Focus should really be on next fall
Hockey fans, the news is good.
Let NHLers, minor-leaguers, kids of both genders (and their parents), beer leaguers of both genders (and their spouses) and just about anybody who plays the game indoors in an organized league rejoice. It looks like we’ll be getting back to normal next fall.
By then, we’ll have lost a season-and-a-half to the game, or less, depending on who you are, where you live and whether you get paid to play. This has been really unfortunate. The good news is that a coronavirus vaccine, perhaps two, will be available in North America as early as mid-December. Assuming the anti-vaxxers are kept at bay, Canada could be in good shape by late summer.
Then hockey as we knew it will be able to return. Fans back in arenas, the whole deal.
After months of uncertainty, the finish line is in sight. Fingers crossed.
From now until then, all decisions for hockey should be made on the basis of what gets us back to normal by September 2021. It’s like the best advice I ever got on parenting. The objective is to raise happy, functioning adults by their early 20s. If you make all your parenting decisions based on that objective, you’ll get it right most of the time.
Ditto for hockey. Let’s focus on getting things back up to full speed next fall. It may mean organizations might have to adjust age divisions to give kids who missed an entire season another year of atom or peewee. Let’s make sure the kids get back any hockey they lost, if at all possible.
The NHL, meanwhile, is another issue entirely.
It’s a business, not a game. The 31 teams have lost millions. The players haven’t lost much. Yet.
They were paid for all of last season. They got a paycheque on Oct. 31 for 8.1 per cent of their 2020-21 salary without having to play a game. Now, they’re waiting for what comes next.
Given the alarming way in which COVID-19 numbers are rising throughout Canada and the United States, and the frightening way in which hospitals are being overwhelmed, it could certainly be argued the smartest decision would be to shelve the 2020-21 NHL season entirely and focus on next year. This season is already way behind schedule, and it would be pointless to have it butting into next season.
We’re already talking about a drastically shortened schedule, empty arenas, an all-Canadian division, possible breaks in the
schedule to accommodate postponed games, a cancelled all-star break and playoffs that would have to be somehow jammed in before the Summer Olympics begin in mid-July.
There’s been talk about starting up Jan. 1, but that’s looking less and less likely with every passing day. The all-Canadian division idea could be hitting a snag.
The premier of British Columbia has called for restrictions on travel between provinces. Could be awkward for the Canucks. Alberta is breaking records for cases, not good news for the Oilers and Flames. Toronto is in lockdown. The Raptors have had to find a temporary home in Florida, and it’s not clear the Maple Leafs can even practise at the moment.
In the U.S., meanwhile, we’re seeing rates of spread in many states that have not been seen anywhere else in the world. This is uncharted territory.
So there’s lots of trip wires out
there for the NHL in the short term before a vaccine becomes available.
Part of an NHL season, naturally, will be seen as better than no season at all to the owners, the players and the customers, who will likely be confined to watching from home. So while setting aside this season entirely might be logical, it’s not going to happen.
Now the owners and players have figure out how the dollars will work.
You may have thought that was already decided after the two sides signed an extension to their collective bargaining agreement last summer. True, but now the owners, as expected, have come back to the players looking for adjustments to that agreement.
The players have every right to be furious about this. They have a right to be suspicious.
The owners would like the players to defer more of their salaries this season than the 10 per cent already agreed upon.
Players wouldn’t lose that money. They’d get it later. The reported number is an extra 16 per cent. Given that players are only entitled to 50 per cent of all revenues anyway, this ends up being one big accounting exercise.
But the principle for the players is an important one. A deal is a deal. The only way the players should agree to this change would be to get something back.
There’s only a rush to this process if both sides are still holding out hope of beginning Jan. 1. Certainly, if the NBA is up and running by Dec. 22, the NHL is going to have some explaining to do if it falls weeks behind. The answer better not be that billionaires were too busy arguing with millionaires.
When we look back years from now at the impact of the pandemic on hockey, it appears likely we’re going to see the disruption lasted about 18 months. This will be short in terms of global calamities, although it feels endless right now.
The hockey industry has been hurt, but not as badly as restaurants, bars and the rest of the entertainment industry. The NHL will be fine. Nobody’s going out of business. NHLers won’t be applying for government benefits. There’s an extra $650 million (U.S.) in the kitty from Seattle.
Barring a major setback, or another pandemic, the next complete NHL season will begin with 32 teams in September. Ten months away.
Whatever the NHL needs to do to get to that point most efficiently and effectively is what it should do. Focus on that.