AEV-Forum

&quot hat geschrieben:

Code: Alles auswählen

Boris Capla, Geschäftsführer in Hamburg: „Die DEL-Meisterschaft würde zum Witz. Alle Teams die jetzt oben stehen, wären plötzlich viel schlechter."

Und alle Teams, die keine NHL-Spieler verpflichtet haben, haben evtl. doch noch alles richtig gemacht.

&quot hat geschrieben:Komisch, daß Mara dann heute gespielt hat, oder?

&quot hat geschrieben:NHL talks on hold after tough weekend

Canadian Press

2/20/2005

NEW YORK (CP) - Jarome Iginla sighed at the other end of the phone.

Devastation doesn't come close to describing how the Calgary Flames superstar felt after hearing how bad Saturday's NHL labour talks had gone.

"It's beyond that," he said. "It's such a sad situation for hockey. It's way past anger and frustration. It's like a nightmare that won't end."

At least this chapter of the nightmare is finally over. After Saturday's failed talks ensured there won't be a 2004-05 season, it's time for both sides to sit back and regroup.

The league will hold a board of governors meeting within the next two weeks while the NHL Players' Association will gather most of its membership for a powwow in the next month or so.

Both sides need to figure out their next move. There's no book written on the subject given that no other major pro sport has ever cancelled an entire season from start to finish.

"It's uncharted territories, where we go from here I don't think anyone is quite sure," said NHLPA president Trevor Linden.

The league, for one, would like to resume labour talks sooner rather than later. It's no secret commissioner Gary Bettman would love to have a deal in place by May. That would provide enough time to save the NHL entry draft as well as allow for teams to reach out to fans and corporate sponsors, and for the league to market itself with new rules meant to open up the game.

So despite the fact there won't be in hockey games this season, the league still feels pressure to soon make a deal so it can work on relaunching itself. The players? Well, their next paycheque isn't due until next October.

"I'm not sure that I would sense that sense of urgency," NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said when asked about the league's wish to settle before the draft.

"We all have something at stake in terms of eventually getting an agreement, but I think it is true that with the cancellation of the season and the fact that everybody worked so hard over the last few weeks to try to get something done, it's going to take a certain amount of time (to regroup)."

Linden, meanwhile, has seen better days. The likeable and passionate Vancouver Canucks centre deserves credit for asking Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux to take part in Saturday's session, hoping the presence of the two legends would help change the dynamic in the room and perhaps be the final link that could lead to a breakthrough.

But Gretzky, the managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and Lemieux, the Pittsburgh Penguins player/owner, never got a chance. By the time both sides further entrenched their positions during the 6-hour meeting, the gap had widened considerably.

Hockey fans - those who still care - got their hopes pummelled for the second time in four days, yet another reminder how much work awaits both sides in winning back ticket-buyers when hockey resumes.

Gretzky has too much class and too much respect for the game to ever say so publicly, but he was surely burning inside as he left New York on Saturday night. He was brought in to help close the deal, but left realizing just how serious the problem really is.

"We clearly understood at the end of the day that we were as far apart as we feared we were when the season was cancelled Wednesday," said NHL executive vice-president Bill Daly. "So that was just a confirmation of where we thought we were on Wednesday."

To the outsider, it all seemed so easy. The league's final offer Tuesday had a $42.5-million US salary cap, the union countered with $49 million. Sign off on $45 million Saturday and call it a day.

As it turns out, a salary-cap figure was never even brought up.

"The misconception was that the negotiation was over a (salary cap) number," Linden said.

Said Saskin: "I don't want to get fixated on what the number would have been for the upper limit because how that number is impacted by the various issues and the details underneath it are really the critical things. The number is really just the tip of the iceberg."

The union wanted more details on the league's final offer, and found a system it felt it could not live with:

- The union expected the cap figure to increase over the six-year term as hockey revenues increased, but the league said the number would stay the same;

- Revenue sharing was once again a bone of contention: "While we were told earlier in the week that the NHL's revenue sharing plan would not decrease over time, the plan they revealed could decrease significantly over the term of the agreement," said Saskin;

- The union expected a payroll floor (minimum) but the league said it wanted only a maximum payroll cap;

- And the NHLPA anticipated using most of the system from its Dec. 9 offer, "with a couple of exceptions to be discussed," the NHL changed too many of the components for the union's liking, "particularly in the area of salary arbitration and qualifying offers."

In short, it wasn't even close.

"I can't see anything worse than what they put on the table," said Saskin.

The league was also mystified, privately stunned that the union didn't deliver a new offer with a $45-million salary cap as had been rumoured in the 24 hours heading into the meeting.

"The bottom line is, our understanding was that this meeting was for them to come forward with a new proposal but it never got to that point," said Daly.

Noticeably absent Saturday were the two leaders, Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow. The truth is that the league didn't want Goodenow in the room, just as the union would prefer Bettman to stay away.

It doesn't exactly paint a healthy picture for the future of this labour disagreement when the two leaders are no longer welcome in the negotiating room.