NHL cancels regular-season schedule through Nov. 1; clock ticking to save Winter Classic

19 Oct
2012

After two days of meetings between the NHL and NHLPA, the two sides have yet to agree to meatier parts of a new CBA and thus the league has gone forward with postponing another chunk of the 2012-13 schedule. As of Friday all games through Nov. 1 have been canceled.

From the NHL:

The National Hockey League announced today the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through November 1. A total of 135 regular-season games were scheduled for Oct. 11 through Nov. 1.

The cancellation was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players' Association and the NHL.

That's an additional 53 games on top of the 82 that were canceled back on Oct. 4.

Remember: Commissioner Gary Bettman said on Monday that if the NHL's proposal is accepted within 10 days, they could fit in the 82-game schedule which would begin on Nov. 2. Of course, after listening to Donald Fehr on Thursday, a Nov. 2 start isn't in the cards, but there's still the potential for a 70ish-game season beginning sometime in November if the posturing and PR battles stop and serious negotiating begins on both sides. The question now is how big is the chunk of games that will go once Bettman's 10-day deadline passes without any progress?

And as the cancellation of games keeps moving forward, we get closer and closer to the Winter Classic getting axed from the NHL's schedule. MLive.com's Ansar Khan reported that Nov. 20 is the drop-dead date to save the game and give the league enough time to prepare both Michigan Stadium and Comerica Park for the events surrounding the Winter Classic.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

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Finally: NFL, refs announce eight-year deal – Golden Tate | SEA

27 Sep
2012
The NFL and NFLRA announced that a new collective bargaining agreement has been reached.
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NFL confirms new deal between league, officials is done

26 Sep
2012

As it turned out, the NFL's nightmare scenario -- a team losing a game it should have won -- was all it took for the league and the NFL Referees Association to get back to the bargaining table and wrap up a new deal. Negotiations picked up momentum after the Seattle Seahawks beat the Green Bay Packers, 14-12, on "Monday Night Football" on a touchdown catch by Seattle receiver Golden Tate that was highly questionable.

"That game reshaped everything ... it shook me. I think it shook a lot of people," one NFL owner told Mike Freeman of CBS Sports.

According to several reports from many sources, the two sides have agreed to the details of a multi-year collective bargaining agreement that will bring the real officials back from their lockout and on the field for Thursday night's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns.

From the joint statement released by the NFL and NFL Referees Association:

The NFL and NFLRA are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement tonight on an eight-year collective bargaining agreement, subject to ratification by the NFLRA.

"Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night," Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We appreciate the commitment of the NFLRA in working through the issues to reach this important agreement."

"Our Board of Directors has unanimously approved taking this proposed CBA to the membership for a ratification vote," said Scott Green, president of the NFLRA. "We are glad to be getting back on the field for this week's games."

The NFLRA will vote to ratify the new CBA on Saturday. Because the CBA isn't in effect until that takes place, Goodell had to lift the lockout so that the real refs could work on Thursday night. Those officials set to work Sunday's games will retrieve their equipment in Dallas before and after the vote, and there may be a brief refresher seminar.

Compensation for the officials will increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011, to $173,000 in 2013, and capping at an average of $205,000 by 2019. Starting in 2013, the NFL can make some officials full-time employees as well. To date, all officials have been part-time, seasonal employees, and most have other jobs outside the game.

The pension plan that the officials wanted to hold on to will reportedly be extended for another five years, with the retirement plans switching to 401k accounts after. The NFL wanted a new pool of 21 officials added to the NFLRA's current staff of 121 members, but the compromise will create a new developmental program.

The developmental officials will work with the existing crews and rise through the ranks as they are graded appropriately. Until they are deemed ready, the developmental refs will not be NFLRA members and cannot work games. It was the NFL's wish that a larger pool of officials be ready to sub in for refs that are either sick or injured, and that there be a program by which officials whose performance is considered sub-par would be "benched."

