Wird NHL-Saison noch gerettet?

[AustroLeaf]

Donnerstag Abend fand in Toronto, hockey capital of the world, das mit Spannung erwartete Treffen zwischen Spielervertretern der NHLPA und Liga-/Klubvertretern statt. Die Spieler hatten im Vorfeld mit der Ankündigung eines neuen Kompromißvorschlages für Aufsehen gesorgt. Und tatsächlich kann sich ihr Verhandlungspapier sehen lassen:

1. Reduktion aller bestehenden Spielergehälter um 24%. ( )

2. "Luxury tax": ab einem Gehaltsbudget von 40 Mio. $ müssen vom betreffenden Klub für jeden weiteren Gehalts-Dollar 20 Cent "Luxussteuer" bezahlt werden, ab 50 Mio. 50 Cent, ab 60 Mio. 60 Cent. Alle Klubs, die drunter bleiben, bekommen Unterstützung.

3. Keine automatische Gehaltsvorrückung mehr bei den qualifying offers für RFA's (bisher 10%), das gleiche Gehalt reicht, um die Rechte auf den Spieler zu behalten. Ausnahme sind Spieler, deren Salär weit unter dem Durchschnitt liegt.

4. Reduziertes maximales Rookie-Gehalt auf ca. 850.000 $ (bislang über 1.1 Mio) und Reduktion des erlaubten signing bonus.

5. Weitere Maßnahmen wie gemeinsames Komitee von Spielern u. Besitzern zur Überwachung dieser Sachen, neu gestaffeltes revenue sharing etc.

Insgesamt ein überraschend weitreichender Vorschlag, ein wahrhaft großer Schritt von Spielerseite. Wenn die Besitzer sich nun durchringen können, ihre Verhandlungsposition ebenfalls auch nur ein wenig zu verändern und vom hard salary cap abzurücken, und das Ganze auch noch schnell (Dienstag ist erneut ein Meeting), dann könnte diese NHL-Saison doch noch gerettet werden und ca. Mitte Jänner beginnen.

Was meint ihr, wird's dieses Jahr noch was?

[quaiz]

Ich hoffe es.

Mir geht die NHL voll ab.

Würde mich freuen endlich ein paar Österreicher auf dem NHL Eis zu sehen.

[XSCHLAMEAL]

So sehr es mich freuen würde, wenn die NHL Saison doch noch beginnen würde... mittlerweile seh ich es schon ein wenig egoistisch, denn sollte die NHL Saison doch noch starten, würden wir sicher weniger NHL-Stars bei unserer Heim-WM bewundern dürfen

[quaiz]

Schon möglich aber vielleicht haben wir dann eine Chance und steigen nicht ab.

Ich weis das wir nicht schlecht sind aber ich sehe in unserer Gruppe eher kein Licht.

[chrisz21]

die Luxury Tax ist ein Schwerz... 20 Cent sind zuwenig!

Den Gehaltsreduzierung reduzieren..und den Luxury Tax erhöhen.. so könnte es vielleicht klappen....

Ich denke aber nicht das sie die NHL ein Jahr Pause leisten kann, das Image ist ohnehin schon genug geschädigt..und nach einem Jahr würd's noch viel düsterer aussehen, außerdem wer sagt uns das die Spieler nach einem Jahr NHL Pause einen Salary Cap akzeptieren würden..

[Seppo Dramac]

Jetzt heißt es nur hoffen, hoffen, hoffen ...

Ich drück dem AustroLeaf besonders die Daumen da der ja ab Jänner in den Staaten ist und sich dann ein paar Partien live geben könnte.

Finde den Vorschlag der NHLPA übrigens sehr fair, er könnte dafür sorgen dass auch die reichen Klubs anfangen nachzudenken und manche (Ottawa, ...) aufhören über ihren Verhältnissen zu leben wenn sie auch noch eine Luxussteuer zahlen müssen.

[revo]

es ist einfach nur eine frechheit was die spielergewerkschaft da durchzieht.. was glauben die eigentlich wer sie sind? 10 millionen als jahresgehalt muss doch bitte ausreichend sein!!!!!! (die managergehälter sollte man halt auch gleichzeitig drastisch reduzieren...)

[AustroLeaf]

die Luxury Tax ist ein Schwerz... 20 Cent sind zuwenig!

