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Yesterday's news of the National Hockey League's new Collective Bargaining Agreement proposal to the Players Association was met with a lot of initial enthusiasm, especially the part about playing a playing a full schedule starting in early November. By all accounts, the NHL's proposal gets the stalled negotiating process moving again.
However, I'm afraid that anyone expecting a rapid settlement within the next week or two is going to be disappointed. The NHL's move yesterday was a calculated one, and by no means do Gary Bettman and Bill Daly expect the Fehr brothers to accept all the key facets of the latest proposal.
Instead, the League's proposal was designed to accomplish three strategies:
1) Respond to internal pressures to end the waiting game for a new NHLPA proposal.
2) Place the public and rank-and-file pressure squarely on the NHLPA leadership's shoulders to make the next move quickly.
3) Go on a two-pronged PR offensive designed to respond quickly to all the negative focus-group feedback and to turn the NHLPA's recent stalling tactic in presenting a new proposal of their own into a chance to publicly position themselves as the proactice side that is willing to share revenues 50-50 and truly wants to get the season started as soon as possible.
Here's what I think will happen next: the NHLPA will try to parry the NHL's move and respond with a quick counter-punch.
Specifically, I think the Fehr's will attack the means by which the NHL calculated the "50-50 split" of revenue. They will say the definition of hockey-related revenue (HRR) was tinkered with again to publicly call it an even split but still falling well short of it by the current definition of HRR.
In addition, it's a pretty safe bet that the Players' Association will outright reject the contract-term and yearly salary variation limits spelled out in the NHL's proposal. The union will call these conditions unacceptable.
The NHLPA will also present its own new proposal that moves a little closer -- but not all the way -- toward the compromises they are willing to accept. The NHL will not accept theirs either.
Yesterday's wave of optimism will fade for awhile. More talks will be scheduled, and the back-and-forth process will continue to play out in public until the two sides actually are close to an agreement. Then they'll go mum while working around the clock at the negotiating table.
My fingers are crossed that the end-game stage of the negotiations happens quickly. But I'll be surprised -- very pleasantly surprised, mind you -- if we are talking about Flyers opening night against the Anaheim Ducks come Nov. 2. The wheels are turning again, and that's a good thing. But by no means is the lockout exit ramp in clear sight yet.
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PHANTOMS/TITANS UPDATE
The Adirondack Phantoms plan to get a jump on their Newfoundland trip, which features games against the St. John's IceCaps on Friday and Saturday. The club departs today by bus today for Canada and then will fly in for the game after they are north of the border. The games in St. John's are actually the second and third matches of a four-game road trip that will take the Phantoms to Albany on Friday Oct. 26 before returning home the following night to host the Rochester Americans.
Early in the new season, head coach Terry Murray's Phantoms are in the midst of one of the more difficult stretches of the year. The club is staring at a stretch of 13 games in which only three games will be in Glens Falls. Playing road hockey could actually be beneficial to a team trying to install a more disciplined defensive system but it also can pretty grueling, especially with all the bus trips.
Meanwhile, the ECHL's Trenton Titans are at home tonight, playing the Reading Royals in the back end of an early season home-and-home. On Saturday in Reading, the Titans had little difficulty dispatching the Royals by a 6-2 count. Game time is 7:00 p.m. eastern. Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette attended the ECHL's team's practice yesterday (video below).
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TODAY'S FLYERS-RELATED GAMES
KHL: Ruslan Fedotenko and HC Donbass Donetsk travel to Kazakhstan to take on Barys Astana. Game time is 9 a.m. eastern U.S./Canada time. Live updates will be available here.
KHL: Ilya Bryzgalov's CSKA Moscow club is on the road to play Ak Bars Kazan. Game time is 11 a.m. eastern. A free webcast is available.
Allsvenskan: Matt Read and Södertälje SK are on the road to play Almtuna IS. Game time is at 1 p.m. eastern. Live updates will be available here.
