NHLPA Reportedly Still Stuck on

Flyers_fan_in_LA writes "The NHLPA and NHL met yesterday for the second straight day with the same predictable gloom and doom media spin. Reportedly the offer on the table was a sort of spending minimum and a $42,000,000 hard cap. No tax was being offered to the NHLPA.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/2005/01/28/913015.html

The NHLPA's Ted Saskin is back to talking about "philosophical differences" in the media despite the NHL (AKA the owners of the league who their NHLPA's players play at the discretion of) telling the union for years that whatever new CBA they agree to will have some level of significant cost certainty. The NHL has not budged from that position and they are not likely to do so because of 300,000,000 reasons they have stored away.

A bloger who claims to be an NHL insider who is covering the topic says the situation isn't as bad as TSN.ca, Slam.ca, ESPN, Philly.com and The New York Times says. He broke the news of the details of the "offer" being discussed yesterday before any of the other news sources thus giving him some level of credibility.

Matt Barnaby, one of the mid-level players who has benefited greatly from the current CBA agreement, was out with comments today saying how the NHLPA will never accept a cap and that hockey will likely be delayed until this time next year. Mr. Barnaby needs to check with his agent for a bit of reality. Players at his level can easily be replaced by younger, less expensive options from the AHL, Europe and elsewhere. And over the summer WHEN the union is broken - players like Barnaby may find themselves in a very difficult situation trying to make even a fraction of what they once made. The owners are listening and you are embarrassing yourself.

The player's union act still at this late date like they actually own some steak in the NHL. They are employees (with the exception of Mario) and therefore have no or very little say in the deal that the owners cut with them. They should be concerned about getting the teams healthy right away and then getting some way of increasing the cap in the years thereafter. If refusing to accept a cap thus wrecking the ESPN and NBC TV deals in the US the way to go about that? No - it the exact opposite.

The stakes are too high for this to be over but what I learned from the mindless Bill Guerin interview this week on ESPN Radio was that the players for the most part are not all that smart. With a few exceptions, do not know how to run a business and have no business being the spearhead of a multi-billion dollar negotiation. There was a rumor of having a 3rd party come in and work out the details of a deal. I encourage that because beyond this juncture - the season is going to be dead and the players will NEVER be forgiven by the fans. The players need a wakeup call - you are BLESSED to be able to make the AMAZING money you make now and or would make in a $42,000,000 salary caped NHL. You play a child's game and get paid like kings. How dare you ruin the league that took over 100 years to build! How dare you disgrace the players that came before you! The players should be ashamed."