I haven't heard anything official, but wanted to know what's up... A guy at the gym I work out at works for the Stars and he said something to the effect that it should be complete within the next two weeks and that basically, the owners got eveything they asked for...Also some rule changes, etc...plus the goalie's pads will be smaller to make the game more competitive (i.e. more scoring)... Anybody else know?
i've been hearing, "they may have a deal in place" for about a month now. ESPN has "reported" that a deal was imminent about 10 times, now.
When the NHL settles their dispute...i'll buy tickets. Until then...I've no interest in hearing about it! My response to the latest 'developments'.......a great big "Whatever"
because they've been so elusive. remember the day that ESPN spent all day talking about how a deal was done, and even started discussing parameters of the deal...turns out there was no deal. we've had that happen a few times now. i'm with you..when it comes back, great. i'll be excited. i really missed the NHL playoffs this year. and i'm hopeful a deal favorable to the owners will encourage someone to get a team to Houston.
I dont miss it as much as i would if i stil llived in NJ since I cant go to Devil games anymore....but I do miss it some...especially playoff hockey
And just like that ESPN posts this brilliant bit of info: NHL could announce deal Wednesday http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2106776 NHL close to deal after all-night bargaining session ESPN.com news services NEW YORK -- An all-night bargaining session stretched well into Wednesday morning as negotiators from the NHL and the players' association tried to put the finishing touches on a new collective bargaining agreement. Canadian sports network TSN is reporting that a deal will be completed today. ESPN The Magazine's E.J. Hradek says sources with access to the negotiations have indicated the league and players could reach agreement on a new CBA today. A prominent player agent told Hradek that a deal will be announced today, and that the draft lottery will be held on July 21, with the entry draft being held in Ottawa on July 30. Discussions resumed Tuesday at noon and were still ongoing at 10 a.m. EDT Wednesday -- the 301st day of the lockout that forced the cancellation of the 2004-05 season. "We met all night," NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly said in an e-mail. "Nothing yet but getting closer." After meeting every day last week, the sides got together Sunday for a 14-hour session that lasted until early Monday morning. Just six hours later, they were back at the table. Those talks broke up Monday night and set the stage for the latest marathon session that got under way Tuesday -- the ninth straight days of talks. The sides have met for 10 consecutive weeks in an effort to get an agreement as quickly as possible so next season can begin on time. The NHL hoped to have a new deal to present to its executive committee during a meeting Monday, but commissioner Gary Bettman and Daly could only provide an update on negotiations instead. Once a deal has been worked out, the NHL board of governors will need to approve it, along with the rank and file of the players' association. Until then, the lockout that was imposed by Bettman last Sept. 16 goes on. The new agreement is expected to contain a salary cap with a ceiling in the upper $30 millions and a minimum in the low-to-mid $20 millions. Player salaries will not exceed 54 percent of league-wide revenues. Some players in recent days have voiced their displeasure over what will be included in the new deal. Bettman warned in February when he canceled the season that the offers the union passed up were better than any it would see once a year of hockey was lost. Just days before the NHL became the first North American sports league to wipe out a full season, the players' association said for the first time it would accept a salary cap if the NHL dropped its desire to link player costs to revenues.
a tentative pact was just announced no link because it just came over our news wire at work. i don't really care about hockey but i just saw this thread as i heard that news.
I read somewhere that the owners would have lost more money had they actually played the last season than if the season were cancelled, so it looks like they were in the same predicament as the NBA seven years ago. Now, all they need to do is get rid of a few sun belt teams. What's the whole deal with linking player salaries to revenues? That was the big issue, but I'm not quite sure what it means...
