Unbelievable greed

[moontoscott]

I'm not sure if I have this right but apparently 70 players filed for arbitration today. Wow, the greed and "f-you" attitudes seem to be as great as ever. I say again, why was there a one year lockout? It seems that little was accomplished.

[Inquiring Mind]

Re: Unbelievable greed

I don't know... if I could take my boss to arbitration and get more money I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Of course I'm self-employed... so as the boss I just might have to fire that mother%@$&)# as a result

[1260 Drew]

Re: Unbelievable greed

69 players off the news wire.

Anaheim Ducks: Chris Kunitz, Vitaly Vishnevski.

Atlanta Thrashers: Niko Kapanen.

Boston Bruins David Tanabe.

Buffalo Sabres Maxim Afinogenov, Daniel Briere, Brian Campbell, Tim Connolly, Jean-Pierre Dumont, Paul Gaustad, Ales Kotalik, Toni Lydman, Adam Mair, Andrew Peters, Jason Pominville, Henrik Tallinder.

Chicago Blackhawks Mark Bell, Kyle Calder, Mikael Holmqvist, Jim Vandermeer, Radim Vrbata.

Colorado Avalanche Brett McLean, John-Michael Liles.

Columbus Blue Jackets Jason Chimera.

Detroit Red Wings Daniel Cleary, Jason Williams.

Edmonton Oilers Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff, Jarret Stoll.

Florida Panthers Bryan Allen, Craig Anderson, Jay Bouwmeester, Richard Jackman, Juraj Kolnik, Steve Montador, Mike Van Ryn, Stephen Weiss.

Los Angeles Kings Sean Avery, Eric Belanger, Michael Cammalleri.

Montreal Canadiens Michael Ryder.

Nashville Predators Martin Erat, Adam Hall, Scott Hartnell, David Legwand.

New Jersey Devils Scott Gomez.

N.Y. Islanders Arron Asham, Mike York.

N.Y. Rangers Dominic Moore.

Ottawa Senators Martin Havlat, Chris Kelly, Chris Neil, Peter Schaefer, Antoine Vermette.

Philadelphia Flyers R.J. Umberger.

Phoenix Coyotes Mike Comrie, Ladislav Nagy, Dennis Seidenberg.

Pittsburgh Penguins Ryan Malone, Brooks Orpik.

San Jose Sharks Mark Smith.

Tampa Bay Lightning Ruslan Fedotenko, Cory Sarich.

Washington Capitals Matt Bradley, Ben Clymer, Rico Fata, Shaone Morrisonn, Matt Pettinger, Brian Sutherby.

[Shawn10]

Re: Unbelievable greed

Buffalo has a lot of work to do

[MoneyGuy]

Re: Unbelievable greed

What a relief. I thought this thread was about me.

[Esks4ever]

Re: Unbelievable greed

Edmonton Oilers Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff, Jarret Stoll.

nice....

[lerriuqs]

Re: Unbelievable greed

I'm not sure if I have this right but apparently 70 players filed for arbitration today. Wow, the greed and "f-you" attitudes seem to be as great as ever. I say again, why was there a one year lockout? It seems that little was accomplished.

How so? The key to the lockout for the owners was tying salaries to revenues - that was accomplished...So now the owners can have salaries within reason...Some guys get more, but one difference is that the borderline guys get less - we'll probably see a lot more journeymen among the fringe players as teams won't be willing to give them more than a 1 year deal and they'll make a lot less than they might have in the old system...

The other part that the cap and rising salaries among current stars creates is that we see more kids playing every day - and the teams that do the best are the ones with the kids playing well - see Anaheim as a perfect example...

[moontoscott]

Re: Unbelievable greed

How so? The key to the lockout for the owners was tying salaries to revenues - that was accomplished...So now the owners can have salaries within reason...Some guys get more, but one difference is that the borderline guys get less - we'll probably see a lot more journeymen among the fringe players as teams won't be willing to give them more than a 1 year deal and they'll make a lot less than they might have in the old system...

The other part that the cap and rising salaries among current stars creates is that we see more kids playing every day - and the teams that do the best are the ones with the kids playing well - see Anaheim as a perfect example...

