 

[Grog]

I feel for you guys. It's times like this that I'm glad we have an AHL team

 

[jbwolffiv]

It always feels like an eterinty in th etim efrom playoff elinination to the opening game in Oct. It truely will be a very long winter, I can only hope for a shortened season!

 

[currycook]

From all the news reports I read yesterday on ESPN this looks totally bad for hockey this year. I wonder how this is playing in Canada which is HUGE for hockey.

 

[monkeyboy]

Will it affect minor league?

 

[DarrenSt]

It sucks up here we love our hockey and thankfuly we had the World Cup to atleast tide us over for a bit which we won with a perfect 6-0 record of course LOL. After all we are the first nation of hockey which makes it even worse for us that there is not an NHL season to speak of thus far. I really blame the players you look at the guys making 9 million a year that say well I am worth that and more and I have so good friends that are in the league. If they accepted a cap that would reduce salaries by say 20% the owners would be able to save quite a bit of money I know our teams up here do not get any tax breaks and in Montreal they pay the highest luxury property and so on taxes in Canada. So a guy making 9 mil would drop his salary down to say 7.2 million now if you can't live on that every year you have some serious issues IMHO.

 

[Grog]

Will it affect minor league?

The AHL has said no, it will not affect them and camp will open on time (Sept 26th) and the season will start on Oct 13th. I don't know about the other minor leagues.

 

[DarrenSt]

Actually it will affect the AHL but possibly in a good way as a number of NHLers have stated they will go and play in the AHL for their respective farm teams Hasek and Spezza are going to report to their team and it s reported Ribeiro and Ryder and possibly more will report to Hamilton so it could make for even better hockey in the AHL.

 

[TLinden16]

There are statements about the lockout from Bob Goodenow and the very intelligent, handsome, talented, and sweet president of the NHLPA on the NHLPA website. You can find the statements at www.nhlpa.com

Karen

 

[DarrenSt]

The players need to acceot the fact that without some kind of arrangement for profit sharing and wage restructuring there will be no hiockey. Some markets can sustain the high wages some simply can't. No matter how you look at it the players figure it is called a salary cap even though it is not laid out that way and they are afraid of it. What is to be afraid of they are making millions of dollars anually anyhow maybe they need to figure out how to be a little smarter with the money they are being paid.

 

[DarrenSt]

Notice in TL's statement the drag on salaries is set for the entry level players while the older players are off scott free with salary limitations of none seems unfair to me and many of my friends that play in teh NHL are not to happy about not playng this year but the players have taken a tough stance also not just the league and owners. The players want nothing like a cap in the game they want free reign to GET PAID as some of my friends have stated I won't go into who they are as I don't want any ill feelings towards anyone with regards to this. How many jobs can you get where your starting salary is in excess of 85K a year and more with no travel expenses and meal expenses yes many players pay for their own meals but they are not made to they are given a meal allownace for all road games etc. Just seems silly to me is all and to many of my NHL friends they feel it is a stupid thing to be fighting about.

 

[minniecarousel]

Is is that the NHL players want to be paid like pro baseball, basketball & football players? 'Cause the market just won't support that. Salaries in those other sports are out of control, but hockey doesn't even have the broad appeal that the Big 3 does.

*sigh* it's tough enough being a hockey fan in the SF Bay Area - but to not even be able to watch on TV will be sad.

 

[Rippington'sFan]

I love Hockey and all Sports but it irritates me because the average fan is the loser here when it comes to ticket prices, food/drink prices, parking prices etc... I don't feel bad for the players who are all a bunch of overpaid whining spoiled brats to begin with. I wish people would just boycott going to the games. Then where would they be? They would have to work for a living like you and I. I could care less if they resolve the issue. Just my opinion. I'll take my son to a college hockey game instead. The price is right and the players aren't spoiled rotten yet.

 

[Scottwdw]

Originally posted by TLinden16
There are statements about the lockout from Bob Goodenow and the very intelligent, handsome, talented, and sweet president of the NHLPA on the NHLPA website. You can find the statements at www.nhlpa.com

Karen

Who, Karen?

I hope these people start to act more intelligent soon!!!