October 21, 2004
Pronger Speaks Out
It looks like NHLPA head Bob Goodenow is losing control of his membership. Because it's one thing when you're called out by Juraj Kolnik and Andrew Ference.
But it's another thing entirely when a team's rep to the NHLPA speaks out. And it's all the more trouble when the guy doing the speaking is former NHL MVP and Norris Trophy winner Chris Pronger:
"If all the energy we've seen being wasted on public relations could be spent negotiating a deal, we could probably be halfway done a deal," Pronger told the Peterborough Examiner.
"Realistically, who cares whose side you are on, neither one of us looks good," said Pronger, winner of the Hart Trophy as the league MVP and Norris Trophy as top defenceman in 2000.
No meetings between the NHL and the union have taken place since the lockout began on Sept. 15 and no talks are scheduled for the foreseeable future – something that doesn't sit well with Pronger.
Opined the standout blue-liner: "Ultimately the people who lose are the fans who are missing the game they love; the players who are missing the game they love playing and the owners who own their franchise and aren't getting anything out of it. Right now its lose-lose all the way around."
However, Pronger doesn't expect negotiations soon, stating the owners are "going to make you miss two or three pay cheques before they even think about negotiating. They're looking for us to blink first."
And don't be fooled by this, "a pox on both your houses," sort of talk. Pronger is seriously off message here when it comes to the union and the CBA.
One more time -- Goodenow has nobody but himself to blame for this. The players are getting killed in the press, and it's because the NHLPA has ceded the PR battle to the owners.
The players read the newspapers. And so do their agents. And the drumbeat of impending doom, fueled by the press isn't letting up.
A few days ago, one of my readers wrote in to say that the NHL had let go of their front line people and brought on a bunch of "hired guns" to handle the press during the lockout.
You know why? Because the owners are playing to win this time. And the NHLPA seems to just want to play for the regulation tie.
It's not going to work.
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From TSN.ca ``The NHLPA has scheduled a meeting with all player representatives on Nov. 2 in Toronto as part of our ongoing information updates during the owners' lockout,'' senior director Ted Saskin said Thursday. Players are given daily updates thro... [Read More]
Tracked on October 21, 2004 10:16 PM
So they're talking "drop dead" date on WFAN right now - no details, but it's apparently seriously come into discussions on the league/owner side of the game.
Posted by:
at October 21, 2004 03:44 PM
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