I was supposed to be in Newark, but...

Continuing labor dispute, ego-driven negotiations doom NHL 2012-13 season; will they EVER play again?

Well, today is Day 57 of the NHL Lockout. They're talking, albeit begrudingly; the fans are just flat out in limbo, just waiting to see what will actually come out of talks and the shuttling between Toronto (NHLPA headquarters) and New York (NHL HQ). Granted, the interruption that was Hurricane Sandy (Ok, ok...Superstorm Sandy, for you weatherheads out there) did put a few days' distance in the talks, but the loggerheads that have occurred between NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the Fehr Brothers, the two-headed negotiators for the Players' Association, need to be put behind them, and we all need to just MOVE ON.

For Minnesota Wild fans, this weekend was supposed to be a stiff test of what the Wild was to have become: last night, the Wild should have been in Detroit, facing the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena; tonight, a 5:00 PM (EST) contest against none other than the New Jersey Devils was to have taken place at 'the Rock', a.k.a. the Prudential Center in Downtown Newark. These would have been games number 4 and 5 of the Wild's then-killer 6-game Eastern road swing.

The Wild should have been then traveling down the Northeast Corridor, to the City of Brotherly hate Love, to take on the Flyers Tuesday night, at the First Union Wachovia Wells Fargo Center. The fact that the lockout came when it did might actually, from the perspective of the last two weeks, worked out in the Wild's favor, should the lockout actually end this winter and the team begin playing again.

This was to be the biggest WRT road trip in three seasons (since the NHL Premiere trip to Helsinki). Now, there's no trip, no games, nothing. I just sit here, and save my $ for that rainy (or, since we are in Minnesota, snowy) day. No tickets, no flights, no hotels, nothing. Just staying home and waiting for Messrs. Bettman and Fehr to get done doing their thing.

C'mon guys. Please, figure this thing out. Before I get absolutely claustrophobic here at home, watching the Vikings lose. Again.

Lying in wait...or waiting for lies?

Posturing as the order of the day instead of meaningful compromise rule, as NHL lockout extends beyond three-week mark

Ok, guys, You've both made your points.

As the NHL lockout surpasses the 21-day mark, the owners (led by Gary Bettman) and the players (led by Donald Fehr) seem no closer to a compromise, that will allow teams to start the 2012-13 campaign.

Posturing seems to be the order of the day. 'We're ready to negotiate, when THEY are', seems to be the favorite sound bite out of the post-meeting press conferences. No meaningful information is ever uttered; no progress on the meaningful (read: money) issues is made. Yet, the two sides are still talking (albeit mostly on the phone, as opposed to in person, across an actual negotiating table.)

The fans? Most are mostly bored with both sides, and have moved onto other things (namely, NFL football) to occupy their sports watching time. Some have just tuned out altogether, and are just getting on with life. Yet, the two sides cannot see the forest of compromise for all the stands of trees still in the way of a meaningful agreement.

So, the best thing to say to both sides, at least at this point, is...

Call me when you're ready to play, guys. I may still be here...or not...

Thirteen days...and counting...

Despite growing public condemnation, owners, Bettman adamant about regressing NHL hockey despite record profits, revenues

Thirteen days to go. Thirteen days.

On Saturday, Sept. 15th, the owners and their representative, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, will lock the players out for the third time in Bettman's 19-year tenure.

There will be no NHL hockey. Players will be left to fend for themselves, while the owners will squirrel away cash to tide their franchises over until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is agreed to. Meanwhile, Bettman still gets paid his reportedly $8,000,000 million annual salary. (By contrast, Donald Fehr, the ex-MLBPA head now running the NHLPA, gets no salary until -- and, unless -- a new CBA is agreed to. This is the way most lawyers work, on contingency.)

Meanwhile, thousands of part-time NHL team employees, and employees of businesses who depend on hockey -- bars, restuarants, hotels, even transit authorities and airlines (who charter planes for NHL team travel) -- are laid-off or have their hours sharply reduced. The fans are disillusioned yet again, for the third time in a generation. All for the unbridled greed of a few owners (who don't want to revenue share) and the mis-steps of Bettman himself (whose 'Southern Strategy' has been proven to be an unqualified failure).

