CBA: The Staredown Continues
Have you ever had a job interview or written a cover letter in which you are required to give your salary requirement? Employers do that to get you to name a price that is lower than the maximum they would otherwise be willing to pay -- and to basically underbid yourself so as not to risk pricing yourself out of the job.
The current NHL-NHLPA situation is not quite like that. The NHLPA knows all the details of the last NHL offer. They also know that the NHL's last offer is not truly off the table. What they found out yesterday, however, was that the NHL is no longer inclined to do further negotiation. Reportedly, the NHL is insisting that the PA make the next move with a take-it-or-leave-it offer of their own.
Neither side has made a new offer as of yet. Yesterday's meeting with the mediators was all about running through various what-if scenarios. The two sided never met face-to-face, and it appears that neither tipped its hand about what it is actually willing to do get a deal closed.
That is a risky strategy on both sides. It has become painfully clear throughout this process that Donald Fehr and Gary Bettman are a terrible fit as negotiating partners/opponents. Each one pushes all the wrong buttons for the other side and both are more concerned with "winning" the negotiation than in making a deal.
Fehr's strategy, both with the baseball and hockey unions, has always been to wait out the other side until he feels the union has gotten the best offer it is going to get. Until then, he delays things by bringing up various new talking points or changing terms of issues that have already been discussed. That strategy had considerable success in getting Major League Baseball to give up additional concessions after "best and final" offers were presented.
Bettman's method has always been to set extremely lopsided terms at the beginning and then negotiate them to a "middle ground" that still tilts toward his side. His style is to fire off tough-sounding ultimatums and then act like he's doing the other side a huge favor by gradually making concessions he was willing to make all along.
Each one knows what the other is doing. And both are extremely frustrated, because neither one deals in a productive way with the other. Fehr shrugs off ultimatums. Bettman refuses to chase moving targets and seethes when he demands a direct yes or no answer and gets a "maybe, if" response.
After the breakdown in negotiations last week -- despite the fact that the two sides got within striking distance of a deal -- the NHL's approach now resembles the one mentioned in the first paragraph: "Nothing is on the table right now. Sou YOU give us your bottom line of what you want. We'll either accept it or reject it."
Is give-us-a-take-it-or-leave-it really the NHL's end game? Probably not. There would almost definitely be further negotiation of particular points (in other words, the NHL's own "maybe, if" response) but that would an attempt to negotiate the union down further. But Fehr is not one to undercut himself.
A take-it-or-leave-it offer from the NHLPA might actually go backwards. That is, unless Fehr bows to pressures from the rank-and-file who are petrified of a lost season. No doubt the union head has addressed such concerns by telling players that the owners and league have just as much to lose, and Bettman needs to worry about sponsors other stakeholders in addition to not wanting to cancel an entire season for the second time in seven years.
In all likelihood, the two sides will remain stalemated until there is a deadline set to cancel the season; and it's a deadline that the League is serious about enforcing. It never HAD to get to this point, but that's where the leaders of both sides have taken their respective constituencies. All the "deal making" progress has been done by other people.
From here on out, it's going to be Bettman vs. Fehr. That's the scariest part of all.
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Flyers in Europe Updates
* Channel One Cup:
Jakub Voracek is a member of the Czech Republic roster for the tournament. Today, the Czech take on Finland. Game time is 12:30 PM eastern. A free webcast will be
available here.
* European Trophy:
Danny Briere is nursing a rib injury but made the trip with Eisbären Berlin to Vienna. Today, the DEL's Polar Bear are slated to take on the EBEL's Vienna Capitals in the single-elimination quarterfinals of the European Trophy tournament. Briere is officially a game-time decision but it sounds likely that he will play. Game time is 2:30 PM eastern. A free webcast will be
available here.
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Multi-point game for Cousins
Flyers forward prospect
Nick Cousins recorded a pair of assists in the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' 3-2 overtime home victory on Wednesday against the Plymouth Whalers. The Sault trailed trailed by two goals in the third period before staging a comeback that culminated in Cousins setting up the game-tying goal by Darnell Nurse with 33 seconds remaining in regulation. David Broll scored the OT winner.
Cousins also drew the primary assist on the game's first tally. He now has 45 points (12 goals, 33 assists) in 33 games played on the OHL season.
The Flyers' prospect has his next court date coming up soon. A judicial pre-trial conference in the sexual assault criminal case involving Cousins, Mark Petaccio and Phoenix Coyotes draft pick Andrew Fritsch is scheduled for Dec. 20.
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Team Hartnell vs. Team JVR Update
There is still five-plus days left to make a donation and support
Scott Hartnell or
James van Riemsdyk in their
Power of 2 "head-to-head" battle to raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief.
Hartnell is playing for the Empire State relief fund. New Jersey native van Riemsdyk represents the Garden Sate fund. To date, Team Hartnell has raised $14,150 for New York area relief while Team JVR has raised $9,019 for New Jersey.
Apart from the fund-raising efforts, there is also a friendly wager between the contestants. The loser has to go holiday shopping on behalf of the winner while wearing full hockey gear. JVR had the early fund-raising lead but Team Hartnell has gotten most of the donations of late. Of course, neither guy would be offended by someone splitting a planned donation in half to help both the NJ and New York funds.
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