It was a Wednesday night in Dallas as fans filed into the arena for what should've been a game with the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately, it was a meeting for fans to talk to the NHL's top negotiator, Bill Daly, about the lockout, which has currently canceled at least the first half of the season.
Fans pleaded and begged for the two sides, who haven't talked since September 9th, to resume negotiations. Many fear that if the season is canceled, the NHL would lose any chance of the mainstream acceptance it has had as the country's fourth sport. Fans and players alike are focusing the blame and their anger on one person, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the one man I think has a plan to save hockey.
Philadelphia goaltender Robert Esche was chastised by his General Manager for calling Bettman a madman last week, however, I don't think that is an unfair assessment. I am no fan of Bettman, who I think hurt the league greatly through his rampant expansion and his poor planning, but I think he might know what he is doing in this case. No madman I've ever encountered, through history, movies, or TV have ever been mad just for the sake of being mad; they all had a genius plan.
There was very little that could be done to avoid this lockout, things were just in terrible shape. Guy LaFleur said last week that "hockey was sick and they had to solve the problem." He is exactly right. If owners and players had just slapped a band-aid on the problem it just would've resurfaced a year or two down the road. Changes had to be made.
"We can't do a deal just to do a deal and save the season," Bill Daly told fans. "We have no margin for error. All our focus is on doing the right deal."
Gary Bettman echoed that sentiment during an interview with a Canadian cable station. "Whether or not we miss half a season or three-quarters of a season, or don't have a season at all -- that is not the issue from our standpoint," Bettman said. "We need a deal that is the right deal to address the problems and let us go forward."
There is the argument that a prolonged lockout would irrevocably damage the NHL fan base; leaving it in ruins. While I don't necessarily believe this, the same result would've been had if the league had only put a temporary fix on their problems. Ticket prices have been climbing for years, and it would've only gotten worse as salaries grew larger; culminating with nearly every fan being priced out of the game and the league left with more problems than they have now.
It is no surprise that the players don't want to give in to a salary cap, but it is a necessity. As the lockout continues to linger, you can start to see players beginning to crack. A few players here come out against the NHLPA and say they would accept a salary cap. A handful of players there come out and say they would play if the NHL tried to use replacement players. Almost one-third of the league is playing overseas for thousands instead of the millions they could make, even with a salary cap. That is not their long-term plan.
While the players are starting to crack, it will only get worse as the lockout lingers. Meanwhile, the madman seems surprisingly calm. He is content with letting the season slip away, as long as it means the game will be fixed. He doesn't seem rushed to end the lockout and play a shortened season. He seems like a delightfully mad scientist, watching his evil plan unfold before his eyes. It's almost as if he should be sitting in an oversized chair while muttering a Mr. Burns-esque "exxxceelllent."
How can Bettman be so confident while his league is in shambles, while many, including several Hall-of-Famers, have pronounced the league dead? He is confident because he knows this lockout will only last one season. He is confident because he will get the changes he wants. The game was changed for Wayne Gretzky, by moving the goals out to allow more room behind the nets, where the Great One worked best. The game will change again, for his heir apparent. Bettman is confident because this summer, hockey's savior will be eligible for the NHL draft. He is confident because he has Sidney Crosby.
Crosby has been hailed by Gretzky as a player who has the potential to be even greater than the Great One himself. He is going to be the hockey version of LeBron James and I really believe he will be the kind of player who can get disenfranchised fans back to the arenas and to the sport. The lockout happened at the best time possible for his debut.
The league will be fixed for the better and the result will be a more open game, which will play right into Crosby's strengths. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a great shot at having that pick and would immediately christen him as the next Mario Lemieux. In addition to the Crosby factor, the NHL still has a deep group of young superstars who are ready to blossom.
There will be doubters. There will be haters. There will be those who say that there is no way Crosby can live up to the hype. There will be those who say that one player cannot revive the league. And, naturally, there will still be those ignorant sports "journalists" who try to convince everyone that they shouldn't care about hockey.
The one thing they will share in common? They will all be wrong.
Bettman may be a madman, but for his sake, for the Stars fans who were forced to beg and plead for their hockey, and for the entire of the sport of hockey, I hope this is one time the evil plan works out for the best.
Mark Chalifoux is also a weekly columnist for SportsFan Magazine. His columns appear every Tuesday on Sports Central. You can e-mail Mark at [email protected].
November 10, 2004
Jonathan Moncrief:
This article doesn’t detail what Bettman’s exact plan is. If the commissioner and his cartel of owners truly cared about the long-term health of the sport, one of the things they could have done with their ‘warchest’ full of millions to insulate themselves would be to at least continue to make payroll on the salaries of the front office personnel that was laid-off across the league. People who’s jobs help run the day-to-day operations of the sport, and who were powerless to stop this from happening.
As a hockey fan that has written many columns on the site, I agree with the idea that if losing one full season of hockey to fix the economic problems so that there can be no future troubles (like in the NFL, where the last labor problem was in 1987), then so be. But when they do come to an agreement this time, it needs to be a 10-year deal, with an option for an extra 5 during the 8th year of the contract on either side. This will be one of the first ways to gain back the loyalty of fans who are finding other ways to entertain themselves. The hard core hockey fanatics, like me, are always going to come back like any junkie would.
Lastly, I hate to say, but I think the ship has long sailed on the NHL becoming the 4th major sport. NASCAR has already moved past it in this country. Part of the reason for that is, like the NBA and unlike Bettman and the NHL the last decade plus, they do an excellent job of marketing their players.
November 10, 2004
Mark Chalifoux:
Jonathan you are right on the marketing of players. My question is this…Have you seen Sidney Crosby play?
Do you think this kid has the potential to make the league special again? I really think that he could bring fans back.
Bettman will change the game to make it more open and Sidney will benefit from this. I don’t think this is much planning from Bettman as it is just blind luck.
You are right about NASCAR, i just dont want to admit it