Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Stan Rogers]

I'm sure hockey fans out there are aware of the NHL locking out the players. I hear many players are going to play in other leagues. Does anyone out there know where most of the players are going, and can these games be viewed through the internet?

[thebearofbundang]

Most of the players who go to different leagues will head to the KHL (Russia) or Swedish Elite League. Malkin has already signed in the KHL and Rick Nash and Joe Thorton are heading to Sweden. Last lockout about 400 players went overseas to play (the majority of them in these two leagues).

As for watching online, it will be hit or miss. There's no Internet package that you can buy to watch the games as of now. I'm hoping a TV deal is reached with ESPN or one of the other N.A. TV companys that doesn't already have a deal in place with the NHL, and they stream the games.

No hockey until December at the earliest it looks like..

[SpiralStaircase]

The next player that talks about �taking a stand� needs to be disemboweled with a rusty skate. Seriously. Someone needs to explain the concept of leverage to these puck jocks.

[jvalmer]

Can't find it in me to support the players. It's really hard to find sympathy for someone getting paid a few million a year.

[thebearofbundang]

I'm more on the players side this time. I know that they get paid millions of dollars to play a sport, but I also understand how I would feel if I signed a contract for x amount of dollars over x amount of years and then was asked to give back a significant percentage of it every 5 years.

Basically, the players just want their current contracts to be honored. They caved on the salary cap last time and gave back a percentage of their salaries (Bettmans plan, which has failed after only 5 years) and now, the owners are looking to take more away. Salaries have grown under the current system,but so has the NHL's revenue.

The owners have shot themselves in the foot (i.e. ridiculous long term front loaded contracts like Parise, Kovalchuk, Suter, Luongo etc.) and now say they want to take the money out of the players salaries to fix their own mistakes. The NHL has grown from 2 Billion in revenue annually to over 3 billion a year, in just 5 years. The rich teams make a ton of money, but aren't willing to share any of it with the poor teams (look at the NFL's system of revenue sharing to see how a league should run) but instead look to take money away from the players yet again in order to keep teams in Pheonix, Florida, Nashville etc.

The real way to fix the NHL is to move 2 teams back to Canada (one to Quebec City and one to Southern Ontario) and fold 2 more. Make it a 26 team league and forget about the markets where there is no interest in hockey anyways. Then have a revenue sharing system in place where the 'haves' help the 'have nots'. This won't happen cause Bettman is more concerned about his legacy as the all mighty grower of hockey in the Southern US than he is about the actual health of the sport.

And I was totally behind the owners in 2005, but this time is different..

[SpiralStaircase]

The players deserve fair share but they shot themselves in the foot back in �05. They threw away the season and then caved. Despite the lockout, GMs and owners are in a much better position today than they were in 2004. They have no need for negotiations. They will get what they want.

Players should have stuck to their guns back in �05 or addressed the issue in January 2012. How long did the player�s strike last in �92? 10 days? Leverage.


For official streams:
www.hockeywebcasts.com

For peer streams:
http://www.lshunter.tv

[Stan Rogers]

Some have suggested that the contract system be thrown out and replaced with a performance based pay system. You win you get paid. You score a goal you get paid.

[Newbie]

2005 I was with the owners. Salary cap is great.

This year, the owners are idiots. How could they be so stupid* to spend the last 2-3 years handing out ridiculous contracts (RE-diculous!) and now say they need to take some money back.

*Actually quite smart, I guess.

[SpiralStaircase]

I�ve read talk about getting rid of guaranteed contracts but that would only lead to more recklessness. What they need to do is make GMs more responsible for their contracts, not less.

Congratulations to Milan Michalek for beating the lockout. Go Sens Army!
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=405495

[Hugo85]

I think a limit on contracts will have to be established. Number of years, growth in salary.

A 10 year contract where salary grows exponentially over time is a disaster in waiting.

I think 4-5 years should be max along with a flat salary adjusted for GDP will prevent teams playing with the contracts as much.

As far as distribution of recipes... I think marketing the team in the city/region is part of the team's duties. If the team cannot create a fan base after a number of years then this team should be moved or management changed. I think richer teams should support younger teams to give them time to grow their fan base and build up their base revenue, but beyond this I think only a minimal amount of transfer should happen. There needs to be a mechanism through which unpopular teams will move to cities where they will be more popular. For example, Canadian cities such as Quebec.

[alongway]

I think this time around the players should stay there in the KHL and Swedish leagues. The money and fans for the most part will follow them. If they spent a couple years overseas the NHL would collapse, bettman would be done and perhaps some sanity could be restored by whatever rises from the ashes.

[SpiralStaircase]

[alongway]

[SpiralStaircase]

I have never been so happy in being so wrong.
Get 'er done boys.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=643558&cmpid=fb

[alongway]

if they're going to give interest free loans to the owners, I would say the players should make it a condition of acceptance that Bettman resigns.