NHLPA agrees to salary cap.

[Quiggs]

But this season is still toast... Right now the league and the players union is $12million apart. With a few months till the 06 training camps should start, this looks promising.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1991361

In what could be a last-second breakthrough, both sides of the NHL lockout have given significant ground: The players' association will accept a salary cap, and the league has backed off its demand for a link between revenues and player costs.

Pens all the way in 08!!!

[ZeTurbo]

it has been dark times for hockey fans, finally some light at the end of the tunnel.

[Egg Nog]

"An economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players get 75 percent of league revenues."

What a lousy buncha whiners. Most of 'em don't even have a post-secondary education. Nobody deserves the kind of money they make for what they do.

[Quiggs]

I'll agree with that, but it's not the player's fault. The owners are the ones who want to pay them stupid amounts of money. If the Caps weren't willing to pay Jagr $11m a year, he'd still be wearing yellow and black making half his salary, if that.

[Egg Nog]

Good point. It's the fault of both sides for ever getting such huge sums of money involved.

The fact that the season won't be happening makes me feel sorry for the rookies, who are now stuck waiting around for another year before they get paid a thing. I guess they'll move back in with their parents?

[blackcat77]

I can truthfully say that I haven't missed hockey at all. It needs another Gretzky -- someone with both the talent and the force of personality to move it to the front of sports fans' consciousness.

And yes, I realize that's a very tall order.

[gbrown37]

"An economic study commissioned by the NHL found that players get 75 percent of league revenues."

What a lousy buncha whiners. Most of 'em don't even have a post-secondary education. Nobody deserves the kind of money they make for what they do.

i hate to say this about eggnog, such a respected member here at ucp, but honestly that is the perfect example of an ignorant stereotypical person, oblivious to any part of hockey except for 'boxing on ice.'( I know nobody mentioned that, but its what I see every day at school). I play hockey myself, even at a 15-17 year old level, and "what we do" is very intense stuff. All of my friends think hockey is just boxing on ice because all they see is the fights.

the whole part about "nobody deserves how much they get paid for what they do" is the part that really makes me wanna put a slapshot thru every hockey-hater alive. Yes, all athletes probably get paid more than necessary. However, in your quote, you made it sound like you were aimed only at NHL players, so that's how Im gonna approach it. Take Alex rodriguez, a baseball player. He gets paid $25 million a year to (maybe run to) catch a ball, throw it, hit a ball, and run. Thats effing insane. Of "the four major sports" in America, MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL, the NHL has the lowest average salary, and baseball has the highest. Of these 4 major sports, hockey is by far the most physical demanding, the most risk involved, and the only sport, except for boxing, where you can get knocked out 100% legally. Hockey is the only sport where you change on the fly. Aside possibly from basketball, hockey is the most constantly-running sport. Baseball, somebody hits the ball and runs while other people run to get the ball. 1 play usually lasts 10-15 seconds, then you get a minute break to stand around some more. Football, you get the ball, get knocked around a bit, then get a minute break after 20 seconds of play. Basketball you play for maybe 45 seconds before a whistle, then a 3 second break. But, keep in mind that in basketball your not wearing 20 extra pounds of gear and your balancing on your own two feet: not just 1/8 inch on each foot. Hockey, you play for 45-60 seconds then a 15 second break. Hockey is the only one of these sports where you may not get a stoppage in play for 2, even 3 minutes.

Basically, hockey requires the most strength to hit people and take hits while balancing on a total of 1/4 inch, wearing 20 pounds of gear, and having the concentration to be able to move the puck without looking at it so you dont get knocked out.

All in all, hockey players do the most work and get paid the least. Thats why theyre upset and on strike, not because theyre a bunch of crybaby highschool dropouts (not true- mayne players come from Europe, but 75% of American hockey players have at least 2 years of college). Why dont all of you Canadian-hating losers pay attention and watch a hockey game the next time theres one on tv (sometimes on espnclassic etc. you can see old games, or if you have digital cable you can get European hockey).

ps- watch a game and you will see that it is not boxing on ice. there is an average of 1 fight every 17 NHL games.

[Egg Nog]

You'll notice that I never said anything bad about the sport. Please don't call me an ignorant stereotypical person, and don't tell me what I think.

I most certainly do not think that hockey is just boxing on ice. Come on, I'm Canadian - I used to play hockey all the time, and I used to watch it on TV as well (stopped because we decided to get rid of cable, not because I got bored of hockey).

Your response to my argument is a little bit off. My sentiments are exactly the same towards pretty much all major-league sports (except the CFL, many players actually work 2nd jobs in the off-season ).

I can understand why professional hockey players make a lot of money, but the amounts are just ridiculous. Logically, I think it would be reasonable if the best players in the league made 1 million USD a year, that's being generous enough. Set the minimum salary at around $200,000. That's very fair.

The fact is that these people are getting paid to do what they love. Of course it's difficult, but they're the best at it, that's why they're playing pro. If people were getting paid relative to how difficult something was, junior league players would be making big money too. Besides, even considering what I just said above, a million dollars US per year is still an utterly massive amount of money.


I never consider it a bad thing if someone wants to take issue with something I've said, but it's pretty annoying to see someone stereotype me and make blind and ridiculous assumptions about what I think.

[blackcat77]

GBrown: It's all about the money. If someone is good enough at what he does to make people want to pay money to see him play, and the income from paying attendance and television revenues exceed what you pay the guy in salary, it's a winning proposition all around.

That's called the free market.

BTW, you seem to think that you have the wisdom to decide who "deserves" what salary -- let's see how much you think the man who works on the garbage truck is worth if nobody picks up the trash for a couple or three weeks...

All labour is important and all labourers have dignity.

[Coventrysucks]

All sports people get paid far too much.

So they can do sport skillfully - wow, that's really helping humanity isn't it.

Why not pay the people looking for a cure for AIDs that much?
Or the people giving up their lives to fight for your country?

Anyway I need something to watch during the early hours of the morning during assessments, and Hockey is usually that thing.

[Quiggs]

GBrown: It's all about the money. If someone is good enough at what he does to make people want to pay money to see him play, and the income from paying attendance and television revenues exceed what you pay the guy in salary, it's a winning proposition all around.

That's called the free market.

And that's also what is killing the sport. The teams aren't bringing in enough money to cover their yearly finances. Both sides are to blame- the union for being so stubborn for so long, and the league/owners for allowing it to get this out of hand.

The league needs a salary cap. Most teams don't sell out every game. It's the smallest drawing major sport in America. They flat out can't afford to have $65million payrolls. And no one's saying that you can't pay someone $7mil a year, but grand total a team can't spend more than, say, $45mil. It will balance out the league more (one team can't monopolize 6 or 7 of the league's best), and might draw some new fans through closer competition.

[LTT]

For anyone who doesn't know, the season is officially over now.....those bastards.

[Manik]

yes i know it would have been a great season. danm i sure missed hockey, glad it will be coming back.

[Quiggs]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1993007

It is my sad duty to announce that because a solution has not yet been attained, it is no longer practical to conduct even an abbreviated season," Bettman said. "Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play.

I'll see you next year, Lord Stanley...