Marginal players -- not the superstars, who have provisions built into their contracts so they will get paid (or, already have) regardless whether they play or not -- will suffer. Despite the NHLPA's two-year warning to squirrel away cash for a long lockout, some may have not done so. Now, it just may be too late.

No one on one side wants to listen to the other side. Talks broke off last Friday, with no new sessions scheduled. Compromise? With the owner who already has engulfed, and devoured, more than half the cable TV industry in the USA? With the owner who feeds more people in stadiums and arenas, than any other? With the owner, who is still playing with Union Pacific Railroad money? With the de facto owner of the Phoenix franchise? Hell no, they won't compromise. No one wants to compromise on the owners side. They all seem united to keep hockey from the fans, after a 2011-2012 season which was one of the best, start-to-finish, in the history of the League.

As has been pointed out many, many times...the current, expiring CBA is the one that the owners wanted IN THE FIRST PLACE. The players already gave back 24% of their salaries. Now they're being asked to give back nearly the same amount...again. Since the loopholes in the current CBA have been exploited (yes, including signing Ryan Suter and Zach Parise by the Minnesota Wild), now you're trying to put the proverbial horse back in the barn, not by the carrot, but soley by the (hockey) stick?

Sorry, NHL owners, but this time, you lose the biggest court battle of all, that of the court of public opinion. And you lose it not for what the other side has done, but what your own side has not done. On one hand, your teams are going along, trying to sell tickets, merchandise, etc., like absolutely nothing is wrong. On the other hand, your personnel departments are ready to hand out lay-off notices and pink slips like a post-war parade. If you would face the reality of the situation, stop the subterfuge and negotiate in good faith, this could all be stopped, dead in its' tracks. And the hockey season could be saved for the fans, fans whom the Commissioner said were, 'the best fans in the world.'

Well, aren't we?

I'll buy tickets...when the lockout is over

Do you go on the road to watch NHL hockey? Received any promotional e-mails from other NHL teams, proclaiming that they're ready to sell single-game tickets? Are you a sales rep for an NHL team, and wonder why people aren't exactly jumping at the bit to buy single-game tickets?

If you do, or even if you never travel beyond St. Paul, read on...



To: All NHL Teams not based in the State of Minnesota
From: Wild Road Tripper

Subject: 2012-2013 single game tickets

Please be advised, that unless you stop shooting yourselves in the foot (or, higher) and formally restrain Commissioner Gary Bettman from taking NHL hockey away from the patrons who actually pay to help keep your businesses in business, I will not be buying any tickets to Minnesota Wild road games for the 2012-2013 season.

Your 'lockout' ploy to assist keeping the Commissioner's 'Southern Strategy' in play simply will not work. The Players Association have called your bluff. They are still willing to work with you, to help grow the greatest game on Earth, but your blind (and costly) insistence on propping up franchises in cities that have shown little, if any, interest in the game (Phoenix, South Florida, Nashville, Carolina) while other cities (Quebec City, suburban Toronto) build arenas hoping for a franchise, does not make for a successful business model.

Please refrain from trying to tempt me with 4-game and 6-game 'mini-packs' of tickets, where if I knew any other fan in another city, I would split the seat with. Sadly (for you), this will not work, as I see thru the Commissioner's ploy of getting every dollar humanly possible prior to Sept. 14th. Unless your staff announce in advance a lockout plan, I assume my money is lost, and will not be returned to me unless I appear IN PERSON at your box office, tickets in hand, looking to punch out someone who really didn't do anything to deserve it, except hire out with your business for a paycheck.

(Alas, since I actually commiserate with those employees whom you throw to the wolves, not unlike the movie, 'Gladiator', we will refrain from anyone getting hurt, save for Messrs. Bettman, Bill Daly and Colin Campbell, any of whom we will be glad to throw under the bus of your choosing.)

The current CBA, which expires on Sept. 14th, can remain in effect while meaningful reform, reform that will actually help BOTH sides, while promoting the great game of hockey, and not depriving the fan base of the game that they love and support in record amounts, can be effectively negotiated thru the collective bargaining process. Wouldn't you be better playing games, promoting local commerce, taking in money and actually playing games, than shutting the doors, and putting your non-contract employees out of work in this economy?

