His red Carolina Hurricanes equipment bag fully packed today, Eric Staal shouldered it and took a quick last look around the Canes' Raleigh Center Ice locker room.
Staal headed for the door, telling Canes equipment manager Skip Cunningham, "Hope to see you sooner rather than later."
No one can say when the Canes will return to the Canes' RCI workout facility, which has a weight room, treatment room and dressing area. If a new CBA for the NHL is not approved by Saturday at 11:59 p.m., the NHL players will be locked out, meaning the Canes players will not be allowed to use the Canes' locker-room area at RCI.
Staal has said the players likely will continue to rent ice time at RCI. Many will still hold informal skates there. But they must use the cramped locker rooms on the other end of the rink.
Staal, the team captain, has been frustrated by the CBA negotiations and the proposals by the league that would significantly reduce the players' share of hockey-related revenue. He noted the league generated $3.3 billion this past year and been a growth industry since the last NHL lockout, when the 2004-2005 season was canceled.
"It's hard to put a finger on what they're really after," Staal said of the NHL owners this week. "Since the last lockout, we've made over a billion dollars more and the league has grown every year. And now they want take a cut right off the top?
"When you're growing like that as a league and then in a new deal you want to take a 20-percent cut, that's not going to go over well with anybody. So it's about trying to get a fair deal and figuring out what's going to work best for both."
With no NHL/NHLPA talks scheduled today, the mood was almost somber in the RCI locker room after today's skate. The banter was light as the players packed away their pads and skates and bundled their hockey sticks.
Anthony Stewart and Jay Harrison both were at the NHLPA meetings Wednesday and Thursday in New York, where they were updated by executive director Don Fehr. The group of 283 players also included the Canes' Tim Brent, the team union player rep, and Brian Boucher.
"It was good to go and get a sense of where the union is at and what we may do going forward," Stewart said. "Some may go overseas and others wait it out.
"We've been saying we're united and we have faith in Don, but to go in there and hear it first-hand ... we want to get a deal that's fair and we want to get it done. You've got to fight for what you believe in. It (stings) for the fans, too, but there is a business side to it. We want to play, but there is a business side to it and we have to take care of that, too."
Stewart was asked if he got any sense of how long a lockout might last.
"We don't know," Stewart said. "We could come to the table tonight. But right now we're not on the same page. It's eventually going to get done and we just want to get the right deal done, whether it takes a week, a month."
Stewart and Harrison both said there was a Q-and-A between Fehr and the players, that it wasn't just Fehr dominating the conversation and telling them what needed to be done. The players have other issues of concern other that the division of HRR or economics, including such line-item type requests as standard weight-training areas being provided in visiting locker rooms in NHL arenas.
"The education of the membership is so great, and how well-versed everybody is with the details only makes us stronger," Harrison said. "Everyone has bought into what we believe, and we believe we have proposed a really viable solution to the league's problems as they have presented them.
"Certainly we don't believe their proposal addresses the league-wide needs, treating Toronto the same as treating Phoenix, or Carolina for that matter. It doesn't address the problems we're facing as a league. We're more than willing to make concessions, but we'd like to see some on the other side, as well."
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at
Comments
I'm still confused ...
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 11:31 — jrscanesIf all of this is about the players keeping too much of the money then why is it that in excess of $350MM in contracts were signed with players in the last month - $155MM in the last 72 hours? It does seem a bit disingenuous for owners to cry "poor" when they're willing to shell out ridiculous amounts of money. It sounds to me like the greatest need for a CBA is to protect the owners from themselves. Shame it's the fans and the support staff at the arenas that need the protection.
GREATEST
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 19:29 — AN0NYM0USWorld's Greatest Fans!
World's Greatest Players!
World's Greatest Owners? Really---Not so much....
Bogus argument being made by
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 13:08 — oldpoliticalsBogus argument being made by certain media. All those recent signings fit under the last cap rules so these teams would have spent that anyway if the CBA was extended another year. Capgeek says all 30 teams spent about $1.95 Billion last year on player salaries. So $350 million (if that was what the figure was for just next year) is way under what they will actually spend.
There are no poor teams only small and big market teams.
Fix the system...
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 17:58 — louis12580say the owners! We can't have this current system in place they blabber. Yes, it's silly that the players get 57% of the HRR, but I don't want to hear that rubbish coming from Bettman's mouth about entitlement. YOU AGREED TO IT!!!!! What part of that escapes your memory bank? All this wailing about contracts and, wham, Kari Lehotenen is just given a 5 year $29.5M contract. $6M/year for HIM?! Really?! Pleasse stop being so disingenuous in your fake indignation. We're tired of this negotiation by both parties through the media. Turn of your phones. Stop the tweeting and get in the room and get a @%$& deal done.
STHs Unite!
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 20:33 — AN0NYM0USWith the lockout now a formality and the start of the regular season in serious jeopardy, STHs should hold the organizations accountable for breach of contract. We signed on for a full season--if STHs threated to walk, both sides might more motivated to get a deal done.
Nice in theory..
Sat, 09/15/2012 - 22:12 — louis12580but not in reality. I totally agree that it's the fans who always get the short end of the stick in these situations, but unless the networks, sponsors/corporate partners get involved and file suit for their money back nothing will change. Bettman is a very shrewd individual, unlike his assistant "Napalm" Bill Daley. Daley is constantly hurling napalm onto an already combustible situation. He needs to keep quiet. Maybe if he did keep quiet, the NHLPA might, and I do mean MIGHT, sit down at the table. This is becoming more and more like WW-I in the trench warfare mentality of both sides. Time for these 'grown" men to start behaving like they're "grown" men instead of a group of petulant school children. Their collective stubborness and arrogance knows no bounds.
