Magnificent Seventh Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Since it looks like the NHL faces a lockout or a strike after this season, will this affect Parise, Bochenski, or other drafted underclassmen leaving after this season. If there is no NHL season will the AHL or other minor leagues go on hiatus as well. This could be good for us, just as long as Vanek gets deported. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiouxTupa Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I say deport the Austrian Pretty Boy anyway...who needs him! Well, ok, maybe one team thinks he's swell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoteauRinkRat Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Of course this will affect their decision to stay or go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jloos Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 Since it looks like the NHL faces a lockout or a strike after this season, will this affect Parise, Bochenski, or other drafted underclassmen leaving after this season. If there is no NHL season will the AHL or other minor leagues go on hiatus as well. This could be good for us, just as long as Vanek gets deported. An NHL strike/lockout will not stop the AHL,ECHL ect.. A big concern for the younger minor league players is that many of the older NHL players will take their jobs. Players are signing like crazy so they get paid in the event of a lockout. If there is no NHL I think it is pretty obvious Parise, Jones, Green and the lot are going to stay. Unless of course they decide to play in the Latvian Elite league Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing77 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 An NHL strike/lockout will not stop the AHL,ECHL ect.. A big concern for the younger minor league players is that many of the older NHL players will take their jobs. Players are signing like crazy so they get paid in the event of a lockout. If there is no NHL I think it is pretty obvious Parise, Jones, Green and the lot are going to stay. Unless of course they decide to play in the Latvian Elite league I agree with jloos about the staying but I heard somewhere that the AHL and ECHL would have a limited schedule. And my brother went to Latvia this summer. He was shocked at what he saw in hockey culture there... of course, the number one non-native nationality is Canadian! In any case, I doubt they'd go there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNDProud Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I talked to a person who's son is in the pro's and he said that Zach won't go this year due to the strike, which in his opinion, will happen. The only way the Devils will make Zach go is if the situation with the ref's doesn't improve. If he is risking injury every time he is on the ice due to bad officiating, they will pull him no matter what the strike situation is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jloos Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I talked to a person who's son is in the pro's and he said that Zach won't go this year due to the strike, which in his opinion, will happen. The only way the Devils will make Zach go is if the situation with the ref's doesn't improve. If he is risking injury every time he is on the ice due to bad officiating, they will pull him no matter what the strike situation is. Does anyone else find it odd that they have been talking about this lockout for about a year, it is still 9 months away. Why don't they figure out their differences now, rather than waiting until the contract expires? Personally on one level I hope they do have a lockout, it will be better for college hockey, on the other hand there is no college hockey games on Sun-Thur most weeks. If there is a strike rather than a lockout this could be more devestating for the future of the NHL, people seem to be much more turned off with greedy players compared to greedy owners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diggler Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 How can the Devils make Zach go? They can't really, right? It is all up to Zach, so whether the Devils like that he gets the tar beaten out of him or not they can't really make him do anything. All they can do is offer him way more money than he would typically get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatspin7 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 No the Devils can't "make" Zach go any where. But toss a couple of million dollars and a long term deal at him and he would be gone before the first pay check clears. Just like Dave Hale--- They'll make him an offer he can't refuse!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 How can the Devils make Zach go? They can't really, right? It is all up to Zach, so whether the Devils like that he gets the tar beaten out of him or not they can't really make him do anything. All they can do is offer him way more money than he would typically get. True, but I think for a lot of elite players who have always dreamed of the NHL, once they are drafted, they take their cues for their career from their NHL team. If their future employer suggests that the next step for their development should be "X", most of them will do "X". Usually the agent will make the team compensate the player for the move. Paul Martin's advisor did a great job on this front, making the Devils pay up to get him to move. I don't necessarily think NJ will want ZPar to move, as they left Commie, Hale and Martin in school for three years each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speez Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 From what I heard, the ECHL will play a regular schedule. Only 6 AHL teams will be playing because the NHL will cut off their funding to them if the strike/lockout happens. A lot of the AHL players will try to get spots in the ECHL & will probably beat out the veteran ECHL mainstays. I think that if the strike/lockout happens for an extended period, you can count the NHL to be big losers in the fans eyes. The owners have no one to blame but themselves for the skyrocketing payrolls. Then you have Wirtz of the Blackhawks who is determined to bust the players union. I believe only one player on the Hawks has a multi year contract, the rest running through this year only, One of the many reasons the Hawks suck. The salary cap is to protect