Sports

NHL and Players Squabbling Over Money is a Really, Really Bad Look – Sports Illustrated

Published

4 years ago

November 20, 2020

We’re in the middle of a devastating pandemic and the NHL and its players are having a very public battle over dollars. Both sides believe they’re right, but both come off looking terrible.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, more than 260,000 people have died in North America. On Thursday, a mind-boggling 1,962 people died in the United States alone. That’s 1,962 families that lost a loved one. The job losses have been staggering. Businesses are closing and people are facing a fearful and uncertain future. Twelve million Americans – 12 million! – face the possibility of losing their pandemic unemployment benefits the day after Christmas. According to modeling charts prepared by the Public Health Agency, Canada could face a worst-case scenario of 60,000 new cases a day by the end of December. Things are getting worse in the second wave and there is no immediate end in sight.

So of course the NHL would pick now to try to squeeze more money out of the players in exchange for giving them the privilege of playing hockey this season, right? It boggles the mind how tone-deaf the league can be sometimes. After doing such an outstanding job pulling off the playoffs and building up all sorts of good will, the league now looks petty. And what’s worse is it is dragging the players down into the mud and engaging them in a public relations war they are destined to lose. Because for whatever reason, a good portion of the paying public tends to paint the millionaire players as whiny and entitled, while giving the billionaire owners a free pass.

Right about now, you might be tempted to say, “A pox on both your houses.” And you’d be reasonable in saying that. Four months ago, the players collectively bargained a four-year extension in good faith with the owners and they did so girding themselves for what they thought would be the worst-case scenario. As it turns out, both the league and the players were probably kidding themselves in those projections and had an unrealistic view of the devastation the pandemic was going to cause to the business.

Now the NHL will argue that it has every right to ask for more concessions. Without going down a rabbit hole, everything has to do with Section 17 of the Standard Player’s Contract. In the memorandum of understanding between the two sides, the league essentially protected its rights to suspend operations this season without having to pay the players. So the players are very angry. And they should be. But is it Gary Bettman and the NHL they should be vilifying or their own union’s leadership?

But the point is it’s a bad look no matter which side is right. The players agreed to a 20 percent escrow on this year’s salaries, plus a 10 percent deferral. The owners came back with a request to have the players increase their deferral to 26 percent and escrow to 25 percent. That amounts to a 45 percent decline in take-home pay before taxes. (It’s not 51 because the deferral is on the salary amount after escrow has already been deducted.) Is it a request? Is it a demand? Or is it all a part of the negotiation process?

The NHLPA is counting on it being the third option. And that’s why you probably won’t hear a lot about this issue for the next little while. The NHLPA is basically sitting back and waiting to see what the NHL’s ‘real’ offer is. And while there might be some wiggle room on increasing the deferred payments, the players want absolutely no part of taking on more escrow. So if the NHL is intent on trying to get more from the players, this is going to take time, time that the league doesn’t have if it hopes to start the season by Jan. 1. If you want players in camp for Dec. 15, while giving players who didn’t play in the bubble last season a head start of a week to 10 days, you don’t have much time to get a deal done. And the further the two sides are apart, the longer it’s going to take to come to some kind of agreement.

The losses the league will incur are very, very real. Let’s say the league plays a 60-game schedule. With arenas full of fans, that would mean the league would be getting $3.65 billion in revenues in a perfect world (based on overall revenues of $5 billion pre-pandemic). It’s believed about 70 percent of the revenues in hockey come from the arenas, so that total gets knocked down to just over $1 billion for the season. The players will be making about $2 billion in salaries and associated costs are about $1.5 billion. That’s a shortfall of $2.5 billion, half of which the players will owe the owners. That’s going to take a long time to pay off. And do you know who will be paying it? Kids such as Shayne Wright and other young superstars who aren’t even in the league yet.

Yikes.

Now, let’s look at the players, specifically Kevin Rooney and Phil DeGiuseppe, who will make $700,000 this season playing for the New York Rangers. With a 25 percent escrow and a 26 percent, that goes down to $388,500. Take of 52 percent in taxes and that goes down to just over $186,000. That may still seem like a lot of money, but once you factor in the cost of living, it doesn’t sound near as appealing.

So yes, this is a very real discussion about money. But guess what? Everybody is having a difficult time right now. So if the NHL and players are looking for sympathy as they have this very public dispute, they’re not bound to find many among people trying to get through one of the most monumental challenges this generation has faced.

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Sports

Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

10 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.

Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.

In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

10 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.

Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.

Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.

He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.

The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.

Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.

He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.

George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.

Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.

In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.

St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

ON DECK

Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.

The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Stampeders return to Maier at QB eyeing chance to get on track against Alouettes

Published

10 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.

It won’t be an easy assignment.

Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.

“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”

Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”

Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.

After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.

“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”

Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.

“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.

A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.

“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”

But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.

“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”

Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”

“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.

Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.

“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”

While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.

“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”

The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.

“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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