Bah, enough ranting. Anyone figure the players are clever enough to understand this: Lock out clock. Whatever Fehr put in the kool-aid is pretty potent
I've only been checking in on this thread once in a while since I'm not a serious NHL fan. But when I saw Donald Fehr's name mentioned, I had to do a double take. I had no idea that this guy had become the head of the NHLPA. I knew him from his role with the MLBPA and the last round of collective bargaining talks between baseball's owners and the player's association.
Fehr definitely plays hardball with the owners. He did that in the MLB talks. And that's no doubt why the NHLPA sought out his services. But I can't help but think that his style of negotiations may not work with the NHL owners. No offense to hockey fans or players, but baseball has a significantly larger audience in the U.S. than hockey. And with that larger audience and popularity comes more leverage. But for the NHL, I think Brent hit the nail on the head with how the owners regard their teams. The NHL may have over-expanded the number of franchises, and contraction is looking like a real possibility. Or at least retreat to safer northern / Canadian markets like Quebec. Fehr's negotiating style could elicit a response from the owners that may not be to the ultimate benefit of the players. He needs to get them playing & working again.