I hear you
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 09:49 — AN0NYM0USBut you don't think that if 8000 fans asked for their money back it wouldn't get PK's attention? We're being offered 3% interest on our STH deposit, but the interest can only be spent on Hurricane's tickets. The players aren't the only ones being held hostage.
Yes...
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 10:38 — louis12580it would get Peter's attention. It would get many owners' attention, just not Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and to a lesser extent Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Toronto and Montreal have a license to print money. Philadelphia fan can get Snider's attention by cancelling Comcast as long as there's another cable provider. Those in New York can cancel Cablevision as there are multiple other providers. The biggest shareholder of MLE is the Teachers Union pension fund, and if they chose to take their money elsewhere, THAT would certainly get the attention of Leafs management. This whole situation is a clear illustration of what's the real issue and that's the big monied/ market teams against their smaller and lesser bretheren. Having the cap ceiling is one thing, having the "floor" and forcing teams to spend to the "floor" is another. That's where teams are truly hurt.
the blame?
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 14:47 — greg_98If an organization was losing money , they would be within bounds to ask the players to give up some of the money, but that is not the case here , the owners dont even want to help the league out with a profit share for small market teams.....folks that does sound like Greed, the proposal that stretches "free agency after 10 years " is pretty close to slavery if you consider the average life span of a nhl player....the owners care nothing for fans , they know you will be there waiting to throw money at them when its over with..... I hope they choke on thier billions
Losing Money!
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 15:19 — oldpoliticalsWell in 2010, 18 of 30 franchises lost money, many of those who lost money did so for many of the years since the 2005 CBA. As far as "poor teams" there is no such animal. If you look at net worth of all owners there is plenty of money there. It is about the problem of continually pumping new money from the pockets of those owners rather from the business. It is a business and the structure of the business makes it very difficult to make money in the smaller markets without some kind of re-structuring. Revenue sharing only takes away money earned by large market teams but that does nothing to prevent the losses in the first place with small market teams. Image.......a billionaire in New York sharing revenue with a billionaire in Raleigh. Does not make much sense. One thing said recently that made a lot of sense was the owners are currently getting 43% and have to pay all the expenses where the players get 57% and don't pay any of the expenses. Some kind of equalization is needed and required to make a hockey franchise system work.
Not Normal
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 22:18 — CanarseThis is not a normal business situation. Unlike most businesses the highly profitable organizations in the NHL won't survive without the less profitable ones. The Leafs need the Coyotes. In most businesses you don't need your competitors. In this case they do and this is why there should be revenue sharing.
I don't think the owners have a problem with revenue sharing if they can get the players to pay for it, which is what they would have if Bettman gets the deal he wants. I think the players and owners should split it. Let's say the agree that revenue sharing to make things work will cost $300M. The players take a $150M cut in pay and the profitable teams cover the rest.
equalization
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 16:27 — greg_98the rich got richer , the total has risen by over a billion since the 05 CBA... that said it is the players that are the show here, but without somehow leveling the feild all the best players will end up on 12 teams that can afford them, the the areas with losing teams tend to lose intrest in supporting a struggling team, that wont grow the NHL
Yeah...
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 15:33 — nchurricanesThe fact is that if you're "small market," you often can't compete against large markets without losing money. And the large market teams know it. They don't mind throwing insane contracts out there because they can eat them and profit. The problem is that small market teams cannot do that and survive. The way to fix that is not to tell players to take a hit, but rather to share the revenue as it comes in. Period. Make the playing field a LITTLE more level at least.
And I'm sorry, but the day I see an owner out there taking a face-off or stopping a puck, I'll worry about them getting less than 50% of the revenue. They risk little to make the money the receive.
Owners are wealthy, players are rich. There's a HUGE difference.
Maybe But....
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 15:50 — oldpoliticalsRevenue sharing does not fix the problem with a structure that allows the majority of the teams to lose money. I saw somewhere that if the NHL future revenue come in as projected over the next 5 years then the cap would be close to $100 million and at that level the floor number will be $84 million. So.......who do you think will pay that......try fans.....and goodbye to today's ticket price........ There is insanity and the structure allows it.....got to change or the average fan today will be priced out of the arena in just a few years.......
Ticket Prices?
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 22:20 — CanarseNone of this has anything to do with ticket prices. Every NHL team will charge as much for tickets as they can get away with. They will price tickets to maximize revenue based upon thier best market estimates. It has squat to do with their expenses.
Do not agree. Tickets sales
Sun, 09/16/2012 - 12:56 — oldpoliticalsDo not agree. Tickets sales continue as the largest source of all revenue for the NHL. If ticket sales suffer so does profit and eventually leads to negative balance sheets. That is why playoff games are so important....more games....more revenue and at a much greater price.
Great Points by Anthony Stewart
Fri, 09/14/2012 - 14:09 — abramsdougThe failure of the NHL to address the difference in needs between Toronto and Carolina is a major stumbling block for reaching an agreement. It's totally unrealistic to expect players to accept a CBA that drastically reduces their income while the NHL does not work seriously to help teams like Carolina build their revenue. Both sides deserve blame for the stalemate; but the NHL has created a situation that makes an agreement difficult. Fehr's negotiating approach has then added obstacles to an already difficult situation.