Hockey drought over as NHL players accept deal
Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 5:27 pm
Hockey drought over as NHL players accept deal
By a resounding 88 per cent, National Hockey League players have accepted the league\'s proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement, their association leader told a news conference Thursday afternoon.
The business of hockey is radically changed, with a salary cap and a 24 per cent rollback on all existing contracts.
At a news conference in Toronto, NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow announced the vote result, saying 90 per cent of players voted in favour of the deal.
\"On behalf of the NHLPA ... I am pleased to announce that the NHLPA members voted today and ratified a new collective bargaining agreement.
\"If the NHL Board of Governors ratifies the agreement as we expect they will tomorrow, the hockey world will soon be able to celebrate the return of NHL hockey,\" Goodenow told reporters.
\"The process has been long and challenging,\" he added, thanking NHL president Gary Bettman, who was also at the press briefing.
\"We both understood the importance of reaching a fully negotiated agreement which we were able to accomplish over the last few months.\"
We look forward to starting fresh with this new agreement. We\'re fully committed to the new deal and we anticipate great success for the game as we go forward.\"
Concluding his prepared remarks, Goodenow directed a special thank-you to the hockey-loving public.
\"Most importantly, I want to thank the fans for their patience during a full winter with no hockey. We pledge our full commitment to you as we go forward.\"
Bettman said he believed the deal heralded a new era for hockey, adding \"labour and management can work together in an unprecedented way, for the benefit of the fans.\"
Last week, the NHL and the Players\' Association agreed in principle to the new CBA, ending a lockout that cancelled the entire 2004-05 season.
More than 200 players were in Toronto for today\'s vote, with the remaining 500-plus casting their ballots electronically.
During the labour dispute, the owners were asking for \"cost certainty\" -- essentially a link between salaries and revenue, or a salary cap.
The players, meanwhile, were seeking a more market-based solution, and were vowing never to accept a salary cap.
But by January, many players were stating privately and publicly that they were willing to accept a cap; and that they were prepared to make concessions in order to get back on the ice.
Some criticism of deal
\"It\'s the best deal we\'re going to get now,\" said Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators. \"There\'s no point sitting out any longer and hoping it would get better.
Fisher said some players were upset with their association\'s acceptance of the salary cap.
\"But that\'s going to happen with 700 players. A lot of other guys were happy with the deal and just happy that it\'s over and that we\'re playing hockey again,\" he said. \"We were in a tough battle with owners who held all the cards.\"
Hockey analyst and former NHL player Nick Kypreos said the owners\' resolve was \"very strong\" during the negotiations, and in the end it became a matter of \"billionaires outlasting millionaires.\"
\"There\'s no question that this deal is better than the one that (players) turned down in February that cancelled the season,\" Kypreos said Thursday on CTV\'s Canada AM.
\"But the big question is, could they have avoided this altogether and negotiated a (salary) cap a year, a year and a half ago?\"
On Friday, the NHL moves the show to New York, where the league\'s board of governors will hold a 1 p.m. ET meeting. The day will feature:
* A vote on the new deal.
* A vote on new rule changes proposed by the newly created competition committee.
* The draft lottery -- now a live event (carried on TSN) instead of the original planned closed door meeting.
* Another news conference hosted by Bettman.
Back to business
Saturday will be the first official day of business for the NHL since the season was officially put on ice on Feb. 16.
It marks the beginning of a six-day window in which NHL clubs can determine buyouts; and a nine-day window to negotiate exclusively with their own unrestricted free agents.
IMG\'s J.P. Barry tells the Canadian Press that he\'s expecting \"one of the busiest summers ever\" for all those involved in the game. That includes player agents, who\'ll have to pour over the new rules involving the livelihoods of their clients just 24 hours after the rules are officially agreed upon.
CP obtained a 21-page document Monday that the payers union emailed agents, detailing most of the transitional and free-agent issues that will affect their clients this summer.
Crosby sweepstakes
Meanwhile, the NHL draft lottery in New York will be televised exclusively on TSN Friday at 4 p.m. ET.
The draft itself will be held on July 30 in Ottawa, but the lottery decides which team gets first overall pick of the available players.
The order of the draft will be unveiled, starting with the 30th pick and ending with the coveted first.
Every team in the NHL has a shot at winning the No. 1 pick -- expected to be supremely gifted teen Sidney Crosby of the Rimouski Oceanic. Crosby will be hooked up to a news conference Friday via satellite from his home town of Cole Harbour, N.S.
The lottery will be slightly weighted.
Four teams have the best mathematical shot at winning the lottery, with each getting three balls each in the lottery drum. The teams are: Buffalo, Columbus, the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh.
Ten teams have two balls in the drum: Anaheim, Atlanta, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, and Phoenix.
The rest of the teams in the league will have one ball each.
