NHL deal brings peace amid rocky times
Pending real life, six-year agreement with players brings labour peace for six years
It might be the second week in July but I still can’t wait for the resumption of hockey season, or the first Loui Eriksson Zoom session. In the meantime, here are the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports to keep you entertained.
You wonder where the spirit of co-operation and understanding was in 1994, 2004 and 2013 but one supposes the NHL and the Players’ Association are to be commended for setting aside their long-standing grievances to carve out a new collective bargaining agreement.
True, the CBA is more of a commentary on the grim reality created by the COVID-19 pandemic but, no matter how they got there, the league and the PA arrived at a sensible solution to the many and varied problems they’ll face. As is usually the case, the league did well at the bargaining table. The salary cap will rise from US$81.5 million to US$83.5 million over the next four years and the Stanley Cup thingy set for August will save them about US$500 million.
The players, for their part, received some guarantees in both the cap and escrow and gained back the Olympics, a move that benefits everyone connected to the game.
Add it all up and you have labour peace guaranteed for the next six seasons, the NHL’s return to the game’s showcase event and some degree of certainty in a desperately uncertain time.
That’s not bad but here’s the thing: The challenges facing the league and the players won’t be answered by a flattened salary cap or Olympic participation. The real issue is what their world will look like over the next couple of years.
During their media availability on Saturday, league commissioner Gary Bettman said the league is planning a full 2020-21 season and, “If we start in November or December, so be it.”
Great, but what does that full season mean? It’s doubtful rinks will be playing to full capacity. Hell, it’s questionable if fans will be allowed at all. Travel is another unknown. So is the border.
It’s hard, in fact, to envision a set of circumstances where hockey-related revenues can support an $81.5-million cap but that’s only one consideration.
The larger question is when will things return to normal for the game? When will the fans be back? Will they be spending at pre-pandemic levels? What about corporate sponsors? While we’re asking questions, here’s a big one: Will there even be a 2020-21 season?
The NHL has given itself a chance with the new CBA but there are so many things out there which are beyond their control. Getting through this summer is one thing. Getting through the next two years is another entirely.
■ Talked with Adam Hadwin last week about a variety of subjects related to the PGA and the touring pro from Abbotsford had some interesting thoughts about Bryson DeChambeau.
DeChambeau, of course, has sparked a debate in golf circles over his prodigious length. The 26-year-old put on 20 pounds of mostly muscle during the tour’s lockdown and has averaged a mind-boggling 323 yards per drive since play resumed.
As a result, there has been a call to legislate changes to the game to limit DeChambeau’s advantage, but Hadwin sees things differently.
“Longer hitters are always going to have an advantage,” says Hadwin, who averages a pedestrian 294.8 yards off the tee, good for 127th on the tour. “But if they pull the ball back I’ll be hitting it shorter and there are some courses I can’t play.
“One guy shouldn’t change the mould. At some point you have to stop being reactionary about the rules.”
Hadwin added he admires DeChambeau’s game.
“Essentially he’s the cheat code for a video game. The game has gone that way the last couple of years (towards longer hitters) and he saw an opportunity to push the limit. I give him credit for embracing it. He went for it.
“It’s not easy putting on that weight.”
■ On a related note, you get the feeling golf fans are going to be looking at Collin Morikawa and Victor Hovland at the top of the world rankings for a long time to come.
■ And finally, when NHL players return to the Olympics in 2022, it will mark eight years since best-on-best competition was last seen on the big stage.
Think about that for a moment. That’s basically half a generation and hockey fans have yet to see players like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Artemi Panarin, Leon Draisaitl, Alex Barkov, Patrik Laine and others at the Olympics.
We’ll spare you a dissertation on the reputations which have been earned in best-on-best, the incandescent moments it provides, the excitement it creates. But that only comes from the Olympics and now those players have a chance to join the game’s giants and forge their own legends.
That the NHL would have denied those players that opportunity is unconscionable but they’ll all be there in Beijing with their own story to tell. That’s the beauty of the game, the way the torch is passed from generation. You hear Wayne Gretzky talk about following around Guy Lafleur at the 1981 Canada Cup, Mario Lemieux following Gretzky in 1987, Jarome Iginla following Mario in 2002.
The circle was almost broken but it’s been fixed. Canada’s top three centres in 2022 figure to be McDavid, MacKinnon and 34-year-old Sidney Crosby. We will watch again and we will wonder at the great gift this game has given our country, now and for always.