December 6, 2012 1:39 AM

NHL expects union to get back to league on ‘critical open issues’ when meetings continue Thursday, per Bill Daly

BY Pat Leonard

The league’s owners and players met for more than eight hours beginning Wednesday afternoon and lasting into early Thursday morning until about 12:50 a.m. They emerged with little to say, other than NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly reminding the media that while positive signs emerged at points throughout the day, there were still major points of contention.

“We had good candid dialogue on a lot of issues,” Daly said. “There continued to be some critical open issues between the two parties, and we understand that the union should be getting back to us tomorrow on those issues.”
 
Winnipeg Jets player representative Ron Hainsey was even more brief in his statement prior to Daly’s: “We had a series of meetings tonight, candid discussion, and we plan on meeting again tomorrow.”
 
Neither Daly nor Hainsey took questions. Meetings will resume on Thursday.
 
Have a question about the Blueshirts or a comment? Find Pat on Twitter at @NYDNRangers.

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December 5, 2012 2:15 PM

Gary Bettman 'pleased with the process' but limits comments after Board of Governors meeting as NHL, NHLPA return to talks

BY Pat Leonard

dolan.jpg

Gary Bettman and some NHL owners shared either reserved optimism or no message at all after the league’s Board of Governors meeting Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan, determined not to let rhetoric get in the way of progress in negotiations with players that were set to resume shortly after.
 
Bettman returned from a two-hour Board of the Governors meeting that he called “basically an update” for the NHL’s 30 franchises and said: “We are pleased with the process that is ongoing, and out of respect for that process, I don’t have anything else to say, and I’m not going to take any questions, and we’ll see you later.”
 
Owners and front-office NHL officials normally are forbidden from speaking to the media, but exiting the Board of Governors meeting, Devils president and GM Lou Lamoriello was asked whether he’s optimistic a season will take place:
 
“I’ve always been hopeful there’s going to be a season until there isn’t, but right now, we just have to leave it in the hands of the people that are talking,” Lamoriello said.
 
Lamoriello’s first response was: “They’re talking, and that’s the most important thing.” Then he was asked whether there had been any substance to the talks: “Well as long as you keep talking, there has to be substance.”
 
Columbus Blue Jackets president John Davidson said simply: “We feel good about the information we got.”
 

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December 5, 2012 10:48 AM

NHL players and owners table negotiations until after Board of Governors meeting to avoid rushing critical exchange

BY Pat Leonard

Wednesday morning’s discussion between the league and players was brief, but only because the parties decided they didn’t want to rush their talk prior to an 11 a.m. Board of Governors meeting.
 
Commissioner Gary Bettman stopped and told reporters from TSN in Canada, as he and the league’s owners snuck past most of the media out of the hotel, that nothing negative had transpired in the morning.
 
Yahoo! reported the meeting was brief because originally the players had planned to have something for the owners in the morning but didn’t want to rush their offering. Most of the 50 minutes or so of meeting time, therefore, was spent with both sides meeting internally, not together.
 
Bettman was originally scheduled to speak to the media Wednesday at 1 p.m., after the Board of Governors meeting, but he almost certainly will cancel that media availability, since the plan is now to continue negotiations with the players’ association afterwards. That said, the black NHL podium is resting on stage in the press conference area at the hotel, so perhaps the commissioner does intend to provide a quick update for the cameras.
 
The NHL already has cancelled the Winter Classic, All-Star Game and all regular-season games through Dec. 14. Wednesday was Day 81 of the NHL lockout.
 
Have a question about the Blueshirts or a comment? Find Pat on Twitter at @NYDNRangers.

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December 5, 2012 9:39 AM

NHL owners and players resume bargaining Wednesday morning in Manhattan, seeking to build on marathon Tuesday session

BY Pat Leonard

The NHL players’ association and the league’s owners reconvened as promised on Wednesday morning at a Manhattan hotel, seeking to build on progress made in Tuesday’s marathon session prior to an 11 a.m. NHL’s Board of Governors meeting down the street.
 
NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr called Tuesday’s seven-and-a-half hour negotiation “constructive” and said “it might be the best day we’ve had.” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said it was “encouraging” to see “everybody wants to get a deal done” and hoped for “more progress” on Wednesday.
 
Commissioner Gary Bettman and union executive director Don Fehr were on hand Wednesday morning but stayed out of the large group meeting, just as they had on Tuesday, according to the league.
 
