NHL: "I'm Not Dead!... I Feel 'Appy..."
Friday afternoon, rumors began to spread, and Friday night, the story exploded: The Hockey News reported that not only were talks underway, the NHL season would be reinstated on Saturday afternoon in New York, with a $45 million cap. (Link thanks to Eric McErlain.) Backroom negotiations appear to have started almost immediately after the conclusion of the dueling press conferences by commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players’ Association president Bob Goodenow. Former players and current owners Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky appear to be at the center of the new deal, but rumored participant rosters have included virtually all the power players and blocs except Goodenow — player reps, agents, general managers, owners and various league officers.
Rumors of an incipient player rebellion against Goodenow started Tuesday morning, once he accepted the concept of a salary cap in the NHL’s $40 million offer and countered at $52M. What has come out since then is that the players weren’t necessarily angry at Goodenow for accepting a cap, but for doing it so late in the negotiations that there (apparently) wasn’t time to conclude a deal. Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars couldn’t say Friday afternoon that the players were behind Goodenow, which tells the story in and of itself. Goodenow is dead meat, because he has failed to execute his position’s only real responsibility — to negotiate effectively with the League on behalf of his members.
Bettman should probably be shown the door as well, for leading his business to the brink of disaster, but he may survive if the players can Goodenow first. That’s because, as is now clear, one of management’s primary objectives in this negotiation was to break the union. Bettman will get credit for doing so if he gets a salary cap and Goodenow is axed, and he may well deserve that credit. Of course, that means his side was negotiating in bad faith all along — a deal was not the ultimate goal, except inasmuch as the conditions of a satisfactory deal required breaking the NHLPA to the owners’ will.
One other thing that’s become clear since Wednesday is that neither side expected the media backlash after the cancellation announcement, especially south of the 49th parallel. And why should they have? From day 1 up until Tuesday, US media ignored the NHL, except for short stories about the offers in November that neither side took seriously. Since the season was cancelled, they haven’t stopped talking about it. My inner ideologue says it’s nice to see media just reporting the facts and not making themselves part of the story (ESPN, this means you!), but as a hockey fan, I wish they’d used their weight a bit earlier in the game.
Keep your eyes on TSN.ca — Canada’s ESPN — for stories and Off Wing Opinion for commentary, as I’m heading for Blacksburg tomorrow night for Hokies-‘Canes, with fourth place in the ACC and the inside track toward an ACC Tournament first-round bye on the line.
18 February 2005 / 1 Comment / Tags: hockey