Thursday, June 09, 2005

Who's the man?

Not to brag or anything, but it looks like my way of handling the new economic landscape of the NHL has gained a little traction. A per-team cap in the $22M to $36M range. This tells me two things. One, the players really want to get a deal done. Two, the accounting discussions they've have recently have opened their eyes a little bit. If you remember, the discussions in February stalled after the owners offered $42.5M, and the players would only go down to $49M. What's changed? Maybe the players are starting to realize that the very future of the league is in jeopardy, and the new numbers released by the owners confirm the Leavitt report as more than a PR document. There's still a ways to go- more negotiations on arbitration and free agency, perhaps the players decided to go further on the cap in order to get more in those areas.