love the puck

Thursday, August 18, 2005

LIGHTING STRIKES

The burning question that has arisen from the Olympic Orientation camps is not "who invited Brendan Morrow?", but rather, "has the new salary cap system actually diminished the oppurtunity for good teams to keep their players.

Tampa Bay locked up Vinny LeCavalier and now will find trouble keeping Marty St. Louis happy with his paycheques. Ottawa has put captain and defense stalwart Wade Redden on the trade block. But I am not one who thinks the new CBA is going to hinder teams from building and keeping players. I, however, think that we all need to be realistic and upfront about the financial issues players are facing now.

First off, in the St. Louis situation, I think everyone needs to sit down and realize that if there is no cap, there's no CBA, and if there's no CBA, then there's no NHL. Kind of tough to complain about 5 million after that one. Secondly, the new landscape means everyone takes less, and if you want to play for a contender, take less. If you like your situation, and you're a 30 year MVP and Stanley Cup champion, and you'd like to be that again, take less. If Tampa offers Marty 5 mil per, and he doesn't think that's enough, he can leave town. But the fact remains, if he wants to win, it might cost him a few dollars. Realistically I don't think Marty could demand the max anyway. He is a dynamic player, one that I love to watch, and he is the Hart trophy winner, but at his age, and his playing history, you can't lock him up longterm for bigtime dollars.

I'm sure Martin St. Louis could go somewhere and get 6 million dollars next year. I'm also sure he could make 4.5 or 5 to stay in Tampa and compete for a cup again. Really, it's about priorities. The truth is that because every team is dealing with the same numbers (roughly) there are going to be guys that take cuts to play on good teams. There just aren't enough max dollars to go around for everyone. If I was St. Louis, I'd sit down with Brad Richards and see how committed they are to staying in Tampa to try and win. And if they decide it's worth it, sign on the dotted line, or else they'll be headed to Minnesota, or Nashville, or (gulp!) Washington, to waste away the rest of their promising careers.

Another reality is that this is a floating cap. If Revenues go up, then the cap goes up, which isn't any guarantee, and is somewhat risky, but in reality it is the only way to make both the PA and the Board of Governers sign this thing. So if the league does well, guys will get paid more. Simple in idea form, but hard for the players to deal with, because guys are going to have to swallow their pride.

I think the whole thing is a bit........off. Just a few months ago there was no guarantee these guys could make big bucks in the NHL again. And now already there are people unwilling to work with the new system? It's hard times in the NHL right now, and to fix it, the players need to help, the owners need to help, the fans need to help, and everyone needs to try and move forward. Bashing the new system doesn't take the ink off the paper, and if we could go back, nothing would change. The only other option is no options. If Marty really needs that extra 1 or 2 million, I'm sure he could get it in Europe.

I don't want to see players defect to Europe. I don't want to see yearly firehouse sales with players moving around all the time like they do in the NFL. But if it's going to avoid that avenue, then everyone needs to accept and work within the new system. We are not in the clear skies and green pastures of five years ago. The NHL is a barren landscape financially right now, and it is great that there is a tonne of excitement about the new season, but we still have to deal with the reality that there are no guarantees this season.

Posted by Jon at 6:20 AM | | e-mail me