Lee Anne
07-13-2005, 01:12 PM
http://www.tsn.ca/
From The Toronto Star:
The longest labour battle in the history of professional sports in North America is finally over.
The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association said today a tentative deal had been reached after the two sides met for more than 24 hours straight in New York, the culmination of 10 consecutive days of talks.
The process is not quite over. The players’ rank and file and the owners have to ratify the agreement. That is expected some time next week.
Both sides are expected to approve the deal, paving the way for the NHL to reopen for business.
The NHL and NHLPA said details of the agreement will not be released pending ratification.
The game will return looking drastically different both on and off the ice. A vastly different and complicated collective bargaining agreement, highlighted by a hard salary cap, has given owners their long-desired “cost certainty.”
Teams will come back looking vastly different as well. Mass player movement is expected with a high number of free agents on the market as well as several high-paid players expected to get bought out so teams can fit under the cap.
On the ice, major rules changes are being examined which will hopefully open up the game and create more excitement, likely including the reduction in the size of goalie equipment, allowing the two-line pass, and the penalty shootout to decide tie games during the regular season.
And there’s much work ahead to lure back bitter fans and an apathetic corporate community.
A source also said today that the belated 2005 NHL entry draft will be held in Ottawa on Saturday, July 30, although a much smaller event with only the very top prospects invited, including Sidney Crosby, the consensus No. 1 pick.
In the end, the players caved in on an issue they swore they never would: the salary cap.
They also lost out on the entry-level system with rookies scaled back to $850,000 (U.S.) a season in maximum salary as well as swallowing a 24 per cent rollback on all existing contracts.
It’s clear this isn’t a deal NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow was in favour of but he went along with it, respecting the wishes of president Trevor Linden and the rest of the players’ executive committee.
It’s been a long and tumultuous road towards a resolution. From the first labour meeting in January 2003 to the last on Wednesday, both sides met 82 times over two and a half years before finally agreeing on a new deal.
The lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season, including all 1,230 regular-season games, denying hockey fans a Stanley Cup champion for the first time since a flu epidemic cancelled the 1919 final. The NHL became the first major professional league in North America to lose a season from beginning to end because of labour strife.
Once commissioner Gary Bettman announced the season cancelled Feb. 16, both sides returned to the negotiating table March 11 in the first of 44 meetings aimed at making sure the 2005-06 season wouldn’t be delayed.
The two sides met every single week starting in early May and didn’t let up until the end, cramming in long days in the final six weeks in an effort to finally get it done.
A number of player agents are angry with Goodenow, feeling betrayed by his strategy from the get-go. But while the owners appear to have scored a one-sided victory, it remains to be seen at what cost. The damage to the industry from not having any hockey played for a year may have both sides singing the blues
From The Toronto Star:
The longest labour battle in the history of professional sports in North America is finally over.
The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association said today a tentative deal had been reached after the two sides met for more than 24 hours straight in New York, the culmination of 10 consecutive days of talks.
The process is not quite over. The players’ rank and file and the owners have to ratify the agreement. That is expected some time next week.
Both sides are expected to approve the deal, paving the way for the NHL to reopen for business.
The NHL and NHLPA said details of the agreement will not be released pending ratification.
The game will return looking drastically different both on and off the ice. A vastly different and complicated collective bargaining agreement, highlighted by a hard salary cap, has given owners their long-desired “cost certainty.”
Teams will come back looking vastly different as well. Mass player movement is expected with a high number of free agents on the market as well as several high-paid players expected to get bought out so teams can fit under the cap.
On the ice, major rules changes are being examined which will hopefully open up the game and create more excitement, likely including the reduction in the size of goalie equipment, allowing the two-line pass, and the penalty shootout to decide tie games during the regular season.
And there’s much work ahead to lure back bitter fans and an apathetic corporate community.
A source also said today that the belated 2005 NHL entry draft will be held in Ottawa on Saturday, July 30, although a much smaller event with only the very top prospects invited, including Sidney Crosby, the consensus No. 1 pick.
In the end, the players caved in on an issue they swore they never would: the salary cap.
They also lost out on the entry-level system with rookies scaled back to $850,000 (U.S.) a season in maximum salary as well as swallowing a 24 per cent rollback on all existing contracts.
It’s clear this isn’t a deal NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow was in favour of but he went along with it, respecting the wishes of president Trevor Linden and the rest of the players’ executive committee.
It’s been a long and tumultuous road towards a resolution. From the first labour meeting in January 2003 to the last on Wednesday, both sides met 82 times over two and a half years before finally agreeing on a new deal.
The lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season, including all 1,230 regular-season games, denying hockey fans a Stanley Cup champion for the first time since a flu epidemic cancelled the 1919 final. The NHL became the first major professional league in North America to lose a season from beginning to end because of labour strife.
Once commissioner Gary Bettman announced the season cancelled Feb. 16, both sides returned to the negotiating table March 11 in the first of 44 meetings aimed at making sure the 2005-06 season wouldn’t be delayed.
The two sides met every single week starting in early May and didn’t let up until the end, cramming in long days in the final six weeks in an effort to finally get it done.
A number of player agents are angry with Goodenow, feeling betrayed by his strategy from the get-go. But while the owners appear to have scored a one-sided victory, it remains to be seen at what cost. The damage to the industry from not having any hockey played for a year may have both sides singing the blues