The problem has been that the players salaries were eating up almost 100% of the teams revenue. For instance, here in Detroit in order for the Red Wings to make money they had to reach the Conference Finals. Now I don't know what they mean when they say revenue. Does it mean just ticket sales? Does it include merchandising? Who knows, but apparently that number was way out of wack in relation to other profesional leagues. The teams were averaging $60 million per team, this proposed cap that I heard is supposed to bring that number to the mid $30's. I think that they are also going to adjust that number to match league revenue. So even after the CBA is signed all the teams are going to have to renegotiate most if not all of their contracts. The days of $5-$10 million dollar a year players in the NHL is over unless revenue skyrockets, and it won't. High end players are going to go for around $2M.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2106921 Analysis: Key terms of NHL agreement By ESPN.com The NHL and the players' association announced Wednesday that they had reached reached an agreement in principle on the terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Details were not released, pending the formal ratification process by NHLPA members and the NHL board of governors. However, in his Insider Weblog, ESPN The Magazine's E.J. Hradek -- with the help of key sources on both sides of the table -- offered a look at some of the expected terms: Term: Six years. Salary rollback: All remaining contracts will be rolled back 24 percent. The rollback will also impact players who must be given qualifying offers for new deals. Those qualifying offers will be based on a player's salary in his last contracted year, minus the 24 percent rollback. 2004-05 contracts: Those contracts will simply disappear from the ledger. Players, however, will be credited with a "year of service." Years of service can determine a player's free-agent status. Salary cap: Each team must meet a minimum, but not exceed a maximum payroll number. For the 2005-06 season, the high-end threshold will be approximately $37-$39.5 million. The low-end threshold will be between $21.5-$24.5 million. The numbers are based on the league's projection of revenue for the 2005-06 season. The projection is approximately $1.7-$1.8 billion. According to the league, total revenues for the last complete season (2003-04) were $2.1 billion. If revenues increase, the salary cap thresholds will increase on a season-to-season basis. If revenues decrease, the salary cap thresholds will decrease on a season-to-season basis. Buyouts: Teams will be allowed a window of time to buyout player contracts. A player can be bought out for two-thirds of the total remaining value of his contract, minus the 24 percent rollback. A team will not be allowed to re-sign a player they have bought out for a still to be determined amount of time. The money spent to buyout a player will NOT count against the salary cap. Escrow: A still to be determined percent of players salaries will be placed in an escrow account. In the new deal, league-wide payroll can't exceed 54 percent of total league-wide revenue. If league-wide payroll is determined to be more than 54 percent of revenues, the escrow account will be passed back to the clubs. If league-wide payroll is determined to be less than 54 percent of revenues, the escrow account will go to the players. Individual team-by-team player cap: No single player can earn more than 20 percent of his team's total payroll. For example, a team with a total team payroll of $37.5 million couldn't pay a single player more than $7.5 million. Revenue-sharing: The top 10 revenue clubs will contribute to a pool that will be redistributed to the bottom 10 revenue clubs. The NHLPA proposed a similar revenue sharing component in 1994 during the league's first lockout. Unrestricted free agency: It will remain frozen at age 31 for the first year of the new CBA. It will gradually decrease to age 28 during the life of the deal. Salary arbitration: The club and the player will both have ability to elect to go to arbitration. Although not confirmed, I believe NHL will go to a baseball-style arbitration system that calls for both sides to submit a salary figure and an arbitrator to decide on one number or the other. There will be a limit on the number of times a team or player can go to arbitration. And, the clubs will have a limited number of times they can walk away from an arbitrator's decision. Under the old system, the clubs could not take players to arbitration. Qualifying offers: Players making less than $660,000 must be tendered qualifying offers of 110 percent of their final contracted season's salary. Players making between $660,000.01 and $1 million must be tendered qualifying offers of 105 percent of their final contracted season's salary. Players making over $1 million must be tendered qualifying offers of 100 percent of their final contracted season's salary. Entry level contracts: Entry level contracts will be capped $850,000 per season, with a maximum signing bonus at 10 percent of salary per season. The contracts will be three years in length. Minimum salary: The minimum salary will be $400,000. Under the old agreement, the league minimum was $175,000. 2006 Winter Olympics: The NHL will shut down operations in February 2006 to allow players to participate in the Winter Olympics. To accommodate the scheduling issues, the league will cancel its 2005-06 All-Star Weekend (scheduled for Phoenix). I'm more interested in the rules changes, and if an NHL team will ever be moved to Houston.
These items are all out side the CBA that they are working on now. They are looking at eliminating the Red Line, Calling Icing during powerplays against the shorthanded team and establishing No Touch Icing.
I wouldn't be too surprised if Goodenow loses his job after this. Seems like he really pissed off a lot of players, not so much because they are taking it up the rear in this new CBA but because he gave them a false sense of hope that they could win when in reality there was no way they could come out the "victors" in this disaster. And if they did come out "victorious", it's very possibly that the NHL would have folded in a few years as a result. At least with this new deal the league has a chance at success again. I've been waiting a year for this and it feels nice to have the NHL back. I missed the Stanley Cup this year.
