NHL, NHLPA to meet Saturday....WHO CARES !

[Robert 21]

NHL, NHLPA to meet Saturday in New York in attempt to salvage season

http://www.canada.com/montreal/mont....html?id=59ec2756-fb9c-42b5-a0df-56fb6add2b38

"(CP) - The NHL season may be brought back to life after all. Believe it or not, labour talks will resume Saturday in New York.

"Late Thursday night the NHL requested a meeting with NHLPA representatives in New York," the NHL Players' Association said in a statement Friday night. "Today the NHLPA accepted the invitation and a meeting has been scheduled for Saturday." New Jersey Devils CEO and GM Lou Lamoriello was relieved to hear the news.

Plans have been in place for teams to play a 28-game regular season starting March 1 and there's still time for that to happen if both sides can reach a deal this weekend."



SO, 14 Home Games.........WHY bother ?




NHL and the players will meet on Saturday

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/2005-02-18-nhl-save-season_x.htm

NEW YORK (AP) — "There might be an NHL season, after all. The NHL and the players' association will meet in New York on Saturday after the league requested the sides get together again.
The union denied an online report Friday night that an agreement had been reached on a $45 million salary cap. An NHLPA spokesman told The Associated Press in an e-mail that the report was "absolutely false."



I have been going to AHL & College Games in the Boston\Providence Area. You can't Beat the $25 (US) for the Baby Bruins, and $18 (US) for College !


Thanks !

 

[EagerBeaver]

If there is a resolution, will the Canadiens have a home game the weekend of March 25-27?

 

[gohabsgo]

If there is a resolution, will the Canadiens have a home game the weekend of March 25-27?

No , not yet, or at least no official announcement has been made.

I suspect only after an official announcement is made and they've worked out all the logistical problems, i.e. getting the players back from europe, holding an abrevieted training camp ... etc ... will they announce some sort of schedule. Lets hope they can work something out, 28 games and a full playoff is better than no season and no Stanley Cup, imo.

 

[EagerBeaver]

You know, a 28 game regular season might actually be interesting as every game will be more meaningful in terms of determining playoff berths and home ice advantages. Also, the players will likely be fresher for the playoffs and the games might be even better.

I hope that the schedule will allow a home game for Montreal when I am next in town. The only hockey I saw this year was a minor semipro league game between Laval and Verdun in the Bell Centre. I would like to see the big time hockey. A game between Montreal and Tampa Bay would be nice, although I'll settle for a game against the Bruins.

 

[anon_vlad]

Bah, humbug, stay out forever

As a former hockey player and fortunate enough to be able to afford NHL tickets, I probably fit the profile of the ideal potential customer.

However, the last and I do mean the last game I went to see, a typical shift went like this:
1 Player struggles to recover puck shot into his defensive zone. Lots of hooking and grabbing.
2 Struggle to get past neutral zone trap.
3 Highlight play: get past center line to shoot the puck into opponent's end.
4 Once in a while, the offensive team actually gets the puck after the scramble in the corner and there is an actual SOG.
5 Offensive players struggle to blind and jostle goaltender while defensemen cross-check them.
6 Large goaltender with larger pads, sufficient to cover an SUV deflects the puck, probably without seeing it.

General comments:
Canadians hooking the European players look like toddlers holding on to their parent's sticks to glide around rink. The hockey stick is used far more often to hook and inflict pain than actually to manipulate the puck. The stars one might want to pay to see, unlike other sports leagues, are brought down to earth with the interference and intimidation, cautious style of play and ridiculously long season.

It is understandable that poker and synchonized swimming are more popular on TV in the US. Better to invest in twenty DVD rentals, ten movies or an hour with a great SP than the non-entertainment obtained with a couple of hockey tickets.

 

[tmgol]

The NHL is not the only outfit that is trying to torpedo top-flight professional sports. My romance with Major League Baseball was never the same after they cancelled the World Series...I can't remember why I ever used to care about the NBA...and hockey was already testing my patience with the absurd location decisions. (Tampa Bay? Nashville? Moving from Minneapolis to Dallas...and then expanding back into Minneapolis, and in the process unveiling the worst name in the history of major-league sports?)

My best experiences as a fan involving professional sports have been at International League (AAA baseball) and East Coast Hockey League venues. They cost a lot less too!

I may even have to give the slightly absurd-seeming AFL a go someday. Because I think LDL (Low Dollar Leagues ) are the way to go these days.

 

[gohabsgo]

well so much for that, it looks like its over for good

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=115459


it's a shame and a disgrace how hockey fans have been jerked around in all this

fuck you players union and fuck you nhl

 

[gk219]

I couldn't agree more with gohabsgo. What's worse, they'll likely have the same BS all over this coming fall

 

[EagerBeaver]

I would add to your list the following:

1. Widen the nets by at least 8" to reduce the effect of the ridiculous overpadding of the goalies, and make them move around and dive more like soccer goalies. This will boost goal scoring.

2. Take the stick away from the goalies. They can have a stick on the back of the net and can use it only when necessary to clear the puck.

