Burke Blames Lowe For Inflated Salaries

[js2]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242347&amp...=headlines_main

[chrisjamessauve]

He needs to let it go. This is getting old, and it's sad if he's blaming Kevin Lowe for everything wrong in the NHL today. He's no better than Lowe.

[js2]

He needs to let it go. This is getting old, and it's sad if he's blaming Kevin Lowe for everything wrong in the NHL today. He's no better than Lowe.

Well it's true though. Since Lowes outrageous offers to Vanek and Penner, other GM's have been having to sign some of their better RFA's to huge contracts in order to keep them.

[Michael19Cammalleri67]

Burke: Its ok, let it go.

[franck5890]

Geez, I never realized Brian Burke was as pouty as a little kid. It's called 'cap inflation' my friend, get used to it.

[HabHabit]

Well it's true though. Since Lowes outrageous offers to Vanek and Penner, other GM's have been having to sign some of their better RFA's to huge contracts in order to keep them.

It's easy for Burke to throw stones from Disneyland. Lowe has had a tough time attracting big FA's especially following the early departure of Pronger. That's one of the equalizers that the owners felt they needed to have in order to have greater equity. Some teams are always going to have to pay more - some less.

If Burke ends up in Tawranna next year he'll get a quick appreciation for how the other half live.

[tmash]

He's half right here. He's wrong that inflated salaries are due to Lowe, they are due to the cap rising, and with more cap space, the GMs will make good use of it.

Where he's right is some of the salary is being shifted towards RFAs, not because Lowe's deal inflated salaries (the Penner and Vanek deals are seen as exceptions, sort of like Dipietro gettings 16 years, rather than the norm), but because GMs now see that other GMs arent afraid to use offer sheets, and they aren't afraid to offer above market value to make itso the other GM doesn't automatically match, yes, GMs are being more cautious and trying to get RFAs locked up sooner (time used to be on the GMs side, now it's on the players, so the players tend to get better deals). But all Lowe did was use a weapon in his arsenal as GM, he shouldn't be blamed for this. In fact, now is how it should be, in the CBA there are rules for offer sheets, players should be entitled to use these when a GM offers one, so even though it can be annoying, I think it's good that GMs aren't trying to cheapskate their RFAs and RFAs have another option other than holding out.

I never got when Burke said that he's fine with offer sheets but not with the inflated salary. Come one, he knows damn well if Lowe didn't offer an inflated salary, Burke would have matched in a second. The whole premise of offer sheets is based around offering an inflated salary, if you're against this, you're de facto against offer sheets.

[js2]

Oilers GM Lowe rips back at Burke

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242532&lid...os=topStory_nhl

[mikecassidy251]

all i can say is that it is way to much for a player to be making these days whatever happened to playing fer the love of the game. who cares whos starting this something needs to be done about these salarys but NOT A LOOCKOUT!!!

[SteenIsThaFuture]

all i can say is that it is way to much for a player to be making these days whatever happened to playing fer the love of the game. who cares whos starting this something needs to be done about these salarys but NOT A LOOCKOUT!!!

Suggestion?

The only real way is to cut NHL revenues, so everyone stop watching RDS and stop going to habs games and stop buying habs merchandise.

Also in this dream world, do you mind brining me back a few supermodels.

[tmash]

all i can say is that it is way to much for a player to be making these days whatever happened to playing fer the love of the game. who cares whos starting this something needs to be done about these salarys but NOT A LOOCKOUT!!!

So you'd prefer the billionare owners get even richer? The players are making the NHL tons of money, they should get their fair share. It's called capitalism.

[Mauro-Biello]

The NHL should be a players' coop, that would be so cool.

[darren19]

So you'd prefer the billionare owners get even richer? The players are making the NHL tons of money, they should get their fair share. It's called capitalism.

Do you know any businesses where employees take 55% of the income?

Whether or not the owners are billionares doesn't matter, what matters is that there's 45% left for infrastructures, management, player developement, marketing, communities, charities, minor hockey, etc... and that last 45% is up to the owner's "kindness". Players seem to believe there's an infinite source of income attributed to them, thus the right to manage the owners finances. In reality, it's the fans that are paying exorbitant prices for tickets that make up for the lack of profit...well at least in Canada. I have no clue how owners in States make any profit with so many empty seats.

[QbGamer]

Its true.....