There is a middle ground. There is room for compromise on both sides. There is no need for a lockout.

But, since most of the owners seem to blindly follow the Commissioner (to the point where you are actually willing to be fined by him, should you dare utter any word to the contrary) as the point man in this labor dispute, I am left with no choice but to refrain from buying any tickets to Minnesota Wild road games, until this dispute is settled and a new agreement is agreed to.

Yours for better hockey,

WRT

This 'n' That

(We haven't done 'This 'n' That in a while. Just my thoughts on various Minnesota Wild-related stuff. Charge on, dear reader...)

Free Agent signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter: Face it, Wild fans. This isn't supposed to happen to a Minnesota pro sports franchise. Minnesota isn't supposed to be able to outbid the likes of Philadelphia and the Rangers for players like these. The fact that both former unrestricted free agents are from this part of the world helped, but when you make enough money to live anywhere in the world, this just isn't supposed to happen. I'm still in shock, and I still won't believe it, until I see both in Wild sweaters, on the ice, at Xcel Energy Center.

Yes, it IS a lot of money. But isn't it refreshing, that one organization in this town had the wherewithal to actually use the rules, as they currently agreed to, in order to improve themselves this dramatically? Like a lot of you, my Twitter account was being constantly refreshed on July 3 & 4, as the saga played out online.

Other Wild signings (Zenon Konopka, Torrey Mitchell, Brian Campbell) during free agency: Not a lot of Wild fans see any of these signings as improving the franchise a whole lot. I say: not so! The signing of Mitchell, a first-class frustrator and a favorite of San Jose Sharks fans, will fill a definite need in the penalty kill department, taking some of the load off of the likes of Mikko Koivu and Darroll Powe. Konopka assures that we have four true centers in our top four center slots; also, who wants to take liberties with Mikael Granlund, Parise, Koivu, etc., when you have both Konopka and Matt Kassian available for pugilistic duty?

Campbell, who came over from Calgary, hopefully will have signed up for Delta SkyMiles by the start of the season, as his lot with this team will be on the shuttle between Houston and MSP.

The kids are alright: After attending both scrimmages during prospect camp earlier this month, the future of the Wild organization has never looked this good. The last vestiges of the old Doug Risebrough regime have been totally swept away. The Wild are truly Chuck Fletcher's team now. And, it shows, as the quailty and quantity of talent have been markedly improved, both at the NHL level (and how!) and at the AHL level, as fans of the Houston Aeros can actually think that their team may just stay together long enough, to possibly make a Calder Cup run. Matt Dumba, the Wild's first-round draft choice, is the real deal, as is Jonas Brodin, Charlie Coyle, Nate Prosser, and all the other young guns that Fletcher & Co., have manged to stockpile thru four gruelling (for fans, at least) non-playoff seasons in St. Paul.

The coaching staff has an invaluable season of NHL experience under their collective belts together: another start like last season, and avoiding the injury plague which disabled the team in mid-December, will go a long way as to where this Wild team will actually wind up. Landing a spot in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs is not a possibility with this team. With the way the Wild has acted this summer, it has become an expectation, for which failure will not be an option.

But, will we even HAVE a 2013 playoffs? Or a 2012-2013 regular season? Will the NHL and the Players Association come together, for the good of the game and the fans, to ensure labor peace? Will Gary Bettman and Don Fehr, two skilled negotiators, come to an agreement to save the start of training camp (Sept. 21 for the Wild), or will the dispute over hockey-related revenues escalate, to the point of the sport's second lockout in less than a decade? With one franchise (Phoenix) on life support, costing both sides (owners AND players) millions of dollars, and several others getting perilously close, what will happen for the League in the next few years financially? Will we have meaningful re-alignment? Franchise stability, or several more Atlanta Thrashers-style post-season moves?

Yes, they are talking. Issues and proposals have been passed across tables in both New York and Toronto. But will it all be done in time to prevent the owners to lock the players (and, fans) out?

The 800-pound gorilla in the room needs attention. And soon. Otherwise, we will have the unfortunate result of Lockout No. 2...much to the dismay of the Wild faithful. Just when we had momentum, will the Wild have lost it going into Fall, 2012?