[Busbee: Replacement refs responsible for everything that's wrong in the world]

Both sides were concerned that the Thursday night teams would not be subject to the competitive imbalance that would result from some teams playing games under the jurisdiction of the replacement officials. Since the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts have byes this week, the timing of the deal means that all 32 teams have the same three weeks of games under the wrong guys. And the impetus was clear after the Monday night game -- the NFL and NFL Referees Association met for at least 25 of the subsequent 36 hours.

Peter King of SI.com reported earlier Wednesday that Ed Hochuli, the Arizona attorney considered the dean of NFL officials by most fans and media people, has been engaging the locked-out officials in weekly rules-related conference calls. All officials got a Hochuli-implemented test once a week, and Big Ed the Muscular went over the results with his comrades.

"That's one of the reasons why the officials will be up to date and ready to go,'' a source told King. "Ed grabbed the bull by the horns and made sure that whenever this thing ended, the regular officials would be ready to go back to work immediately.''

"As soon as I heard the rumors today, I got down on the floor and started doing push-ups," Hochuli told Jeff Darlington of the NFL Network.

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Tags: , Association, , , developmental, , , NFL officials, NFL Referees Association
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NHL, NHLPA to discuss last season’s revenue (Yahoo! Sports)

23 Sep
2012
TORONTO (AP) -- The NHL and NHL Players' Association are set to meet for the first time in nearly two weeks, but a discussion about a new collective bargaining agreement isn't on the agenda.
Tags: agenda, Association, , discussion, , NHL Players' Association, NHLPA, , , ,
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WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) -- The Winnipeg Jets agreed to a contract with restricted free-agent forward Evander Kane on Saturday night, about 30 minutes before the NHL's collective bargaining agreement expired.
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NHL lockout looms as players, owners travel to NYC (Yahoo! Sports)

11 Sep
2012
NEW YORK (AP) -- NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly says the owners and players are both to blame for their failure to reach a new collective bargaining agreement before the Saturday deadline for a work stoppage.
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New injured reserve rules, trade deadline could help many NFL teams

30 Aug
2012

After a lockout that lasted far too long into 2011 and a seemingly interminable string of labor dust-ups since the new collective bargaining agreement was ratified last August, the NFL and NFLPA have finally agreed on something – and it could be of great benefit to many teams and players.

On Wednesday, it was announced that the league will alter rules regarding injured reserve, and move the trade deadline back from Week 6 to Week 8. The trade deadline could be a major fix for contending teams looking to pick up talent from other teams interested in off-loading contracts or finding new environments for disenchanted superstars (read: Maurice Jones-Drew). But it's the new injured reserve rules that could substantially alter the NFL landscape.

Previously, any player put on IR was lost for the entire season. Now, if a player is hurt and put on injured reserve after Sept. 4, that player may return to the active roster eight weeks after the IR designation, and the player must be on the IR list for at least six weeks. In addition, a player must be "designated for return" at the time of his IR classification, which means that a team must anticipate a player's ability to return midseason. Teams can't just hope their key injured player will recover in time.

Several teams, many of them potential playoff contenders, could reap the rewards of this rule.

The Pittsburgh Steelers nearly lost rookie guard David DeCastro for the season due to a knee injury suffered in a Week 3 win against the Buffalo Bills, but stopped short of putting DeCastro on IR after it was determined that he had not torn multiple ligaments in his knee. The Green Bay Packers could similarly see linebacker Desmond Bishop return to the field late in the season, the Cincinnati Bengals might get center Kyle Cook back in the fold, and the Seattle Seahawks may actually see injury-prone right tackle James Carpenter under the same provisions, should they choose to go that route.

New York Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas, who re-injured his surgically repaired right ACL in training camp, could also return, and the team that could see the biggest push is the Baltimore Ravens.

''I think it is a great rule in general,'' said Giants cornerback Michael Coe, whose current starting role follows injuries to Thomas, Prince Amukamara and Jayron Holsey. ''Other sports have that, like baseball, guys go on and come off IR every day, like putting on your shoes.''