Da geb ich dir recht, allerdings ist da sicherlich noch nicht das letzte Wort gesprochen. Die Spieler haben jedenfalls bewiesen, daß sie zur Vermeidung des salary cap zu signifikanten Zugeständnissen bereit sind. Darüber hinaus sind sie bereit, das CBA auf 6 Jahre zu beschränken. Somit wäre im Falle einer erneuten Gehälterexplosion früher die Möglichkeit da, zu reagieren.

Ich hoffe wirklich, daß das die Grundlage für einen möglichen Kompromiß ist.

[AustroLeaf]

Die Klubbesitzer haben das Angebot der Spieler vollständig zurückgewiesen mit dem (nicht einmal komplett falschen) Hinweis darauf, daß dieser Gehaltsverzicht in sich kein System ist, sondern nur eine Kurzzeitheilung.

Im Gegenzug haben sie die Grenze für ihren Salary Cap erhöht, nämlich auf einen Bereich zwischen 34,5 und knapp über 38 Mio. $, was natürlich wiederum von den Spielervertretern sofort abgelehnt wurde.

x/

AAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

[chrisz21]

Espn News brachte heute(wurde in einem Hockeyforum aus Übersee gepostet):

Bill Clement says the owners and NHLPA are not as far apart as we all think

Clement offers probably the most intelligent opinion I've seen. He didn't even take one side or the other.

He believes essentially that everyone is talking smack, they're going to agree to talk next week. There won't be raplacement players. The major things he said:

-Wayne Gretzky (as an icon of the game, former player turned owner), Mario Lemeiux (player AND owner) and Mike Barnett (agent turned GM) need to start speaking up to both sides, the media and whoever will listen

-There will be hockey this year because the NHL and players know if they lose this season they'll never get that money back and irreputable damage will be done to the sport.

-Made some lame analogies about air supply I didn't get but it sounded good

-There is no point in having replacement players or a players league.

-Neither side wants an arbitrator because of the fear of the unknown

Wie war es 1994...

... der Streik endete am 13.Jänner! Am 14. Dezember sagte damals die NHLPA das keine Saison stattfinden wird.. keine Gespräche waren mehr geplant.. am 28. Dezember wurde wieder verhandelt.. und zwei Wochen später die Saison gerettet..

bearbeitet 15. Dezember 2004 von chrisz21

[Lichtgestalt]

12 DUMB CONTACTS THAT RUINED HOCKEY

Why is the NHL in a mess? Sun hockey writer Randy Sportak tells the gruesome tales of owners with dollars but no sense.

It seems to be such an honourable effort. Owners, united like the Three Musketeers, trying to save the NHL from itself. From the overspending that's made third- and fourth-line grinders millionaires. Sadly, it's more of a comedy.

These, after all, are the same owners who have done what they can to bend the rules to their favour and ignored what's best for the league when it suits them. They've written out massive cheques in an effort to win and feed their own ego. Comically, they're saying the lockout -- now in Day 94 -- is about making sure it's a level playing field. There may be some validity to it but, over the last decade, they've tried to find every upper hand possible, tried to use greenbacks instead of intelligence to build winners. Tried to take advantage of fellow owners, who are in some financial peril. Sometimes even to exact a measure of revenge.

For the past decade, there has been a steady stream of foolish contracts that have sent the salaries spiraling to high heaven. Here's a rundown of some contracts that helped ruin the NHL and bring it where it is now:

- - -

NO. 1 -- JOE SAKIC

Offer-sheet disturbers: The Rangers' three-year, $21M offer with a $15M signing bonus

Slightly more than a week after losing Mark Messier to Vancouver in the summer of 1997, the New York Rangers shocked everyone when they signed Colorado Avalanche star centre Joe Sakic to an offer sheet. The price tag was a whopper in itself -- three years and $21 million -- and a huge bump from the $3.1 million Sakic was paid the year before.

Then came the bombshell: The deal included a $15 million signing bonus. Colorado scraped together the money to match the offer for Sakic, who was a perennial all-star and only 28 years old at the time, instead of taking five first-round draft choices as compensation. At least you can appreciate the Rangers going after Sakic, one of the truly elite players in the league. The problem with this deal is the effect it had on other restricted free agents. Sakic's deal made a top-flight restricted free agent worth $7 million per season and both Paul Kariya (two years, $14 million) and Eric Lindros (two years, $16 million) soon took advantage.

