It Begins........

1) No shocker that with the expiration of the CBA negotiated/signed in the spring of 2005 and the lack of a new one to replace it the owners/Gary Bettman announced that the players are now "locked out'. Let me have to say this but once, this is NOT a strike!!!  I recall during the 2nd Bettman lockout so many, usually casual, fans were misstating the situation. Thinking incorrectly that there was a players strike.  Probably because the NHL owners PR machine had been working over time for a couple of years prior to effectively vilify the players. Then, like now its NOT the players who are unwilling to go out there and play for their already agreed upon contracts, but the owners who are asking for those players to take a sizable cut on those contracts. Yes, the owners who gave them the money, are the ones crying that they gave up to much!  Yes, its as silly as that.

2) Yes, yes, we know/understand the other side's argument that the players in the other sports who recently signed new CBA's took less of a %. Yes, I totally understand that.  However those 2 sports have a few significant differences. For one, they share a sizable chunk of their money among themselves. The small teams like Green bay as well as the Goliaths like Dallas and NY, all get the same split of the TV revenue and even share some gate receipts. Meanwhile the NHL barely shares anything with the lower revenue teams.  The Montreals, Torontos NY Rangers Detroit all are making more $ than ever. While Phoenix Nashville, Columbus, Fla, etc all are on financial life support. Also please stop any 'class warfare' nonsense. Yes, we know the players are all well compensated, but if you could persuade 20,000 people to pay $50+ 82 times a year to watch you work, then you should get paid well too!

3) As we have written before, if the NHL wants to have small/non-traditional markets, they have to be prepared to share their riches to assist them. I think the players would be MUCH more amenable to any cuts IF they saw that those reductions going to help the folks in financial peril, and not to further line the pockets of the 'rich' 10 or so clubs. Simply it would make no sense to do so, for they know if they allow themselves to be cut to size again, not only will the underlying issues still be unsolved, but it will give the owners free reign to come back in another 5-10 years for another cut in the players size of the pie.  So here we are, the first of what looks like MANY days without NHL hockey. As we wrote Wednesday, the more time goes by, the harder feelings will get and positions will further harden. Making an early resolution almost impossible. In my opiion it will take someone from the owners side. Probably a big market guy to step up and try to persuade the rest that they need a new approach. I think if they did that the players would quickly grasp the olive branch and this could get settled within a couple of weeks. Lets keep our fingers crossed that this person even exists, and it occurs sooner rather than later.  Until then, pleaee stand by.........