the owners from themselves. Naturally the players don't want a cap. They have to realize it will probably happen & a prolonged work stoppage is a lose/lose for everybody, especially the fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 I think that if the strike/lockout happens for an extended period, you can count the NHL to be big losers in the fans eyes. Amen brother. I've never regained my passion for baseball since the big strike, and now just when I'm getting back into being a Wild fan (hard to come back after the North Stars debacle) there will be an ugly money war. Thank God for the Fighting Sioux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siouxfan1 Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 If their is a strike of course none of the mentioned players could play in the NHL and that would be good for a lot of college teams. But if players wanted the money and wanted to jump leagues, they could sign with the WHA! Which is suppose to start play in October 2004! Go Sioux!!! Bochenski for Hobey!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Ultimately, the NHL and its players will face the following: lower TV revenues, smaller crowds, tighter salaries in the form of a cap, revenue sharing between the league and its players and probably fewer teams. The economics of basketball and its spend your way to a Title mentality cannot continue to dominate hockey. The fanbase is not there, the national level of interest and knowledge of the sport is not there and the $$$ are not there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 An NHL strike/lockout will not stop the AHL,ECHL ect.. A big concern for the younger minor league players is that many of the older NHL players will take their jobs. Players are signing like crazy so they get paid in the event of a lockout. If there is no NHL I think it is pretty obvious Parise, Jones, Green and the lot are going to stay. Unless of course they decide to play in the Latvian Elite league If you heard Tim Hennesey's interview with Skarp they got into this subject, that is also why Goren signed with Florida instead of waiting for Boston to sign him. These guys without NHL two contracts are worried that they will be out of a job because they will fill the slots with guys that are younger and just coming to the NHL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 From what I heard, the ECHL will play a regular schedule. Only 6 AHL teams will be playing because the NHL will cut off their funding to them if the strike/lockout happens. A lot of the AHL players will try to get spots in the ECHL & will probably beat out the veteran ECHL mainstays. I think that if the strike/lockout happens for an extended period, you can count the NHL to be big losers in the fans eyes. The owners have no one to blame but themselves for the skyrocketing payrolls. Then you have Wirtz of the Blackhawks who is determined to bust the players union. I believe only one player on the Hawks has a multi year contract, the rest running through this year only, One of the many reasons the Hawks suck. The salary cap is to protect the owners from themselves. Naturally the players don't want a cap. They have to realize it will probably happen & a prolonged work stoppage is a lose/lose for everybody, especially the fans. I heard the other day that the owners pay out 75% of their earnings in salary, so I wouldn't doubt that the owners are trying to bust the union. I almost feel that it is the owners fault that they got to this level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrkac_Circus Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Personally I don't think the lockout will happen. I think that a deal will be done at the very last minute. I think that the NHL has made some pretty big strides in the last couple of years, as far as popularity goes. I think with a couple of rule changes to help the scoring, it could compete with the NBA for the third most popular sport in America. As far as Parise goes, I really see him staying four years. The Devils right now are in their prime, and pretty deep at forwards. I don't see them throwing Parise into their lineup over a veteran, not now at least. I think that Parise would rather stick around here and play than playing in the AHL for their minor league squad, just personal opion though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 A friend sent me this article via email. Sorry, I can't provide a link... Posted on Fri, Feb. 20, 2004 Â NHL is just a minor league with major losses By BERNIE MIKLASZ St. Louis Post-Dispatch Arthur Levitt, the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, reported that the National Hockey League's 30 teams lost $273 million last season. He warned that the NHL is on a "treadmill to obscurity." I would disagree with Mr. Levitt's premise. The NHL wandered into obscurity a long time ago. The NHL is basically a minor league pretending to be major league. And that's especially true in the way the NHL bangs fans over the head with an average ticket cost of $41.56. Ticket prices have escalated about 50 percent over the last decade. And for a more substantial investment of their working income, fans who can afford to buy a couple of decent seats get to see dull, low-scoring games with no offensive flow. They get to see clutching and grabbing and incompetent referees. The fans get to see a bunch of teams they don't care about and players they've never heard of. They get minor-league entertainment at big-league prices. No surprise, then, that average attendance for an NHL game is on pace to come in at a six-year low. The NHL's television ratings have plummeted 16 percent over the last three years. The average regular-season broadcast for 2002-03 generated a 1.1 rating, or lower than televised bowling, billiards and poker tournaments. The Feb. 8 NHL All-Star Game on ABC went head-to-head against an Arena Football League contest on NBC. The Arena League rating was 17 percent higher than the NHL's. Each NHL team receives around $5 million a season under the broadcast agreement with ABC and ESPN. But according to recent media reports, ABC is expected to drop its NHL broadcasts, and the league can expect to take a dramatic revenue hit in its next TV contract. Levitt certainly can't be wrong in his assessment that the NHL is hemorrhaging money. How much evidence does any rational, reasonable person need to conclude that