Off Wing Opinion

Wow. Give the NHLPA credit, because they've thrown the owners on the defensive with a proposal that's headlined with a 24 percent rollback in player salaries.

As Tom Benjamin notes, that's nearly $17 million transferred from Alexi Yashin's pocket back to New York Islanders owner Charles Wang. It's kind of tough to characterize an offer like this as a non-starter.

To be fair, lets take a look at the union's talking points:

1. 24% Compensation Rollback

2. Future Salary Restraints (Entry Level System, Qualified Offers and Arbitration)

3. Payroll Tax

4. Revenue Redistribution Plan

5. Joint Player-Club Committees

6. Ongoing Adjustments and Updates

But, as always, the devil is in the details. That's why the union has made a complete copy of the proposal available to anybody who wants one. That's right -- the same proposal NHL Comissioner Gary Bettman and company will be reviewing over the weekend in lieu of Holiday shoping. All in all, it's a dramatic improvement in strategy and tactics over the first few months of the lockout. And combined with the new look of the NHLPA Web site, it finally looks like Bob Goodenow is putting some of those dues to good use in the union's IT department.

Here's Bettman:

"The Union presented us with a proposal today that, clearly, they worked on for a long time. We wanted to give it at least a preliminary review before making any comments.

"We will not discuss any of the specifics until we formally respond to the Union. To do otherwise would not be constructive to this process. However, I will acknowledge that one aspect of the proposal is very significant. That element is a recognition by the Union of our economic condition -- but it is a 'one-time' element.

"We have said consistently that the focus must be on the overall systemic issues and the long-term needs and health of the game. We will fully review the Union's proposal and respond next Tuesday. It is our present intention to make a counter-proposal."

Here's what James Mirtle thinks Bettman is really saying:

Aside from the huge upfront offer of slashing payrolls, this deal would in essense leave things entirely the same. A 20% luxury tax on payrolls over $45-mil is nothing, and things in the NHL would be helped only very slightly and for a short period of time by this deal. This is not a significant offer, and there is absolutely zero chance the league will accept this.

The NHL will try to appear as though they are negotiating in good faith so that they can declare a labour impasse next September. Despite the appearance of movement, this is still a chess match. Don't believe everything you're hearing.

Dog Breath Canada feels the same way. And James also takes some time to bash union-shill Larry Brooks.

Then again, the proposal has put the league in a tough spot if the ultimate plan was to break the union, as The Rodent notes:

Even if Commissioner Gary Bettman is dead-set against the Union's proposal, it is not in the league's best interests to discard the plan out of hand. If for no other reason, it would be risking the wrath of the fans, let alone the National Labor Relations Board.

Remember that an "impasse" is the result of negotiations in good faith. Talking and not listening is what the league has been guilty of to-date. They will not make that mistake again.

The league has promised a transcript of last night's press conference. Click here for the archive.

Other roundup posts:

Sharkspage, Buffalo Sabrehood, Binford's Blogspot, Puck Update, Hockeybird and the unstoppable Jamie Fitzpatrick.

More later as commentary warrants.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 10th, 2004 at 6:43 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.