Not a big one, but a serious one.
By passing a rule giving more importance to games won in regulation and overtime, rather than in shootouts, it told hockey fans that shootouts aren’t important. It’s funny: every time I go to a game that ends in a shootout, I see fans standing, cheering and marveling at the skill of both goaltender and shooter. The goal of the shootout was to give each game a winner, plain and simple. Now what they’ve created is giving each game a winner with an asterisk, and that the game MIGHT mean something in the standings.
It was a rule change to save coaches and GM’s jobs, not make the game easier to follow for fans. Stupid, just stupid.
Someone who we won’t hear from again? Richard Bloch. Considering that arbitrators have to be acceptable to both the NHL and the NHLPA, I would be shocked if the players would ever accept him to hear any case, at any level. He talked more of the "spirit" of the agreement, rather than what was printed in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). I had more than one agent tell me that the Kovalchuk deal was doomed as soon as Bloch was named.
To many, it was a shock that the NHLPA agreed to have him anywhere near this case.
The discussions between the NHL and the NHL Officials Association have proved to be much more complex than anticipated. Some of the talk in getting a new CBA for the linesmen and referees has been around the difference in money paid to the two. At one point, a member of the Officials Association wanted the NHL to decide how the salaries would be divided. While the league wanted nothing to do with that, there appears to be a real division on the union’s side between the refs and the linesmen.
The men with the orange stripes want a bigger piece of the pie. It’s interesting to note that this is the first CBA being negotiated where there are more referees than there are linesmen, because of the two-man referee system that was adopted last decade, and it could be reflected in a change of attitude in the union.
With six teams going to Europe and two outdoor games, it would appear the business of hockey is in good shape. But it’s difficult to forget that two teams (Dallas and Phoenix) don’t have owners, and at least two other teams (Atlanta and Florida) are far from profitable, while two more (Carolina and Nashville) are looking for financial injections.
The reason that the game is perceived to be in great shape is because the on-ice product is so good. It will be the lasting residue of the 2004-05 lockout. It would appear with both sides whining about the CBA, the original research camp in March of 2005 and the Shanahan Summit in December of 2004 were the only positives that came out of the work stoppage.
One small business note that might be worth following this season: Both the Versus contract and the NBC TV deals expire at the end of the season. The message at last week’s board of governors meeting was positive.
The commissioner told the board that there is a tremendous amount of optimism that revenues from new national TV deals in the U.S. can mirror that of Canada. At present, Canadian TV deals account for between $30- $40 million dollars more in rights fees than the US. I don’t know if the impending merger between Versus and NBC will help or hurt the negotiations, but I can tell you that participation in the Sochi Olympics will play a key role in deciding the length of the contract.
And finally, I sense an edge in the NHL’s position regarding the Coyotes. Much of that frustration is pointed directly at the City of Glendale, and its apparent lack of urgency.
At least twice over the past few months, ownership groups have negotiated memorandums of understanding with the city, as they try to create a new arena lease, and more than once the city has taken apparent agreed upon terms and changed them overnight. And while the league has been monitoring these situations, they were front and centre in August when the $25 million dollars the city had guaranteed, wasn’t placed in escrow by the agreed upon date.
It took the threat of franchise movement and a 15-minute deadline, before the money was transferred to the appropriate account. The city, it seems, thinks it is in the driver’s seat when it comes to the Coyotes.
Who’s going to tell them that Mr. Bettman will make the final decision? I was told last week, that the Hulsizer bid for the club would be the last before the end of the calendar year.
Why that date?
As one NHL executive told me "It’s a date on which, if ownership transition has not been consummated in Glendale, we can expand a horizon of potential new buyers outside the City of Glendale. It doesn't preclude us continuing to pursue a sale in Glendale."
And for those who think that the franchise will be sold for a reduced price just to keep it in Arizona?
The commissioner reiterated at last week’s board meeting that the league will not lose money on the sale. That can only mean one thing. He has a purchaser, and he has an arena.
And it might not be for Jobing.com Arena.
Who’s going to tell the City of Glendale?
