AarifDeen

"Aarif Deen - DailyNHLGrind"

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There's Two Separate parts to the CBA Negotiations

For everything hockey - 24/7 news updates, scores, humour, blogs, and everything else in between, please follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/DailyNHLGrind.

Something that was already a given, has further been proven now with the latest updates of the CBA negotiations.

In case you haven’t heard the news yet (which obviously means you’ve probably been unconscious for the last 24 hours) the NHL laid out an offer the NHLPA on Tuesday. Actually, the offer was laid out to the entire hockey world. Something Gary Bettman himself said would only hurt the negotiations not too long ago.

The offer was leaked to the social media minutes after it was given, and early Wednesday morning NHL.com laid out not only the entire offer, but also an explanation of each point. Bettman went back on his word for one reason and one reason only. The PR battle.

The first part of the CBA negotiations obviously involves the two sides partaking in the process: the NHL, and the union. It’s what’s happening behind closed doors to get this thing taken care of so millions of us hockey fans could go back to learning about Bryzgalovs fears and Shanahan’s laughable video evidence rather than focusing on the parts of the game we really don’t give a damn about.

But the second part, which wasn’t a factor in the 2004 lockout, is the PR battle. The owners, and Bettman especially, have been taking a lot of heat for this lockout. Players have been tweeting why they’re the ones being harmed by the lockout, why they aren’t the reason for the lockout, and the owners are just dirty billionaires that don’t care about the fans.

This was obviously noticed by Bettman. I mean who wouldn’t notice the thousands of petitions, videos, groups, pages, and strikes put out by the fans against the NHL and the lockout. The lockout has caused fans to speak out against the very league they grew to love.

The offer Tuesday gave us a lot to be excited for. The NHL gave us signs that they do want to play hockey. In fact, offering to start the season in a few weeks time and still get a full 82-game schedule in is exactly what fans want to hear.

But we’re also hearing about the players being against this proposal that seems like a very promising offer.

I would like to advise all of NHL fans around the world, to not be shaken up by this little tidbit. I for one am not an optimist, and in fact, I thought the NHL was done this season. I never thought I’d ever say a deal would be reached and hockey would be played this season. But I’m here to say—it will.

See the players are fully aware the owners used their PR guys to get us fans over to their side. In fact, I admit that I’m now in full support of the owners. And it’s all because of this offer. Fans will support whichever side works harder to bring back our beloved game. Right now, it’s clearly the owners.

The players are tweeting out of their mind right now. Saying this offer is nothing to be excited about. In fact, Don Fehr sent out a letter to players saying that it is unrealistic to get the season started by November 2nd. Once again, this is all part of the PR war.

Players want to win us back, but don’t know how. The only thing they could do is say the owners latest offer is garbage, and that they still are the ones being affected by this lockout. The only problem here is that us fans have already been given full details of this offer.

Part one of the NHL lockout has ended. The owners have won the long-lasting PR war. Similar to how Obama knocked the debate out of the park with the “47%” comment, the NHL knocked this one out of the park with this offer.

Part two of the lockout is what’s happening behind closed doors. Now once again, I’m not said to be an optimist and I’ve been saying all month now the NHL season is lost. But what’s happening behind closed doors between the NHL and the NHLPA is a lot different than what we see and read on Youtube and Twitter.

The NHLPA has until October 25th to strike this deal so we can play a full 82 games beginning in just 16 days. Guess what folks, it’s gonna happen. Get ready for NHL hockey on the 2nd of November. The deal will be reached, and hockey will be played. You can quote me on that.

For everything hockey - 24/7 news updates, scores, humour, blogs, and everything else in between, please follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/DailyNHLGrind.

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