In a way, it would be nice to see all these ego-maniacal spoiled pricks destroy the leagues following and end up with most of them out of jobs. Although, A) Thats not going to happen and B) The NHL is really all canada has when it comes to world class sports teams. These assholes are making 100x an average salary, to play a fucking game. People that save lives for a living like paramedics, firefighters, etc are barely above that average salary range. The amount of money we are willing to pay for entertainment is nonsense.

This sucks.. Our window is shrinking further and further. Sedins will be FA's after the 2013/14 season. For argument's sake, who becomes our first line if they don't re-sign?

Booth-Kes-Higgins/Raymond?

I hate that argument about athletes making more than doctors etc, I actually basically broke up with a chick because of her opinion on that lol

How many NHLer's make more than 1 million a season? 400?

400 people in a world of 7 billion that were born with and developed a skill set that was unique enough and gifted enough to make it to a professional league and make the money they do, that is such a minuscule percentage, and the money these athletes generate is a business in itself

In a world full of daisies and rainbows doctors and soldiers and paramedics etc would all be making millions per year, but there are enough people in this world that can fill the skill set required for those jobs that they don't, many people can be a very good doctor, not many can be a top line player in the NHL, who's to say even doctors etc have worker harder in their life to get where they are than players like the Sedins etc?
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I agree that they should be paid big money but not for the same reasoning. Their career, which they have trained for their entire life, can be over with one dirty hit. Not to mention being away from family for extended periods of time. Compound that with their relatively short window of making big money (10-15 years?), they should be making that kind of coin. Maybe not 5 mill+ but they should be paid more than doctors.

Besides, NHL player salaries are peanuts compared to NFL, NBA, and MLB players...

A typical career of an NHL player is very short. Over half of all NHL players play less that 100 games during their career and for approximately five per cent of players, their first NHL game is also their last. If we look at this from a different angle, long careers are extremely rare. Only 4 percent of players (that's 1 out of 25) dress up for more than 1000 games.

Over 20 per cent of retired players appeared during one season only, and over 40 percent never made the playoffs.

On average, NHL players play between 5-6 seasons in the league. Differences between forwards, defencemen and goalies are small - goaltenders have slightly shorter careers than forwards and defencemen.

The average salary in the NHL last season was $2.45 million. In the 2011 fiscal year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was paid $7.98 million (He's a lawyer). NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr made somewhere in the neighbourhood of $3 million.

I don't like the argument, Doctors save lives so they should be paid more.

Also a stupid argument. NHL doesn't make anywhere close to the money as NFL, NBA or MLB so why the fuck should they make as much money. Perhaps I wasn't clear so I will explain further. I'm not saying the players don't have the right to make more money than doctors. We are the kind of economy where wages are determined by market value. I'm saying they shouldn't fucking bitch about it like they do.

Athletes put their bodies on the line for our entertainment. This creates revenue.

Next time you want to bitch about entertainer's salaries vs doctors etc, do it when you're watching Twilight.

Still not reading I see. Not that I'd expect better. As I said, all I want to see is less entitlement. When employees start making more than owners, its no longer a successful investment.

why the fuck should they make as much money?

They're the toughest athletes in sports besides rugby players, playing bloody and getting into fights. They dont get paid as much because NHL is a joke and most Americans rather go to a State university game (NCAA). Which is why NHL get paid the least amount out of the 4 major sports. Most of the American's money go to the NFL. NBA has revenue generating internationally, MLB worldwide sport, NHL most people cant even afford full gear to play this sport, also requires the most skillset to play...

LA is a top 10 revenue generator franchise and for this lock out to happen its sad because even when the NHL return nobody is going to care. The Lakers and Clippers are the talk around town.

Entitlement? These are labour negotiations. As an employee would you give in to cutbacks proposed by your employer?

It depends on the state of the company I worked for, and what my other job options were, and my current financial situation. Whatever, I digress. You guys aren't going to see my point of view and I won't see yours. I'll just go play some hockey instead of watching it.

i see it more like the autoworkers union, you've got people who have gained a higher percentage wage than perhaps earned based on profits of the teams they play for

eventually you need to get much closer to 50/50, and if you as the players are going to accept 50/50 there should be a guarantee that the additional revenue is spent on improving the franchise

Think about it this way... The players are being asked to give up their contractual rights, take a hit on their salary, all the while the league has grown 50% in revenues over the past 7 years.

The problem isn't that the league isn't making money, the problem is the teams that are operating at a loss, and the fact there are so many of them in the league. There are 5 or so owners who sit on a fat profit every year. Another 8-10 or so who are making a bit or losing a bit, and the rest are losing considerably. As I've said before, these teams ability to operate at a profit will not affect the day to day life of any of their owners so I don't feel sorry for them in the least. They were fully aware of these risks when they bought into the team, any prudent business owner would do their own research before buying a business. So does bringing the split to 50/50 and limiting players contracts to 5 years solve the problem? Nope. It may mask the symptoms for a couple of years, then the problem will rear its head all over again.

lolz, my dad also uses that lame ass argument. "Hockey players make more than brain surgeons, it's ridiculous. How many lives have those athletes saved?"

The comparison is fucking retarded. Athletes physically work their ass off to get to where they are. That's not to say Doctors haven't worked hard in their life either, but it's just a completely different situation.

Doctors vs hockey players is a stupid argument...

This is a result of a little something they call capitalism, believe it or not there are doctors that make more money than NHL players.. prime example is plastic surgeons in the USA.

Trouble is that here in Canada, because medical service providers are primarily gov. jobs their salary is capped at a reasonable level to prevent tax payers form losing their minds.

There are many "specialty surgeons" in the states who make a lot of money, not just ones that specialize in treating the vain, but ones who specialize in cancer treatment, sports injuries, etc.

Hockey players make the franchises money, and are compensated accordingly by that franchise. Simple concept.

The argument that surgeons should be paid more because they save lives... if it applies to hockey players I assume it also applies to everyone else who does not save lives... musicians, painters, lawyers, bankers, etc. Why don't firemen and police make the same money as surgeons? They save lives too...

Stupid effin argument.

so after ian white called bettman an idiot today dreger tweeted that he should apologize. since then players have been tweeting that dreger is a puppet of the nhl. today rumors also surfaced that fehr is asking for advice from the nhlpa group that fucked up last lockout. its a fucking gongshow.

Ian White hit the nail on the head in terms of comments about this idiot Bettman. That arrogant smurf showed poor judgement in expanding the NHL into "hockey hotbeds" like Florida and Phoenix. Who's the culprit for creating the teams that are losing money? Bettman!!! He's damaged the game. Three work stoppages under this commissioner!

Bettman could not even run a 7 Eleven without messing it up. :flamemad:

A video of Ian's comments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKOouDoDX5o

Kane let go from Dinamo Minsk. Interesting..1 point in 12 games is pretty brutal.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl...3392--nhl.html

lol typical? what revscene have seen thru the NSFW thread of russians is that they are LAZY, DRUNK, AND WORST DRIVERS IN THE WORLD

fuck the stupid russian media

The Russians are mistaking Canadians for Americans with that comment.

either that or they are just using this as an opportunity to return the same comments canadians have been making about the russian players for years

eg: "Ovechkin is a typical lazy, selfish, enigmatic Russian"

that sounds about right

ahha agreed, have they seen ovechkin being lazy with those ripped jeans partying and having a beer belly?

A funny video about a few "Calgary Flames" fans trying to explain the lockout. The hot Australian brunette can explain the NHL lockout dispute to me anytime :drool

Three Flames Fans On: The Lockout - YouTube

http://i50.tinypic.com/2qnxi7d.jpg