Players As Much To Blame For NHL Lockout As Owners
NHL Betting – Players As Much To Blame For Lockout As Owners
When the Saturday deadline for the NHL and its players to get a deal done on a new CBA passed without a deal in place it wasn’t a surprise to even the casual NHL fan. The general consensus for weeks now has been that the two sides would not be able to get the job done in time to avoid the Sept. 15 lockout, so in many ways it was expected that this would happen. However, what wasn’t expected is that with 24 hours to go before the deadline the two sides would have completely broken off talks with no immediate plans to get back to the bargaining table. While it’s obvious that the owners have played a fundamental role in the current lockout situation, the players should not be let off the hook that easily.
Where were the players when the countdown to the lockout was ticking down on Saturday night? Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin, two of the biggest superstars in the game from outside of North America were already cementing plans to play in the KHL this September, so we can cross their names off the list of players fighting hard to avoid a lockout. Fellow Russian Sergei Gonchar was also across the pond finalizing plans to play in his native land, while New York Islanders’ captain Mark Streit has admitted his plans to play in his native Switzerland during the lockout. The most fundamental issue in any bargaining situation is the ability to form a united front. The owners did exactly that when they held a unanimous vote to lock out their players ahead of the Saturday deadline and made it public despite that they had already conceded that decision to Commissioner Gary Bettman. As for the players, well, it appears as though a good portion of their PA was already busy scrambling to look out for themselves rather than their union.
There is no denying that the owners’ economical demands are far too high to forge a common ground in collective bargaining, but where have the players been to point that out to the general public and find a way to use that to their advantage? While Bettman has repeatedly answered endless questions in the same fashion in a manner that breeds confidence, the players have lacked the same powerful leader to guide them through this process. Not to mention that in the midst of talks concerning hundreds of millions of dollars most players couldn’t be bothered to show up in anything more formal than ball caps and flip-flops. As easy as it is to blame the owners for their desire to have an system in place that guarantees they succeed, the players have given the public no reason to believe they are wrong other than the fact that past negotiations have led to this point.
The NHL and NHLPA have no further talks scheduled for this week, and at this rate it seems as though the two sides are destined for an extended lockout. The owners are easy to blame since it is them calling for change, but the bottom line is that the players have done nothing to help the process along. While there are no odds for upcoming NHL games in light of the likelihood they will be cancelled, there are odds for when the lockout will eventually come to an end that are listed on the best online betting sites.
