Armageddon Closing In: NHL Cancels All Games Through Nov. 30
The news came a day after a league-imposed deadline passed for a deal with the players' association that would allow for a full season.
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The news came a day after a league-imposed deadline passed for a deal with the players' association that would allow for a full season.
A large part of Bettman's role as commissioner is to successfully market the game, avoid labor unrest and protect the health of the league. He's failed spectacularly in each of these areas throughout his tenure.
Gary Bettman seemed resigned on Wednesday to looking at a shortened season with the NHL and the players' association still at odds after months of negotiations.
Now things are really getting down to the wire, and the situation is getting even uglier. Forget about a deal to save a full hockey season: The NHL and the players' association can't even agree to get together to talk.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and players' association special counsel Steve Fehr spoke to each other on Saturday, but the sides still have no plans to meet face-to-face.
The NHL wiped out the third week of the regular season on Friday as the lockout dragged on, leaving no more wiggle room if the league hopes to play a full 82-game schedule.
The owners have made a litany of errors to get us here. Their biggest mistake, however, was their inability to see Fehr in their headlights.
There will be hockey this season. It may not be the full 82 games and it may not start by Nov. 2, but a deal will get done sooner or later.
The union's counterproposal — and the league's reaction to the offer — could determine whether the league plays a full slate of games or there's a further disruption of the schedule.
In an unprecedented move, the league has published the documents it handed over to the NHL Players' Association on Tuesday in an attempt to save a full 82-game season and end the third lockout of Commissioner Gary Bettman's tenure.
The NHL has made a new offer to the players' association that proposes a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue and a full 82-game season starting Nov. 2.
The sides met twice on Wednesday. If talks go well on Thursday, or if the scheduled work can't be completed, there could be another day of discussions on Friday.
Like all metropolitan area hockey fans, I was looking forward to the scheduled start of a new season next week. But the NHL, in its infinite idiocy, made the announcement yesterday of the first of likely many game cancellations due to the owner's lockout.
It's time for the league's owners to voice their concerns and let Bettman know that he does not have the authority to ruin the NHL. The fans need to get louder and voice their concerns as well. The time is now, or the season will be gone before you know it.
An NHL lockout has forced the cancellation of regular-season hockey games for the second time in seven years. The league on Thursday wiped out 82 games through Oct. 24 — beginning with four on Oct. 11, which would have been opening night.
