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March 3, 2005
Wayne Scanlan
The Ottawa Citizen
It has been a strange winter for hockey fans, and up next we have the
possibility of replacement players.
One day we'll look back at hockey's temporary insanity of 2005 and ask
ourselves, "Did these things really happen?"
If we weren't living through this, we could hardly believe that:
- Hockey is smashing attendance records and stirring national pride -- in
Sweden, not in Canada.
- Some of the game's top professionals have been pulling strings in order to
sign deals with clubs in Europe, the American Hockey League and the United
Hockey League. Yes, the mighty UHL. These same pros who are bumping
blue-collar players from their jobs grew up with a single dream: to play in
the NHL.
God have mercy on the mercenaries.
- The World Hockey Association, sounding like the boy who cried wolf,
continues to make noises about a revival. OK, so it didn't pull it off last
fall. Neither did the NHL. Now, WHA officials suggest it will happen later
this year, at the same time as the NHL is prepared to forge ahead with the
2005-06 season, using replacement players, if necessary.
Will fans want to see any of this? The carnival atmosphere of the WHA or a
diluted product in the NHL?
It's a Sophie's Choice -- replacement players or a replacement league.
According to the NHL Fan Association website, 46 per cent of NHLFA members
support the NHL's use of replacement players, compared to 42 per cent
opposed. But that support seems to apply in principle, as opposed to
practice, because only 35 per cent said they would watch as many NHL games
as they used to if replacement players were in the lineup.
Some fans are so angry with the NHL and its players after the cancelled
2004-05 season, they welcome the use of replacements -- in a
you'll-get-yours, kind of way.
Why shouldn't hockey players toiling in semi-pro leagues in the U.S. or in
Europe get a chance to play in the NHL temporarily if some of these same
players are getting pushed aside by locked out NHLers this winter?
Speaking after Tuesday's board of governors meeting in New York on Tuesday,
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was careful to avoid pushing the hot button
that comes with public use of the "R" word.
Asked about a plan to start up next season with replacement players, Bettman
would only say that there were "a variety of options" to consider. The
implication being that replacement players are just one way to go.
The owners, though, left little doubt that the plan is to soldier on with a
season come hell or replacements.
Eugene Melnyk of the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers chairman Cal
Nicholls were just two of many owners who sent out a message to fans that
there would be NHL hockey next fall. In Nicholls' words, there will be a
season "however it happens."
Exactly what form that hockey will take is still anyone's guess.
There are so many hurdles to leap before replacements could be brought in,
it's easy to appreciate that a negotiated deal should be the preferred
option.
Bettman did say he would soon invite the players' association back to the
bargaining table, but it has become next to impossible to sort out genuine
negotiating interest from strategy and ploy in this mess.
Let's assume the league can use replacements. That's a large assumption
because it has to stickhandle around the labour laws of two countries and
four provinces.
Each step of the way, management would run headlong into a familiar foe,
only now the players would be trying to use antitrust laws in their favour.
Obtaining the necessary approvals to declare impasse and start up with
replacements could take months, which is why the league has already started
down that road. It will continue down that road if it is still trying to
negotiate a collective bargaining agreement at the same time.
But if the league is successful in declaring impasse and invites NHLers to
leave their association nest, with open offers to non-NHL players,
management has to worry about the public reaction. To paraphrase Network,
hockey fans are already mad as hell and don't want to take it any more. Are
they willing to buy tickets to see a substandard product?
The best scenario for all concerned is that the "R" factor becomes the
driving force to a deal rather than an outcome in itself. In other words,
the threat of replacements, with all of the baggage it includes, could be
enough to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
And if not, if a replacement season were to get under way, it would have the
shelf life of mayonnaise at a July picnic.
One of two things will happen in an RHL: either fans stay away in droves,
forcing the league to run back to its players, or it's a modest success,
with hundreds of association members crossing over the line, which finally
breaks Bob Goodenow's hold and allows the NHL to establish its desired
economic system.
Either way, fans wouldn't have to wait long for a resolution.
Just another temporary measure in this year of temporary insanity.
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