this sport is in serious trouble? But the lunkheads at the NHL Players Association immediately began mewling over Levitt's claims. He has been portrayed as a pro-management pawn. The labor agreement expires in September, and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow seemingly has programmed the players to believe the NHL is a profit-churning machine, so deep in money the league could wrap its pucks in $100 bills. The NHLPA is adamantly opposed to a salary cap - even though a cap is acceptable to the players in the highly successful National Football League. NHL players must be suffering too many concussions. They're receiving about 76 percent of the league's gross revenues, compared to 64 percent for NFL players and 48 percent for National Basketball Association players. But more and more, hockey players are posturing and depicting themselves as victims. Obviously, NHL players want to retain the current arrangement. Any system in which underachieving Blues goaltender Brent Johnson can receive a $400,000 raise and lift his 2003-2004 salary to $1.1 million is obviously working beautifully for players. But even if the sport undergoes a significant economic reform, NHL players will be paid extremely well to play a game. Never mind that; hockey players think they're baseball players now. They're just as arrogant and out of touch with reality. And this is supposed to be a humble, working-class sport? Please. Not anymore. I hope all of the boys in the NHL locker rooms get on a Zamboni and follow Goodenow straight over that metaphorical cliff. The only way to save this league is to destroy it first, and then rebuild it. That's why I'm hoping for a long, sobering labor shutdown. One day the NHL can come back with fewer teams, lower salaries, cheaper tickets, more skating room on the ice and more goals on the scoreboard. Until then it's a minor league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 How could any underclassmen want to leave this team we could have next year? I don't see anybody ditching what could be the greatest Sioux team ever assembled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MafiaMan Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 Marty, I'll tell you how it could happen. Back in the fall of 1989, UND had the pre-season #1 team in the country. Granted, that was pre-season, but it says a lot about the talent that UND had on that team. Brent Bobyck, Dave Hakstol, Russ Romaniuk, Jason Herter, Justin Duberman, just to name a few of the players. The day before the poll was released, Herter signed a contract with Vancouver and Romaniuk signed a deal with his home-town Winnipeg Jets. I had a business class with Jason Herter on the day of the poll release and the entire class was devastated that he would be leaving shortly. He fielded many questions about how he could give up a possible NCAA title run but his answer made a lot of sense. He had a guaranteed lump sum of money just for signing. If he did NOTHING else in his hockey career, he still had a million dollars in the bank and paid tuition to finish out college once his playing career was finished. Break a leg in the season opener for UND and all that potential and cash goes right out the window. He asked that question to people in the class...what would YOU do? You must know the rest of the story already because if you didn't follow UND hockey until 1990, you probably don't even know who Jason Herter is since he didn't become the next Gretzy or Lemieux. Smart guy, even though I didn't think so at the time since I was one of the thousands of fans disappointed by a UND early exit from the WCHA playoffs that year, no post-season selection, and a lot of "oh what could have been" thoughts about the team that wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 I guess I don't think like Jason Herter. If it was me and I was on a team that was the favorite to win a NCAA title but an NHL wanted me to sign a contract and go play for them right away I would choose college. It may be a risk to take either getting an injury or not performing as well and losing some money in another contract. I just think that winning an NCAA title would be a whole lot better than getting a measly $1 million dollars (if that) to play in the NHL. Heck, if you don't get hurt and you get better you can get more money. Good point though MafiaMan. I can see your (or Herter's) side of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 If someone offered me $1,000,000.00 to sign my name, quit school, and go to work for them (at a salary beyond the $1 MM no less!) you bet I would. Let's put this in perspective: $1,000,000 at 5% interest is $50,000 per year just for having signed. Do you make $50,000 annually now? These guys guarantee themselves that level of income for life. The better question in this context, however, is this: With the real prospect of no 2004-2005 NHL season, how many NHL teams are going to be offering big bonuses and contracts between now and a new collective bargaining agreement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MafiaMan Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 Trust me, Marty, I was definitely disappointed he left and I thought he was a fool for doing so. Now that I'm older and wiser, I can honestly say I don't know which way I would choose had the same offer been made to me as a 20 year old kid. It's a tough decision, that's for sure. I'm with you in hoping Zach Parise and any other underclassmen (why weren't you listending Landon Wilson, Ryan Bayda, Travis Roche, etc...?) stick around for all four years, but I'm afraid NCAA hockey is becoming more and more like NCAA basketball....enjoy the 1-3 years the players are around because then they're gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MafiaMan Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 Oh, hell, I'm with Sicatoka. Who am I kidding? If someone offered me one million dollars to quit my job, never play co-rec softball again, and move to Vancouver and start my life under the Canadian witness protection program, I'd pack up everything I owned and be on the road by 4:00 pm today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagies Posted February 25, 2004 Share Posted February 25, 2004 I think it would be very difficult not to take the money in hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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