The owners have salaries within reason? How so? Average (some might say less than average) defencemen are going for 4 million a pop. Stars are priced at 7 million. The salary cap just jumped over 15% in a single year but that is the "cap" not the "budget" (please see Edmonton Oilers, who are not going to spend the cap).

Why can't teams buy an average hockey team for $25 million? Why do fans who make 25 bucks an hour and drive to work in rush hour every day have to shell out for 100 buck tickets? These questions are unanswered by the new agreement and defy any logic that I understand.

Yes, there was a new agreement but it didn't go far enough. The players are still making far too much money.

As far as Anaheim goes, yes Burke is one of the better Gm's in the league but their top 2 D-men now make a total of almost 14 million per year. This doesn't seem reasonable to me. Stay tuned my friend but rest assured that the financial troubles around the league have not gone away.

[PDO]

Re: Unbelievable greed

What's this have to do with greed?

It's the players right to file for arbitration (teams can take a player there as well; I believe Luongo was taken there by Florida).

It puts pressure for a deal to be done before arbitration - if one can't be reached before then, then whatever happens, happens and it's guaranteed the player won't be sitting out.

[Inquiring Mind]

Re: Unbelievable greed

Lord knows, the owners didn't get rich by trying to make more money...

[Deathsdoorstep]

Re: Unbelievable greed

The fact that average defenseman have gone for $4 Million only hampers the teams that signed them since they can only spend $44 Million.

[moontoscott]

Re: Unbelievable greed

What's this have to do with greed?

It's the players right to file for arbitration (teams can take a player there as well; I believe Luongo was taken there by Florida).

It puts pressure for a deal to be done before arbitration - if one can't be reached before then, then whatever happens, happens and it's guaranteed the player won't be sitting out.

If the owners were getting "reasonable" contracts they wouldn't be going to arbitration. As someone who has sat through some arbitration hearings I can tell you that when any discussion reaches the point of arbitration it is not a positive sign and the outcome tends to leave bitter feelings, no matter what the result. Unfortunately, arbitration occurs when negotiations have all but broken down and in my mind this represents a type of failure.

[Inquiring Mind]

Re: Unbelievable greed

If arbitration always went the way of the players, why would they any ever sign without it?

The players (finally) bent over and took it when the cap was instituted in the new CBA, and now they're playing within the parameters set within said CBA.

[moontoscott]

Re: Unbelievable greed

The fact that average defenseman have gone for $4 Million only hampers the teams that signed them since they can only spend $44 Million.

Understood but your argument supposes that everybody will spend the cap and thus the big spenders will suffer with what they can pay the lesser lights in the lineup. However, the Oilers may decide not to spend more than 35 million and I wouldn't be surprised if the EIG has already decided this.

If Detroit decides that they will spend 45 million (almost a certainty) they still have 10 million more to work with compared to a team that won't exceed their budget. So the lesser lights in the Detroit lineup can still make as much or possibly more than the huffers and puffers in the Oiler lineup. The balance is lost. You are not really penalized in any significant fashion for being a big spender.

If everyone exercised restraint then you could see everyone under 40 million with some reasonable room under the cap for deadline trades, injuries etc.

[lerriuqs]

Re: Unbelievable greed

Understood but your argument supposes that everybody will spend the cap and thus the big spenders will suffer with what they can pay the lesser lights in the lineup. However, the Oilers may decide not to spend more than 35 million and I wouldn't be surprised if the EIG has already decided this.

If Detroit decides that they will spend 45 million (almost a certainty) they still have 10 million more to work with compared to a team that won't exceed their budget. So the lesser lights in the Detroit lineup can still make as much or possibly more than the huffers and puffers in the Oiler lineup. The balance is lost. You are not really penalized in any significant fashion for being a big spender.

If everyone exercised restraint then you could see everyone under 40 million with some reasonable room under the cap for deadline trades, injuries etc.

But you're supposing that everyone started from the same spot as well - they didn't - Detroit doesn't exactly have a lot of cap room right now as they're still trying to come to grips with their contracts that are from the days of the old system...

I'd also be willing to bet that most teams came very close to the top of the cap last season and that most will be there again this season...