On the first day of NHL Lockout III, the league and the players each posted videos yesterday aimed at the fans, while no full-scale negotiations took place.
The NHL posted an unsigned open letter to the fans while the Players Association compiled a series of player interviews, each side offering its take on their respective websites.
The NHL locked out its players just after midnight yesterday morning, upon the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement that was the result of the lockout that cost hockey the 2004-05 NHL season. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and union special counsel Steve Fehr haled informal talks, and formal negotiations are not yet scheduled.
The players lamented the owners’ decision to lock them out.
“Like any partnership, we want both sides to benefit,” Sidney Crosby said on the video.
“We’d like to help out those teams that are really struggling. We feel that along with us giving concessions, there should be some help from current owners that are in good positions,” Blues captain David Backes said.
The league’s post stated its position in calling.. its third lockout during Gary Bettman’s reign.
“Despite the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, the National Hockey League has been, and remains, committed to negotiating around the clock to reach a new CBA that is fair to the Players and to the 30 NHL teams,” the league’s statement read. “Thanks to the conditions fostered by seven seasons under the previous CBA, competitive balance has created arguably the most meaningful regular season in pro sports; a different team has won the Stanley Cup every year; fans and sponsors have agreed the game is at its best, and the league has generated remarkable growth and momentum.
“While our last CBA negotiation resulted in a seismic change in the league’s economic system, and produced corresponding on-ice benefits, our current negotiation is focused on a fairer and more sustainable division of revenues with the Players — as well as other necessary adjustments consistent with the objectives of the economic system we developed jointly with the NHL Players’ Association seven years ago. Those adjustments are attainable through sensible, focused negotiation — not through rhetoric.
“This is a time of year for all attention to be focused on the ice, not on a meeting room. The league, the clubs and the players all have a stake in resolving our bargaining issues appropriately and getting the puck dropped as soon as possible. We owe it to each other, to the game and, most of all, to the fans,” the league’s statement concluded.”
***Devils winger Ilya Kovalchuk, slated to make $12 million this season, tied for second-highest in the league behind Shea Weber’s $14 million, has reportedly signed to play in St. Petersburg in the KHL during the lockout.