''This is going to help every team which has an injury and has to do some shuffling,'' Coe told the Associated Press. ''Guys won't have to miss the whole year.''

Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Terrell Suggs, who suffered an Achilles tendon injury in early May, might see action as well. Suggs is currently on the team's reserve/physically unable to perform List, which would keep him out the first six weeks of the season. Suggs has said that he'll be ready to go in November, and the new IR rule would give the Ravens additional flexibility with the man who racked up 14 sacks in 2011 and proved to be the cornerstone of their excellent defense.

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Trending Topics: Actual NHL news in pre-lockout purgatory; CHL vs. AHL

17 Aug
2012

Trending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead?

While Donald Fehr and Gary Bettman are kicking up dust at each other on behalf of their constituents, like discontented baseball managers whose players just got tossed for arguing balls and strikes, there remains the whole business of the current collective bargaining agreement still being in effect.

You might have noticed a little bit of an uptick in activity and rumors over the last week or so. While these are the summer doldrums, no doubt about that, some teams have been getting to work by locking up some players and exploring their options.

Witness both the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers having recently signed restricted free agents Max Pacioretty and Wayne Simmonds to six-year extensions worth $4.5 million and $3.97 or so per year, respectively. (Though obviously that's under the current CBA and doesn't take into account any salary rollbacks, over which Fehr will engage Bettman in a knife fight if he has to.)

Meanwhile, the Flyers also continue to kick the tires on a number of defensemen to make up for the fact that most of the ones they have under contract are either not very good or injured; or, in Andreas Lilja's case, both.

The same is true of the Red Wings, who acknowledge a glut of forwards but have a relative paucity of defensemen who are actually good enough to play top-six minutes in the National Hockey League. Rumors swirl around both teams continually, as you would expect, and will do so until they find any NHL-quality defenseman still out there.

Other semi-notable moves include Colorado's extending JS Giguere to continue his tutelage of young Semyon Varlamov; while New Jersey, Toronto, and Vancouver getting Stefan Matteau, Tyler Biggs, and Brendan Gaunce, respectively, signed to entry-level deals. Edmonton, meanwhile, is reportedly pursuing extensions with both Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall.

One thing you might notice about these deals, however, is that with the exception of the Giguere extension by Colorado — which still has a very small way to go before even reaching the cap floor, though one suspects a contract for Ryan O'Reilly will get them comfortably over the hump — is that they're getting done by teams that have a little bit of money in reserve: Edmonton, Toronto, Detroit, Montreal, Philadelphia, Vancouver.

All of them likely have piles of money just lying around the basement of their arenas, looking for players to which they would happily give it if not for the salary cap.

While these teams don't and likely cannot know what the final collective bargaining agreement will end up looking like, none are especially near the current salary cap, and therefore pursue whomever they want in filling out their organizational depth charts in one way or another. Other teams, such as Boston and Los Angeles, don't want to get involved in this kind of thing. Their housekeeping is largely taken care of and there are a few players whose contracts will be expiring in the near future to whom they would prefer to commit their resources.

Still more, though, do not have this luxury, which I guess just goes to highlight the inherent inequities between rich and poor teams under the current collective bargaining agreement.

Because there isn't necessarily a lot out there in terms of high-quality players remaining on the market, there are teams with the financial wherewithal to make moves without really fear; and to their credit, they are doing so by choosing instead to get their internal needs squared.

It's smart, but it's a move only available to them. There is a lot of uncertainty out there, but they know they can sign guys under the current CBA parameters and worry about what to do should their player costs exceed the new salary cap later on. These teams more or less print money anyway, so if it comes to stashing contracts in the minors, buying guys out, and so forth, then that's just what they'll do.

These big money-making teams can also make decisions like these because they're the ones steering the conversation from ownership's side of the CBA negotiations. Whatever benefits them most, and not ownership overall, will likely be what's eventually part of the new deal, whatever shape it takes.