 

[gk219]

I'd still keep the red line. Elimination of the red line in Europe apparently didn't lead to offensive explosion. The game actually turned more defensive, since defensemen are now forced to stay behind (instead of joining the rush) to prevent breakaways. Just my opinion...

 

[tmgol]

What really scares me are the rumblings coming from NHL headquarters about radical uniform redesigns.

It's been bad enough with all the expansion-team foolishness--mixes of the trendiest interior-designer colors, with always some hard-to-make-out swirly thing in the middle of the sweater--but now they're talking about letting the design geniuses radically remake all the equipment. I can see it now: the metrosexuals who gave us atrocities like the Oregon Ducks' football uniforms roll out new form-fitting sweaters, with lycra and shiny fabric and swooshes of color everywhere. The NHL or "The Lion King on Ice": will we be able to tell the difference?

 

[gk219]

let's be realistic. With so many teams and (average) players in the NHL, the only way for a good number of teams to be competitive is playing disciplined, defense-first hockey. And coaches on these teams have to come up with all kind of traps to get points (their jobs are on the line!). Columbuses would get killed if they play open hockey against Colorados of the league. Some things (rink size, goalie equippment, etc.) are not personnel-dependent. But for all the rule changes - players and coaches will adjust. Will it visibly improve the game? I'm not so sure...

 

[rdsw1965]

call all penalties as in football and basketball no matter what the score is or the moment of the game they occur.

Are you kidding! While some penalities are called in the NBA, when is the last time you saw travelling called? In clips, you see someone take 6 to 8 steps, dunk the ball, and hear the announcer scream, "What a play!!" NO-o-o-o-, it was a travel.

 

[anon_vlad]

I agree with gk219 - let's be realistic: hockey is doomed (or at best can aspire to the status, as a spectator sport, of arena football or golf in the US). Enlarging the rink is disadvantageous for the owners - a non-trivial capital expenditure which will also decrease the number of seats, . The players' union will never agree to the radical proposal of 4 skater hockey so we will never see more space to skate.

What's the point of winning if there is no entertainment? Would you spend time and money to watch the world's best knitter?

If your analysis is correct, gk, the weaker teams must attempt to block any changes to open up the game.

 

[gk219]

I hate to sound pessimistic again, but this is exactly why hockey is doomed. Only best players = fewer players = fewer teams. Well, contraction won't fly with owners AND the union.

 

[louisisgreat]

I Care! Let The Games Begin!

I am looking for excuses to come to Montreal and for that matter Toronto. It is wonderful to watch a hockey game with my beautiful Canadian companion and let her keep me warm at night. What a wonderful life in exile!!!

Professor Louis

 

[rdsw1965]

Canadiens lay off employees

Canadiens lay off employees after cancellation of season

February 24, 2005
MONTREAL (AP) -- The Montreal Canadiens laid off an unspecified number of employees on Thursday, more than a week after the NHL season was canceled because of the lockout.

Team spokesman Dominick Saillant wouldn't disclose how many of the 140 full-time employees were let go, but communications coordinator Frederic Daigle was among those laid off.

``It's a sad day for the Canadiens organization,'' team president Pierre Boivin said in a statement. ``We were forced to let go some loyal employees due to an ongoing labor dispute.

``We offered them support and will help them the best we can in their search for a new job.''

The employees were given severance packages.

Before the layoffs, the Canadiens had lost 30 employees since the start of the season. All employees, including management, were put on a four-day work week when the lockout began in September.

Teams around the league have made different choices in the face of the lockout, some laying off staff in September and others reducing work weeks.



Updated on Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 6:07 pm EST

 

[EagerBeaver]

Boston Firms May Purchase NHL

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2003701

Maybe some new blood is needed to jumpstart the NHL. First thing that should be done is fire Bettman as Commissioner.

 

[hornyanglo66]

Who would invest in stocks in a corporation that loses hundreds of millions year in and year out? I, lik emillions of others, make a decent wage for a decent day's work. At the end of the day if the owner makes millions off of our work then great for him. The players have the attitude of 'If th eowner makes millions, he shoul dgive most of that back to us'.

Close down the league, and restart without all these asshole players.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Close down the league, and restart without all these asshole players.

Problem is, no one would pay to go and watch a game that doesn't involved these so called 'asshole players', as you've put it. I get a laugh when i hear talk on talkshows (such as 110% on TQS & OTR on TSN) about the possibility of replacement players. Won't happen, for various reasons. For one, American teams would be forced to use only American players (same thing for Canadian teams). Where would US based teams find their players if they can't use Canadians or Europeans? As for teams in Canada, Vancouver & Montreal's teams wouldn't be able to have a team, since provincial labour laws in their respective provinces prohibit the use of scabs.

I hope it happens, though, if those teams can find some type of legal loophole where they're allowed to hire scabs from any sorts. Since nearly 400 or so NHL players played in Europe and in various minor hockey leagues this past winter, thus stealing jobs from people who already had them before they were squeezed out of their bread n' butter, i just want to hear one single of these selfish and spineless NHL scabs accuse any such future replacement player of being a scab. If i'd be one of these players that lost their jobs this year due to the fact an NHL millionaire took it from him, the first thing i'd want to do is payback.