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NHLPA Board Votes Yes! (on continuing to talk..hooray?) Some Players Upset |
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So by now you have all heard the NHLPA Board voted and 29 of 31 teams voted YES!....to continuing down this path of negotiations a way to finish the season...
I REALLY want to be excited about this, but I really am not.
First off, several players not only expressed concern about re-starting in this quarantined way, but they also expressed that they felt that "ALL the Players, not just the board should have to vote to approve this..."
The players are naturally concerned....and were you one of them, you would be too. But the NHL and the the NHLPA both realize how vital this is and how they have a responsibility to play so their fans out there, many who have come upon hard times as a result of the pandemic, are in dire need of an escape from the everyday norms...We want playoff hockey to help get us through what will undoubtedly be a tough few months...
But what have they really voted on exactly?
I went onto the NHLPA website fully expecting to see this vote as a TOP Story, and it was nowhere to be found on the homepage. It was as if nothing had happened at all. I had to click on the news tab to find it...and even then it was really stark...only with the statement:
"The Executive Board of the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) has authorized further negotiations with the NHL on a 24-team return to play format to determine the winner of the 2020 Stanley Cup. Several details remain to be negotiated and an agreement on the format would still be subject to the parties reaching agreement on all issues relevant to resuming play."
Ok....great...woohoo?
The last time we heard "Several details remain to be negotiated" involving the NHL and NHLPA starting up their season I was writing a blogspot.com blog...And that didn't turn out the greatest...
So I went to NHL.com to see how they are putting this good news out there....and it's as if this vote never even took place...the last article was about the NHL considering 8 or 9 places to play...
THEN I realized I was missing on the #1 rule of journalism..."If you want to downplay and bury a story, put it out late on a Friday..."
Yeh...
So ok. I am the optimistic guy, right?
So I talked to some players today and they all wanted to play and frankly can't wait to start...many are talking about informal skates starting in June...
"Just the thought of that, makes me excited beyond belief. I need to get out of the house. I miss my hockey family," one player said...
I think it will happen. I fully believe the NHL and the NHLPA are working amazingly well together right now...This bodes well for everything....
Which made me think about Donald Fehr....He is a damn good negotiator...Is it possible that re-starting this season may get tied to the NHL/NHLPA Extension? And if that's true....is that what this statement is saying if you read between the lines?
I am a bit worried about this one...
What do you think?
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