Who can blame them for making these moves? They're setting themselves up to succeed on both fronts, and that's what you have to do to get ahead in this league.

The CHL, the AHL, the lockout, and you

A lot was made of the news earlier this week that the Canadian Hockey League's transfer agreement with the NHL, which effectively keeps not-yet-NHL-ready QMJHL, OHL and WHL players with their junior teams until they age out of the league, had expired.

Many asked if this could mean there would be an influx of top-19-year-old players into the AHL?

But soon after the revelation, Jeff Marek tweeted that, "[T]he CHL expects the AHL to honour their leagues['] deal with players and not allow a flood of 19 year olds into the league if [there is a lockout]."

The reason for this, Marek told me, is that the AHL doesn't need 19-year-old wunderkinds next season, as it will likely be knee-deep in high-quality, young NHL players next season if there is a lockout. However, those 19-year-olds who have NHL seasons under their belt (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, etc.) and junior eligibility remaining would still likely play in the AHL, though that's apparently the NHL's call.

Recall that in the 2004-05 lockout, guys like Eric Staal, Chuck Kobasew, Cam Ward, Mike Commodore, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Boyes, Jason Spezza, Mike Cammalleri, Rene Bourque, Zach Parise, Ryan Miller, Tom Vanek, and so forth. And these are just guys I remember watching. They laid the AHL to waste. Scott Gomez, meanwhile, played in the ECHL — hold your jokes, please — and scored 86 points in 61 games. (Bourne says that was because he got to play home games on Olympic-sized ice, which doesn't seem fair.)

The rule at the time was, if you are an NHL player under the age of 22, you were AHL-eligible. Here, then, is a brief list of notable NHL players who will be under 22 when the AHL season starts: Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jeff Skinner, Ryan Johansen, Taylor Hall, Alex Burmistrov, Dmitry Kulikov, Matt Duchene, Evander Kane, Brayden Schenn, Cam Fowler, Tyler Seguin, Justin Faulk, and Sean Couturier.

That's a pretty decent list of players who will elevate the AHL's quality substantially. I saw more than a few AHL games during the last lockout (RIP Lock Monsters) and I can tell you unequivocally that the players who usually play in it were not remotely ready for the influx of high-quality youth that came in. In particular, the line of Eric Staal, Chuck Kobasew and (I think) Colin Forbes basically shredded every defense. Cam Ward's numbers that season were pornographic at 1.99 and .937.

If there is a lockout, the AHL doesn't need major junior players because it will be getting NHL players. If there isn't a lockout, well, it probably won't get major junior players because of a gentleman's agreement.

Pearls of Biz-dom

We all know that there isn't a better Twitter account out there than that of Paul Bissonnette. So why not find his best bit of advice on love, life and lappers from the last week?

BizNasty on an upgrade in responsibilities: "Anyone taking beer league applications? Need a place to play during the lockout. Looking for 3rd line minutes + 2nd unit power play time."

If you've got something for Trending Topics, holla at Lambert on Twitter or . He'll even credit you so you get a thousand followers in one day and you'll become the most popular person on the Internet! You can also visit his blog if you're so inclined.

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NHLPA prepared to make counteroffer in NHL talks (Yahoo! Sports)

13 Aug
2012

Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to journalists after leaving hockey labor negotiations between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association, Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, in Toronto. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

TORONTO (AP) -- The NHL Players' Association will present its vision for a new collective bargaining agreement to the NHL when labor talks resume Tuesday.


Tags: Association, , , counteroffer, labor, , NHL Players' Association, NHLPA, ,
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NHL, NHLPA address side issues as talks continue (Yahoo! Sports)

10 Aug
2012
NEW YORK (AP) -- One day after NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman promised the league would lock out its players if a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was not in place by Sept. 15, representatives from both the NHL and the players' association exuded an air of optimism that the season could start on time.
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