Thoughtful column from Damien Cox in the Toronto Star asking that the NHL put goalies, snipers on level ice. The crux of his argument:

Whereas a prime scoring chance once came from a launching pad of approximately 1,500 square feet in the offensive zone, that area has, over the past decade, shrunk by almost 50 per cent. Letting goalies get huge, in other words, has artificially shrunk the rink.
Increasing the size of the nets will not only reset the correct ratio between goalie and available net, it should force defenders to again move further from their crease to defend.

Makes sense to me!

First, an apology. I haven't been posting much since Blogger seems to be very much a hit or miss thing these days.

As usual, Stan Fischler, maybe the ultimate NHL writer, has a lot to say and a lot of insight as he says it. His current piece on FOXSports.com show that the latest NHL move may pay off. More importantly, it exposes the NHLPA leadership for what it is: a rich-boys club that is trying to protect the few at the expense of the many. On a PR note (not that I'm an expert): if you're a labor union representing the "rank and file", how do you have meetings at Pebble Beach and play golf? The room rates start at $500 a night and go way up from there (and these guys don't stay in the little rooms) and a round of golf is $450. Nice message to the "little people", boys. You know: the ones who pay your inflated salaries. The guys in your own union who are playing in Europe for 20% of what they could be making here is you weren't so damn obtuse.

Here's what I like about this piece from Pittsburgh - the writer almost got it right! As you can see in Penguins left to ponder draft position, the NHL DID NOT, repeat after me DID NOT cancel the draft, which this writer understands, sort of:

The league canceled the draft yesterday primarily because Ottawa hotels could no longer hold the roughly 4,500 hotel rooms booked for the event. NHL executive vice president Bill Daly said that the league will bring the draft to Ottawa "as soon as possible," while at least one report out of Canada yesterday suggested a scaled-down version of the event was still possible.

Well, the reason is right but, in the words of the NHL's release - "The National Hockey League announced today that the 2005 NHL Entry Draft events have been cancelled." Not the draft, the events. Only the NHL could so something proper - allow the hotels and restaurants of Ottawa time to fill themselves since the likelihood is the NHL won't be coming - and have it misconstrued as something nefarious. Many writers talked about how the NHL is doing this now to exert pressure on the NHLPA when the simple truth is that it's 90 days or so before the reservations would need to be used.

My favorite line in this article : "nice work Bob Goodenow." Amen. NHL players are kicked in the seat as they are widely ignored trying to play "exhibitions" outside of the NHL. While there is no doubt the players make the game, the game is bigger than any set of players - hey, they all retire at some point - and putting on just any sweater isn't going to get it done. Good lessons here. You listening, Bob?

Over the last couple of days, I've seen more and more columns like this one in USATODAY stating the NHLPA needs to cut its losses and get back on the ice. They are not really taking a side as much as they are accepting reality. That reality is that the longer this lockout goes on, the more damage is done to the game and the more damage that's done, the worse off the players (because they're part of the whole) will be. No deal that's made is going to be perfect for either side and the players (and owners) need to understand that. I believe the owners do. Their balking at raising the cap (without linkage) to $45 million shows that they don't mind imperfection but are unwilling to set themselves (and we fans) up for another problem a few years from now.
Anyone who has ever worked in sales and been paid commissions knows about linkage. The better the business is the more you make. This isn't a new concept, not even in sports (NBA, NFL). The NHLPA needs to fight hard for a fair commission rate, one that won't bankrupt the business. Somewhere between the current 75% they make and the 53% the owners have offered is a number that works. The NHLPA needs to accept that and get this game we love back on track. 100% of nothing ain't much!

Much as I hate to admit it, Larry Brooks is setting the right tone in this morning's piece. While some of his proposals aren't quite right, I applaud is tone and agree that

This is also the time for all of us to lower our voices, myself included. Each of us who loves this game has an obligation to it. Each of us has an obligation to stop dragging it — and each other — through the mud.

Good for you, Larry and shame on all of us if we can't provide food for the NHL/NHLPA's thought as you have done. A deal has to be reached soon or this game we all love will be nothing but cinders.

The Bruins' owner does a good job of putting it all out in terms so simple even an NHLPA leader can understand them. While I think the entire article is insightful, this struck me in aprticular:

"We've got [Joe] Thornton and [Sergei] Samsonov playing for 10 cents on the dollar [in Europe] right now and they're not insured for it, or if they are, they're paying for it," he said. "It's silly. They may want to do that two or three years in a row, I don't know. Maybe when we come back, they won't be the greatest players ever. It isn't that we didn't offer a whole lot of money. Right now, if we come back as weak as I think we're going to come back, we will not be able to afford what we've offered [previously]. This is what is the foolhardiness. Doing damage to this game has not improved their negotiating [leverage]. This is going to hurt them because we have to tie [salaries] to revenues."

Exactly. Foolhardy.

Funny piece today in the St. Louis Post-Dispatchsaying that players just want to play. Oh, wish it were so! Well, that's a bit strong - I do believe that had they been under some leadership that cares more about them than it does about "the union", we'd be looking at the NHL Trade Deadline now instead of at an empty schedule.
The players do want to play but unless they make that clear to their leadership, they're going to be playing for far less than they could be already. As this piece in a college paper states, The NHL Players' Union Officially Stood for Nothing and that's the problem. They were against everything, proposed a 24% roll back of ficticious salaries (how can you call it otherwise when over half the league is unsigned?) and never really came to the table with a proposal based on their acceptance of the NHL's financial problems.
But wait. Imagine if the predictions of an $800 million revenue stream are correct! Let's give the NHLPA ALL THE MONEY and that's $26.6 million per team. Nice work, Bob. That's 15% less than a worst-case number the press threw around for months.
Leadership indeed.....

What the hell kind of fantasy land do people like Al Strachen and Larry Brooks live in? Here is Al's piece about today's NHL board of governors meeting. Yes, they will laud Gary and they should. But Al, and the other NHLPA spokesperson, Larry, write today about the way the BOG operates and chooses to share revenue. Both make the BOG to be 30 inept people, at best, and sneaky evil-doers at worst.
Does anyone believe that these guys got the millions it takes to buy an NHL franchise becasue they don't know how to run a business? Does anyone believe that they would accept having their investment jeopardized without any input? Al and Larry seem to, and that's why it's painfully obvious that they don't think before they write - they just listen to Bob and put down what he tells them to. Yes, Larry, the owners aren't sharing as much of their revenue as the NFL or the NBA but maybe that's none of your business. If Toronto makes a lot of money and Nashville is struggling, why is that a concern of yours as long as the players make their fair share (and the more than half they make is pretty fair, much less the 75% they're at now). Gary has said the BOG wants 30 healthy franchises playing in the cities in which they now play. How they get to that once the players are paid seems to me to be the BOG's problem. Frankly, I think the huge percentage of revenues at both the NFL and NBA that come from NATIONAL TV, not local sources, makes revenue sharing easier. Yes, I think it makes some sense for the "rich" clubs to support the "poor" clubs so the level of competition is high across the board (hey, you still have to sell out against Columbus and Florida) but I'm willing to let the BOG make their beds.
The players have blown it and now they're trying to figure out what they can criticize to bring public opinion towards them. Nothing, boys. It's over. You want a better deal? Make one today. Because every day that goes by makes it harder for the NHL to recover and half or more of that revenue decrease is coming out of your pockets.