The Week That Almost Was

The NHL lockout was so close to ending. So close. With meetings three days in a row, many proposals exchanged and new owners in on the talks, everything this week was starting to look really good. But it all came crashing to a dramatic halt Thursday with another deal falling through. I wrote about the first two deals here and here and am now going to tell you about the most intense negotiations yet. And how this time, who is at fault is a lot less clear.

More Talks, No Progress

It's been over a month since I've last written on this blog thanks to the NHL lockout. I still wrote about the Toronto Marlies here and here and also did some articles about the Ryerson Rams Volleyball teams here, here and here. But I've kept my eye on the NHL lockout and after today's big meeting, there is lots to talk about. Those that follow me on twitter know that I got really excited when the NHLPA came out and said no progress had been made; a nearly identical press conference to the one only one month ago. I'm going to collect those thoughts into a more organized article than quick 140 character tweets, and explain what happens now as the lockout nears day 70.

What Happened to the NHL this Week?

The NHL lockout nearly ended this week with a bomb shell offer from the NHL on Tuesday, but less than two days later, all momentum stopped and the negotiations stalled again. How did this happen? The NHL made "their best offer" and it sounded so good to the fans on Tuesday. 50/50 sounds fair, but reading between the lines reveals some details that upset the NHLPA. It was a good start but there is still lots of negotiations left before a deal is made.

Fans Upset with NHL Lockout

Author's Note: This article was written on Oct. 3, 2012 for my journalism class. Since then major changes have occurred in the NHL labour negotiations. 

    Hockey fans are upset with the NHL for locking out the players union and potentially cancelling the season.  

            “They’re wasting their time,” Adrian Laginski, an entrepreneur, said. “Most people make $40,000, not $4 million.” 

                        The NHL locked out its players at midnight on Sept.15 after the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the union expired.

            This was the same agreement that resolved the previous lockout which saw the entire 2004 season get cancelled.

            Ana Vayak Zunko came to Canada from Croatia for her honeymoon and was only able to see the Hockey Hall of Fame.

            “It sucks because this is my first time in Canada,” the university marketing professor said. “I wanted to see a game.”

            Dimitria Germanakos, an assistant law clerk, offered a solution to the problem.

            “If the league is making money then the players should get some of it,” she said.

            Last year the NHL reported revenues of $3.3 billion, up from $2.2 billion in 2004.

The main disagreement of the negotiation has been which side gets the earnings.

The players collected 57 per cent of the revenues last season but the owners want some of that cash.

After meetings on Tuesday in New York City, the sides seem to be far from agreeing.

But until they do, fans will continue to be angry.

“(They are) a bunch of spoiled, rich people,” Wayne MacNeil, a retired Thunder Bay resident said. “I’d love the fans to boycott.”  

All interviews were conducted in Brookfield plaza and the Hockey Hall of Fame store. 

The NHL Lockout: Here We Go Again

Last night at 12:00 the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement expired and the players were officially lockout by the owners. If that sounds familiar, it is because the exact same scenario played out only 8 years ago when the entire 2004-05 season was cancelled because of a lockout. That one was over whether the league should implement a salary cap and, as we all know, they did in the end. Since that missed season, the league has grown leaps and bounds. But yet still we find ourselves back in the same spot. How could this happen?

Reviving a Historic Arena: Maple Leaf Gardens

Historic Maple Leaf Gardens

When the Toronto Maple Leafs played their last game at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens back on February 13th 1999, the future of the building was unclear. For years the building where the Maple Leafs had won so many championships was empty, as corporations battled for the rights to use it for shopping space, hotels and other money making opportunities. But now the building has been revived and having seen it myself, and skated on the ice, I can safely say that sport is back at number 60 Carlton Street.

Captain's on the Move

This NHL offseason has been slower than most with many teams waiting to see what the new CBA looks like before making any drastic roster changes. However, of the players who have moved, an odd trend as emerged that isn't seen very often: the movement of captains. The biggest players making headlines were captains of their teams last year including Shea Weber, Rick Nash, Zach Parise and Shane Doan. Nick Lidstrom also left the team he captained, the Detroit Red Wings, but that was by retiring. In this post, I am going to discuss each of these four captains, including why they wanted to leave and why they chose their destinations. But one interesting thing that has come from all this, players don't simply want to be a captain, they want to win. 