It was very similar to Keith Tkachuk's romance with Chicago in October 1995 before the ink was even dry on the new agreement. A young power forward with the Winnipeg Jets, Tkachuk signed a front-loaded $17.2-million deal that gave him $6 million in the first year and roughly $3 million per season over the rest of the deal. The Jets were on the verge of leaving for Phoenix and the Blackhawks were trying to take advantage of the club's weakness. Winnipeg matched the deal but the organization had to put up with Tkachuk whining he was underpaid a few years later.

- - -

NO. 2 -- CHRIS GRATTON

Flyers' folly: A five-year, $16.5M deal for a young restricted free agent they really want ... for a little while

A week after the Rangers tried to lure Joe Sakic, Philadelphia signed Tampa's young rising star Chris Gratton to a five-year, $16.5-million pact. This time it worked, sort of. Gratton did score 22 goals in 1997-98 -- he had 30 the year before -- making it seem like a good move. However, the end result cost Philly in a big way. First, the Flyers sent Mikael Renberg and Karl Dykhuis to Tampa Bay to retrieve the four first-round draft picks lost as compensation.

Then, having scored only once in the first 26 games of the 1998-99 season, Gratton was sent back to Tampa with Mike Sillinger for Renberg and Daymond Langkow. Gratton hasn't lived up to anyone's expectations since but the price of a young, powerful 20-30 goal scorer went up immensely.

- - -

NO. 3 & 4 -- JOE THORNTON / SERGEI SAMSONOV

Rookie mistakes: Bruins circumvent freshman 'cap'

That Joe Thornton, the first overall pick of 1997, received a bonus-laden contract never has been and never will be the issue. The fact Sergei Samsonov -- the eighth pick of the year -- received the same deal, was. The CBA signed a couple of years earlier capped rookies but the Bruins managed to come up with the deal that's known as the model -- which allowed players all three years to receive bonuses based on a handful of criteria.

Thornton reached 60 points in the final year and earned $2.4 million. Samsonov cashed a few big cheques because of it, too. "Harry Sinden (the Bruins president-GM at the time) has just set the market for one-third of the teams in the NHL. Only two years after getting the CBA done and he's blowing it up," said one insider.

Now, every first-rounder wants the model. Moreover, those who reach the bonuses -- such as Marian Gaborik and Mike Comrie -- expect big deals when they become restricted free agents and can't be signed without those amounts collected from bonuses taken into consideration. Even then Rangers GM Neil Smith -- in a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black -- criticized the Bruins. Sinden shot back: "I'm the last one in the sewer. They were all waiting for me."

- - -

NO. 5 -- SERGEI FEDOROV

Clause for concern: 'Canes' six-year, $38M offer sheet with one sneaky bonus

Having sat out most of the season without a new contract, Fedorov was pushed to the forefront Feb. 26, 1998 when he signed an offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes. The contract was a six-year, $38-million pact that had an amazing signing bonus that gave him $16 million in the first season alone, in which he played only 21 games. Moreover, it included a crazy $12 million bonus if the team reached the Western Conference final.

Detroit won the Cup that year but there was no such chance for the Hurricanes, who were playing to near-empty houses. Plus, it was no secret Carolina owner Peter Karmanos Jr. was trying to hit Detroit cheque-signer Michael Illitch in the wallet. The fact this lockout is to save teams like Carolina makes it even more foolish, doesn't it?

- - -

NO. 6 -- JOHN LECLAIR

Past-their-prime prices go up: Five-year, $45M deal for broken-down winger

Shortly before becoming an unrestricted free agent, John LeClair inked a whopping five-year, $45-million deal in the summer of 2001. Sure, the hulking Flyers forward had averaged 47 goals in a five-season span (1995-96 through 1999-2000) but he had just missed all but 16 games due to back problems and was about to celebrate his 32nd birthday.

He's had a couple of 20-plus goal seasons since but only skated in 35 games in 2002-03 because of a shoulder problem. Because of the deal, the asking price for pending UFAs -- Mats Sundin -- went up to as much $9 million per season. Doug Weight signed for four years and $40 million upon being traded to St. Louis and hasn't scored more than 15 goals a season for the Blues.

