[NHL] Lockout: Who is to blame?

By Fred Derf
in The Sporting Arena

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Who is to blame for the lockout?  

40 members have voted

  1. 1. Who is to blame for the lockout?

    • The Owners (for signing the big cheques)
      7
    • The Players (for demanding all that money)
      18
    • The Fans (for paying the high ticket prices)
      0
    • I don't like hockey but I want to vote anyway
      5
    • The Owners and Players equally
      10

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Grand Master

Fred Derf Veteran

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Okay, I know there is another thread about the lockout but we need a poll. I want to blame somebody for my lack of hockey now that the world cup is over (albeit with good results).

Should we trust the numbers from the league? Is Gary Bettman trustworthy? He claims that the league (as a whole) loses US$300 million per season and that the current economic conditions are unsustainable.

The players maintain that the league has the power to control salaries right now. Stop signing unrestricted free agents to megabucks and walk away from the odd arbitration. I think that's only happened twice and both times by Boston (yea, Harry Sindin is a cheap-ass).

What about the fans? In Toronto they'd pay just about anything. It's all corporate ownership anyway except for the nosebleeds. Platnium tickers are unavailable and how long is the waiting list for golds or reds? 15 years? More?

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Grand Master

Fred Derf Veteran

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Okay, my solution? Drop the fourth line. They're pluggers anyway.

Go with 9 forwards, five (or six) defenceman and two goalies. That'll save each club $4 million or so.

Players are in much better conditioning then they were 40 years ago and can handle the extra ice time. It'll add additional strategy to the game too. Once upon a time, players were visibly tired on the ice.

Grand Master

Aaron Veteran

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All you have to do is look at the NFL for a good model. Revenue sharing ensures that any year a team can be competitive. Also, I think there are just too many damn teams and the season is was too fricking long. Playoffs take, what? 3 months?

Grand Master

Fred Derf Veteran

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Done.

Thank you. It was a fairly significant omission on my part:blush:h:

I still think that if the league finances were as poor as Bettman would suggest than more clubs would be walking away from arbitration decisions. That just hasn't happened (with the exception of Boston).

Grand Master

Fred Derf Veteran

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I don't blame the players. Sure they can ask for the big money but the clubs don't have to pay it. They can walk away from arbitration settlements and not sign anybody over 31 in March.

The owners have always had the tools to control salaries but they've never used them.

So therefore I blame the owners.

As I've said before, however, I wouldn't mind seeing the fourth line cut. I'd like to see how tired 18 forwards would get after three periods. It might add some strategy (actually it might return us to the strategies that existed 30 years ago before the players were in such phenomenal shape),

Grand Master

Soviet

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Anyone to blame the owners or the fans is just dumb. It's all about the owners wanted salary caps and the greedy players not having any of that.

If the NHL goes away... I'll still sleep at night. As far as pro-sports go, it's fairly small.

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