Betteman backing away from hard salary cap.

[BadCompany]

Personally, I never thought a hard salary cap was ever really a possibility. Too many owners against it, never mind the players. Seems Gary is backing away from that stance now.

I think it was a huge mistake to ever make team salary caps an issue. Now, Betteman looks weak to not only the fans, but to the player's association as well.

www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=69904

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says owners are not seeking a hard salary cap in collective bargaining talks with the NHL Players Association.

In an interview with TSN's Dave Hodge, Bettman says the league wants a system where the players get their fair share and provides franchise stability.

"Weve never proposed an individual hard team salary cap," says Bettman.

"We want to negotiate with the union over what is the fair share of the leagues revenues to go to the players. And by fair share, I mean a system that works so the franchises are stable, ticket prices are affordable and the players are being paid fairly under the circumstances."

Bettman says that the league wants to avoid a lockout this fall, adding there is still enough time to work out a new deal before it ever gets to that.

"Everybody covering the game knows what the problems are. The fans know what the problems are. And I believe deep inside, whether or not they choose to acknowledge it, the union knows what the problems are. The problems have to be addressed. The cost to the game of continuing like this would be greater than anything else. If we fix it, all will be well."

The NHL is hoping to resume negotations with the NHLPA on a new agreement at next month's All-Star Game in Minneapolis.

[TheHabsfan]

Although I agree with you that Bettman will lose some clout or credibility in this issue, it gives me a little more confidence that a deal will be struck when seeing a softening of position...It's pretty obvious that a hard salary cap wasn't the solution and would have caused a deeper division between the 2 sides.

Hopefully, the NHLPA will step forward with some concessions of their own, and help get a quick and equitable solution to the problem.

THF

[insomnius]

I am totally behind the players in this one. I hold up two examples to illustrate my point (both provided by the one and only Harry Sinden)...

1 - Martin Lapointe
2 - Byron Dafoe


1 - Who in their right mind thinks Lapointe is worht 5 million a year? Right.

If you are Martin Lapointe, sitting at home after winning the Stanley Cup and your agent calls and says,"Well the Wings aren't going for the contract offer but Boston is offering 5 million a year. Want it?" IS anyone here dumb enough to think he'd say no?

Whose fault that we have an overpaid underachiever? Boston Bruins Management.

2 - Byron Dafoe. After being outplayed by the eventual MVP in the Habs upset 2 years ago, Boston rejected the guy's demand for 6 million a year and let him go where he chose.

No-one wanted him. Now...he's making half that in Atlanta. The "market" (that the players are all saying is where a player's worth is determined) decided that Dafoe was not worth 6 million a year.

Clearly when the teams management get the fog out of their eyes they can make sound business decisions like NOT paying Dafoe so much money.

How is it the fault of the players? I hold the owners and the League FULLY responsible for this situation...

The Eric Lindros rookie situation where he REFUSED to report to the team that drafted him...bad precedent.

The Sergei Fedorov RFA holdout - the Hurricanes' owner made an offer of horrendous proportions to lure Fedorov out of Detroit. So much so that when the Red Wings matched it, Fedorov ended up making nearly 30 million for 4 months of hockey (bonuses for each round of the playoffs and the Wings won the Cup.)

The Alexandre Daigle rookie contract.

The Marc-Andre Fleury rookie contract - bonuses for an .890 save percentager and a 3.20 goals against avg??? That's insane!!!

The league and the owners have constantly shot themselves in the foot....and now want the players to absorb a portion of the responibility that they should not have to...

[blaise]

By a process of attrition the astronomically paid players will fade away and the league average salary will decrease gradually to a more sustainable level. This trend will be catalyzed by the refusal of management to hand agents signed contracts with the salary box left blank, thereby allowing RFAs and UFAs to seek higher paid employment elsewhere. The Rangers, Islanders, and Capitals, among others, have been burned by their acquisition of star and superstar players at outrageous salaries. In effect, these organizations have been admitting Trojan horses into their cities.

[LoupDogg]

I'm still not convinced by the market setteling itself. Of course, the Rangers are wasting big bucks on underachievers. Let's not make the direct link between spending too much and losing, though. With th eproper moves, they could have ended up in the same place than the Yankees. And, let's not forget that the Rangers are not complaining about losing any money, even with their high salary bills.

So many teams are in the red, though. And that's why a move has to be made. So, ok, it won't be a salary cap. Fair enough. We just have to come up with something more effective than the system installed in the MLB or the NBA (remember who set this up? Oh.. right, Gary Bettman). The loss of Winnipeg and Quebec still is sour to hockey fans. I wouldn't care to drop a few franchises from the most recent expansions (Blue Jackets, anyone?). But the NHLPA won't allow that.

So, will it be a punitive tax? I am not well informed enough to know any other solutions. But that league is in trouble. Or will be soon, if they keep ignoring their mistakes.