Hamrlik doesn’t back down from his comments … Neuvirth agrees with Hamrlik

“This is nothing against any of the players,” Hamrlik said. “I stand with them. We are all together in this. And we want a great deal. A fair deal. Everybody’s losing in this right now. Owners, players, fans.

“The fans are the reason for hockey. Some cities won’t be able to recover their fans for future seasons. I just want to say I’ve been in the league for 20 years and faced three lockouts and there’s only 14 other guys that have done that. I believe I’ve earned the right to say what I think.

“If someone thinks I’m selfish, I may be, but it’s selfish to play hockey. Like everybody else, I want to win the Cup with the Capitals, or at least have a chance.”

Hamrlik did ease up a bit on his Fehr comments.

“About Fehr, I just think time is against us,” he said. “We need the solution. I think this is a fight between two groups that have too much pride.

“I still support Fehr, but we the players we need to push him more to get the best deal possible, as soon as possible. That’s what I think… How many more weeks, how many more months can we wait?”

Hamrlik on Erik Cole’s comments.

“I don’t have anything against Cole. I mean he’s a good guy. He has his opinion like everybody else, but I’m a little bit disappointed about what he said. I think he’s got three years left on his contract and I’m sure he got a nice signing bonus this summer so he didn’t sacrifice anything. I’ve been in the league for 20 years.”

“I’m just frustrated, I’ve been in the league for 20 years and faced 3 lockouts.I believe I’ve earned the right to say what I think. I think time is against us and we need to find a solution. I think that it’s a fight between 2 groups that have too much pride. I’m a little bit disappointed in what he(Eric Cole) said, he has 3 years left on his contract and I’m sure he got a nice signing bonus this summer, so I don’t think he didn’t have to sacrifice anything, so good for him, good agent. I’m just sending a message to Fehr, trying to push him a little bit, you know the older guys, we dont have much time,  remember what happened in 2004, we then signed the same deal that was waiting for us right now on the table you think players are going to come back next summer and say no were not playing, i dont think so, were going to sign the deal anyways.”