Hockeybird.com: Nobody Told Me There'd Be Days Like These....

Let's begin with the Rodent who looks at the NY Yankees payroll with the eyes of a hockey fan.

And then there is Uncle Larry's column in the Post today. It's just plain disturbing. Larry says that none other than Mark Messier is getting cash from the NHLPA just like any other player expected to play in the NHL when or if the games resume. That can't be right.....can it?

But the really disturbing part of Larrys' column is how he points out that the very teams that Bettman claims need financial help would not be helped under the leagues plan. I have to at least question this. The lawyers and bean counters who put together this plan and then sold it to a group of owners couldn't possibly be this dumb. The owners couldn't possibly be this dumb.

I'm not saying that Larry is lying. I'm just saying that I find it hard to believe that so many people could be collectively so stupid that they'd cancel an entire season so as to force acceptance of a flawed plan that does nothing to address the very same needs deemed so serious that it warrants a cancelled season.

The Blueshirt Bulletin is doing what we used to do here.....a complete job of covering the Rangers and hockey. Plenty of links to Ranger related stuff.

Tonight the USA takes on Russia on ESPN II at 8:30pm. I will flip back and forth as Eli Manning plays tonight too.

Regarding the revenue sharing plan, and the requirements to get revenue sharing, it is my understanding that certain rules were put in place to prevent Chicago from becoming eligible for revenue sharing (thus, the "DMA rule" which would get rid of teams like the Ducks, Isles and Devils). I'm guessing that the "80% rule" has to be put in to prevent some other team they don't want to get it, but I can't think of who it could be at this point.

No, the rules won't help any of the teams that actually need it. Look, sharing post-season revenues doesn't make sense to me, there won't be enough to help anyone, but apparently several owners with significant regular-season revenue streams (I'll let you guess who they are) are completely against the idea of sharing regular season revenues. I think the best solution to this whole thing would be a somewhat punitive luxury tax with sharing of REGULAR season revenues. However, apparently there is no way Bettman can get the regular-season revenue sharing past enough owners to make it work. The owners with high revenues would rather have the cap than regular-season revenue sharing, that way they can keep all their regular season revenue above the cap as profit.

Posted by: suenj97 on January 2, 2005 01:25 PM