Only Craig Leipold knows for sure, and he isn't talking ('cuz he'll get fined, substantially, if he does.)

Talk to Chuck: The kids are still coming

Yes, Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher. I'm sure that you are still very much aware of this, but all of those kids you invited over the last few years, by drafting them and signing college free agents?

They're still on their way to the Wild roster.

And, starting this week, Wild fans will be seeing more of them in the future, despite this week's mega-signing of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to 13-year, $98,000,000 contracts. Each. For, lost in all the excitement and suspense of the Independence Day fireworks, is the fact that the Wild will hold their annual Prospects Camp this coming week. Which also means that the Wild will have ice in place, during the team's 'Select-a-Seat' event on Tuesday night, when all those 'newbie' season ticket holders (STH's), who signed up just last week during the Parise/Suter watch, get to actually pick where they sit for 2012-13.

The kids will be on exhibition, also, as well as being gruelly tested for numerous physical and mental challenges. There will be two scrimmages (open to the public) as well; on Thursday night (July 12) at 7:00 PM, and on Sunday, July 15, at 11:00 AM (early, so the prospects can make Delta's last bank of Sunday flights out of MSP Airport).

So, for those of you who thought you'd be seeing the likes of Jonas Brodin, Brett Bulmer, Charlie Coyle, Zack Phillips, and Jason Zucker at Xcel Energy Center this season, this may be your only guaranteed chance to make that happen. (Don't worry, players get injured all the time. They'll all be up at some point or another.)

See what a signing (or two) will do for your hockey club?

Also, the Hockey Lodge is having their 'Warehouse Sale' at Select-a-Seat and at both scrimmages, as well (first time they have extended the sale thru both scrimmages). So if you wanted that Wild-themed item that you said earlier you really wouldn't pay that much for, this sale is for you. Markdowns abound. Go for it.

And enjoy the future of Wild hockey this coming week. Because, it sure looks bright right about now.

Wild, 2012-13: 'A special place for a long time'

Signings of Parise, Suter overwhelm Wild, fans as memorable day unfolds



By Wild Road Tripper

And most Minnesota Wild fans didn't believe it couldn't get done. Yes, even including this blogger.

But, they did it. The Independence Day signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the two most sought-after NHL free agents, now propels the Wild into the realm of the NHL's elite franchises. The Twitter hashtags of #Parisewatch, and #Suterwatch, will forever hold special place in the hearts of the Wild faithful, as the three-day watch held Minnesota sports fans and media in mesmerizing suspense, as word kept reaching the hockey-crazed masses that both were available, IF...the Price was Right.

At $98 million each, over 13 seasons, front-loaded to receive $24 million in the next 13 months, the fact that they took less money to sign in Minnesota than, say, Detroit or Pittsburgh, the fact that the Wild won this multi-dimensional, multi-directional battle, despite digging out from their dismal finish in 2011-12, and jettisoning enough salary in the last three seasons to make this fit under the NHL's salary cap (at least, the current version), took a masterful stroke by GM Chuck Fletcher and his staff, especially as the negotiations dragged on past the first day of free agency.

Needless to say, the buzz generated by the signings blew up the phone lines at the Wild sales offices, where eight representatives were on duty this morning in advance of the signings...just in case. By mid-day, all sales employees were asked to report, in order to answer the phalanx of calls, as hold times reached 30 minutes-plus in the early afternoon.

Even KFAN, the team's flagship radio station, had to scrap their scheduled 'best of' programming for the afternoon, for six hours of all-Wild-hockey, all-the-time talk, with numerous Wild 'personalities' sprinkled throughout the day. Into the evening, the station ran the first three hours of the afternoon's events (from 6-9 PM, Central Time).

You need to sit back now, dear Wild fan, and just dream...of a NHL Winter Classic (Minnesota in 2014? Craig Leipold says it just may happen...now), a trip back into the playoffs, for the first time in four seasons...and remember, it WAS the number 8 seed that went to the Stanley Cup finals from the Western Conference last month...and won it all...

Good things yet to come? Ya, sure, you betcha there. And I'm still on board for the ride. You?