" In that dynamic, I'll always side with the player, easy.
Fair enough, I'm a believer in being paid for the value you give your employer rather than being based on an employers bottom line so we disagree...
If owners really wanted Armageddon as has been suggested, with their opening offer they would have put the elimination of guaranteed contracts on the table.. I understand that a number were pushing to take the bargaining in that direction because they are upset at the number of players whose on ice play do not justify the contracts they were given...
I think in a system that has;
*One market generating over $200 million more in revenues per year than the smallest market does and markets whose revenues are below the salary cap ceiling...
*A salary cap floor which forces some teams to take their payrolls to levels that their revenues don't justify and which causes them to sign marginal players to goofy contracts just so that they can reach the floor which in turn influences other player contracts...
*Has most of its league wide revenues being generated by a handful of its teams...
You end up with a number of holes in the system that can be taken advantage of by players and their agents...
Had the league thought its revenues would take off the way they have post lockout many of the good will concessions handed out to the players in 2004 i.e., earlier free agency would never have been offered....
I thought in 2004 and still think that franchise exemption contracts should be added along with reducing the cap ceiling...
There are 30 teams in the league and probably not that many marquee players in the game and for those players I don't think they should have to take home town discounts to help their teams sign other players...
Would there be a NHL team let alone a new arena in Pittsburg if Crosby wasn't available for the Pens to draft? For those type of players I would like to see their contracts fall outside of caps and maximum contract amounts...
For the majority of players, especially given the systems play that dominates the game today, they are plug and play players and are being paid inflated salaries because of the loopholes and imperfections in the CBA...
I think at the end of the day this next CBA will be a bridge to expansion into Europe which will see under performing markets relocated over seas and expansion to make a Euro division...
For all the talk about relocating 6 to 10 struggling markets into Ontario and Quebec, when I do the math I still come up 4 to 8 markets short...
Take care....