Photo by Alexis Boucher

As a fan of the NHL, it’s difficult to know what to say today. If you happened to miss it, the NHLPA submitted a proposal yesterday which was quickly rejected by the league. What followed was a series of bizarre press conferences from Don Fehr & Gary Bettman. Fehr stated the sides were close to an agreement. Bettman said this wasn’t true. A number of the items on the negotiating table, like the “make whole” provision had been pulled back by the league. No future meetings have been scheduled. The drop dead date for this season is looming out there in January. Where exactly do we go from here?

» Continue reading “The Lockout Diaries: Don’t Stop Believing”

Steven Stamkos Photo by Linda Hamilton

The stars have come out for the CBA negotiations. It was tweeted August 14th via Michael Grange that Lightning star sniper Steven Stamkos, as well as  Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, were present when the NHL Players’ Association presented their counter-offer to the NHL Tuesday.

This view, shared by the head of the NHLPA Donald Fehr , basically keeps a hard salary cap but doesn’t link player salaries to overall team revenues. It also calls for more revenue sharing between teams by asking richer teams to distribute more than $250 million to teams that are struggling financially.

After sitting in on Tuesday’s CBA negotiations Stamkos spoke to Tampa Bay Times Lightning beat writer Damian Cristodero, stating that the players “just want a fair deal”.(Source: Tampa Bay Times)

When Cristodero asked why he felt the need to be involved in the CBA negotiations Stamkos had this to say:

“For the young players of this league, this new agreement is going to affect us.” (Source: Tampa Bay Times)

It’s good to see Stamkos taking an interest in these negotiations. It’s yet another example of him maturing into the leader and franchise cornerstone the Bolts need in the coming years.