Bettman insists league doing ‘the right thing’

NEW YORK — Reiterating that the season won’t start until there is a new collective bargaining agreement, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman offered an impassioned defence of the league’s stance Thursday as it headed toward its fourth work stoppage in 20 years.

“Listen, nobody wants to make a deal and play hockey more than I do, OK?” he said during a news conference. “This is what I do. This is what my life is about in terms of how I spend most of my waking hours. This is really hard.

“And so you only get involved in this situation when you understand what the issues are and you know you’re doing the right thing for the long-term stability of our game and our sport. This is very hard and I feel terrible about it.”

Both Bettman and Donald Fehr, the executive director of the NHL Players’ Association, spoke in a manner that made another work stoppage seem inevitable after wrapping up important meetings with their constituents.

They have no plans to return to the bargaining table before the deadline passes.

Pre-season games will start being cancelled as soon as next week. Training camps scheduled to open Sept. 21 will also soon be a casualty, with the first regular- season games not too far behind.

Fehr said the players made large concessions after the entire 2004-05 season was wiped out by a lockout. Since then, overall revenues have grown dramatically.

He asked whether it was fair or equitable that the owners want more concessions and reiterated that they will be the ones choosing to shut the doors.

“The players want to find a way to make an agreement. They want to negotiate until we do,” Fehr, flanked by many of the game’s top players, told a packed news conference.

While the players would rather be preparing for training camp, superstar Sidney Crosby indicated that they’re not willing to do it at any cost.

“I know in my case not playing for as long as I did the last year and a half, I obviously want to play,” he said. “But I think you also have to realize that there’s principles here and you have to understand what’s right.

“And I think we believe that what we propose is in that right direction. If you look at both (proposals), yeah they’re definitely different. But if you have a non-biased opinion, you look at the facts, I think our mindset and the direction we’re going is one that seems like it’s a little bit more fair for both sides.”

When the NHL and NHLPA engaged in this fight eight years ago, it took three months for them to return to the bargaining table after the lockout was imposed. There doesn’t appear to be the same level of animosity this time around, but both sides seem more than ready to show their resolve.