From the CBC website:
NHL season is gone: Hurricanes owner
Last Updated Tue, 11 Jan 2005 20:18:40 EST
CBC Sports
Asked whether the NHL will resume this season, Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. confirmed a hockey fan's worst fear.
Peter Karmanos figures this NHL season is over.
"My gut feeling is that this season's gone," Karmanos told The Canadian Press on Tuesday.
According to Karmanos, the NHL might hold out longer than just this season. He believes the league will do whatever it takes to guarantee cost certainty – most likely in the form a salary cap – in the next collective bargaining agreement.
"I know, personally, that I'd be willing to risk another season," he said from Detroit, where he owns and operates Compuware.
"I'm enough of a hockey fan to realize that once we got it straightened out, the fans would come back. But there's the risk they wouldn't.
"Even with that in mind, I feel very, very strongly that if we don't get it straightened out, we don't have to worry about the NHL existing anyways."
It's a telling comment because Karmanos is a member of the owners' bargaining committee and thus a front-line representative in negotiations.
His statements re-affirm NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's commitment to not playing hockey the league gets cost certainty.
"I don't even view it as a gamble, it's something we have to do," Karmanos said. "We really don't have a choice.
"It is absolutely the right thing to do and, unfortunately, the proof will be in the pudding when we get our deal. I think you'll see every other major sport fall in line."
Karmanos is known as a hard-liner within the NHL. He believes the small-market Hurricanes, which he claims lost $10 million US last year, wouldn't survive an NHL that continued to operate under the existing agreement.
Karmanos's comments are particularly surprising because Bettman has imposed a strict gag order on owners during the lockout.
Atlanta Thrashers owner Steve Belkin was fined $250,000 US in October 2004 for saying the league may consider replacement players if the lockout extended beyond this season.
Tuesday was the 10-year anniversary of the resolution of the 1994-95 NHL impasse.
That settlement was reached because the owners caved into pressure and broke ranks.
But Karmanos said the owners are more unified this time.
"I've only been in the league for 12 years, but I was there during the last lockout," he told Canadian Press. "The difference is dramatic on how militant all 30 owners are in wanting to get something done."
Ironically, Karmanos was one of those owners who helped set in motion the escalating player salaries the league is now trying to control.
The Hurricanes got into a bidding war with the Detroit Red Wings in 1998 for the services of centre Sergei Fedorov. The Wings retained Fedorov by matching Carolina's contract offer of $38 million US over six years.
NHL player salaries have skyrocketed since the signing of the last collective bargaining agreement in 1995. Back then, the average player salary was $892,000 US. Last season, the average NHLer earned $1.8 million US.
NHL season is gone: Hurricanes owner
Last Updated Tue, 11 Jan 2005 20:18:40 EST
CBC Sports
Asked whether the NHL will resume this season, Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr. confirmed a hockey fan's worst fear.
Peter Karmanos figures this NHL season is over.
"My gut feeling is that this season's gone," Karmanos told The Canadian Press on Tuesday.
According to Karmanos, the NHL might hold out longer than just this season. He believes the league will do whatever it takes to guarantee cost certainty – most likely in the form a salary cap – in the next collective bargaining agreement.
"I know, personally, that I'd be willing to risk another season," he said from Detroit, where he owns and operates Compuware.
"I'm enough of a hockey fan to realize that once we got it straightened out, the fans would come back. But there's the risk they wouldn't.
"Even with that in mind, I feel very, very strongly that if we don't get it straightened out, we don't have to worry about the NHL existing anyways."
It's a telling comment because Karmanos is a member of the owners' bargaining committee and thus a front-line representative in negotiations.
His statements re-affirm NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's commitment to not playing hockey the league gets cost certainty.
"I don't even view it as a gamble, it's something we have to do," Karmanos said. "We really don't have a choice.
"It is absolutely the right thing to do and, unfortunately, the proof will be in the pudding when we get our deal. I think you'll see every other major sport fall in line."
Karmanos is known as a hard-liner within the NHL. He believes the small-market Hurricanes, which he claims lost $10 million US last year, wouldn't survive an NHL that continued to operate under the existing agreement.
Karmanos's comments are particularly surprising because Bettman has imposed a strict gag order on owners during the lockout.
Atlanta Thrashers owner Steve Belkin was fined $250,000 US in October 2004 for saying the league may consider replacement players if the lockout extended beyond this season.
Tuesday was the 10-year anniversary of the resolution of the 1994-95 NHL impasse.
That settlement was reached because the owners caved into pressure and broke ranks.
But Karmanos said the owners are more unified this time.
"I've only been in the league for 12 years, but I was there during the last lockout," he told Canadian Press. "The difference is dramatic on how militant all 30 owners are in wanting to get something done."
Ironically, Karmanos was one of those owners who helped set in motion the escalating player salaries the league is now trying to control.
The Hurricanes got into a bidding war with the Detroit Red Wings in 1998 for the services of centre Sergei Fedorov. The Wings retained Fedorov by matching Carolina's contract offer of $38 million US over six years.
NHL player salaries have skyrocketed since the signing of the last collective bargaining agreement in 1995. Back then, the average player salary was $892,000 US. Last season, the average NHLer earned $1.8 million US.
