News, or changing news has been hard to come by as this long lockout drags on.  Today, while going though lockout updates I ran across this letter to the fans, written by NHL player Michael Grabner.  In this letter he asks many questions of the fans (some very good questions).    I am going to answer the questions posed to us (the fans).  The following letter was taken from mgrabs40 – Michael Grabner blog page.  Below the letter is my responses to the questions posed by Grabner.  Great letter, with some interesting questions.

Hey NHL fans and supporters,

 I just wanted to write a small blog, (guess that’s the thing to do ha ha), explaining how I see what’s going on right now with the lockout and everything else that’s been happening. I am back- home in Austria playing for my hometown team. When I am not playing/practicing, all I do is think about what’s going to happen and when we will be back playing the game we love in the NHL. All this uncertainty is not a whole lot of fun, but here we go.

The first thing I want to say is that this post is not meant to persuade anyone to be on my side or change their mind on what they think. I am not looking to make people feel bad for us, the players. These thoughts are only my opinions.

This is my first lockout and I have to say, I didn’t really know anything about any of this until a few months ago.

I really started looking into some of the issues once it was clear that the owners were going to lock the players out for a third straight time.

I am not going to write about all the numbers and everything because they are all on the Internet, but I have a couple of questions I wanted to ask you:

What would you say if your boss all of a sudden said that instead of paying you $2000 a month, he is going to pay you $1700 – for no apparent reason?

What if you rent an apartment and the contract says that you pay $2500 a month but after a year your renter increases your rent to $3000?

Would you be happy with that? Do you think it would be acceptable and fair if that happened to you?

I know this is about a lot more money than in my examples but for me personally, it’s about the principal.

There are some players who went through the last lockout and made big concessions to the owners and now they are back looking for more. The owners got the deal they wanted in 2005 so should the players have to give back more to them again? On top of that, there have been 7 straight years of record revenues for the NHL.

What are the odds that in 4-7 years or however long the next CBA will be, they are going to ask for money back again?

What’s this world coming to, when two parties agree on something and sign a contract and one side later decides that they don’t want to honor this contract? What is the point of even signing contacts, if they aren’t getting honored anyways?

That is all we are asking for. If the owners honor the contracts THEY HAVE SIGNED, the players are offering a 50/50 split, which is what the owners say they want. Does that not seem fair?

Photo courtesy of BridgetDS

Finally, I ask you, what concessions have the owners made this time around to help reach an agreement? Other than asking to cut our paychecks and taking back a bunch of our contracting rights, they have offered nothing. What is in this for us?

I really am thankful that I can do what I do on a daily basis and never take a day for granted. It took a lot of hard work to get here and who knows how long it will last or my last day/game will be. I am just a small fish in a big sea (I know that!!) and those are the questions that run through my head. I don’t really have answers for them. All I know is that the players just want a fair deal for both sides.

For the fans and everyone involved, I hope there will be an agreement reached soon and hopefully we will see you back in the arenas, cheering on your favorite team.

I don’t know how many grammar mistakes I made but that’s the best I can do ;)

“Stay classy San Diego”

Michael Grabner

The Inside Edge Hockey News responses:

What would you say if your boss all of a sudden said that instead of paying you $2000 a month, he is going to pay you $1700 – for no apparent reason?    I would be upset, as most people would be.  The players should not have to take a pay cut on signed contracts.  The owners agreed to these contracts, and should stick to them.  On the flip side the players though should not be able to file for arbitration, this is not sticking to the contract.  It goes both ways.  I do agree, no pay cuts should be taken, and that is why option three presented by the players association looks like the most viable option to solving this lockout.

What if you rent an apartment and the contract says that you pay $2500 a month but after a year your renter increases your rent to $3000?     It depends if that is when the contract or lease expires.  The owners own the teams, and should be able to determine a players worth.  Just like a player should be able to decide if they are not making enough.  The players have the choice to go play in another league.  Just like I as a renter can go find a new apartment.

What are the odds that in 4-7 years or however long the next CBA will be, they are going to ask for money back again?     Pretty good.  Just like the players, the owners want to maximize their profits.  Both sides want to make as much money as they can, but what we can’t lose sight of is that the players need the owners, and the owners need the players.  The system must work for both sides.  What the players must remember is, that if the teams are not profitable, teams will fail and contract.  This will result in less jobs for the players.   There is a happy medium that must be found.

What’s this world coming to, when two parties agree on something and sign a contract and one side later decides that they don’t want to honor this contract? What is the point of even signing contacts, if they aren’t getting honored anyways?       The owners should have to honor these contracts, and I think that they will eventually agree to do this.

That is all we are asking for. If the owners honor the contracts THEY HAVE SIGNED, the players are offering a 50/50 split, which is what the owners say they want. Does that not seem fair?     Yes, it does and this is probably what it will come to.  The players that have their contracts now will benefit, but the new contracts will be signed under the new rules.  Which will probably include contract time frame,s and of course fitting under the cap space.  They will have to modify the cap figures to adjust for current long-term contracts.

Finally, I ask you, what concessions have the owners made this time around to help reach an agreement? Other than asking to cut our paychecks and taking back a bunch of our contracting rights, they have offered nothing. What is in this for us?    I understand your point of view, but you must remember what side the owners are looking at.  You might not think that they have made any concessions but they have.  They have made the biggest of all, and that is business risk.  The owners risk millions of dollars every year to own a team.  Yes, some teams are extremely profitable, but some teams are not.  The owners have all the risk and the players do not.  I understand your careers are short, but I think that most players would honestly agree that they are currently making a very good salary.  I love hockey more than anything, and it is hard for me to admit this, but hockey is the least popular of the main four professional sports.  There is no way that the players in this sport should get a higher percentage of profit than the other professional sports leagues.   The last part of the questions was, What is in it for us?  Millions, Millions of dollars.  If the players and league can get together, and agree to meet in the middle on this hockey can grow into the future.  In turn, both the owners and players will make more than they have ever thought imaginable.  This must happen soon.  Each day the lockout drags on, fans get more and more frustrated.  I wish that the owners and players would quit trying to blame the other side and worry about the fans.  Lets face it we are pissed at both of you.  Both sides currently look pretty greedy.  An agreement must be made quickly, because without the fans support no one makes their millions.

The Fans – Inside Edge Hockey News  “Voice of the Fan”