Bettman had suggested last Thursday, after federal mediation concluded unsuccessfully, that the parties’ next meeting occur without him or Fehr in the room. So they have remained available for internal caucuses only.
 
Bettman was originally scheduled to speak to the media Wednesday at 1 p.m., after the Board of Governors meeting, but the league is now saying there is a good chance Bettman could cancel that media availability in favor of going right back to collective bargaining negotiations.
 
The NHL already has cancelled the Winter Classic, All-Star Game and all regular-season games through Dec. 14. Wednesday was Day 81 of the NHL lockout.
 
Have a question about the Blueshirts or a comment? Find Pat on Twitter at @NYDNRangers.

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December 5, 2012 12:43 AM

NHL's Tuesday 'might be the best day we've had,' Steve Fehr says; Bill Daly encouraged; cautious optimism surrounds lockout

BY Pat Leonard

The NHL lockout’s tone has shifted from hopelessness to cautious optimism.
 
Tuesday’s bargaining session at a Manhattan hotel generated so much discussion that it bled into Wednesday morning, with eighteen NHL players and six owners talking for seven-and-a-half hours on Day 80 of the lockout and wrapping up just after midnight.
 
“In some ways I’d say it might be the best day we’ve had, which isn’t to paint too over-optimistic of a picture,” NHL players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr said in a brief, joint press conference with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. “There’s still a lot of work to do.”
 
“We appreciate the efforts of the players,” Daly said. “I think everybody is working hard. I think everybody wants to get a deal done, so I think that’s encouraging. We look forward to making more progress tomorrow.”
 
Fehr and Daly did not take questions from the media. None of the players or owners in attendance spoke to reporters, either. The league and union planned to pick up their discussion on Wednesday morning, prior to the NHL’s 11 a.m. Board of Governors meeting.
 
In addition to Fehr’s and Daly’s optimism - and the fact that they spoke together, not separately - the lack of public comments and leaks of information were noteworthy, considering both the league and union have released information to the public at previous points during the lockout to gain leverage or catch the other off-guard, sometimes mid-meeting.
 
The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews and Rangers’ Brad Richards headlined a player contingent that met with the owners from 2 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., took a dinner break, then reconvened from 10 p.m. until just after midnight.
 

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December 4, 2012 1:27 PM

Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Brad Richards among 18 players to represent NHLPA in Tuesday meeting with owners

BY Pat Leonard

Eighteen NHL players, led by the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews and Rangers’ Brad Richards, will represent the players’ association Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Manhattan in a collective bargaining meeting with six owners.
 
Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Don Fehr will not be in the meeting, though NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr will attend.
 
The players to attend are: Craig Adams, David Backes, Michael Cammalleri, Sidney Crosby, B.J. Crombeen, Mathieu Darche, Shane Doan, Ron Hainsey, Shawn Horcoff, Jamal Mayers, Manny Malhotra, Andy McDonald, Ryan Miller, George Parros, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis, Jonathan Toews and Kevin Westgarth.
 
There six owners to attend include: Ron Burkle (Pittsburgh Penguins), Mark Chipman (Winnipeg Jets), Murray Edwards (Calgary Flames), Jeremy Jacobs (Boston Bruins), Larry Tanenbaum (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Jeff Vinik (Tampa Bay Lightning).
 
Adams and Crosby, therefore, will be in the room with their Penguins owner, Burkle, as will the Jets’ Hainsey and Chipman, and the Lightning’s St. Louis and Vinik.
 
Have a question about the Blueshirts or a comment? Find Pat on Twitter at @NYDNRangers.

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December 3, 2012 10:45 AM

NHL & NHLPA plan Tuesday meeting in New York without James Dolan, but Penguins, Lightning, Jets owners will attend

BY Pat Leonard

Garden chairman James Dolan will not be in the players-owners-only NHL bargaining meeting, but there will be new faces on the owners' side of the table.

The league and players' union are planning to meet Tuesday afternoon in New York City without either commissioner Gary Bettman or union boss Don Fehr present, though each side will have a limited number of staff or counsel in the room. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr both will be in the meeting.
 
Six owners will attend, according to the NHL: Ron Burkle (Pittsburgh Penguins), Mark Chipman (Winnipeg Jets), Murray Edwards (Calgary Flames), Jeremy Jacobs (Boston Bruins), Larry Tanenbaum (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Jeff Vinik (Tampa Bay Lightning).