Shea Weber made headlines last week when he signed a 14 year, $110 million offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers. The captain of the Nashville Predators, Weber was  clearly upset that long time defence partner and good friend Ryan Suter abandoned him to go play in Minnesota. Last night, Nashville matched the offer sheet and will keep Weber for now, but rumours of the Flyers preparing a trade offer are still swirling.

Nashville and Philadelphia have made big trades before, with current Flyers Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell coming from Nashville, while Dan Hamhuis and Peter Forsberg have also come over to Philly from Tennessee. Timonen was also once the captain of Nashville. So it is still possible that the two make a trade for Weber, but the amount of players Philly would have to give up for him could be quiet high. A trade offer to Nashville would have to include one or two of the following players: Eric Wellwood, Matt Read, Sean Couturier or Brayden Schenn as well as a defenceman like Nick Grossmann and a first round pick. It is hard to imagine Philadelphia willing to pull the trigger on such a deal but GM Paul Holmgren has made some big moves before. This captain's story is far from over still.

The Rick Nash trade saga finally ended on Monday with Columbus dealing their captain and franchise face to the team everyone thought they would, the New York Rangers. At first the return, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a first round pick, doesn't seem like much but Nash really wanted out and Columbus could not get a better trading partner than New York. Nash clearly no longer wanted to be captain on a team that had only played in four playoff games in their twelve year history. At age 28, Nash is ready to contend and play for a more competitive team and he will get that in New York. The Rangers finished atop the Eastern Conference last year and the three players they gave to Columbus were minor factors in that run. Nash is being added to a team that can go all the way next year and the Rangers should one of the more exciting teams for many years to come.

Zach Parise led his New Jersey team to the Stanley Cup final last spring but that wasn't enough to convince him to stay there when he became a free agent. The lure of playing for his home town Wild and with friend Ryan Suter was to great. It is very rare for a captain to abandon his team after such success and so all eyes will be on Parise next season to see if he can live up to his big contract. The feeling around the league is that Parise didn't want to leave, but if that was the case he probably wouldn't have. Many people wondered if after signing Ilya Kovalchuck to his big contract, would the Devils even be able to afford Parise at all. That turned out to be a problem for New Jersey and now their leader and best player is gone.

Shane Doan is in a very unique situation. His team has always been the Phoenix Coyotes, dating back to when they moved to Phoenix from Winnipeg. But the franchise is again experiencing ownership uncertainty and this time Doan, now 35, doesn't want to stay with the uncertainty; he wants to win. Phoenix has a good team and did go all the way to the Conference finals last year, but without knowing where they are going to play next year, the decision for Doan to stay becomes difficult; especially with teams like Detroit, New York Rangers and Philadelphia all offering him very nice contracts. Doan has given the Coyotes until Friday, July 27th to make up their mind but has already been taking offers and meeting with teams. I predict he will leave to join a more competitive team and that Phoenix will have a tough time drawing players to their system with him gone.

Looking back on all the captains that have left their teams, including Lidstrom, another strange pattern appears. Besides Nash and Columbus, all four are leaving competitive teams who did well last season and in the playoffs. Only Nash was on a team that was looking to rebuild. Other teams that are rebuilding such as Montreal, Toronto, Dallas and Tampa all were able to keep their captains without any worry of them leaving or asking to be traded. I'm not sure why things happened this way, but it does seem odd that these leaders would abandon their teams after having so much success only one year ago.

This has been my 100th post, which is amazing. My journalism career has grown leaps and bounds since I started this blog back in December 2010 and I thank you, the reader, for helping with that. I will continue to write on here as long as people keep coming back to read.

As always I can be reached at jbenny15@gmail.com or by commenting below this post. More samples of my writing can be found on my website, www.jbenny.com, and you can follow me on Twitter at @jbenny15. Thanks for reading.