The Official NHL Thread

[Romeo Delight]

Fehr's history aside, the players have moved considerably and the league not at all. The league had a date in mind at the very beginning.

What can the union do? The attempts at bargaining are nothing more than a PR move because everyone knows the owners game all along.

[POJO_Risin]

Fehr's history aside, the players have moved considerably and the league not at all. The league had a date in mind at the very beginning.

What can the union do? The attempts at bargaining are nothing more than a PR move because everyone knows the owners game all along.

It was the same in the NBA...

new era where Unions are disregarded...and it's applauded...

Fuck them both...

I applaud nothing...lol...

[POJO_Risin]

Fehr's history aside, the players have moved considerably and the league not at all. The league had a date in mind at the very beginning.

What can the union do? The attempts at bargaining are nothing more than a PR move because everyone knows the owners game all along.

Form a new league...

In all honesty...these guys could feed into one of the minor leagues...and make it a major league...

Or just fucking make their own...and play in smaller arenas...

hell, they'd probably get ESPN involved...and would immediately end the NHL!!!

WAHOO!!!!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Form a new league...

In all honesty...these guys could feed into one of the minor leagues...and make it a major league...

Or just fucking make their own...and play in smaller arenas...

hell, they'd probably get ESPN involved...and would immediately end the NHL!!!

WAHOO!!!!

They were damn close to an agreement in December, UNTIL Bettman and Fehr joined the negotiations, that is.....

[Nickdfresh]

Light at the end of the tunnel? Some speculate that negotiations seemed to be more professional and devoid of the public condemnations of yore...

[Nickdfresh]

Congratulations on Team USA for winning the World Juniors Tournament and taking the gold...

Sweden takes the silver, the Russians the bronze, and the Canadians get...er...a set of steak knives!

[Nickdfresh]

NHL, union have tentative agreement
Updated: January 6, 2013, 6:17 AM ET
By Katie Strang | ESPNNewYork.com


NEW YORK -- The lockout appears to finally be over.

A tentative agreement has been reached between the NHL and NHL Players' Association, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.com.

A source told ESPNNewYork.com that the emphasis should be placed on the word "tentative." That source said there is still work to be done but there has been a verbal agreement between the two sides on the major points.

The tentative agreement includes a 10-year collective bargaining agreement with a mutual opt-out clause after eight years and contract term limits at seven years (eight years for a team to re-sign its own players), a source confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com.

Sources said the 2013-14 salary cap, a very divisive issue, will be $64.3 million while the floor will be $44 million.

Word of the agreement came after the two sides hashed out their remaining differences for more than 16 hours at a hotel in midtown Manhattan, spelling the end to a lockout that has persisted for almost four months and cost more than half the regular season.

George H. Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, issued a statement congratulating the NHL and NHLPA.

"The negotiated agreement represents the successful culmination of a long and difficult road in which the parties ultimately were able to reach mutually acceptable solutions to a wide variety of contentious subjects of bargaining," he said.

[Matt White]

BRILLIANT!!!

I've been missing HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA!!!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

FINALLY !!!!

[Nickdfresh]

The so far boring NFL Playoffs are making me even more excited about this...

[VAiN]

Finally!! I'm looking forward to seeing our shiny, new SE Division Champs banner!

[BITEYOASS]

So does Gary Bettman still have his head up his ass, or have they finally gotten an ear or two to pop out of his sphincter?

[Nickdfresh]

NFL playoffs have been so lame so far.

I thought Seattle's victory over the over-hyped RGIII mania was kind of cool. I also like the way Pete Carroll has a bunch of jaded millionaires playing and whooping like belligerently enthusiastic college kids. Other than that, it's been boring, predictable, and 'safe' football...

[Nickdfresh]

The gist of the agreement laid out by The Buffalo News

BY: Mike Harrington / News Sports Columnist

• It’s a 10-year term with an opt-out by either side after year eight. So that means no more labor issues until 2020 at the earliest.

• There will be a 50-50 split of revenues between the players and league, with the NHL providing $300 million in make-whole money to fund previously signed contracts.

• For this season, the salary cap for player contracts is $70.2 million, based on a full season of 82 games. The cap for next year will drop to $64.3 million, which was one of the most contentious issues. The league had wanted that figure also to be at $60 million. The salary cap floor the next two years will be $44 million.

• Teams will be allowed two amnesty buyouts of player contracts, beginning in June. The contracts will have to be paid at two-thirds of their value, but the entire value will be removed from a team’s cap. The buyouts must be used up following the 2014-15 season, either by one in each year or two in one year and none in the other.

• Player contracts will be limited to eight years for returning players or seven years for free agents, with contract salary variance capped at 35 percent per season. The league had wanted as little as a 5 percent variance. The salary of no year will be allowed to be less than 50 percent of the highest-paid year.

• Revenue sharing between teams will be pumped to $200 million, with a $60 million growth fund put in place.

• The union will also have defined pension benefits, with owners assuming liability.

• The draft lottery will be weighted, with all 14 nonplayoff teams having a chance at the No. 1 pick. Previously, only the top five teams were able to move to No. 1.

• In other issues, the players stood firm on the July 1 opening to the free agency period, and that will remain. NHL players’ participation in next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and a geographic realignment of the NHL’s teams for next year were not part of the agreement and will be worked on through league committees.

[Green Manalishi]

So , I'm guessing that whoever wins the Stanley Cup in this severely shortened season will have an asterisk (*) beside their name . Whoever wins it all this " season " will carry the stigma of winning the cup in a not so legitimate season for all of the obvious reasons . Watch it be my St. Louis Blues . After 45 long years of nothing this would be the only Cup the Blues will ever win . Figures . Please God , kill me now . Just shoot me .
Other than that , I'm oh so happy that Hockey is back !