Of that group, only Jacobs and Edwards have been involved consistently in negotiations during the lockout. Jacobs is considered one of the most stubborn hardliners among the league’s 30 owners, so the players would have liked to see him omitted from this group. Nevertheless, these six owners represent a less uniform group than existed in the league’s four-man, hardline negotiating committee of Jacobs, Edwards, Ted Leonsis (Washington Capitals) and Craig Leipold (Minnesota Wild).

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December 1, 2012 10:02 PM

NHLPA still deciding on NHL's suggested meeting; Rangers' Marc Staal hopeful; Garden chairman James Dolan reportedly wants in

BY Pat Leonard

The NHL players’ association spent more than 48 hours into Saturday night deciding on whether to accept the league’s recent offer of a players-owners-only meeting void of NHL or union leadership.
 
Players’ feelings seemed mixed, though Rangers defenseman Marc Staal sounded hopeful in an email to the Daily News. Staal was asked Saturday morning whether players were offended by commissioner Gary Bettman’s offer to remove leadership from the next meeting – since it reinforced the NHL’s lack of trust in union boss Don Fehr – and which individuals he preferred to see in the meeting.
 
“I don’t think anyone is offended by it,” Staal wrote. “It’s hard to tell what the (owners’) game plan is with this suggestion. I think that it’s not going to have any negative impact on the negotiations if we decide to do it. I think any new blood in the room will help, get some high-profile players and big-market owners in there and see where it goes.”
 
Meanwhile, Buffalo Sabres defenseman and union rep Jordan Leopold told the Olean (N.Y.) Times Herald of such a meeting: “I’m not going to be there. I don’t want any part of it.” And Sabres captain Jason Pominville, who said he’d try the meeting, added: “(Don Fehr) knows what he’s doing, and we’ve worked hard to get him to where we’re at now. I mean, why would we want to meet without him there?”
 

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November 28, 2012 3:33 PM

Henrik Lundqvist facemask sells for record $60,000 at Steiner Sports auction, proceeds go to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts

BY Pat Leonard

Henrik Lundqvist can do no wrong these days.
 
A facemask worn by Lundqvist has sold for a record $66,000 at auction, with proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
 
The sale of the mask to Rangers fan Molly Heines of New York broke the previous auction record for a goaltender’s mask – $24,655 in June 2011 for a mask worn by ex-Los Angeles Kings goaltender Rogie Vachon. The mask received 25 bids during a 20-day auction that concluded Nov. 25 at SteinerSports.com.
 
On Saturday, Lundqvist made 56 saves in an Atlantic City charity game to benefit Sandy victims. Teammate Brad Richards said Tuesday of Lundqvist’s performance in Atlantic City: “His focus was as good as it’s ever been.” Lundqvist returned to Sweden shortly after the charity game but was pleased to be able to help Sandy victims further with his record auction sale.
 
“To be able to donate this amount to people that really need it right now is great,” Lundqvist said in a statement. “This money will hopefully be able to make a real difference for some families who were directly affected by this storm.”
 
Several Lundqvist items are still available for auction on Steiner Sports’ website here.
 
Have a question about the Blueshirts or a comment? Find Pat on Twitter at @NYDNRangers.

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November 28, 2012 11:15 AM

NY Rangers center Brad Richards urges NHL owners to speak up, encourages Roman Hamrlik to attend meetings

BY Pat Leonard

Rangers center Brad Richards has been incredibly active during the lockout, and he was at it again Tuesday at New York Vintners near City Hall, revealed as the face of the men’s fashion apparel line UNTUCKit.
 
He also spent about 10 minutes with several of us talking about the NHL lockout, on topics from mediation to decertification to Roman Hamrlik’s anti-Don Fehr outburst to the need for owners to speak up for the good of hockey.
 
I wrote about some of Richards’ most poignant comments in Wednesday’s Daily News, but below are several of his other answers that I wasn’t able to fit in the story:
 
ON HOW NEGOTIATIONS GOT HERE: “We pushed to some kind of offer that would show them that we would want to negotiate, and we thought that might happen, and when it doesn’t, it really brings into question, ‘What is this all about?’ Is it a negotiation, or is it take-it-or-leave-it? It’s just not going to work that way. It might have united the players even more towards that stance, but we just wanted to see some kind of give on something. There was nothing. They (the owners) actually went backwards in some issues. So it just gets more confusing for our membership.”
 

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