NHL lockout ends

NEW YORK CITY (NEWS1130) – The NHL and NHLPA have reached a tentative deal to end the lockout. They have agreed to a new CBA after sixteen hours of talks in New York City.

The length of the CBA is 10 years with an opt out at eight years and the maximum length for players contracts will be seven or eight years.

The salary cap will be set at 64.3 million dollars.

David Alter with Sportsnet Radio says it should take between 48 and 72 hours for the deal to be ratified. “The union will go back and vote, but the recommendation has been for them to approve it, so they just need to get the player vote. The owners could meet here in New York City through a Board of Governors meeting as soon as Tuesday.”

“If they can get a deal done immediately, a 50-game season would allow for the puck to drop on Jan. 15, with training camp before that. More realistic situation is a 48-game season, at that point Jan. 19 would be the puck drop. One thing we do know, whatever the circumstance, all 30 teams will likely drop the puck on the same day. It’ll be very similar to what they did the first day back from that year-long lockout where they had all 30 teams in action. That was the only other time you saw that happen,” he explains.

“I think they’re both going to win. I think this would have been really bad if the season got cancelled. I know there was a lot of corporate pressure on the league side and the players were feeling a lot in terms of that as well. There’s all kinds of issues they had to deal with, but I think in the end the players will lose a little bit, just not as much. The owners are going to get a deal that’s going to save them a lot of money in the years to come. It all depends on which way the cap goes. If the cap goes up and revenues continue to skyrocket, both sides will ultimately win in the end,” Alter continues.

News1130 Sports Director Ann Schmaltz says it’ll be interesting to see how fans react once players return to the ice.

“I’m actually very curious to see how this plays out south of the border. Let’s be honest, we’re Canadian and Canadians coast-to-coast love this game, so I have no doubt the teams here will be supported and their fan base will come back. But, I am very curious, in the United States of America, when you’re going up against leagues like the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA sports, golf, NASCAR, it’s going to be a struggle in the southern states where hockey is supposedly part of that market and viewership,” she says.

Schmaltz reminds us that after the last lockout, Chicago’s United Centre was empty for a number of seasons.

Sportsnet Hockey Analyst John Garrett agrees with Schmaltz.

“I think the Canadian fans, they might boycott for a week or two, but I don’t think they can resist. I think the NFL winding down, baseball is away, I think the Canadian fans, there will be no problem. I really think that in some of the markets in the United States, it is going to be a problem. They’re going to have difficulty getting those fans back into the seats,” Garrett explains.

Garrett says we can expect a decision regarding the fate of Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo to made quickly.

“I would think a team that needs him would want to have him right away. You don’t have that cushion of an 82-game season, where the first 15-games you can check to see if your own goalie is good enough to carry it. If you’re a team like Toronto, and that’s a team that keeps coming up, they haven’t made the playoffs in seven years. Brian Burke’s job is on the line, they have to make the playoffs. If they’re going to make a deal, they’ll make it sooner rather than later. In a 48-game season, you’d expect your number one guy to play 40 of those 48-games,” he says.

Vancouver Canucks defensemen Kevin Bieksa says he found out about the tentative agreement from his wife, Katie. “My wife told me first, just from checking her phone, everyone from back home was texting her. She feels a little differently about the lockout ending than I do, but that’s kind of the first way I found out.”

Bieksa says he’s just glad it’s all over. “I think most people are. Its been a roller-coaster ride, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of deadlines. It’s nice we finally came to a deal and we’re lucky to be back playing hockey.”

“I still think this lockout was unnecessary. I’m not a Gary-hater, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m just a little embarrassed to be part of this whole thing, but we’re playing hockey again soon and that’s what’s important,” he adds.