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.
Isn't it an unwritten rule that front office guys of one team keep their mouths shut about front office operations of another team?— Penfold18- Actually, I think it's an NHL rule which is why we're not hearing a whole lot from the owners/execs about the lockout.
— eparico - He's right, it is too much for the average Joe to understand.— MD20202020
- @Dr.Bonz smearing the players, calling them "nothing" without the owners exposes your republican stupidity. There may be no league without money, but the owners contribute nothing but money. The players ARE the game. Shysters all over the globe abuse, exploit, enslave and cheat for the filthy lucre, and in that circle, one shyster is as good as another. So you resent the people who actually do the work? Without the work getting done, the owners money is worthless paper.— gnarlyscuzz
- So tired of hearing about unwritten rules. MLB is chock full of them, NFL kneel down plays, now NHL salary cap. If it's not written down, it's not a rule and it's fair game.— JettMartinez
- The game of hockey and the players playing it existed long before the greedy owners got involved. Those of us who enjoy hockey would be going to (or playing) pond hockey games. Just because hockey evolved into a billions dollar industry doesn't mean it developed any better than it would have without the owners. Subtract the owners and you still have hockey. --tmq: your miopic perspective is more offensive than my "attacks", but you sound pretty thin skinned, so: I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, please forgive me? Pretty please? P.S.: if you don't like criticism, don't post comments that are just as offensive as those that you criticize, i.e., "my analogy is appropriate from the owners point of view . . . right now, some of the players are looking to be flipping hamburgers before too long." Guess what? My position is appropriate from a disgusted hockey fan's point of view, so I'm going to double down: eff the owners (and I still think you're a dufus). By the way, did you notice in your analogy that the "cattle" will be flipping ground cattle for the profit of the owners? If you want polite discourse, don't attempt to manipulate understanding of the issue through logical fallacies; it makes you look stupid. Oh, and the Green Bay Packers have a system I think hockey would do well to embrace.
— Major Domo Billy Bojangles - Unwritten rules! Too complicated? I agree…. too complicated for Devellano. What a knucklehead. Unwritten rules amongst business is collusion and is illegal in the US. I would imagine the unwritten rules surrounding collectively bargained labor contracts is also illegal. As the baseball owners can attest to. I’m not taking sides for the owners or the players or even unwritten rules. Just commenting in what an imbecile Delevano by opening his mouth. I wouldn’t want this guy working for me.— xam14
- And today the police busted Madam Marie for telling fortunes better than they do. Truth teller has to pay the price.— Claudio Vernight
- Ed Snider has never let money stand between him and fielding a club to win the cup. There has been a lot of - too many - poor decisions over the years...........but nobody can claim he didn't reinvest into the team. The problem is quite simple for Ed, ever since Keith stepped down he has essentially had his 2 adopted sons run the club, the problem is they are beholden to Ed (as they should be) and therefore react, over-react to his direction..........I loved 16 & 17 as players; but, the club has needed an outsider as GM for sometime- and the lack of a cup, despite all the money invested is proof in my estimation.— Northcountry
- He is a fat old man who the NHL fined for running his mouth, is bitter because he is too spoiled from winning Cups every few years.
Just cost his club 250K for being an idiot. Keep it coming Jimmy , maybe if you run your mouth some more it will add up to a million and you will be banished to club hockey for atoms or mites— Steelmanpa - Pay up Sucka.— mrh1955
- Let's be honest. Snider is paying quite a bit to make sure Bettman takes at least one suppository a day. Obviously, Bettman is willing to endure this for Snider and the other owners. That's how they earn their livings, while the players knock each others' brains out for theirs. Wouldn't it be great if we supported our schools as generously and joyfully as we support Snider and the players?— herbysson1
- To Mr. Jimmy Devellano, A heartfelt thank you from Don Fehr is coming your way. Most realize you are not the first guy to whine about the Flyers use of an offer sheet( Vancouver and Kesler) but you are the first to do it during a CBA negotiation. What is it like to know you pulled Gary's pants down at the negotiating table?— flyerrod
- I do not have a problem with what Devellano had to say about Flyers or about lock out. It's just an opinion. Take it or leave it.
However, you are not supposed express your opinion in Bettman's NHL.
To Predators: Good luck paying Weber 25mil next year. I hope he bolts to KHL after that.— Nitroglycerin - Get over it people - Owners own the tem its thier toy an they will play with it as they see fit. If the players an unions don't like it start your own league. Oh! they can't - don't have the money or the rinks, they cost lots of moneyyyyyyy. So who has the bigger investment when it fails - yes the owners. So who should get the bigger piece of the pie - the owners. Thier rinks, thier risks, they pay the insurance on all players the cost to operate the rinks, pay the players, travel expenses an ect. So lets say 50 - 50 an move on.— Del/inFla