- - -

NO. 7 & 8 -- ALEXEI YASHIN / JAROMIR JAGR

Top dollar for scorers who don't score: 10-year, 87.5M and 8-year, $88M deals

Just before the 2001 training camp, the Islanders signed the longest, most lucrative contract in NHL history with Alexei Yashin, a 10-year, $87.5-million deal. Let's see ... he sat out a whole season because he didn't want to honour his contract with Ottawa and finally gets his wish -- a trade to a team stupid enough to pay him too much. Thanks, Mike Milbury. How's the man known as Cash-in shown his thanks? Seasons that have seen his goal totals go from 32 to 26 to 15.

A month after Yashin's deal was signed, in a perfect show of what ego and stupidity do when mixed together, Washington owner Ted Leonsis decided to rip up the final two years of Jaromir Jagr's deal that was worth $9.5 million and $10.25 million and gave the moody star to an eight-year, $88 million deal. Leonsis, after seeing Jagr destroy his team's chemistry and fail to crack the 40-goal mark, dealt him to the Rangers last spring and had to swallow $20 million of the remaining seasons.

- - -

NO. 9 -- BOBBY HOLIK

Chequing centre: Five-year, $45M deal for a third-line centre

Trust the Rangers to take stupidity to a new level. Against all sense of sanity, Rangers GM Glen Sather shocked everyone by signing Bobby Holik to a five-year, $45-million pact on July 1, 2002. A year earlier, Holik scored 25 goals playing on a one-year, $3.5-million deal reached through arbitration. After reporting to his first Rangers camp 20 lb. overweight, he scored only 16 goals.

Want to know what makes the deal even worse? The Rangers could have given him $10.5 million per season because the owners -- Cablevision -- were mad at the New Jersey Devils owners -- the New York Yankees parent company -- for taking Yankees games away. As one NHL insider said: "When you're making decisions for corporate revenge, I can guess why Gary wants an idiot-proof system." A year later, Keith Tkachuk also signed a five-year, $45-million deal that St. Louis is trying to figure out how to get out from under.

- - -

NO. 10 -- MARTIN LAPOINTE

'Cheapskates' break bank: Bruins give winger four-year, $20M deal for one better-than-usual season

A day after Holik signed came a reminder the Boston Bruins have no right to complain about salary escalation. A year before signing Martin Lapointe, Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and Detroit owner Mike Illitch got into a heated shouting match at the board of governors meeting. Illitch called Jacobs a cheapskate for raking in so much profit with a mediocre team year after year and Jacobs vowed revenge. It came in the form of signing Lapointe to the tune of four years and $20 million.

Lapointe, who somehow scored 27 goals the year before, has been either hurt or back to his old self -- a career 15-17 goal scorer. Word is, Lapointe's agent had a deal with Detroit GM Ken Holland to give him a last chance to come to terms and Holland's reply hearing the numbers was: "You're lying."

- - -

NO. 11 & 12 -- JOSE THEODORE / J-S GIGUERE

Net gains: Goalies get three-year, 16.5M and four-year, 19.5M deals for their one good season

The one-year wonders. Prior to their deals, goalies signed to mega-contracts either had a long history of success, such as Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur or Ed Belfour, or were pending unrestricted free agents such as Dominik Hasek and Curtis Joseph.

Theodore was first to hit the jackpot, inking a three-year, $16.5-million deal with Montreal after winning the hotly contested 2002 Hart Trophy over Jarome Iginla. Giguere, cast aside years earlier by the Flames, capped the next season with a Conn Smythe Trophy win while taking the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim within one game of the 2003 Stanley Cup. For his efforts, he signed a four-year, $19.5 million deal. Neither have managed to live up to the value or expectations.

(Randy Sportak / Calgary Sun)

[Lichtgestalt]

FANS REMAIN ON OWNERS SIDE

Despite the NHLPA's 24% solution proposed two weeks ago, Canadians remain steadfast that owners are being more reasonable than the players in their bitter labour dispute. In an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted by TSN on Tuesday, 59% of poll respondents are in the owners corner - almost unchanged from the 60% from the original poll conducted just before the lockout began. Player support has fallen from 20% to 16% over the same period.

The union also hasn't swayed the public when it comes to the blame game. If the season were canceled, 50% of the respondents would find fault in the players, which is virtually unchanged from results in the September poll.

As for awarding hockey's most coveted prize, 31% believe club teams should be allowed to compete in a challenge tournament for the Stanley Cup even though technically, it's NHL property. Of those polled, 62% feel Lord Stanley's mug should only be awarded to an NHL team and should be put away if this season is scrapped. But if the lockout ends this season, how many games in a shortened schedule would be enough to justify awarding the cup? According to the poll, 36% say at least 40 regular season games, while declining numbers feel 30 or 20 games would be legitimate.

