2012 NHL Offseason Thread: ROCK OUT WITH YOUR LOCKOUT

[vagus]

Players are considered "cattle" according to Detroit redwings owner. Lol!!! Bettman fines the team 250k.

Seriously NHL needs to smarten up when nearly 45% of the teams are losing money. A new deal sharing venue with players and luxury tax needs to happen. The new tv contract is a great step. How Bettman keeps his job after year is beyond me.

[NynJa]

While I agree, dominating the SEL isn't one of the ways I'd argue for proof. The SEL is basically an overglorified AHL.

Nash draws more of a spotlight when he played with big names (ASG/Olympics)...inb4: playing with allstars around you makes everyone better.

[Timwakefield]

Can't wait for the Pens game toni...oh FUCK YOU.

[Aksannyi]

[BadKarma]

Nash draws more of a spotlight when he played with big names (ASG/Olympics)...inb4: playing with allstars around you makes everyone better.

hell be fine on the rangers then, considering we have 3 of the top 10 defenseman in the league, tied for best goalie, the best right wing (himself) another top 10 winger, a top 20 center and a hell of a supporting cast. This all according to THNs rankings this year of course

[Palin]

http://themccabechronicles.blogspot.....html?spref=tw

Great article about how the NHL's offer is pretty close to what the PA was originally asking for. So why have they not settled?

[Deader2818]

http://themccabechronicles.blogspot.....html?spref=tw

Great article about how the NHL's offer is pretty close to what the PA was originally asking for. So why have they not settled?

Donald Fehr.

I had a feeling he was going to be bad for hockey once he was named head of the NHLPA.

[Richybear]

Daryl Katz and the Oilers group "toured Seattle to go to a Seahawks game" and checked out the arena there.
Just a bargaining ploy since he's in a battle with the city/province over the new arena funding.

[Sepukku]

From a personal standpoint, I don't agree with public governments and tax money funding private stadiums, the benefits are so exaggerated and not worth the 9 digits the tax payers chip in.... but that being said, I'm glad Pittsburgh's sporting teams weren't the martyrs to stand their ground and move out when the stadiums would've been vetoed.

I hope one day, sometime soon preferably, a few teams in the 4 sports move cause taxpayers don't pony up and it becomes new customary practice to not approve taxpayer-funded stadiums.

[Richybear]

It's stupider because he wants it funded by the city/province, but wants exclusive rights on all things inside the building. ie: Parking/Concessions, Concerts, Oilers' games or any other random events that would go on inside the arena. He's worth 2 ~ 2.5 billion dollars, so if he'd just pony up the extra $100m or so to have his own monopoly on all things "Katz Arena" (no idea what the name would be, so just using his last name. It might even stay Rexall Place after his pharmaceutical company, but whatever.) he'd make back that 100m in no time off of the Oilers, concerts etc.

[BadKarma]

[Brill Weave]

From a personal standpoint, I don't agree with public governments and tax money funding private stadiums, the benefits are so exaggerated and not worth the 9 digits the tax payers chip in.... but that being said, I'm glad Pittsburgh's sporting teams weren't the martyrs to stand their ground and move out when the stadiums would've been vetoed.

I hope one day, sometime soon preferably, a few teams in the 4 sports move cause taxpayers don't pony up and it becomes new customary practice to not approve taxpayer-funded stadiums.

That's because PNC Park and Heinz Field were publicly funded. Consol was supposed to be publicly funded as well but with the shit storm that occurred the last time there was no way the city would follow through on it's original promise to Lemieux.

[Callisto]

http://www.thehockeynews.com/article...the-blame.html

decent article defending Bettman, several things are his fault but it's nice to see one or two people who don't try to hang things on him that aren't his doing, or at least acknowledge the positive things he's done...

[Sepukku]

That's because PNC Park and Heinz Field were publicly funded. Consol was supposed to be publicly funded as well but with the shit storm that occurred the last time there was no way the city would follow through on it's original promise to Lemieux.

