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Bobby Orr Says Owners at Fault, Players Not Being Greedy as NHL Faces Possible Lockout

Another NHL collective bargaining agreement, another impending lockout — but this time, the players can't be blamed, Bruins legend Bobby Orr says.

Orr has jumped into the discussion of what owners and players need to do if they want hockey this season, saying the owners are the ones who need to make a deal happen this time, according to CBC News.

"I know [the owners are] negotiating, they're posturing and so on, but what they put out there, there's no way the players can accept something like that," Orr told CBC News. "Players want their fair share, and that's what it's all about, and I think it's very unfair if fans — until they understand and see everything what's out there — that they suggest that the players are being greedy."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said the league will lock out the players if an agreement cannot be reached by Sept. 15. While both sides are optimistic they can come together on the main issue — splitting hockey-related revenue — as they have on other, smaller factors, the owners' opening offer asked for quite a bit from the union. After the players took 57 percent of revenue in the last agreement (in part because the league was pulling in record earnings), the owners want to cut that figure to 46 percent in the next deal.

"If we go back to the last collective bargaining agreement," Orr said, "the talk after that was, 'Gee, the players really got beat on this one.' "

The players conceded more than they wanted to in the last deal, and now that the league is pulling in a record haul, it doesn't seem fair for the players to have to absorb further cuts, he said.

League and players association officials have a series of meetings next week, starting Tuesday, with the players' counterproposal expected to lead the items on the agenda.