The NHL and its players' association have a bit more than two weeks remaining to figure out how to share all the money the game generates.

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1 Daily Clips 8/30/12 Hockey-related revenues thorny subject in NHL labor talks By Dave Molinari / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The NHL and its players' association have a bit more than two weeks remaining to figure out how to share all the money the game generates. If that doesn't happen by Sept. 15, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires, the NHL is expected to lock out its players. And, while there still is time to sculpt out a settlement that satisfies both sides, a deal won't happen until the parties decide precisely what constitutes the "hockey-related revenue" that is up for grabs. NHLPA head Don Fehr said Wednesday that the most recent offer submitted by the league would change the way hockey-related revenue (HRR) is calculated, reducing the amount of money available to the players. "Our preference is to keep the same definition of hockey-related revenue," Fehr told reporters after a negotiating session at the NHL offices. Players received 57 percent of HRR under the CBA that will expire Sept. 15. Fehr and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman agree that that figure would be reduced to roughly 46 percent (as currently calculated) under a proposal the league put forth Tuesday. "We promised to pay 57 percent [in the CBA now in place] and we honored it, but there was no sense it was baked in perpetuity," Bettman said. He added that redefining "hockey-related revenues" is necessitated by current economic realities. The NHLPA, as expected, did not accept the league's most recent offer, and Fehr said the union intends to turn in a counter-proposal today or Friday. The league's plan calls for a $58 million salary-cap ceiling in ; it would be $70.2 million under the current agreement, and many teams have assembled their rosters using that figure.

2 Although the league's plan calls for increased escrow withholdings from players' earnings, the NHL has not specified how teams -- there are believed to be exceeding the $58 million threshold would be expected to shrink their payroll. "If I have to describe that, then we are in good shape," Bettman told reporters. The salary-cap ceiling hardly is the only major issue that remains to be settled. The union and league aren't even close to agreeing on how long the next CBA should be. The NHL's most recent proposal was for six years; the NHLPA prefers one for three years and a option. NOTES -- Penguins player representative Craig Adams and ex-penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski (now with Dallas) were among a contingent of 11 players to attend the negotiating session Wednesday, although no players were directly involved in the talks.... Evgeni Malkin confirmed to reporters in Russia that he has an agreement to play for Metallurg Magnitogorsk, his hometown team in the Kontinental Hockey League, if there is an NHL lockout. Malkin also considered playing for one of the KHL clubs in Moscow. Malkin, others make plans for NHL lockout By Rob Rossi Published: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 12:01 a.m. Updated 9 hours ago NEW YORK Reigning NHL scoring champion and MVP Evgeni Malkin will not be the only player to sign with a European-based team in the event of a lockout, Penguins NHLPA representative Craig Adams said. It s something I ve heard discussed among players, said Adams, who spent the NHL lockout playing for an Italian club. Adams was one of 11 players in New York on Wednesday as the NHLPA worked to counter a proposal presented by the NHL on Tuesday. Union executive director Don Fehr said a response could be ready Thursday. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said there will be a second lockout since 2004 if a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached before the Sept. 15 deadline.

3 Malkin and his closest friend, former Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar, started skating with Moscow s Kontinental Hockey League team Aug. 20. Both said they will play for the KHL club in Malkin s hometown, Magnitogorsk, if an NHL lockout stretched into the scheduled regular season, slated to open Oct. 11. No other Penguins, including center Sidney Crosby, have plans yet to play for a European team in the event of a lockout. Malkin and Gonchar would play on weekly contracts that would allow them to return to their NHL clubs when a new CBA is reached. Malkin has not donned the Magnitogorsk crest since leaving that club in July 2006 during a training trip in Finland. Four days later, he arrived in North America to join the Penguins, who drafted him second overall in Malkin spends his summers in Moscow, but his parents and older brother live in Magnitogorsk. There are no longer any hurt feelings, Malkin said through a translator while in Moscow. To play in front of my family, where I grew up, would be great excitement for everybody in Magnitogorsk. Malkin and Gonchar met while playing for the Magnitogorsk club during the season. Gonchar said Malkin s possible homecoming would hopefully be a reunion everybody would like. I know Evgeni would look forward to it, Gonchar said. But of course we want to be playing NHL hockey on time. NHL, union remain apart on revenue By Rob Rossi Published: Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 9:17 p.m. Updated: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 NEW YORK Hockey-related revenue and/or escrow may soon replace offsides as the most confounding premises to casual hockey fans.

4 This is what labor talks between the NHL and its Players Association had come to by Wednesday a second day of meetings that produced no new collective bargaining agreement and little clarity other than the one big issue keeping apart the sides. That issue remains revenue, which the NHL seeks to redefine and gain more of from a union that was granted a 57 percent share in each of the past seven years of the CBA that expires Sept. 15. There is no such entitlement, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said of the 57 percent share for the union. At least two other sports, the other two that have cap systems (NFL and NBA), the players in each of those leagues recognized in this economic environment the appropriateness of reducing their share. Reducing their share isn t extraordinary. The NHLPA ultimately may have to join its football and basketball brethren in agreeing to a near split of revenue, but what actually defines revenue remains a sticking point, union executive director Don Fehr said. We prefer to discuss it in definitions that everyone understands, Fehr said, suggesting that under the NHL s latest proposal, the union s escrow give-back would increase significantly, though he didn t say by how much. The NHL does not share that assessment, and the sides continue to remain divided on the complicated specifics of revenue to be designated for each side. Usually at this time of year players are more concerned about their skating legs than the economic nuances holding up a new CBA. However, with the pledge from Bettman to lock out players starting Sept. 16, five days before training camps are set to open, there was a need Wednesday for well-schooled players to take a day away from their normal training schedules. Craig Adams, the Penguins union representative, was one of four Ivy League-schooled players among the 11 who met with Fehr at the NHLPA s temporary offices in Manhattan. Fehr said the NHLPA was optimistic of presenting a counterproposal Thursday Friday at the latest. Of particular interest to Penguins fans is that the NHL proposal calls for a $58 million salary cap for this season. That is $12.2 million less than the previously slated cap. The Penguins already are committed to about $60.26 million.