MHL: After winning a 3-2 decision yesterday against Czech team Energie Karlovy Vary, defense prospect Valeri Vasiliev's MHK Spartak team rematches with the same time today. Game time is 1 p.m. eastern. Game results will be posted here. Yesterday, Spartak scored the winning goal with just four seconds remaining in the third period. Defensive defenseman Vasiliev, who has one point in 14 games played this season, did not figure in the scoring but was plus-one.
OHL: Forward prospect Nick Cousins and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds host the Sudbury Wolves. Game time is 7:05 p.m. eastern. A free radio stream is available (Soo announcers) or you can you can purchase a live webcast for $6.99.
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THIS DAY IN FLYERS HISTORY (OCTOBER 17)
1968: Bernie Parent recorded his first shutout out the season, blanking the Pittsburgh Penguins on 20 shots in a game at the Spectrum. Garry Peters, Leon Rochefort and Forbes Kennedy scored for the Flyers.
1970: The Flyers and Penguins played to a 0-0 tie in Pittsburgh. Bernie Parent made 30 saves for the Flyers, including 13 in the opening period. Les Binkley stopped all 24 Philadelphia shots that made it on his net.
1973: The Flyers easily took a 5-1 road decision over the California Seals. Rick MacLeish led the way with a goal and two assists, while Dave Schultz, Bill Flett, Ross Lonsberry and Simon Nolet also tallied for Philly. Bernie Parent stopped 29 of 30 shots, yielding only a late second period power play goal. Play turned increasingly chippy as the game progressed, with several fights, stick infractions and flying elbows. That lit the fuse for what was to come on Dec. 2: the infamous Barry Cummins/Bobby Clarke incident.
On that night, Cummins deliberately swung his stick at Clarke's head, cutting him for 20 stitches. Immediately, four Flyers players jumped on Cummins, beating him to a bloody pulp as the benches emptied. Play was halted for 20 minutes. Shortly thereafter, Rick MacLeish and Morris Mott dropped the gloves and the benches emptied again, causing a 25-minute delay. In the course of trying to break up the second melee, officials Art Skov and Bruce Garside were each inadvertently struck by brawling participants.
Somehow, the two teams were eventually allowed to finish the game despite the multiple bench-clearing brawls. The Flyers also won that one by a 5-1 score.
1976: Bob "the Hound" Kelly enjoyed a rare two-goal game, leading the way in a 7-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Larry "Izzy" Goodenough, Reggie Leach, Rick MacLeish, Gary Dornhoefer and Orest Kindrachuk also scored for the Flyers.
1987: In a seesaw game on Long Island, Brian Dobbin's goal with 22 seconds left in regulation was the difference maker in a 4-3 Flyers win over the Islanders. Philadelphia trailed early in the second period until power play goals by Rick Tocchet and Murray Craven (both assisted by the combination of Pelle Eklund and Brian Propp) put Philly ahead. The Flyers built a two-goal lead on a third-period shorthanded goal by Ilkka Sinisalo only for the Islanders to storm back for goals by Pat Lafontaine and Denis Potvin. Finally, minor league recall Dobbin scored the first of his three goals in an abbreviated 21-game stint with the big club that season.
1999: In a brief reunion of the original Legion of Doom line, Mikael Renberg set up Eric Lindros for the game winning goal in the third period of a home game against the Buffalo Sabres. Nineteen seconds later, Valeri Zelepukin converted a feed from Daymond Langkow to give the Flyers some insurance in what turned into a 5-2 Philadelphia win. Simon Gagne, John LeClair and Eric Desjardins also scored for Philadelphia. John Vanbiesbrouck saw only 15 shots for the entire game, stopping 13.
2006: In the most disastrous game of the most disastrous season in Flyers' franchise history, Philly went to Buffalo and was on the receiving end of a 9-1 smackdown. Five days later, Ken Hitchcock was fired as head coach of the struggling team and Bob Clarke resigned as general manager. John Stevens was promoted from assistant coach to head coach and Paul Holmgren was promoted from assistant general manager to interim GM. The interim title was removed after the season, and the Flyers embarked on a quick recovery that took them to the Eastern Conference Finals the next year.
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