Sad but true..

He offered a player 5x his salary, and now that is the new norm to keep someone. Its ridiculous

[74Kos-yn-31Price]

this crap happened long before lowe... and any gm not willing to keep pace with the rest of them isn't gonna find success anytime soon

[teststory]

I believe this all started when the Rangers signed Sakic to an offers sheet years back. Colorado was really angry at the time. Up until that point GMs had not offered RFAs contracts out of respect for the other teams. I don't think it's such a bad deal though. The more money the RFA is signed for by the other team the more first round draft picks you get in return. Five first round draft picks could be crippling to a franchise.

[johnny_canuck_21]

It was good to hear Lowe ripping into Burke for a change. I'm sick of always hearing Burke ranting and raving about Lowe. As Lowe pointed out, Burke decimated the Vancouver franchise when he was there. Burke was also very sneaky last year when he had 2 players who retired, but came back for the playoffs. That had something to do with the salary cap.

[tmash]

I believe this all started when the Rangers signed Sakic to an offers sheet years back. Colorado was really angry at the time. Up until that point GMs had not offered RFAs contracts out of respect for the other teams. I don't think it's such a bad deal though. The more money the RFA is signed for by the other team the more first round draft picks you get in return. Five first round draft picks could be crippling to a franchise.

The thing is these arguments you hear don't make a whole lot of sense under a cap system anyways. We have a de-facto system (technically not guaranteed, but always happens) where GMs end up paying players exactly 55% of revenues. At most, all this does is shift money around between players, we aren't really seeing any new money being spent.

That said, the one thing that does kind of annoy me is it punishes teams who draft well, since one of the benefits of RFAs over UFAs is that you tend to get them cheaper.

Do you know any businesses where employees take 55% of the income?

The NHL is unlike most businesses since the business is the people in it. In most businesses, employees are a resource, in hockey the players are the business. I bet most similar things, like making movies or TV shows have similar amounts going to employees.Most other businesses could not be profitable paying that much to their employees, the NHL can. They have a very different cost structure than most other businesses, so you can't really compare them.

But what is comparible is that employees always want what they feel they can get. Whether through negotiations, comparing different companies, unions, etc. employees always want what they deserve. This encompasses many different things: what the job market says they worth, how much their employees can afford to give them, if they are easily replaceable, how much value they personally bring to the business, etc. NHL players have all these factors in their favour.

Whether or not the owners are billionares doesn't matter, what matters is that there's 45% left for infrastructures, management, player developement, marketing, communities, charities, minor hockey, etc... and that last 45% is up to the owner's "kindness".

You forgot to mention that the 45% easily pays for all of that. You also forgot that the owners picked the 55% number, and the fact that it was the owners who pushed for 55% guaranteed to the players, not the other way around. In the old system owners could pay what they wanted, but they were too inept to manage that (and any owner can fire a GM or veto any of their moves) so they choose with their own freewill to give the players 55% of salaries.

Players seem to believe there's an infinite source of income attributed to them, thus the right to manage the owners finances. In reality, it's the fans that are paying exorbitant prices for tickets that make up for the lack of profit...well at least in Canada. I have no clue how owners in States make any profit with so many empty seats.

come on, are you actually suggesting owners are jacking up prices to pay the players? Owners aren't that nice, the simple fact is owners are charging as much as they possibly can that the fans will be willing to pay. They charge the ticket prices that should maximize profits (not necessarily profits just from tickets, but profits in general) If the players only made 100,000 each, fans wouldn't see cheaper prices, the owners would just see more money in their pockets.

The problem has nothing to do with the players, the problem is the NHL is a virtual monopoly for watching North American hockey, they have no competition and thus no incentive to make tickets cost less and seriously try to cut costs. And if you want to blame someone, blame the fans: hockey is by no means a necessity in life, and as long as we keep saying that the players are worth paying $___ to watch, then they'll keep making that much. And that is the statement fans are making, because really what are the differences between the NHL and a league with much cheaper tickets, say the AHL? The rules are identical, both are competitive, both have good buildings, what's the major difference: the players!

[risteenhuis]

I think it is funny how Betteman gets involved after Lowe blasts Burke. Burke was slamming Lowe and Edmonton for months and months and nothing from Betteman. Lowe tells it like it is and Betteman tells them to stop fighting. The Burke makes his rebuttal to the Lowe comments giving Burke the last word. Nothing from Betteman even though this should have resulted in a fine or suspension for Burke making a statement to the press even though he was told to stop it.

