Will there be NHL next season?

[DfromthaB]

The contract or whatever is over after this season. Negotiations are not going well at all, it really looks like they are not gonna meet on an agreement. Some players/former players are even saying they are so far away from eachother that it might go years without NHL.

[DfromthaB]

cant you guys take the time to vote for the damn poll, it takes like .2 seconds

[slickdtc]

Chill out man.

There will be an NHL season next year, but it will be shortened. If they lock out for a whole year, sya good bye to the NHL.

[DfromthaB]

There is about 50 times more coverage on the potential lockout here in Canada than USA. It really dosent look good, each side totally despise eachother and are not even gonna talk again till summer.

[Warden]

links please, would be good...

[DfromthaB]

Everybody's talking about an NHL lockout. But if the league does shut down, there's a group of young players ready to fill the void.

It's looking more and more as if we're in for a National Hockey League lockout next season.

A big chunk of the Sportsnet schedule is devoted to NHL action and if you see a sorry looking guy on the street wearing an ugly sportscoat with a "Will Broadcast For Food" sign around his neck, there's a good chance it might be me.

Mike Toth is right. Junior hockey is great to watch. It is inexpensive compared to the big leagues, and these kids are out here playing their hearts out to try and make it to the big leagues. No big contracts, No big publicity, just play your best to lead the team. Once they reach the NHL and get their big contract all of a sudden it's "What happened to that guy?" I hope the NHL locks out so that we can go back to it being about playing the game.
Mike
Give me a break. Mike I'm glad you'll to be too busy to hardly notice an NHL lockout but somehow I don't think you have your finger on the pulse of the majority of Canadians here. Most of us would be right depressed about it and a trip to Red Deer is not going to fill the void.
Steve

But while an NHL interruption could impact my professional career, my personal life won't change at all. I believe that going to as many hockey games as humanly possible is the best way to survive our long Canadian winters. Last year, I decided to keep track of how many games I took in.

The grand total?

93.

However, only five of those evenings were spent in the cozy confines of an NHL arena. I prefer watching junior hockey and my travels have taken me everywhere from Cape Breton to Kingston, Rimouski to Red Deer and Mississauga to Medicine Hat. Sure, ticket prices are much more affordable at the junior level but there are plenty of other reasons to catch the kids and take a pass on the pros.

[DfromthaB]

TORONTO -- Fresh from a stint away from the office on the West Coast, Pat Quinn pronounced himself Monday as fit as he's been in the last three years. But the Leafs coach and GM was not as convincing on the state of the game itself.

Quinn suggested "just about everybody" in the business had stepped back and said: "What's happened in this business? Where's the money coming from? When's it going to stop?

"And then we come into a year like this where we get five-year contracts -- (at) $9 million (per year). There are ways to run a business and that's why there's going to be a lockout. Because we're not running the business well."

While Quinn stressed he didn't have the skinny on what might happen in the league's upcoming labour talks, he acknowledged that the unpleasant possibility of a lockout had guided the team in its recent free agent dealings.

[DfromthaB]

Players vow to outlast owners during any NHL shutdown
Feb. 7, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- On what usually is a weekend of celebration, the NHL began digging in Saturday for what might be a long, cold, hockey-less winter that could bring seismic changes to a sport already threatened by low TV ratings and declining attendance.

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As the NHL's Board of Governors discussed plans for a possible lockout later this year, the players who would sacrifice millions of dollars apiece during a labor impasse warned they won't cave in even if the negotiations last a year or more.

The conciliatory tone invoked by some players during last year's All-Star weekend has vanished, replaced by a more militant stance. The way some NHL All-Stars are talking, they're as likely to agree to a salary cap as the owners are to sell $5 tickets in luxury suites.

"We're ready to battle if there has to be a battle, and that's something we've talked about among ourselves," Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We've taken a strong stance since we started to talk about the upcoming collective bargaining talks. Players are willing to wait to get a good deal for everyone. I don't think any player is selfish and wants to think about himself."

Some players remain hopeful the 2004-05 season can be saved, but others are preparing for what may be the longest shutdown in NHL history. The Players Association is warning its membership to prepare to miss two full seasons, and some players are making preliminary plans to play in the revived World Hockey Association or in Europe.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman gets frustrated when such a timeline is thrown out, saying talks can move quickly once the union accepts economic reform must occur.


The setting of a one- or two-year lockout timeline bothers commissioner Gary Bettman.(AP)
"Until the union is ready to willing to acknowledge and address the economic problems we're having, the negotiations are not going to progress," Bettman said.

Flyers star Jeremy Roenick cautions a lockout will be rough on the owners, despite the $300 million they've saved up to fund a lengthy shutdown.

"I think it is scarier for the sport and for the owners than it is for the players," Roenick said. "The players can play in Europe, they can play in different leagues. The owners? They can lose their franchises. They have to deal with deal with the buildings that sit empty.

"Is Buffalo going to stick around? Is Carolina going to stick around? Is Ottawa going to stick around, Calgary, Edmonton? These teams are not going to be able to withstand one or two years (with no games)."

There have been no meaningful negotiations to date, even though the two sides remain so divided that lengthy talks seemingly are a necessity before a middle ground can be reached.

Some owners have promised not to settle unless they get "cost certainty" -- in other words, some form of salary cap. The owners now pay an estimated 76 percent of revenues to players, by far the most of the four major pro team sports. That's up from 69.5 percent in 1995-96, the first season under the current labor deal.

"We've had problems, the problems have gotten worse and, as a result, the problems are harder to fix," Bettman said. "But we have to fix them."

The owners' financial crunch could get even worse next season, when their U.S. TV revenues -- already only a small percentage of what NFL, NBA and major league baseball owners get -- could drop by half.

No matter, the players say they'll never accept an NFL-like cap that would eliminate guaranteed contracts and likely result in frequent player movement.

When told Bettman said a hard cap has never been proposed, NHLPA chief Bob Goodenow said, "It was a calculation that came down to a cap number."

"I think the NFL's CBA (collective bargaining agreement) is laughable," said Stars forward Bill Guerin, the NHLPA's executive vice president. "That's why you see the (NFL) owners signing seven-year, $100 million contracts, because they know they'll only have to pay $5 million of it. We want something more stable."

Roenick argues there are workable alternatives to a cap. One example: restricting the salaries of early-round draft choices until they've proven they deserve multimillion dollar contracts.

"We've already offered to give back 5 percent of our salaries right now," Roenick said. "That's a big step in itself, to have taxation on contracts or revenue sharing. There are a lot of ways to do it besides a cap."

For now, the owners seems as determined as the players to get what they want. General manager Craig Patrick said the Penguins, whose attendance is down nearly 18 percent, can hold out as long as necessary to get a more favorable economic system.

"They can dig in all they want," Roenick said. "The players can dig in just as hard."





I can get like a million more. Just type NHL lockdown in a search engine.

[g-unit80744]

by the way, if there wasn't going to be an NHL next year they couldn't have another season. :lol:

Anyone follow me?

[Prowler24x]

i hear about these 2 groups not making an agreement...who are these 2 groups that cant agree on something

[Warden]

I think season will not start in time. Most likely we will see short version again.