More Games Cancelled, Fehr's Latest Letter, Coach K's "What If?" And More...

Good Morning Addicts!

Here's a quick recap of the labor negotiations over the past week. On Tuesday, Bettman and the owners made what seemed like a groundbreaking offer at first glance to the players. A 50/50 split of revenue, no rollback, players would get paid for lost time and a November second start would salvage a full 82 game schedule.

Beautiful.

With more details emerging it became clear that the deal wasn't as great as it sounded. Perhaps just the idea of hockey returning made it sound so sweet. While there was no rollback, the players still would have to make concessions in salary and benefits. fehr was not willing to accept the deal and sent a letter to players and agents explaining why.

On Thursday the two sides met again. When the players rejected the offer they brought three of their own to the table. The first two had players accepting a gradual decrease in their share of HRR eventually meeting the 50/50 split the owners are seeking. The third proposal included an immediate 50/50 split as long as the owners were willing to honor all existing contracts.  According to Donald Fehr, the owners took 12-15 minutes before shooting down all three proposals.

This outcome had many fans begin to aim their anger and blame at the players rather than Bettman. You can't help but wonder if this was Bettman's plan when the proposal was made.

With no deal made by Friday, more games were wiped off the schedule. The league announced that all games up to November 1st have been cancelled. An optimist can take solace in the fact that less than two weeks worth of games were cancelled, but if there is no headway made by next Thursday there will more games lost.

Habs And Hockey News

- Here is Donald Fehr's latest letter to the players.

- The Bulldog's defeated the Toronto Marlies 4-1 in their home opener.

- Coach K is back with another "What If?" this time focusing on life after Bettman.

- Mark Spector of Sportsnet believes that the pressure is mounting on NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

- Shawn Horcoff of the Edmonton Oilers is not surprisingly unhappy with the whole situation.And after signing a huge 13 year $98 million dollar contract in the weeks leading up to the lockout, it's even less of a surprise that the Minnesota Wild's Zach Parise is less than impressed.

(Photo by Source: Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images North America)

Posted in: donald fehr,gary bettman,Hamilton Bulldogs,NHL Lockout,shawn horcoff,toronto marlies,zach parise