Ted Saskin Quotes (35 Quotes)

Commissioner Gary Bettman , in an online chat with fans, said that reaching a new collective agreement with the players is not about compromise. It's about doing the right thing to ensure that the game and the franchises are healthy. ... It's unfortunate that he does not see compromise as the way to get a deal done. That attitude is what has prevented us from having any meaningful negotiations that can lead to a fair deal for both sides. It is disturbing that their only response is to say they have all the solutions and there can be no compromise.

We understand from media reports that an NLRB charge has been filed against the NHLPA,

We spent the last four days in small group meetings continuing to review and negotiate various systemic and economic issues. The two sides will resume small group discussions on Monday in Toronto.

I can't see anything worse than what they put on the table today.

Frankly I think the ongoing participation in the Olympics, that decision will have a lot to do with what we do with World Cup or not. But again, it's early to say. We're committed to Vancouver in 2010 and if we're not committed beyond that (to the Olympics) I could easily see a World Cup.

If they want to make general managers powerless to set a budget and decide what they want to do, and just have a budget set in New York that is supposed to apply to Toronto, Nashville etc., that's not going to fly with the players, ... I know that's not a recipe for a solution.

Hopefully the NHL will use their meeting (with the GMs on Thursday in New York) as an opportunity to not only bring their general managers up to date, but also get some input on what type of salary restraints could be considered other than just a salary cap.

I said before that it's unfortunate that the small group of players involved here have been getting some very bad advice from both their counsel and some of the agents involved but I've tried to look forward to getting through these unnecessary distractions and looking forward to rebuilding the solidarity within our association.

Bill knows that the concepts they discussed with us on Thursday would not form the basis for an agreement, so he should not be surprised that he hasn't heard from us. We were very clear on Thursday that we would not be negotiating over his proposed concepts.

While we have not yet received a copy of the charge, based on the information contained in (media) reports we are confident that the charge has no merit whatsoever. It is regrettable that the individuals responsible for filing the charge have chosen to take this step at a time when NHLPA player representatives and executive committee members are in the midst of conducting a democratic and fair election. This election process ... will not be disrupted by such baseless actions.

Earlier this week, after a number of phone conversations between Chris and I, in which I requested to meet with him, a meeting was scheduled with Chris and the rest of the Red Wings on Thursday in Detroit. In addition, I have e-mailed and phoned Trent on a number of occasions, and he has chosen not to respond to me to discuss any concerns that he has.

It's certainly not going to be resurrected after today,

is based on what we now know to be a fairly conservative revenue estimate.

The parties met again today for approximately four hours and broke off with no progress to report.

We resumed small group meetings with the league this week and spent the better part of four full days discussing a wide range of issues. Further small group meetings are scheduled starting Monday in Toronto.

I remain fully confident and comfortable that after the education process was done in the fall, and with the hundreds of tests that are going to take place over the next several weeks, it will again be clear to everyone that we do not have a problem in the NHL.

It's obviously going to be a fantastic showcase of hockey communities and the hockey culture here in Canada. The history of the league and the game itself was built by players from communities throughout Canada.

The National Hockey League Players Association members have those affected by Hurricane Katrina in their thoughts during this extremely difficult time, ... It is our hope that this donation and the auction proceeds from the players opening night jerseys will assist the Red Cross in their massive relief effort, and help to ease the burden on the hurricane victims.

All of the early revenue indicators, including better than expected season-ticket renewals and single-game ticket sales, strong attendance figures, better than expected TV and radio revenues and ratings, suggest the 2005-06 year is shaping up much better than the conservative forecasts on which escrow dollars are based,

I know from first-hand discussions I've had with the overwhelming majority of our executive board (which consists of 30 player reps and seven executive officers) along with many more players and key player agents, that there is strong support for our executive committee and for me as the executive director. It was certainly gratifying to hear all the support that I have received from the membership.

But in any event each situation is different, and has to be assessed and judged on its own merit, and I'm comfortable that the NHLPA executive board and myself were able to review all the issues and attach a value that we each felt, at the end of the day, was fair compensation for the services I'll provide to this association.

I am concerned that the NHL is not serious about developing new concepts together and remains fixated on measuring all of our proposed concepts against a linked, hard-cap system. I fail to see how we can make any progress if the NHL maintains their single-track approach.

After good dialogue with members of the executive board, I decided that it was in the best interests of the membership to conduct a secret ballot vote amongst our player representatives and executive officers so that there are absolutely no questions regarding my election as executive director and general counsel,

Hopefully the lessons learned from our prior history of unsuccessful negotiations can provide a basis for this restart to take place in an atmosphere conducive to making more progress this time.

What Dick Pound said about a significant percentage, something approaching 30 per cent of our players, taking banned substances is completely without any foundation and remains extraordinarily irresponsible given that he should be aware of the fact that there have been hundreds of tests done on NHL players over the last few years (for international competitions) with no positive results other than this one.

While this is regrettable, it is important to remember that hundreds of NHL players have been tested over the years as part of their participation in the Nagano, Salt Lake City and the upcoming Turin Olympics, in addition to many other international hockey competitions, and this is the first positive test for a banned substance.

To date, the NHL has not given us any signal that they're prepared to negotiate a compromise.

We've known that there was nothing improper in anything we did and all of the allegations about illegal conduct were completely baseless.

' 'A lot of emphasis has been placed on player input through the competition committee, ... 'I've had frequent dialogue with (the league office) on a host of commercial issues where I think our input is respected.

It was not a viable strategy, nor did it make sense.

I don't think it will further the process to respond to comments like those from Jeremy Jacobs suggesting the available deal only gets worse with the passage of time. Obviously the owners' decision to cancel the season will have negative impact on everyone associated with our industry and unfortunately this has been the preferred route to take by owners like Jeremy Jacobs.

It's an internal union matter. Ted has worked diligently for the players ... but in the final analysis this will be a players' decision.

Frankly, I'm doubtful (holding a World Cup) is something we'll do. Although we will evaluate everything after these Games.

That's part of the (collective bargaining) agreement. Obviously, a lot of people have noted that type of situation and it's something I raised as a concern to the membership.

Of equal importance is a discussion on whether the NHL is prepared to move in the direction of having a real revenue sharing program. We are certainly looking forward to hearing what they have developed in this area.