5 Sixteen of the 30 NHL clubs are committed to more than $58 million against the cap for next season, but Bettman said he would gladly like to begin the discussion of how teams would get under the cap. A conversation like that would likely mean the NHL and NHLPA are no longer stuck on concepts such as redefining hockey-related revenue or escrow, which Bettman reminded that the union has agreed to pay into in five of the past seven years. Fehr had a reminder of his own on the union s behalf specifically, that the hockey-related revenue pool should be viewed taking each individual club into account rather than all teams collectively. He added that the NHL had pledged to send the union additional financial information as soon as Wednesday but stressed the NHLPA did not yet have (individual team) information. Hopefully, that will be forthcoming, Fehr said. If real movement on the revenue divide isn t forthcoming then, NHL fans likely will wait awhile to argue the next offsides call. Penguins push helps save ice time at Bethel Park complex By Doug Gulasy Published: Wednesday, August 29, 2012, 8:54 p.m. Updated 1 hour ago When the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh set out to purchase the Bethel Park BladeRunners for its new South Hills facility, it planned to eliminate both of the complex s ice surfaces. That concerned board member Travis Williams, chief operating officer of the Pittsburgh Penguins, because of the number of youth and high school hockey organizations that use the complex. The South Hills Amateur Hockey Association is the second-largest youth hockey program in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Williams said. So you can imagine that if we lost two sheets of ice where that organization is housed, it would be a major negative impact to youth hockey in this region. The Penguins got involved, organizing meetings between the hockey association, which has about 36 teams and 500 players, and the YMCA.

6 The Y, which wants to replace a facility in Upper St. Clair that it has outgrown, ultimately decided it will keep one of the ice surfaces for hockey when it remodels the BladeRunners building. They were very open and willing for discussion, Williams said. It wasn t a matter of a tug-ofwar as to whether or not it made sense. The YMCA s purchase of the facility is not yet complete, but it is expected to close by the end of September or October, said William F. Jones Jr., chief financial officer of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh. Work on the planned Spencer Family YMCA will begin in spring Though the total $10 million purchase and conversion s impact on youth hockey would have been worse if not for the Penguins involvement, South Hills hockey officials are still worried. There s a lot of other smaller associations and organizations, like schools, that use the rink in addition to us, SHAHA President Jamie Colecchi said. There s just not enough hours to accommodate everybody. Besides SHAHA, four local high schools Bethel Park, South Allegheny, South Fayette and Thomas Jefferson and the California University men s and women s hockey teams use the facility for hockey games. The Y will allow SHAHA BladeRunners largest tenant to play in the new facility, but the other teams fates are up in the air. Jones said all current tenants can continue to use the complex until their three-year contracts expire in 2013, and the YMCA is open to extending the deals until We re going to extend them another year if they so desire, he said. We don t need another year, but we want to give everybody the ability to spend some time if we can t accommodate everybody [in the future], which I m assuming we cannot that they can find alternatives. Realistic alternatives aren t abundant for teams that play at the facility now. Many teams compete for the limited ice slots at facilities like the Ice Castle Arena in Castle Shannon, the Airport Ice Arena in Moon and the Rostraver Ice Garden. Ice Castle owner Ralph Murovich said his facility doesn t have ice time available. We re in a situation right now where our regular-season ice is sold out, he said. We don t have any place to put them.

7 Cost is another issue with finding an alternative. Most local high school hockey teams are club teams, which places a heavier burden on players, their families and the organizations that help support the teams. If the fees for the ice go up 20 percent, unfortunately we don t have the bankroll that we can eat that, said Steve Anthos, president of South Fayette Hockey. We ll have to pass it on to our membership, which is the last thing we want to do. Hockey officials said popularity of the sport has grown in Western Pennsylvania because of the success of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Williams believes SHAHA should be relatively unharmed by the move from two ice surfaces to one, but Colecchi isn t so sure. We ve always tried to find a place for every kid that wanted to play hockey, to give them a place to play hockey, he said....even if it s one or two fewer teams, the lesser-skilled kids probably are going to have to find a place to try to compete. Malkin on Crosby: He may play in Europe QMI AGENCY First posted: Wednesday, August 29, :59 PM EDT Updated: Wednesday, August 29, :20 PM EDT Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin believes superstar teammate Sidney Crosby will play in the KHL if a potential NHL work stoppage drags on into the new year. Malkin has already indicated he will play for his hometown team in Magnitogorsk if there is a lockout. He told SovSport (translated by Yahoo!) that he expects Crosby to follow him across the pond eventually. "I think he won't go to the KHL right away," Malkin said. "He will see how the situation develops. I see that the league and the (NHL)PA have started to come closer. Perhaps the lockout won't continue for the entire year. That's why a lot of North American players won't go to Europe until the very last moment. A lot of them are a bit afraid of Russia. But the best hockey league in the world after the NHL is here. "And if the lockout is announced for the entire season, then Crosby may come. He loves to play and won't be able to live an entire year without hockey."

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