(Labor) peace in the valley

I don't know if this was such a good move or not. Is this new system really working? You have some teams like the Rangers spending like crazy, and other teams like the Kings spending just enough to get above the salary floor. What's changed? And with the state of affairs in the US with the financial problems this nation has, I find it hard to believe that most teams are making money. If the teams make less money, the cap goes down. If the cap goes down, the players get paid less. Plus, if revenues go down, the players get a smaller piece of the pie.

Personally, I'm surprised the NHLPA didn't re-open the CBA. I'm guessing they didn't want to risk hurting the game by forcing another lockout. But since when does a labor union care about ownership?

I also wonder if this is the right direction.
The NHL Board of Governors (OWNERS) are severely overpaying Hockey players.
Just yesterday I did some looking around and in Italy the best Footballer in the world, arguably (Kaka) is earning $10 million a year and recently rejected an offer for $50 million a year.
The group that's trying to buy Kaka in Manchester City is an Arab family that is one of the wealthiest in the world - literally hundreds of billions of dollars in their coffers. My point is, if the best player in the world is making slightly more than the top NHL talent, and world Football rakes in hundreds of times more money then hockey, how can these salaries in hockey be justified. The Kings themselves, if I recall correctly, only made a reported profit of around 2 million dollars - consider that Manchester City already this year payed an estimated $60 million just to purchase the rights to contract with a player named Robinho (another Brazilian).

Meanwhile the Phoenix Coyotes are borrowing against future earnings to keep them afloat - ironically, this is a move that Manchester City was forced to make shortly before being purchased by the Arab consortium.

Also, Hicks and Gillette, of Dallas Stars and Canadiens respectively, are looking to sell out of Liverpool FC because they bought on credit and are going down the tubes quickly as they are reportedly having trouble making their interest payments for the club.

The difference is that there is still a profit to be made in English and Italian Football, whereas the NHL doesn't appear to be too profitable.

I think the entire thing is a mess and I don't know how Hockey salaries got so high. This is a backwater sport. I have a hard time seeing any NHL player worth more than about 4 million.

I'd like to see local groups of investors start to buy back the NHL teams from local independent ownership. Something like what goes on in Green Bay with the Packers.

And hence, the brand of hockey has been horrendous! This no-touch passionless hockey has got to go!!!

John.

I think Steve Moore, Todd Fedoruk, Richard Zednick, Dustin Brown and his victims, Dean McAmmond, Ville Peltonen, and others would disagree with you.

Mario Lemieux was the one who started the crackdown on hooking and grabbing, not Bettman.
The troglodytes are still in charge and their reign appears NOT to be threatened by any of the "peaceniks."
Just look at the WJC's and see that a Junior tournament had all sorts of dangerous play and nastiness. If it's not controlled there what makes you think the NHL is too "soft" these days?

What's funny to me is that the WJC's, without the fights, was 100 times more compelling than an average regular season NHL game which is more like an exhibition match due to the length of such regular season.

I'd much prefer 50-60 super intense games than 82 weary matchups that are individually of little importance.

From the players perspective it was a no brainer,onward and upward.AEG=Cheap Bastards.

Cristol

That may all be true but the brand of playoff hockey this "New NHL" is producing is SO MUCH less intense then before, it's UNGODLY!!! Give me back my NHL. Half these new penalties are called because guys tried too hard, nothing else. The sadest part is that players are adapting & it's changing the game for the worse!

duh...!

this was a complete no brainer for the players to vote on...the economy in north america, the fact that nooooobody wants to have another lockout and the fact that it IS working for both the PA and owners are just a few of the more important reasons why it was the right thing to do...

the biggest issue still surrounding the NHL is the promotion of players not named crosby...
i think the world of sidney and his potential...but thank someone's god that a.o. is getting more deserving attention these days...heck, crosby might not be the best player on his own team (malkin) as of now...

but the league needs to do a better job throughout NA (not just selected canadian/u.s. markets) in promoting players like : jarome, thorton, chara, luongo, datz, etc....

watching the NHL Live broadcast earlier today, live from montreal, don lagreca and e.j. hradek (always a good show, by the way) made a great point about how a city like cleveland...cleveland...have a star like LeBJ and how he's ubiquitous: he's everywhere and everybody knows him...beside the obvious language barriers that some of the leagues stars have, it still should be no excuse in trying to incorporate some clever adverts and marketing techniques to overlook this issue...i think that every arena in the NHL should have a life-sized cutout of chara somewhere in the arena so that fans can see how they measure up to the 6'9" (prob. more closer to 7' on skates)beast...interactivity is the key to overlooking and getting around the language barriers of some of the leagues stars...

There is nothing wrong with "our" game,just the economy for now.The play is just fine and the players,coaching and officials are true professionals,and heads above what it was years ago.Ask that rat faced Gretzky if the players are better today then when he played,not even close.Only wish we had a coach that knew how to put forward lines together here in La La land.

@Cristobal & the rest: The current rules structure of the game and how it's played have nothing to do with the CBA and the league finances. Those are all rules issues that should be addressed, and I agree that they need to be addressed. But they have nothing to do with whether the players & the owners have a CBA that benefits both sides. That's strictly a matter of money.

By the way Dumbardi needs to sign JJ now before his value goes even higher.Remember the Sully fiasco.We all know how slow AEG works and thinks on these matters.Well its the same situation the longer they wait the more it will cost them.And by the way JJ has the same agent as Sully,Newport sports agency-Don Meehan,Pat Morris and Mark Guy.Git-Err done you cheap bastards.