INDEPTH:
NHL LABOUR STRIFE > QUOTES
What they're saying A
compendium of public statements and commentary on the agreement.
AFTER PLAYERS VOTED IN FAVOUR FOR DEAL ON JULY 21
NHLPA president Trevor Linden
"I think that we really felt our position was a good
one and made sense from a league standpoint."
Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Bryan McCabe
"I think that we really felt our position was a good
one and made sense from a league standpoint."
Los Angeles Kings forward Craig Conroy
"When you really sit down and look at it, the nuts and bolts,
it's not as bad as we thought.
"It's not as great as we thought, but it's not as bad.
We can be happy that we're going to be back playing and that's the
best thing.
"Hopefully it never happens again."
New Jersey Devils forward John Madden
"It's not the deal we once had when we were collecting 75
percent of revenues nor is it the deal we set out to have, but I
think it's going to work.
"I think our game will grow.
Philadelphia Flyers forward John LeClair
"The deal is not about me, it's about all 700 players.
"You've got to do what's best for the union. Then
you kind of sit resentatives from the players' association
there, as the union will still be holding a meeting with agents to
go over the CBA – a document numbering 600 pages."
Ottawa Senators forward Mike Fisher
"It's the best deal we're going to get now.
"There's no point sitting out any longer and hoping it would get better."
St. Louis Blues forward Doug Weight
"When this is done, we're all going to be on the same side I
hope.
"It's OK to have
questions and it's OK to be heated about them. This is our
livelihood, after all."
Carolina Hurricanes forward Jeff O'Neill
"For people to judge whether we won or lost this deal, I think
is ridiculous.
"We all got in this together and then some guys started piping off and maybe
showed a few cracks in us as a group. But we're still in this
together now."
AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT
OF A DEAL ON JULY 13
Jeremy Roenick, Philadelphia Flyers forward:
"To be totally honest, I really don't care what the deal is anymore.
All I care about is getting the game back on the ice.
"I think the deal is not great for the players. It is definitely an owner-friendly deal. For the last 10 years, the players have made a lot of money and now we are in a position where everybody is going to make money," he said. "Unfortunately, it had to take a whole year to get to a point where we could have been last year."
Brian Burke, Anaheim Mighty Ducks general manager told TSN:
"If in fact there's a cap, this may come as news to some general managers, but it's not news to me. I've had a cap for the last six years I've been a manager … it's called a budget.
"And the fact that now some guys are going to have a budget, that may be radical or revolutionary to them, but it's not to me."
Lou Lamoriello, New Jersey Devils CEO and general manager:
"There's no question, we all have to be honest, I don't think there's
anything that we can sugar coat.
"We went through this process for a reason, maybe some people agree or disagree, but it wasn't by any means out of spite or out of anything other than the sheer economics of where our game had gone."
Sean Burke, former Philadelphia Flyers goaltender:
"I just think we've been worn down to the point where at this stage the deal would really have to be incredibly bad for the guys not to vote it in. At least that's the sense I'm getting."
Don Cherry, Hockey Night in Canada personality:
"No doubt who won this contest.
"The Players' Association got a home run in 1994 and they tried to hit a home run now and they should have settled for a double or a single because there was no way they were going to beat the owners this time."
Ron MacLean, Hockey Night in Canada host:
"A lot of people say that in this type of situation nobody wins.
But that's never true.
"It's about control and the owners got what they wanted – control."
Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager:
"To me, the players got hurt, the owners got hurt, the game got hurt. It's pretty hard to sit here right now and say anything that happened is good over the last winter.
"It's a relief that the deal is done but there's been so much damage to everybody involved, now we've got to see how we can come out of it."
Don Waddell, Atlanta Thrashers general manager:
"We have a bell in our office you hear when tickets are sold.
It has been ringing consistently today."
Bobby Hull, Hockey Hall of Famer:
"I'm not so sure [the players] got proper guidance from the guy
running the Players' Association [executive director Bob Goodenow].
"You can't fight fire with fire when the flame on the other side is a heck of a lot hotter and a heck of a lot bigger."
Steve Thomas, former Toronto Maple Leaf:
"One of the big reasons we’re in the position we’re in now is that I’m not really sure we had the same solidarity as we had in ‘94 [during the last lockout],"
Charles Wang, New York Islanders owner:
"The real hockey fans will be back. But you've got to expand the marketplace. It is a great experience seeing hockey in person as opposed to seeing it on television. It's very different if you've never seen it in person."
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Anaheim Mighty Ducks goaltender told TSN:
"We believed in our strategy at first, but maybe it didn't hold up as good as we thought it would.
"At the end of the day, we did what was best for the game."
Georges Laraques, Edmonton Oilers forward:
"It's going to be harder in the States than in Canada. In Canada, the fan base is huge, but in the States I really don't know how they're going to survive this."
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