Dug In

I believe comments from these two individuals sum up where we are at with current collective bargaining negotiations.

Brooks Laich, Washington Capitals as quoted in Washington Post on September 15, 2012
"......every contract ends with a handshake. Every single contract, where I come from, you honor your handshakes and you have your word. If you don’t have that you have nothing. If I make a bad deal, sign a bad contract that’s my fault. And I accept that, I’m a man and I work through that. That’s something I deal with. I don’t go crying foul and looking for somebody to fix my mistakes. I accept that as a man, that I made a bad decision. I think that hockey players are pretty honest people and they don’t like it when it’s coming back the other way.”

Gary Bettman, Commissioner, National Hockey League as quoted in SI on September 13, 2012
When asked how the owners could justify signing players to contracts and then asking them to take less in real dollars (i.e. losing money to escrow), Bettman reasoned that there was no “perpetual entitlement” to the 57 percent share of overall revenues the players currently receive.

Players seem dug in as does Bettman.  I'm thinking some of these owners should consider selling their team if it's not generating enough money for them.  

NHL Not Starting Anytime Soon

I cannot see the NHL starting on time this year.  Players seem adamant they will not agree to a 24% pay reduction.  Think about those contracts Suter, Parise, Weber, and Crosby signed over the summer.  A payment over a certain period of time was negotiated, now because of the CBA, the payments at the agreed upon rate cannot be honored.  The owners are holding the cards in this one.  The players have the deck stacked against them for the following reasons:

1. High diversity among players.  Over half the players come from Canada, 24% come from the USA and 23% from Europe.  There is high disparity in language, culture and education which makes collaboration efforts a substantial challenge.
2. Feeder systems.  Half of he NHL players come through either the Ontario Hockey League, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League or the Western Hockey League.   The leagues train the players in a hockey environment that offers them limited rights. They have advisors from their early teenage years who provide guidance, but don't always have the best, long-term interests of their clients at heart.
3. History.   Clearly the owners have the advantage here.  Bettman and most of the owners have been through prior CBA's and fully understand the history of how we got to this point.  On the union side there are few players with experience in prior CBA negotiations. 
4. Education.  Only 30% of NHL players have had some college training and only half of these guys have college degrees.  While a college degree is not a measure of intelligence, four years on campus would help a player strategize, better plan, think critically and be more likely to stick up for themselves.  

Source:   Warren Zola, Asst Dean Boston College Carroll School of Management

This one is not ending soon.  It will be difficult over the long haul to keep the players in sync.  As the lockout wears on, the NHLPA will start to fragment.  The good news is college hockey starts in October.   

We will put this blog entry en francais to placate the patrons of Boon Island Ale and the media in Montreal.

LNH pas commencer n'importe quand bientôt

Je ne peux pas voir que le NHL commence à l'heure cette année. Les joueurs semblent inflexibles qu'ils n'accepteront pas d'une 24% réduction de salaire. Penser à ces contrats Suter, Parise, plus Web, et Crosby a signé sur l'été. Un paiement sur une certaine période de temps a été négocié, maintenant à cause du CBA, les paiements au consenti sur le taux ne peuvent pas être honorés. Les propriétaires tiennent les cartes dans ceci l'un. Les joueurs ont le pont empilé contre eux pour les raisons suivantes :

1. L'haute diversité parmi les joueurs. Sur demi les joueurs est venu de Canada, 24% est venu de l'USA et 23% d'Europe. Il y a l'haute disparité dans la langue, la culture et l'éducation qui font les efforts de collaboration un défi substantiel. 
2. Systèmes d'alimenteur. La moitié de lui joueurs de NHL viennent passé ou la Ligue de Hockey d'Ontario, le Québec Hockey Ligue Junior Majeur ou la Ligue de Hockey de l'ouest. Les ligues entraînent les joueurs dans un environnement de hockey qui les offre ont limité des droits. Ils ont des conseillers de leurs premiers ans adolescents qui fournissent la direction, mais ne pas toujours avoir les intérêts meilleurs et à long terme de leurs clients au fond. 
3. Histoire. Clairement les propriétaires ont l'avantage ici. Bettman et la plupart des propriétaires ont été par CBA préalable et comprennent entièrement l'histoire de comment nous avons obtenu à ce point. Sur le côté d'union il y a peu des joueurs avec l'expérience dans les négociations de CBA préalables. 
4. Education. Seulement 30% de joueurs de NHL a eu de l'entraînement d'université et seulement la moitié de ces gars a des degrés de collège. Pendant qu'un degré de collège n'est pas une mesure d'intelligence, quatre ans sur le campus aideraient un joueur élabore une stratégie, le meilleur projet, penser d'une manière critique et être plus probable pour enfoncer en haut pour se. 

Source:  Warren Zola, Asst Dean Boston College Carroll School of Management

Ceci l'un ne termine pas bientôt. Ce sera difficile sur la prise longue de garder les joueurs dans la synchronisation. Comme le lock-out porte sur, le NHLPA commencera à fragmenter. Les bonnes nouvelles sont les débuts de hockey de collège au mois d'octobre.

Nous mettrons cette entrée de blog en francais pour apaiser les clients de Boone Island Ales et les médias à Montréal. 

