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NHLPA rhetoric, What they really think


sakiqc

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I found that on a TSN Talkbalk (MILTONMAN2). It was funny enough to post it here..

A lesson in NHLPA rhetoric:

"We will never ever accept a salary cap:

Translation: Umm...we will never ever accept a salary cap with linkage... or something like that

"We just gave and gave and gave"

Translation: We just gave up a whole season of our own ridiculously high salary.

"We are not interested in negotiating through the media"

Translation: Somebody get me Nick and Glenn's phone numbers

"The NHL has failed to negotiate in good faith"

Translation: the NHL has failed to negotiate in a manner that allows us to save good face

"All we're interested in is a free market system just like everybody else has:

Translation: Yeah, a free market system with guaranteed contracts, and because we don't really want a free market system we'll negotiate that through a union

"All Gary wants to do is break the union"

Translation: Since it's falling apart anyway, at least we'll have somebody we can pin the blame on.

"Fans will not be interested in watching scabs"

Translation: I hope all our players scabbing in other leagues will have a philisophical problem crossing our own picket lines

"The fans just don't understand the issues:

Translation: Please don't make us try and explain them

"At least our players are allowed to speak freely on the issues"

Translation: At least until the next day when we will correct them

"Our players are 100% unified:

Translation: Give or take three or four hundred.

[Edited on 2005-2-20 by sakiqc]

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"We just gave and gave and gave"

Translation: We just gave up a whole season of our own ridiculously high salary...

that was negotiated in good faith between players and owners.
"The NHL has failed to negotiate in good faith"

Translation: the NHL has failed to negotiate in a manner that allows us to save good face.

Bettman B.S.: "It is important to note that the twenty-four percent rollback by the Players' Association is a recognition that our labor costs were too high and that a $1.8M average annual salary was not appropriate or sustainable under our level of revenues.

"The Union, by its offer, has finally acknowledged the magnitude of our losses. Depite all of The Union's rhetoric to the contrary, The Union has confirmed the accuracy of our financial reporting.

"There is no other rational explanation for a $269 M reduction on player contracts that they proposed for this season"

"All we're interested in is a free market system just like everybody else has:

Translation: Yeah, a free market system with guaranteed contracts, and because we don't really want a free market system we'll negotiate that through a union.

The NHL cannot function without a players' union and a CBA. The players want to negotiate their contracts without any artificial restrictions - a free & open market.

"Fans will not be interested in watching scabs"

Translation: I hope all our players scabbing in other leagues will have a philisophical problem crossing our own picket lines

NHL players are replacing locked out or striking players in Europe? News to me.

Owners' greed & stupidity is what has got the NHL into this position and their solution is to exact their solution from their employees - a perfect example of them being greedy cunts.

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The cancellation of the season is the fault of the players. Without owners, there would be nobody to play players, and therefore no game. There will always be players who will want to make money by playing hockey.

The players bring in money for the owners, who then give money to the players. But in recent years, owners have been paying more than they are bringing in. You can't expect a business man to keep operating in the red.

If I am working on an assembly line and I am not not able to produce fast enough for the company to make a profit, they aren't gonna pay me a lot of money, and may even fire me. Same situation in hockey. The players are not bringing in enough money for the owners to have a reason to pay such high contracts.

The NHL is a business, and you cannot expect a business to keep functioning unless it is at least breaking even.

And it pisses me off to no end that many NHL players are currently playing in leagues with caps, and for a fraction of their NHL salaries. All of this while stealing the job of hundreds of European players, who are now out of a job.

[Edited on 2-20-05 by Fanpuck33]

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Originally posted by Fanpuck33

The cancellation of the season is the fault of the players. Without owners, there would be nobody to play players, and therefore no game. There will always be players who will want to make money by playing hockey.

The players bring in money for the owners, who then give money to the players. But in recent years, owners have been paying more than they are bringing in. You can't expect a business man to keep operating in the red.

If I am working on an assembly line and I am not not able to produce fast enough for the company to make a profit, they aren't gonna pay me a lot of money, and may even fire me. Same situation in hockey. The players are not bringing in enough money for the owners to have a reason to pay such high contracts.

The NHL is a business, and you cannot expect a business to keep functioning unless it is at least breaking even.

And it pisses me off to no end that many NHL players are currently playing in leagues with caps, and for a fraction of their NHL salaries. All of this while stealing the job of hundreds of European players, who are now out of a job.

[Edited on 2-20-05 by Fanpuck33]

I'm no business guru but I do own a small business that has a profitable history. For example, let's say that I want to employ the best workers available on the open market for my business - and negotiate a CBA with their union that will attract the best workers and negotiate contracts with "free agents" in the industry. If, in my bid to be the best business in my field, I have created a situation where employees' salaries are detrimental to the survival of my business, how is this the fault of my employees?

And, if I have a history of corruption (as many NHL owners do) how do I expect my employees to believe my cries of poverty?

The NHL is clearly trying to lay the blame for their past and present stupidity on the players without trying to negotiate in good faith a solution that benefits all four parties: the players, owners, franchise employees & fans. And by stupidity, I mean Bettman's paln to expand into markets like Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Anaheim, Raleigh, etc - markets that generate insufficient local revenues to justify the investment in the franchise. The NHL's move into the southern and western U.S., dubbed the Sunbelt Strategy, has, for the most part, failed. Sure, it increased the league's exposure, generated revenue from expansion fees and increased the league's attendance.

But it also increased the competition for players and sent player salaries skyrocketing. And expansion didn't produce the big U.S. TV contract and revenues the league was hoping for. That's left teams to rely mainly on gate receipts for revenue, and in many of the markets that is a struggle.

Contraction in tandem with the reduction of roster sizes would benefit all parties involved - IMO.

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I forget to mention this earlier, but I also think what the NHLers are doing is disgusting, putting Euro and minor league players out of jobs, players who actually need the money to make their living. But instead, rich NHLers are taking their jobs and money.

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Hilarous isn' it FP33. I mean imagine the logic.

They'll play in Europe for like 500k, yet sit out a whole year and refuse to accept a salary structure that means they'll be making an average of 1.3 instead of 1.7. I just cannot grasp how some of these players can be so foolish. I mean sure, if the owners throw the money at you you're gonna take it but to throw away years of your career cuz they ask you to take a little pay cut. Sh!t these clowns make more on a game than most do in a year.

I miss the old days when it wasn't about the money. When guys played for the love of the game. Now a days, their is no love. Just greed.

[Edited on 2005/2/22 by Leafs Suck]

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