Right... thats my point. I'm against publicly funding stadiums, but I'm glad WE caved and got to keep our teams, so I'm hoping some OTHER cities in the next 20 years (before we start needing to consider new Pittsburgh stadiums) don't cave and reverse this trend of owners holding taxpayers hostage so we don't have to go through that clusterfuck again.

[Brill Weave]

My bad buddy, I misunderstood what you were trying to say.

[NynJa]

I'm pretty sure the chicagoites havent seen this

[NynJa]

I'm pretty sure the chicagoites havent seen this

[Selamis]

lol the C is for Crazy Good, awesome

[bluefan]

It's the way he says it lol.

Oh Johnny boy, can't see you play at the MTS Centre this year it looks like. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

[Sepukku]

At this point, Wade Redden has pretty much seen it all.

Redden is locked out just like 700-odd other NHLers and facing nary a paycheck until the labor impasse is resolved.

Except that, well, Redden hasn’t played in the NHL in 2½ years.

Talk about adding insult to injury. If it didn't hurt his pride enough to be turfed in the AHL for two seasons, his contract too heavy for the New York Rangers to move, now he’s been dragged into a lockout involving a league he hasn’t sniffed since his last NHL game in April 2010.

Not sure there’s a more unique story in this lockout at this point.

"It is a pretty rare case, I guess," Redden told ESPN.com Thursday from Kelowna, B.C., his offseason home. "My mindset now is that hopefully it’s written into the new CBA where stuff like that won’t happen or make it harder to happen so you get a guy like out of that situation."

The "situation" he’s referring to is that he was stuck in Hartford of the AHL the past two seasons without any real options, a victim of the system. The Rangers didn't want to count his $6.5 million on the books after he struggled in the first two years of his six-year, $39 million contract. He has two years left on that deal, which was supposed to pay him $5 million this season and $5 million in 2013-14. But the Rangers, well within their rights, didn’t assign him to the AHL this season and therefore won’t have to pay him his $5 million salary during the lockout.

The Rangers were never able to move that contract under the restricted nature of the expired CBA, because when a trade was made teams couldn’t split the cost of a player's remaining salary. In other pro sports, like baseball, splitting salary helps facilitate moving players (like the Yankees paying some of pitcher A.J. Burnett’s salary this year after the trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates).

In the future, Redden hopes a player in his situation might have a way out if there are more contract options for an NHL team.

Redden says the NHLPA has been terrific in keeping him informed on matters. Time will tell on the CBA front whether his type of situation is addressed, but in the meantime, Redden is working out and skating every day in Kelowna.

Because he played in the AHL last season, Redden could sign an AHL deal just for the duration of the NHL lockout since the AHL added that criteria for players affected by the NHL lockout who played in its league last year.

However, the risk for Redden is that if he got injured while playing under that new AHL contract, he’d risk exposing himself to a suspension without pay from the Rangers once the lockout ended if he was unfit to play. It’s a risk every NHLer who goes to Europe is taking.

So for now, Redden is biding his time, while hoping that the new CBA will bring with it some kind of buyout or amnesty clause that will allow him to leave the Rangers.

"I don’t know, I guess we’ll see, but I’m 35 now and I want to get back in the league and show what I can do," Redden said.

The former All-Star in Ottawa would be an excellent buy-low candidate if he does become an NHL free agent. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and he’s hungry to prove he can still play in the NHL.

"I definitely have a sour taste in my mouth from how things went in New York," said Redden.

"With that said, I went to Hartford and my time there was positive. I don’t regret that. They treated me great there. But everyone wants to be in the NHL. That’s where I was for a long time and that’s where I want to get back."

Named captain of the Whale last March, Redden is a character guy and, for NHL teams looking to upgrade in that department, he’d fit right in.

The last two years have been taxing, but he’s come out of it a stronger person.

"I’m in a pretty good place right now. I’ve had a really good summer in terms of working out and I’m going to keep that up through the lockout," he said.

"I can’t complain; since I got sent down, I got two daughters, and everyone is healthy and happy. So there’s nothing really to be too upset about."

LOL AS IF WADE REDDEN DIDN'T SPEND ENOUGH TIME AS A PUNCHLINE ALREADY.