I don't honestly think the players care about what the PA gets 8 yrs from now because unless they've been asleep the last 17 years they probably assume there will be another lock-out by then.

Do I think that a lock-out probably could have been avoided if the current league offer had come out in August/September? Yeah, sure. It is actually a pretty balanced approach and is probably a few minor tweaks away from smiles and handshakes.

The thing is it took 4 months to get to this point from the original offer of "here's 43%, go f*ck yourselves". Things have got a little unfriendly incase you hadn't noticed. You ever had an argument with someone when the point stopped being "I'm right." and started being "F*ck you!"? I'm guessing 'give up a paycheck to kick Bettman in the balls' isn't a tough sell to some people in the PA.

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Okay, so maybe nobody likes a cynic, but everybody f**king hates those perky optimists!

... and anyway, I make a damn good cynic.

Is that a reference to NHL's or NHLPA's original offer?

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UHL Pittsburgh Penguins

24 Team Fantrax Salary Cap H2H Dynasty League Daily
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW
W, GAA, SV, SV%, SO
23 Man Roster - 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 1G, 4BN, 4IR
27 Man Minor Team

C- Tavares, Stepan, Hodgson, Shaw, Bjugstad
LW- Ryan, Perron, Downie, Killorn, Paajarvi
RW- Wheeler, Simmonds, Coyle, Frattin, Rinaldo
D- Schultz, JJ, Bogosian, EJ, Josi, Cowen, Muzzin
G- Lehtonen

F: Granlund, Silfverberg, Jensen, Dalpe, Bowman, Knight, Fasth, JAM
D: Beaulieu, Koekkoek, Gelinas, Pysyk, McCabe, Irwin
G: Nilsson, Nilstorp, Ramo, Berra, Brossoit, Gibson

The NHL's first offer from July 13th. The 'go eff yourselves' is a paraphrasing and condensing of some of the other terms of the deal.

TSN has a handy lock-out timeline which is as much fun as the free agent frenzy tracker! (in that it doesn't update often, it is never what you'd hoped to see, and it just keeps screwing your fantasy prospects).
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=9678

__________________
Okay, so maybe nobody likes a cynic, but everybody f**king hates those perky optimists!

... and anyway, I make a damn good cynic.

Alright, I thought the 'go eff yourselves' was because of the %-split (which in NHL's first proposal was the same as in the previous CBA (under which the PA said they'd happily to continue play); just other way round - so if 43% is insulting, the owners were insulted during the duration of last CBA ).

__________________
UHL Pittsburgh Penguins

24 Team Fantrax Salary Cap H2H Dynasty League Daily
G, A, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, SOG, Hits, Blks, FOW
W, GAA, SV, SV%, SO
23 Man Roster - 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3F, 6D, 1G, 4BN, 4IR
27 Man Minor Team

C- Tavares, Stepan, Hodgson, Shaw, Bjugstad
LW- Ryan, Perron, Downie, Killorn, Paajarvi
RW- Wheeler, Simmonds, Coyle, Frattin, Rinaldo
D- Schultz, JJ, Bogosian, EJ, Josi, Cowen, Muzzin
G- Lehtonen

F: Granlund, Silfverberg, Jensen, Dalpe, Bowman, Knight, Fasth, JAM
D: Beaulieu, Koekkoek, Gelinas, Pysyk, McCabe, Irwin
G: Nilsson, Nilstorp, Ramo, Berra, Brossoit, Gibson

Exactly!! It was VERY similar to the first offers tabled by the NFL and NBA....go figure!?! Anyone with any business acumen knows you NEVER make your first offer your best offer, otherwise you have no where to move...and look unwilling to compromise.

There is a reason two other major leagues started this way, and they both ended with a season. So there is still hope...as Elliot Friedman pointed out, this is eerily similar to the NBA negotiations (which shares similar revenues). Hopefully a 66 game season starting December 16th!! *crosses fingers*

__________________
Keeper League #1:
12 GM Points Only,Keep 8
F: Stamkos, Benn, Kovalchuk,Ryan, Duchene,Landeskog
D: Byfuglien
G: Bryzgalov
Keeper League #2:
14 GM ROTO,Keep 8+4 Prospects
C: Stamkos, M.Koivu, Ribeiro
LW: Brown, Kunitz
RW: Iginla
D: Byfuglien
G: Luongo
P: Nikitin, Johansson, Josefson, Greening
Keeper League #3:
12 GM Total Points,Multi-Cat,Keep 8+2 (<83gms)
C: Backstrom, Elias, Jokinen
LW: OV, E.Kane, Conacher
RW: Semin, Heatley, Yakupov
F: McDonald, Dubinsky
D: Weber, Green, Wisniewski, Redden, Diaz
G: Ward, Bryzgalov
BN: Niemi, Ennis, S.Weise, Berglund, Okposo, Grigorenko

I was being facetious.

__________________
Tweet @ Me brah!
10 team Auction Keeper-Year 6, No FAs, Points only, Weekly Lineups (2nd and Final Tank Year)
C-Kopitar, M.Koivu, Stepan
W-Kovy, Schenn, Boedker, Skinner, Kadri, Conacher
D-Wideman, Kronwall, Timonnen, McBain
G-Schneider
Bench:Palmieri,Lintback,Allen, Larsson
Farm:Granlund,Pirri,Silfverberg,Schwartz,Nieto,Tof foli,Etem,Dumba Yakupov,Rattie,Lack,Gormley,Markstrom,Nyquist,Reil ly,G Reinhart, BSmith

Hehe, sorry about that. The 'net really does need a sarcasm/facetiousness font doesn't it?

__________________
Okay, so maybe nobody likes a cynic, but everybody f**king hates those perky optimists!

... and anyway, I make a damn good cynic.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...esday/1719257/

__________________
12 team keeper league. 8 keepers/team.
Skater Pts: goal = 2, assist =1, +/-, PIM = .5
Goalie Pts: win = 5, SO = 3, Sv = .1, GA = -.9

FORWARDS:
C. Giroux, I. Kovalchuk, E. Malkin, D. Clarkson, D. Perron, J. Pominville, J. Tootoo, R. Mason, R. Nash, J. Iginla, S. Gagner, R. O'Reilly, T. Bozak
DEFENSE:
C. Letang, Mike Green, A. Edler, N. Kronwall, D. Engelland, K. Yandle, B. Dillon, P. Martin
GOALIES:
R. Miller, J. Quick J. Hiller, C. Nilstorp

It sounds like progress...

I noticed the players present at the bottom of the article:
Joining Fehr and his brother Steve were nine players: Adam Burish, Chris Campoli, Dan Cleary, Mathieu Darche, Ron Hainsey, Shawn Horcoff, Kevin Shattenkirk, Andy McDonald and Daniel Winnik.

Must be nice for Burish not to even be in the running for the most infuriating person in the room for once.

__________________
Okay, so maybe nobody likes a cynic, but everybody f**king hates those perky optimists!

... and anyway, I make a damn good cynic.