I've long held that I hate this lockout and blame both sides for it. The only thing I have faulted the owners for though is their original request for a salary rollback. That was garbage, honor the contract you signed, don't entice a player to work for you for $X and then say, "Oh sorry, we really didn't want to pay that do you'll have to give some back." That is just low, especially in a profitable marketplace.....although apparently some teams are in the red and losing money, so I can appreciate some owners being tired of forking out cash via sharing in order to fund other teams.ukcanuck wrote:So I'm curious, in your mind where from their respective starting positions have the players moved versus the owners.Mëds wrote:Well the only things I can say with certainty is that if the NHLPA rejects this offer I will show up at games to throw eggs, of the hard-boiled variety, at the players.
The other thing is that if they do accept it, Scott Gomez has played his last NHL game with Montreal.
It seems to me that its been all one way so far, the only thing in the players favour has been the severity. On every issue the players have given and yets it seems its not good enough for you.
If I remember correctly you tried to claim the middle ground early in this lockout but it seems for you the middle only seems like that because its so far from your seat over in the owners corner?
I have also said that the owners are the guys underwriting the league and signing the paycheques. They are the ones who either made their money, or inherited it in some cases, but either way they are the people on the hook with contracts to honor and expenses to pay if the market crashes and suddenly profits are hard to come by. The players are guaranteed money regardless of performance and team financial situation. They cannot be laid off, they can not be fired, they will get their money. Every offer the owners have put on the table, since doing away with the rollback, has ensured that the NHLPA members will still be the most highly paid hockey players on the planet. They have pretty much guaranteed that players an incredible lifestyle that the majority of North Americans can only dream of having. They have all but promised that these players will be set for life after just a few short years in the NHL. But apparently that isn't good enough.
The NHL has said they feel badly and are sorry for fans and concerned about the secondary businesses that are feeling the effects of this lockout. They have made no bones about the fact that they have a bottomline and will not go back to playing hockey until they get a deal in place. They have, since their initial offer, made multiple concessions, offered several different deals, and even swallowed a few fairly significant issues that they would certainly rather have spit out. The NHLPA has offered the same proposal (essentially) multiple times. The PA has made a big show about being about the fans, but really, only so long as they keep making ludicrous sums of money which is ultimately paid to them by said fans. For the most part most most of these players don't understand the financial issues at the center of this lockout, they don't have a clue about how tenuous the current global economy is, and they seem to be ignorant to the fact that the people who really pay them make peanuts compared to them. They should, in all reality, be absolutely thrilled to be playing hockey for a living, and being paid 6 and 7, and even 8, figures to do so. Many of them would be flipping burgers or roughnecking on the rigs if not for hockey, and while I understand that everyone will fight to keep what they have, when you ultimately have, and will continue to more than anyone else in the same line of work, or in most other lines for that matter, then I think you need to take a long hard look at yourself and wonder why the hell you are worth so much at the expense of others. The average NHL player makes more per year than most doctors......yeah......they're worth that.
So while I fault both parties, UK, I have never been in the middle.