i know nobody cares but me but i'm pumped:
NHL players - relieved, happy - ratify contract
CURTIS RUSH
STAFF REPORTER THESTAR.COM
National Hockey League players have ratified their new six-year collective agreement.
The announcement was made by players association president Bob Goodenow at a news conference this afternoon.
The players were relieved and happy.
“We’re here because we want to play hockey,” said Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore. “This is the best deal we could do right now.”
The deal allows for hockey this season after a 301-day lockout, the longest work stoppage in the history of professional sports.
The actual vote count was not immediately known, and it wasn’t certain whether today’s vote would be revealed anytime soon.
However, players leaving a downtown Toronto hotel today seemed to feel the vote would pass, although not all 700 or so players were happy with accepting a salary cap and 24-per-cent rollback in salaries.
NHL president Gary Bettman and union chief Bob Goodenow were to hold a news conference today at 4 p.m.
“Some guys will be bitter,” said New York Rangers forward Doug Weight. “But it’s a negotiation.”
Some, like veteran Vancouver Canucks forward Mike Keane, told thestar.com that the players didn’t want the prospect of sitting out a second season.
But, “I think the vote will be closer than a lot of people think,” he said.
All players interviewed, however, expressed support for Goodenow, even though he has been publicly criticized by media and some players for taking the players out for a season with a strategy of refusing to accept a salary cap.
“He did a great job. It’s a tough market. The guys on the committee did the best they could.”
Then, at one point, he proposed the 24 per cent salary rollback.
Some players said that proposal caught them by surprise.
No one would talk about the controversial proposal to have the players put a percentage of their salaries in an escrow fund until the new salary cap can be calculated at the end of each season.
If league-wide salaries exceed 54 per cent of NHL revenues, the players will be directed to return a portion of their incomes from the escrow fund.
“It gets complicated,” Keane said, adding that the players association told the players that how this will work won’t be known until the games get under way and it’s more clearly known how much the lockout cost the league in fan support.
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Theodore told reporters that the deal isn’t as bad for the players as some critics are pointing out.
The 28-year-old particularly likes the fact that he will be entitled to become an unrestricted free agent after this coming season.
In the summer of 2007, players who are 28 or have seven seasons will qualify. In 2008 — and for the remainder of the agreement —players who are 27 or have seven seasons of experience will qualify.
“Before you had to wait until you are 31, so I’m excited about that,” Theodore said. “It’s going to be a whole new ball game for me. There’s a lot of good things for players. A guy like Vinny Lecavalier (Tampa Bay Lightning) only has one more year and he can become a free agent.”
Theodore also said he’s looking forward to some exciting new rule changes that should make the game more popular with the fans, including the prospect of shootouts.
“It’s going to be a new era, a new beginning for hockey,” he said. He’s even in favour of shootouts — “as long as they don’t count against my personal statistics,” he said with a smile.
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Originally Posted by soccer_dawg9
