Federal Mediators...they are at it again...

Today the NHL and NHLPS sat down with federal mediators to try to seek traction or an end to this damn lockout. Unfortunately they came out of the meeting with no conclusions and not even a inkling if they are going to meet tomorrow.

The thing to remember about the mediation process is that it is a lot of back and forth and until they are in the same room as each other there are no definite deals. Speculation from today says that the mediators asked what if the league put its last offer back on the table would the players agree to its core principles. That of course led to a resounding no and a lot of pissed off fans now.

Here’s hoping to more to come from this process in the coming days. Even for me it is getting frustrating....

Keep your sticks on the ice.

where the sticking point seems to be

From a conversation over on reddit these are the 3 points the nhlpa is fighting the league over.

 A) Contract fulfillment
B) Definition of revenue
C) Intangibles

intagiables refers to stuff like airfairs hotel rooms and stuff like that. in other words owners agree to honor existing contracts and i bet you we got a deal!

Fehrs' responce to players.

• "Simply put, the owners' new proposal, while not quite as Draconian as their previous proposals, still represents enormous reductions in player salaries and individual contracting rights. As you will see, at the 5 percent industry growth rate the owners predict, the salary reduction over six years exceeds $1.6 billion. What do the owners offer in return?"
• "The proposal does represent movement from their last negotiating position, but still represents very large, immediate and continuing concessions by players to owners, in salary and benefits (the Players' Share) and in individual player contracting rules."
• "They want to "clarify" HRR definition and rules. It is not immediately clear what this means, but so far all of their ideas in this regard have had the effect of reducing HRR, and thereby lowering salaries."
• "The Players' Share is reduced to 50 percent from 57 percent immediately -- this season. This is a reduction in the share of 12.3 percent. On last year's revenue numbers, this would mean that players' salaries would be cut by about $231 million."
• "The proposal includes a "Make Whole" provision, to compensate players for the anticipated reduction in absolute dollars from last year (2011-12), to this year and next year. However, it would work like this. The Players Share in subsequent years would be reduced so that this "Make Whole" payment would be made. It is players paying players, not owners paying players. That is, players are "made whole" for reduced salaries in one year by reducing their salaries in later years."
• "Finally, they also proposed that the players could appeal supplemental or commissioner discipline to a neutral arbitration, on a "clearly erroneous" standard, which, as a practical manner, makes it very unlikely that any decision would be overturned."
• "We do not yet know whether this proposal is a serious attempt to negotiate an agreement, or just another step down the road. The next several days will be, in large part, an effort to discover the answer to that question."

A sad day for hockey fans and players alike.

the last thing i wanted to post this weekend is this...
at 1159et the league will lockout the players  because greed has gotten in the way.
as brooks laich said yesterday " this is what happens when adults get involved in a kids game"
i will mourn this move but stand firm in my backing of the players and hope for a quick end to this lockout.
the game will endure as much as the fans allow it to.