February 16, 2005
NHL Deadline Day
So, after months of back and forth signifying little to nothing, here's where the status of the NHL season stands: Either the players accept the league's last offer by 11:00 a.m. U.S. EST this morning, or the NHL goes ahead with its planned press conference two hours later in New York announcing the official cancellation of the season.
I'm not terribly surprised that this is where we've ended up after all these months (years really, if you count all the time the league has been planning for this work stoppage and creating its $300 million rainy-day fund).
As it turns out, I'm going to be busy as all get out today, so you'll be sledding alone for what I expect is the sad climax to this dog and pony show (though others disagree). Here are your relevant links to get you through the day:
NHLCBANews, where the planned press conference will be streamed live.
NHLPA.com, for the take from the players.
If something breaks, click here for what the Google News bots have found. For Blog coverage, I've created this simple Technorati search. Then, don't forget TSN.ca, ESPN.com, Slam.ca and the CBC.
And, as always, check out all the fine hockey blogs from my roll to the left, especially these that have been folowing the lockout pretty closely:
Puck Update
Hockeybird
The Rodent
Sharkspage
The Net Files
James Mirtle
Red Line Sports
Breakaway Beach
Boltsmag
Predators' Den
Jes Golbez
Tom Benjamin
Alternately, follow the action at Hockeyblogs.org.
Finally, to review all the action from late last night and early this morning, complete with text of all the letters, click here for my last post from Tuesday night.
Have a great day, and I'll be checking back in again later in the day. In the meantime, feel free to discuss the fallout among yourselves in the comments box below.
EVENING UPDATE: Whew, what a brutal day -- and in more ways than one. I was up at 5:30 a.m. after getting somewhere around two hours of sleep (a story, and not a good one, for another time). And of course, the sad, yet utterly predictable coda that Gary Bettman drew on the NHL season in a hotel ballroom this afternoon in New York.
Here's Jim McKenzie, uttering something everyone involved in the league ought to be thinking right now about the game South of the Border:
"The scary part now for hockey is do the fans come back? We're not baseball, we're not the national pastime," Nashville forward Jim McKenzie said.
I know one thing: I want to know when I can expect to get the refund on my payment in full of the NHL Center Ice package that I was forced to pay for during the playoffs last April. Hello COMCAST, where's my money?
In other parts: The Rodent is praising Gary Bettman. PJ at Sharkspage did an excellent live blogging blow by blow. Jes Golbez has some wry observations. And Jason Kirk is cancelling his season tickets.
More thoughts in a bit, once I get some together.
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Does anybody else find themselves rooting AGAINST an agreement today?
4 months without hockey has just made me made, I guess. F 'em all. Come back in October and do it right ...
(oh, and btw, could you please send Sidney Crosby to Washington ... :-))
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 08:49 AM
whoops ... "made me MAD," of course.
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 08:50 AM
A week ago I would have been fine with a cancalled season. There wasn't much hope and the two sides were miles apart. But now? Now that they're only $6.5 million apart on a cap level and have theoretically agreed on everything else ? If they cancel the season because they couldn't bridge a $6.5 million gap this will go down in sports as the stupidest, most idiotic dispute ever (as if it didn't already have that distinction).
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 09:35 AM
Ill put a $20 on them coming to an agreement.
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 10:23 AM
I'm inclined to agree PJ. With them being this close (those Bob McKenzie says it's a bigger gap than normal fans like us can possible understand) not coming to an agreement would be an even bigger PR hit than it would have been a week ago. They almost have to save the season for Goodenow or Bettman to save face now that they've come this far.
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 10:47 AM
Well, the deadline has passed. I'd suggest that the new buzzwords from both sides should be "failure of leadership."
The way that Goodenow and Bettman have conducted this negotiation is simply unconscionable.
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 11:49 AM
Ben - It really only looks like they're 6.5 million apart. To find the true difference you need to multiply by the number of teams (30) and the duration of the agreement (5 or 6 years?). They're actually about a billion dollars apart.
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 01:21 PM
fine, they are, ahem, were $6.5m per team salary cap apart. of course, without any recognizable revenue sharing offered by the League, we have no way of evaluating the impact of this billion dollars.
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 02:42 PM
Wasn't it Everett Dirksen who once said "a billion here, a billion there; pretty soon you're talking about real money"?
Posted by:
at February 16, 2005 03:43 PM
Well, it looks like I owe myself $20. There, paid in full.
Posted by:
at February 17, 2005 12:35 AM
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