Red Wings' exec rips Flyers, gets fined
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Red Wings' exec rips Flyers, gets fined
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The NHL on Saturday fined Detroit Red Wings VP Jimmy Devellano a reported $250,000 for comments he made about the collective-bargaining agreement and the Flyers earlier this week.
In an interview with Island Sports News that was posted on Puck Daddy (yahoo!), Devellano ripped the Flyers for giving a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet to RFA Shea Weber this summer.
"The Detroit Red Wings’ organization and the league agree that the
comments made by Mr. Devellano are neither appropriate, nor authorized, nor
permissible under the league's bylaws," said Bill Daly, the NHL's deputy commissioner. "Such comments are neither constructive nor helpful to the
negotiations.”
In the interview Devellano said, "There is a hard cap in place as we all know. You can't go over that....period. If Weber gets this much, then another player gets less. Now does that mean it's right for another team to do that? My answer is this: They (the Flyers) operated within the CBA and it's totally legit to do. Having said that, I will tell you there is an unwritten rule that you don't do that, but they did, and just like everything else in life, some people are great to deal with, some aren't. If you are asking me if it's right, I would say there is, again, an unwritten rule...we all know it in the NHL, but not everyone follows it."
Added Devellano: "Each owner / team has a decision as to how they want to pay their players, as long as they are under the cap. Now Donald Fehr (the NHLPA executive director) would have you believe by getting rid of the cap, the owners would make more money and that the sky is the limit, but trust me, the owners would lose their asses. We've tried that. It doesn't work. There is just too much cost involved in running and owning a team.
"It's very complicated and way too much for the average Joe to understand, but having said that, I will tell you this: The owners can basically be viewed as the Ranch, and the players, and me included, are the cattle. The owners own the Ranch and allow the players to eat there. That's the way its always been and that the way it will be forever. And the owners simply aren't going to let a union push them around. It's not going to happen."
*******
Another day in the NHL lockout, another day without negotiations.
“It’s been pretty quiet, so there’s been nothing to communicate” to his teammates, defenseman Braydon Coburn, the Flyers’ player representative, said in a phone conversation from his home in Calgary on Friday.
Representatives for the league and the players are battling over many issues, including how to divide hockey-related revenue (HRR). The owners have proposed giving the players 49 percent of the HRR in the first year, 48 percent in the second year, and 47 percent in the third through sixth years.
The players are asking for about 53 or 54 percent of the pie; they got 57 percent in the last collective-bargaining agreement.
Coburn said he met Thursday in Calgary with former NHL player Steve Webb, who is the Atlantic Division representative for the players’ association. According to Coburn, Webb said the players’ association wants to talk with the league about other collective-bargaining agreement issues _ such as ice conditions, players’ safety, contract lengths and free-agency changes _ but the owners want to first solve the HRR dispute.
The league “isn’t interested in negotiating until we get the numbers down on” the HRR issue, Coburn said Webb told him.
Coburn has been working out in Calgary with several NHL players, including the Flames’ Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester.
“It’s a good group of guys, but it doesn’t replace playing,” Coburn said.
The Flyers’ training camp was scheduled to open Saturday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. The start of NHL camps has been canceled, along with several exhibition games.
Players assigned to the Adirondack Phantoms, the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, will report to the Voorhees rink on Friday for the start of that camp. That group will include the Flyers’ Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn, Zac Rinaldo, Erik Gustafsson and Eric Wellwood.
More labor pains. The NHL players’ union was in Edmonton on Friday, trying to get the Alberta Labor Relations Board to declare the lockout illegal for the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.
Last week, players from the Montreal Canadiens presented a similar case in Quebec, and the labor relations board there turned down their request for a temporary injunction against the lockout.
Another option. A judge ruled Friday that the Swedish Elite League cannot ban NHL players.
As of now, no Flyers are planning to play in Sweden, but that could change.
Three Flyers are playing in Russia’s KHL _ Ilya Bryzgalov, Jake Voracek and Ruslan Fedotenko.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
- Lol
— dmn - Of course, what Devellano is missing is that in the case of the NHL, the players could get up, rent out some college rinks, put together a schedule, and still have the best hockey league in the world. The owners don't have the same luxury in that regard, which makes the cattle ranch analogy poor.— Mike P
- tmq. sucky analogy. the cattle were grazing the land before the rancher came along and started puttin up fences.— raoool
- Sounds like a lot of bull— Bill Manley
- Unwritten rules on the business side of the game = collusion.— robertthomas
- The Flyers were shrewed and smart enough to work within the rules but circumvent the intent of the rules.....Unfortunately if some of the things go through with this new CBA that they are talking about the Flyers are going to get really hurt by what they have done in the past and could have serious impact of their roster and moves they can make......— flyers1000
- the rancher analogy doesn't hold much water considering the majority of the ranch's (arena)were built with tax payer money.— Zeek333
- Devellano can challenge Holmgren to a boxing match. Seriously, probably many VPs and GMs in the NHL thought the Flyers were out of line. But to publicly say so doesn't make Devellano sound respectable.— road515
- As far as the lockout goes I have to side with the owners on most issues. At the end of the day they take on all the economic risks. I don't think the players' current salaries should be reduced they should honor contracts already signed. With regards to Detroit it Sounds like sour grapes to me. They as well as the Flyers struck out on Suter, and you know Detroit would have made the same push for Webber in 2013 free agency. Bottom line is the Flyers were shrewd in attempting to improve their team. Detroit needs to get used to mediocrity because that's going to be the case for some time...— jvmiii88
- Yeah, Detroit was only willing to go 98 mil and was shut out of the bidding...can you say sour "Grapes". 28 other teams, including the team that matched it had no problem.— dedhed
- To tmqueen,I seem to remember that snyder had the cattle(flyers) before the ranch(spectrum)was built,so know of what you speak before you speak you stupid pathetic moron.— sewell guy
- That's a "rip?" The guy is just stating his perspective, and diplomatically and professionally at that.— Bobby G
- The players are nothing without the owners putting out the $ to allow them a place to play. They have other ways to make money. Most players would find it difficult (and very disheartening) to have to go out and find a "real" job making a living, and almost NONE of them could make the money they make in the NHL at any other line of work. Get back to the table and PLAY!— Dr Bonz
- Bonz, you've obviously never laced on a pair of skates and went out and played the game.
Playing at the NHL level requires an enormous and all consuming effort to get in shape, stay in shape, and hone already prodigious skills, which took years to perfect. So hockey is a real job. The players have made investments too, from which the owners benefit.
The owners get public money and tax concessions before they will build an arena. They get an exemption from the anti-trust laws that allows them to enter into a conspiracy to to work in concert against the players (that's essentially a UNION). They are sucking it up at the public trough while bashing "Big Gumint".
The owners are predators.— backhand - excellent points! — Major Domo Billy Bojangles
