Pezzer

how is this the players fault? they didn't force the owners to pay them. The players can demand all they want, clearly the owners said "fine, we can afford it"

Are they still not forcing the owners?

It seems like you think the owner's have the right/responsibility to set salaries, but they don't have the right/responsibility to set salaries lower.

The author also makes it sound as though the 2000 Devils were something other than the 2nd-highest scoring team in the league.  They did not get there only by having good defense.

Other than that, I think the article was very very good.

Bettman deserves immense blame for the current state of the league.  His management was extremely poor.

Vis a vis the current negotiation with the PA, however, I think Bettman deserves a lot of credit for wishing to implement a system that is grounded in reality.  The players don't appear to have any sense of reality whatsoever, and I believe they deserve the lion's share of the blame for the failed negotiation.

what does bettman have to threaten the players with?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You think hockey players have better fall back options than billionaire owners?

The owners have so many better things to do with their money than run a losing operation.  

Most players' second best option is 90% worse than what they would've had if they accepted in February.

who says every team needs to spend that much?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Okay.  Every team just officially decided that they want to spend less than $37.5 M.  Now what?

If you think teams can decide what their maximum is, why do you have a problem with this?

Let's face facts, gang, if money were the true motivating factor, you wouldn't see nearly half of the NHLPA membership toiling in Europe or in the minors, considering how little most of them made this season in those respective leagues.

Yeah?  Then what would they be doing if it was about the money?