- Krys Barch via twitter: Krys Barch of the New Jersey Devils on twitter last night
I sit here from Gand Bend, Ontario putting a pen to my heart and writing on paper what bleeds out. My name is Krys Barch. I have played….. approx 5 1/2 years in the NHL and have worked for every second of it. I Haven’t been a 1st round pick, bonus baby…….. or a son of a hall of famer. I have made it through sweating, bleeding, cut Achilles, broken hands, concussions…… broken orbital bones, 8 teeth knocked out, etc, etc, etc. I sit in front of a fire, 8 OV deep and starting a bottle of Porte……. that will assist in the translations of my emotions to words! No different than a truck driver, farmer or line worker………. I have a shot and a beer. Not to deal with the days ahead but to ease the nerves from what my body has endured the days before…. I sit here with both my boys sleeping and my wife due with our 3rd. My thoughts racing on what I can conquer tomorrow to get our family….. ahead. Some times wondering if I should have existed when a word and a gun solidified and solved all problems. I feel the Wild West.. would more simplified than the world we live in now whet an employer who makes billions of dollars and a league with record revenues… can tell me that I can’t do the things that my heart tells my me to do! All what my heart tells me to do far surpasses what my …. body has endured. As I write this I dive deeper and deeper into my bottle of Porte giving wider views to the depths of my heart….. As my pen warms from the fire, Neil Young and a fall Canadian night, I wonder how this work stoppage effects the owners? I wonder if the owners of Boston, New York, Washington, etc, etc, have endured any of the injuries that I or any other player in the ….. NHL have endured. Still they probably sit their smoking the same brand of cigar, sipping the same cognac, and going on vacation ….. To one of five houses they own…. While we sit here knowing they want to take 20% of our paychecks. One half to 3/4 of my peers …. Will have to work for the next 50 years of their lives. Congratulations to the lucky select few that I have played with who have made.. Salaries that they can choose to do whatever they want when they are done. But I have played most who do not! If the NHL wants to teams in the south or struggling markets than the players along with the financially well to do teams need to start…. Working together. Or they need to start to move teams to the North where they will make money. The system allows the owners to…… Of revenue. The only way to stop the work stoppages long into the future is fix the root cause of the problems. The lockout……. Is a procedure to take from the players to pay for the NHL mistakes. Let not allow the NHL to make any mor mistakes…. Let the league and the players to come together to fix the mistakes that have been made and make sure non are made in the future…. Lets get a deal where the owners, players, and fans benefit from. We’re we can be sitting around in beautiful Canadian fall’s…… around a fire playing and watching the game we love. Here’s to the truth and our next conversation. As always speaking from my….. Heart! Goodnight! Like me or hate me I speak what comes from my heart!
- Ira Podell (AP) in the Toronto Star: Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr held another round of private talks yesterday. They talked about the things that are keeping them apart.
“I spent a few minutes with Gary talking about the overall situation, and we agreed to keep in touch,” Fehr said Saturday outside of the NHL’s New York office. “I am sure we will talk again (Sunday). I don’t know whether will meet again (Sunday). That remains to be seen.
“I am not going to talk about the specifics, but in general we’re trying to discuss how (to) find a way to make an agreement. How do we bridge the gap on the major issues that are between us.”
“Their position on the big stuff has been that a major move consists of changing the players’ share from a reduction of 24 per cent to 17 1 / 2 per cent,” Fehr said. “Our initial proposal made a move in their direction. We have amplified that by giving them several different ideas to consider about how to lengthen the agreement . . . more in line with what they wanted.”
“We can discuss the core issues whenever they want to do it,” he said. “Bargaining is not Ping-Pong. There are no rules on who has to serve.”
“The calendar continues to tick along,” Daly said. “My guess is as time goes on, regular-season games are at risk. I don’t think it can be any more urgent than where we are now.”
- Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: An agent on NHL players heading overseas, “Most of them don’t want to play. They just want to get away from their wives and families at this time of year.”
- David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail: A revised arena lease agreement between Greg Jamison and the city of Glendale will be presented to councillors on Tuesday. Jamison was originally to get $97 million in the first 5 years of the 20 year deal, but will now be about $72 million. The overall lease to Glendale is $324 million for Jamison to manage the arena. The sale of the Coyotes to Jamison is still not a sure thing.