Summer Fun

This past Saturday I wandered over to the Washington Capitals practice facility to watch the final event of this week's rookie camp - an intra-squad scrimmage between the "Red Team" and the "White Team".  I was struck by the huge crowd and some very impressive prospects in this camp.  Some of the more notable players were Mattias Sjogren and Garrett Haar.  I believe Sjogren is ready for the show as he is strong on his skates, throws his weight around and is a solid play maker.  It really makes me wonder why the Capitals brought center Jeff Halpern back as I believe Sjogren will be higher on the depth chart by the conclusion of training camp.  

Garrett Haar also impressed me.  Haar was planning to play at Northeastern this season but recently decommitted after Greg Cronin resigned as head coach to join the Toronto Maple Leafs.   Haar planned to return to Fargo of the USHL but the Capitals want him to play college hockey in the fall.  In fact, after the scrimmage, Caps GM George McPhee called Boston College coach Jerry York to see if he had room for the 17-year-old defenseman. These last minute arrivals to a college team are always interesting.  Some of you may remember back in 1973 when Mike Eruzione was planning to play at Merrimack College.  Boston University saw him play in a summer league and invited him to play at BU in the fall - the rest is history.  

Ten Reasons Why The Bruins Won the Stanley Cup

1. They out coached Vancouver.
2. They out goalied Vancouver.
3. The Bruin's defense was superior.  
4. Unexpectedly, the Bruin's offense was superior.
5. Vancouver lacked depth and degraded as Dan Hamhuis and Mason Raymond went down.
6. The Bruin's rallied when Nathan Horton went down as Shawn Thornton was inserted into the lineup.
7. Vancouver power play was stifled.
8. Vancouver lacked discipline (cheap shots, diving).  
9. Vancouver lacked character. 
10. Bruins had Rene Rancourt, in Game 6 he did three (3) fist pumps and wore a yellow vest and tie (reportedly borrowed from Ryan Herron).  

Nathan Horton for Aaron Rome

Nathan Horton for Aaron Rome, the Canucks will take this any day of the week.  The Bruins lose one of their top forwards for the remainder of the playoffs, the Canucks lose a journeyman player.   I know Rome's a good guy, but give me a break.  In the biggest hockey venue of the season, he decides to make a lateral, leave-your-feet, late head-shot hit on Nathan Horton.  Doesn't do much for the game, doesn't say much for the league and because Rome lost his poise, his actions could have a very real effect on the outcome of this series.

Interesting comments from NHL SVP of Operations Mike Murphy, Murphy claims the Rome hit would have been legal if it were not late.  That's like saying the drunk driver would have been sober if he drank only twelve beers instead of fifteen.  Watch the video again Mike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUYqTE3cnuQ he went for the head, it was still a lateral hit and he left his feet. You might want to turn the reins over to Brendan Shanahan now before this series gets any uglier.  Really, where do they get these guys?

The league did not bring this incident on, however, the player did.  Until the players take ownership of the problem and start respecting one another, these types of occurrences will continue.  The NHL, despite a new disciplinarian, loses yet another opportunity to eliminate blind-side hits.  Rome's suspension is nothing - he should have received at least 10 games into the regular season next year. 

Other notes....referee Stephen Walkom did the Bruins a huge favor by giving Shawn Thornton a "preventative misconduct".  The Bruins need Thornton's presence in game 4, had he played out the remainder of game 3 he quite possibly would have done something to warrant a game suspension.  Momentum is a funny thing, the Bruin's have woken up and it's highly likely this will continue...remember my prediction, Bruins in 6.

Reality Bites

Do you think Bobby Orr and the Big Bad Bruins of yesteryear would have let Alex Burrows score two goals and an assist in a game subsequent to biting one of their teammates?  I'm doubting Burrows would have made it beyond the first period.  OK, so the NHL disciplinary office messed up once again, but really, what did you expect here?  Even Henrik Sedin joked about the incident in an NBC snippet where he introduced his twin brother and "vegetarian" line mate Alex Burrows.  I'm still shocked Burrows went unscathed through the entire game, but let's move on.

The Bruins power play gives the Canucks a decided advantage.  The Canucks can actually take good penalties with a high likelihood the Bruins won't score - in fact a 92% likelihood they won't score.  This confidence effectively means the Canucks can clutch, grab and otherwise take full liberties with the Bruins.  For Vancouver, this results in no real penalty other than a lost opportunity cost from an offensive perspective.  Manny Malhotra's return to the Canuck power play won't make life any better for the lethargic Bruin power play.   To compound matters, Vancouver's power play effectiveness in the playoffs is just under 30%.  In fact, the last series against San Jose they were 37% effective.  A bit daunting for the Bruins, every third penalty they give up will statistically result in a goal for Vancouver. 

Is Claude Julien thinking of dressing Cam Neely, Terry O'Reilly or Shawn Thornton next game? 

Pre Game Warm Up

As you prepare for tonight's Stanley Cup opener between the Bruins and Canucks, check out the following links:

Time To Go - Dropkick Murphys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP5g-Pjpg_I

Nutrocker Live - Dropkick Murphys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOISP4xnw-Q&feature=related

Top 10 Stanley Cup Playoff Upsets 
http://www.toponlinecolleges.com/blog/2011/10-greatest-nhl-playoff-upsets/
(not certain how the 1971 Bruins playoff elimination to Canadiens missed this list, see my May 1, 2010 entry "The Caps, The Red Sox and The Crappy Feeling Index")