The NHLPAs Senior Director Ted Saskin made the following statement in response to the Ipsos-Reid/TSN poll:

"It has not been our practice to comment on polls especially given the bias that emerges from the way in which questions are framed. From what I saw of the questions asked in this poll, the respondents were given no information about our recent proposal and mistakenly told that the Players' Association wanted a free market versus the owners' desire for cost controls. Anyone conversant with our proposals would know players are in no way asking for a free market and have already proposed significant new cost controls on top of an across the board 24 percent salary rollback representing over $500M in reductions to contracts previously committed to by owners. I am confident anyone apprised of all the facts would be more supportive of the players' efforts to find a solution, especially in light of the owners' ongoing refusal to negotiate or accept any compromise solution."

[tsn.ca]

[AustroLeaf]

Wirklich nette Aufstellung, diese 12 dumb contracts. Lapointe war ja DER Hammer; fand ich dennoch weniger schlimm als z.B. Holik, denn bei Lapointe war es absolut jedem klar, daß Boston soeben "overpaid" hatte.

Im Prinzip haben sich die Klubbesitzer all ihre Probleme selbst heraufbeschworen.

Der absolute Wahnsinn war diese eine free agent season, wo Holik, Kasparaitis, Guerin allesamt mit der Vernunft spottenden Traumverträgen ausgestattet wurden (auch die Geschichte mit Theodore und Giguere war, wenn ich mich recht erinnere, in jenem Jahr), wobei da jeweils nicht nur ein Team bereit war, so viel zu zahlen (ja, auch die Leafs...).

[Lichtgestalt]

SAY IT'S SO, CRAZY JOE

Joe Nieuwendyk clings to hope that NHL season can still be saved - by Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun.

Some might call him Crazy Joe. But count Joe Nieuwendyk in the optimists' camp for an imminent settlement of the National Hockey League lockout. The Maple Leafs' centre, one of several late-30 somethings whose careers are threatened by the four-month-old dispute, said yesterday that the chilly forecast for talks between players and owners is misleading.

"It's almost like everyone's talking about Vince Carter now and everything's so quiet in hockey," Nieuwendyk said. "Maybe behind the scenes, things are going on. "I know the owners are talking like they're unified. But I'm not so sure. They have a gag order on all those guys and I'm sure if that wasn't on, there would be a few more things being said. I have to think with the proposals we've put forward, a number of teams could work with them. At the very least, it should have got (talks) going a little more."

Nieuwendyk, teammate Gary Roberts and unemployed winger Steve Thomas were all part of an NHL Players Association charity drive yesterday at Vaughn Mills Mall. Present and former players gave autographs in exchange for toys that will go the the CHUM/CITY Christmas Wish and Ronald McDonald House. No offence to invitees Mark Osborne, Peter Zezel and Adam Graves, but the two Leafs and Thomas aren't ready to be listed as ex-NHLers just yet.

"In the back of your mind, you worry that this is it," said Roberts, who will be 39 next year. "But I enjoy training and enjoy pick-up hockey. If there's no hockey, next summer I'll add skating to my program. Young or old, you take one or two years off, it'll take time to get back." Thomas is on much more shaky ground -- 41 and without a contract -- though two teams were mildly interested when the lockout began. "As much as I'd like to think I can still play at this level, who knows what will happen if another year (is lost)," Thomas said. "I'd like to play until I'm 90. But there will come a time when the end is going to come. That will be tough, but what can you do? There were players like me who had to retire at the end of 1994 because of that lockout."

He sees some hope for resolution early in the New Year, but not as much as Nieuwendyk. "(Last week) was not a good sign," he said. "Back in '94, there was always light at the end of the tunnel. It's hard for me to understand how this could go on for another year. The (status) of the game would totally drop off. I'm hopeful in a year they can bring it back to where it has been, hopefully make it even better."

[ -> Toronto Sun ]

[Lichtgestalt]

NHL cancels board of governors meeting

-> espn.com

die saison ist damit wohl nicht mehr zu retten.

interessantes detail am rande: espn hat bekanntgegeben, dass die ersatzprogramme signifikant höhere einschaltquoten erzielen als die nhl in der vergangenen saison.