The three paragraph long message cleverly omits the words "lockout" and "work stoppage."
View full sizeFILE - This Sept. 16, 2004 file photo shows an Ottawa Senators employee walking into the player's empty dressing room with goaltender Dominik Hasek's equipment sitting on the bench, in Ottawa, on the first day of a lockout. It's an all too familiar scene and one that's in effect once again."Despite the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the National Hockey League has been, and remains, committed to negotiating around the clock to reach a new CBA that is fair to the Players and to the 30 NHL teams.
"Thanks to the conditions fostered by seven seasons under the previous CBA, competitive balance has created arguably the most meaningful regular season in pro sports; a different team has won the Stanley Cup every year; fans and sponsors have agreed the game is at its best, and the League has generated remarkable growth and momentum. While our last CBA negotiation resulted in a seismic change in the League's economic system, and produced corresponding on-ice benefits, our current negotiation is focused on a fairer and more sustainable division of revenues with the Players -- as well as other necessary adjustments consistent with the objectives of the economic system we developed jointly with the NHL Players' Association seven years ago. Those adjustments are attainable through sensible, focused negotiation -- not through rhetoric.
"This is a time of year for all attention to be focused on the ice, not on a meeting room. The League, the Clubs and the Players all have a stake in resolving our bargaining issues appropriately and getting the puck dropped as soon as possible. We owe it to each other, to the game and, most of all, to the fans."
Let's be honest. Who actually read that entire statement, or did you skim read to the last paragraph?
Yeah, our thoughts exactly.
It's great to see how the message cleverly omits the words "lockout" and "work stoppage" to try to make it sound like that's not what's going on here.
But the reality is, there isn't going to be any hockey any time soon in Boston or the other 29 cities affected by the league's fourth work stoppage since 1992.
In the meantime, we want to know how you're dealing with this.
Counting down for the start of Celtics camp?
Just flat out don't care?
Vote in our poll or tell us in the comment section below.