Kukla's Korner Hockey
NHL May Have Found Out How Strong The NHLPA Is
by Paul on 10/23/12 at 03:09 PM ET
Comments (10)
from James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail,
So the NHL is tired of talking to “a baseball guy” and trying to take its message directly to the players, looking for a sympathetic ear.
Such an end-around isn’t unusual – after all, it happened during the last lockout – but it usually comes as part of an endgame strategy.
Are we that far along already? Maybe.
But this time around it is as much to do with (a) testing the players’ resolve and (b) frustration with NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr’s dour consistency as anything.
It’s also a sign the league is getting a little anxious – and that a compromise that can end this lockout could actually not be as far away as the rhetoric suggests.
What the NHL is really doing here is fishing for weak points in the membership: players who really don’t want to miss paycheques and are willing to consider the not quite 50-50 offer on the table.
It doesn’t sound like they found all that many.
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHLPA, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
Posted by bsalamon on 10/23/12 at 03:31 PM ET
I came here to say this exact phrase. Nicely done.
Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 10/23/12 at 03:43 PM ET
I respect Mirtle, but when I read the memo it looks like it said the GMs may NOT discuss the ongoing CBA negotiations with the players and any discussion should be relayed to the NHLPA. Not sure if there is more to read into this.
Posted by hockey1919 from mid-atlantic on 10/23/12 at 04:28 PM ET
More than anything else what the lockout has shown me is that the NHL is covered by a bunch of clowns.
Can any of these guys write a thoughtful, insightful piece that isn’t completely biased, full of Hockeybuzz-level sourcing, and baldly dismissive of actual events?
I mean, I like Mirtle… but that piece of his is pig swill. Is he quoting somebody on the record? Is he documenting how what the NHL did is an ‘end-around’? Is he connecting any of his claims with anything, anything at all?
Wow.
Posted by HockeyinHD on 10/23/12 at 04:42 PM ET
Well, you can read into the fact that they gave permission to the GMs to even talk to the players. I don’t see why people gloss over that fact when they say the memo looked like it was telling them to not talk about the CBA. Sure, that is what the memo talks about most, but there is no need for the memo at all if they hadn’t allowed the GMs to talk to players for a couple days in the first place.
Posted by clownfat on 10/23/12 at 04:44 PM ET
This is what happens when sportswriters dive into the realm of business and economics.
Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 10/23/12 at 05:41 PM ET
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) NO they are Liberal & have NO CLUE how big business is run
This is what happens when sportswriters dive into the realm of business and economics.
This too
Posted by Evilpens on 10/23/12 at 06:14 PM ET
and the NHLPA is tired of talking with a basketball guy.
Posted by bsalamon on 10/23/12 at 03:31 PM ET
Ha. Boom.
Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 10/24/12 at 01:15 AM ET
and the NHLPA is tired of talking with a basketball guy.
Posted by bsalamon on 10/23/12 at 03:31 PM ET
Ha. Boom.
Posted by mrfluffy
UMMM actually Bettman has been in the NHL how Long??
Fehr has been with the NHLPA How Long?? 6 months
Posted by Evilpens on 10/24/12 at 09:44 AM ET
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and the NHLPA is tired of talking with a basketball guy.
Posted by bsalamon on 10/23/12 at 03:31 PM ET