Hey all! Here is our feature running Monday through Friday that will bring you up to date on what’s going on in the media pertaining to the Winnipeg Jets and elsewhere in the NHL.
Ed. Note: Now that the NHL lockout is upon us, Altitude Check will only be running on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Here is what's in the news for Monday, September 17, 2012:
Evander Kane on signing his new 6-year contract with the Jets: “I’m really happy we were able to get a deal done. I’m obviously very excited about it and I’m grateful that Winnipeg took that leap of faith and was able to make that kind of commitment. It was definitely a very professionally done negotiation. Better late than never. I’m excited about it and I believe the Winnipeg Jets are as well.” [WFP]
Ondrej Pavelec and Alexei Ponikarovsky have both signed contracts to play in the HC Extraliga and KHL respectively. [WFP]
However, other Jets' players have decided to stay close to home in hopes for a quick resolution to the league's CBA. [Winnipeg Sun]
In case there was ever any doubt, True North Sports and Entertainment will refund season ticket holders for any games that are lost during the lockout. [WFP]
Ted Wymann astutely explains that the only real losers in the current NHL lockout are the fans. "It's very hard for fans to relate to the players in this situation because most of them will never earn the kind of money in a lifetime that some of these guys earn in a year. On the flip side, a great portion of the people who attend hockey games make less in a year than what some Jets make in a single day. If this lockout extends into the regular season, some members of the Jets are going to lose upwards of $50,000 per game." [Winnipeg Sun]
Coverage of the NHL lockout from a fans point of view. [CBC]
More lament from Jets' fans. [Winnipeg Sun]
Dominik Jansky analyzes the PR spin both sides in the 2012 NHL lockout: “If these sides were purely interested in “growing the game” and maintaining league “stability,” they’d have arrived at a deal in the spring. The NHLPA would have begun negotiations before mid-summer. The NHL would have made a halfway reasonable first offer rather than an outright money grab. Every painful, arduous step this summer has been a “reasonably calculated” — one of Fehr’s favorite phrases — negotiating tactic designed to get the other side to blink first.” [SB Nation]
The NHLPA and NHL have released statements to fans of the game saying they are sorry that both sides are so shitty at bargaining like civilized adults. I mean, hey, it must be super hard to reasonably divvy up hundreds of millions of dollars. Nothing lowers a fans' sense of self worth quite like the "it's not your fault" treatment. /hacks [Puck Daddy]
Jewels From The Crown cuts to the heart of these labour disputes. The NHL owners know they can outlast the players to get what they want. To quote Ryan Miller, “[that’s] gutless……… Gutless.” [JFTC]
Mo’ money, mo’ problems for Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins, who just re-signed Milan Lucic to a 3-year, 6MM AAV contract. You read that correctly, Milan Lucic is now making 18MM dollars. Jacobs has handed out 70.5MM to Lucic, Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin in the past week. F*****g rollbacks, man! [SCOC]
The Shane Doan saga has ended. He has re-signed in Phoenix for seemingly for the remainder of his career. [Five For Howling]
Sidney Crosby and Nikolai Kulemin could soon be playing with Evgeni Malkin in Magnitogorsk, Russia. [Puck Daddy]
Finally, Scott Lewis provides his review of NHL 13. [Backhand Shelf]
