New York Rangers Players Seriously Oppose Idea of Moratorium -NHL Lockout Update
After meeting for the last time this previous Sunday, the National Hockey League (NHL) and Players’ Association are yet to make any significant progress in terms of the lockout and getting a new labour deal into play before it is too late to save any part
of the regular season at all.
Talking to reporters at a local ice rink for a charity event to benefit victims of superstorm Sandy, some of the New York Rangers players seriously opposed any such idea of a moratorium, which was given by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman recently. Not only
do they think that it is “time wasting”, but also purposeless as well.
"(I'm) very frustrated. I didn't expect for it to go this long. I don't think there's any need for it to be this long. We've been going for a while and then for Gary to come up with a comment about another two weeks off, is mind-boggling, to be honest with
you," said Rangers alternate captain Brad Richards, who organized Friday's event -- a two-session clinic with 110 participants and nine of his fellow teammates, according to ESPN.com.
It is believed that the NHL Commissioner was forced into doing this due to the inaction from the labour union’s side. Bettman believes that players need more time to assess where they stand, while members of the union think otherwise.
"I don't see the point behind that," Rangers captain Ryan Callahan added. "I know we want to negotiate."
Most players who have decided to stay around in order to be an active member of the labour talks between both stakeholders, are now beginning to regret their decisions as nothing has yet come up. The 2012-2013 NHL regular season has been cancelled to a significant
extent, along with the highly looked forward to Winter Classic event.
It is just a matter of time now whether the regular season will stay or will it go as the two sides still have a lot of ground to cover and that does not look to be happening in the near future due to the deadlock that has overshadowed previous negotiations.
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