A HOCKEY NIGHT WITHOUT STARS?
NHL could continue playing while top players represent country at Olympics
Imagine a Penguins-Capitals marquee matchup without any marquee players.
No Crosby. No Ovechkin. Not even Malkin, Backstrom, Holtby, Oshie or Kuznetsov.
Would you still want to watch a game in which Nick Bonino and Marcus Johansson were the topline centres?
It could happen. The National Hockey League’s Gary Bettman and the NHL Players’ Association’s Don Fehr met with the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Rene Fasel and International Olympic Committee’s Thomas Bach Friday in New York to discuss whether or not to participate in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. According to reports, it was deemed a courtesy meeting. No negotiations occurred.
Still, it was an important first step toward resolution. Bach, elected president of the IOC in 2013, had previously never sat down with Bettman and discussed the NHL’s participation in the Olympics. Though no one has given a deadline, Fasel told reporters he has a meeting with South Korean officials sometime in the middle of March and would need to know whether or not the NHL plans on sending players next year.
While the NHL owners appear to be leaning toward not going for the first time since the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, the players remain steadfast that they want to participate. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, there could be a solution that satisfies both sides.
One of the options being discussed privately is whether to have a team-by-team policy regarding player participation. That way star players get to attend the Olympics, but teams don’t have to close up shop at a time of the season when the NHL has its least amount of competition from other North American professional sports.
We already know Alex Ovechkin plans to attend the Olympics and has suggested he would simply leave even if the NHL decides not to go. We also know he has the blessing of Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who told reporters Wednesday: “It’s a players’ league. If Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby and Nick Backstrom tell us, ‘We want to go play for our country,’ how am I going to say no?
“I might get fined. I might get punished in some way, but I feel I’m in partnership with Nick and Braden and Alex. It’s a tough decision.”
In other words, there could be a scenario where the Olympics and the NHL occur at the same time. It’s far from a perfect scenario and it would seriously test each team’s depth and could affect the NHL’s product and competitive balance.
How many games could the Chicago Blackhawks, who could be without as many as nine players, win without Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith? Imagine the Montreal Canadiens without Carey Price, Shea Weber, Max Pacioretty, Alexander Radulov and Tomas Plekanec. Without Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Adam Larsson, are the Edmonton Oilers a playoff team? Are they even worth watching?
That’s the big question here. The NHL is not a star-driven league in the same way the NBA is — yet the stars make the game worth watching. Do fans want to watch a game decided between second- and third-liners? Do they want a product similar to having scab players compete during a strike?
It’s obviously not ideal. Yet it’s also not without precedent.
Every year, the Canadian Hockey League has a three-week stretch over the holidays where its best players are absent, competing at the world juniors. This year, the Erie Otters were without captain Dylan Strome, leading scorer Taylor Raddysh and defenceman Erik Cernak, while the London Knights were missing starting goalie Tyler Parsons, No. 1 defenceman Olli Juolevi and top-three scorer Janne Kuokkanen.
“It doesn’t impact attendance, but it could impact the team’s success or whether or not they make the playoffs,” said CHL president David Branch, who added about 80 players participated in this year’s world juniors. “We just have a sprinkling of players. But I’m not sure we’re not more star-driven (than the NHL) and losing your star players, who are 19 years old and are the backbone of your team, is not more devastating than losing a player at the NHL level.”
Somehow the CHL survives. And the NHL would, too.
Although, given the choice, most fans would probably want to watch a Canada versus Russia matchup featuring Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin rather than Pittsburgh versus Washington featuring a bunch of a nobodys.
If Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby and Nick Backstrom tell us, ‘We want to go play for our country,’ how am I going to say no?