[url=\"http://www.ctv.ca\"]source: CTV News[/url]
By a resounding 88 per cent, National Hockey League players have accepted the league\'s proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement, their association leader told a news conference Thursday afternoon.
The business of hockey is radically changed, with a salary cap and a 24 per cent rollback on all existing contracts.
At a news conference in Toronto, NHLPA Executive Director Bob Goodenow announced the vote result, saying 90 per cent of players voted in favour of the deal.
\"On behalf of the NHLPA ... I am pleased to announce that the NHLPA members voted today and ratified a new collective bargaining agreement.
\"If the NHL Board of Governors ratifies the agreement as we expect they will tomorrow, the hockey world will soon be able to celebrate the return of NHL hockey,\" Goodenow told reporters.
\"The process has been long and challenging,\" he added, thanking NHL president Gary Bettman, who was also at the press briefing.
\"We both understood the importance of reaching a fully negotiated agreement which we were able to accomplish over the last few months.\"
We look forward to starting fresh with this new agreement. We\'re fully committed to the new deal and we anticipate great success for the game as we go forward.\"
Concluding his prepared remarks, Goodenow directed a special thank-you to the hockey-loving public.
\"Most importantly, I want to thank the fans for their patience during a full winter with no hockey. We pledge our full commitment to you as we go forward.\"
Bettman said he believed the deal heralded a new era for hockey, adding \"labour and management can work together in an unprecedented way, for the benefit of the fans.\"
Last week, the NHL and the Players\' Association agreed in principle to the new CBA, ending a lockout that cancelled the entire 2004-05 season.
More than 200 players were in Toronto for today\'s vote, with the remaining 500-plus casting their ballots electronically.
During the labour dispute, the owners were asking for \"cost certainty\" -- essentially a link between salaries and revenue, or a salary cap.
The players, meanwhile, were seeking a more market-based solution, and were vowing never to accept a salary cap.
But by January, many players were stating privately and publicly that they were willing to accept a cap; and that they were prepared to make concessions in order to get back on the ice.
Some criticism of deal
\"It\'s the best deal we\'re going to get now,\" said Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators. \"There\'s no point sitting out any longer and hoping it would get better.
Fisher said some players were upset with their association\'s acceptance of the salary cap.
\"But that\'s going to happen with 700 players. A lot of other guys were happy with the deal and just happy that it\'s over and that we\'re playing hockey again,\" he said. \"We were in a tough battle with owners who held all the cards.\"
Hockey analyst and former NHL player Nick Kypreos said the owners\' resolve was \"very strong\" during the negotiations, and in the end it became a matter of \"billionaires outlasting millionaires.\"
\"There\'s no question that this deal is better than the one that (players) turned down in February that cancelled the season,\" Kypreos said Thursday on CTV\'s Canada AM.
\"But the big question is, could they have avoided this altogether and negotiated a (salary) cap a year, a year and a half ago?\"
On Friday, the NHL moves the show to New York, where the league\'s board of governors will hold a 1 p.m. ET meeting. The day will feature:
* A vote on the new deal.
* A vote on new rule changes proposed by the newly created competition committee.
* The draft lottery -- now a live event (carried on TSN) instead of the original planned closed door meeting.
* Another news conference hosted by Bettman.
Back to business
Saturday will be the first official day of business for the NHL since the season was officially put on ice on Feb. 16.
It marks the beginning of a six-day window in which NHL clubs can determine buyouts; and a nine-day window to negotiate exclusively with their own unrestricted free agents.
IMG\'s J.P. Barry tells the Canadian Press that he\'s expecting \"one of the busiest summers ever\" for all those involved in the game. That includes player agents, who\'ll have to pour over the new rules involving the livelihoods of their clients just 24 hours after the rules are officially agreed upon.
CP obtained a 21-page document Monday that the payers union emailed agents, detailing most of the transitional and free-agent issues that will affect their clients this summer.
Crosby sweepstakes
Meanwhile, the NHL draft lottery in New York will be televised exclusively on TSN Friday at 4 p.m. ET.
The draft itself will be held on July 30 in Ottawa, but the lottery decides which team gets first overall pick of the available players.
The order of the draft will be unveiled, starting with the 30th pick and ending with the coveted first.
Every team in the NHL has a shot at winning the No. 1 pick -- expected to be supremely gifted teen Sidney Crosby of the Rimouski Oceanic. Crosby will be hooked up to a news conference Friday via satellite from his home town of Cole Harbour, N.S.
The lottery will be slightly weighted.
Four teams have the best mathematical shot at winning the lottery, with each getting three balls each in the lottery drum. The teams are: Buffalo, Columbus, the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh.
Ten teams have two balls in the drum: Anaheim, Atlanta, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, and Phoenix.
The rest of the teams in the league will have one ball each.
[url=\"http://www.ctv.ca\"]source: CTV News[/url]