I liked the Lowe blasting of Burke. Offer sheets are a very important part of the CBA. Without actual offer sheets it could be grounds for the NHLPA to take the NHL to court for uncompetitive practises. I think the first offer sheet was from Bobby Clarke for Ryan Kessler. The Canucks matched the offer sheet. I do not think anyone dragged Bobby Clarke through the media for his actions.

It is safe to say that Lowe and Burke do not like each other. Penner and Pronger would be the major reasons for the dislike.

Montreal played one game in Anaheim last season. The fans did not seem to be knowledgeable and I remember lots of empty seats. I find the 77 game sold out claim to be funny as many of the seats were empty. Maybe the seats are given away or maybe the season ticket holders don't actually watch the hockey game sort like the Leafs (ironically real fans cannot get tickets in TO) home games.

I like the six Cups to one Cup comparison made by Kevin Lowe.

Bobby Ryan. Not sure his head can fit into the dressing room. Not shocked that he has not made the NHL on regular basis. He played in Owen Sound. Scored a lot of points but had a EGO so huge that the team was worse for having him on the roster.

The Ducks owner is facing prison time. While the Oilers have a new billionaire owner that is very successful and doesn't need to back date stock options to increase his wealth. He is wealthy enough. The NHL likes people like the Ducks owner and former Nashville owner but dislike Cdn billionaires that want to have hockey teams in Canada. The NHL needs to wake up and allow 2 to 3 teams from non-hockey markets to move to Canada. Maybe the Tar Sands should have a hockey team. They certainly could afford the NHL ticket price with almost everyone making $100k in the oil industry. It would be really nice if London or Kitchener or Hamilton had a NHL team but I guess the owner of RIM is not the type of owner the NHL wants. They would rather have the Sharks, Kings (former owner), Sabres (former owner), Ducks, and Nashville illegal activities or questionable financial arrangements between the owners instead of billionaire owners who would make the NHL stronger.

I live in southern Ontario. I will never go to Air Canada Center to watch the Leafs. Too expensive for the tickets, parking, and food. Terrible atmosphere in Toronto because non fans have most of the tickets. A team in London, Kitchener, or Hamilton would be sold out every game. It might take 10 or 20 years before the tickets and atmosphere are ruined by non-fans. The Leafs would still be sold out every game. But the Leafs magically blocked Nashville from coming to Hamilton via the NHL head office. I would remain a Habs fan even if I watched the new Ontario team 8 to 10 games in person. Montreal is the best team and best fans plus it is fun to drive to Montreal for a game every year. Far better city then Toronto in every respect.

The absolute most funny thing is the tampering charge made by Burke in regards to Lowe. First. Lowe could not even make an offer sheet for Perry as Edmonton does not have the necessary draft picks to make the offer sheet. Secondly it was clearly in jest when Lowe said he would be happy to have Perry. The point was that Burke was whining that he had to pay Perry a lot of money because of Lowe but the reality is that he had to pay a lot of money to Perry because Perry is a key part of the Ducks even at his young age.

The NHL has a salary cap. No one forces one team to pay too much for a player. They all get paid too much but then so do baseball and basketball players.

The salary cap is based on league revenues. I think that unless the TV revenue picks up in the USA this year that the NHL will be clawing back money from the players next season. The Cdn dollar increases over the past two seasons were major reasons for the higher revenue. Move one or two teams to Cdn immediately otherwise the players will see decreasing salary cap. I just don't see any possible way that salary cap can increase next year and in fact it will decrease as overall spending on players has increased to far. I think that a lot of teams FORGOT that they have a team budget not just a salary cap. Hopefully some of these GMs will trade players to teams like Kings and PHX shifting the salaries around the league.

Just my opinion.

[leafs_rock_go_mccabe]

Burke is a bum!

Lowe is less of a bum.

Gainey is the man!

Seriously though, Burke drives me nuts. He is a whinny G.M. who should just shut his trap and move on about the whole Penner thing. Instead he continues, even after Bettman asked him to stop, making remarks to the media. Leave it already. At least Lowe managed to hold in his frustration for THIS long. I mean, there was no reason to carry on about Bobby Ryan, but I'm glad Lowe fired back.