It’s official… finally. After the NHL season was officially canceled Wednesday, there were talks of more talks and hope for a resolution between the owners and the players. But alas, there will be no NHL hockey this year. If the league returns next year, will the fans come back?
The players first refused a salary cap and later said they would accept a salary cap no lower than $49 million. That means each team would have $49 million to spend on its 20-man roster. The owners, due to lost profits, said they could go no higher than $42.5 million. The average NHL player made over $1 million last season, and many so-called superstars garnered paychecks over $10 million.
When are these professional athletes going to learn that they get paid to play? The millions of fans who occupy the real world would play for food money. I’d pay them to let me play major league baseball.
Most players give various excuses for wanting more money. “We fill the seats and make the TV ratings, but we don’t see our fair share of the profits,” they say. But the fact is, only 11 of the 30 teams turned a profit last season.
It seems to me that the players are overlooking one very important thing. Unfortunately, hockey is a second-class sport in America. Baseball, football and basketball rule American sports, and they probably always will.
But there are a few things that would make the sport more desirable to Americans and ensure that another year doesn’t go by in which no one plays for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
First, if the players want to continue playing the sport they love-in the only environment that can afford to pay them well for it-they should make some sacrifices to make it happen. If that means getting paid $6 million a year instead of $9.3, then so be it.
Second, the league should consider contraction. Cut some of the expansion teams. The talent pool is just too diluted to provide the fans with the quality product we want to see. For an exciting game, I recommend a healthy 24- or 26-team league, and perhaps another minor league, over a struggling 30-team one.
Also, put one of those zip-line cameras above the rink like in football and use it as the primary angle for television broadcasts of games. It makes the rink more visible to the TV audience because they don’t have to look through the glass and boards. This will make the puck much easier to follow from your living room couch.
Some rule changes could also help the NHL change its fortunes. First, get rid of the stick curvature rule. The rule was put in place when goalies were not as protected as they are now. Americans like to see scoring-that’s why major league baseball has allowed juiced balls and juiced players for the past 10 years. Don’t make the goal bigger or the goalie’s pads smaller. Let the players score more with the tools they have, but let those sticks be curvier.
Second, make sure the referees enforce the rules in the book like hooking, clutching and obstruction or allow the players to police themselves by getting rid of the instigator rule. Players scared of getting a harsher penalty are less likely to protect their scorers or themselves. And the first one to drop the gloves should not be charged extra if he’s been getting molested all game and the referee’s aren’t calling anything.
Next, do away with the red line for two-line passes. No red line means the fastest players are rewarded instead of punished for reading a play quickly and getting out in front. Right now, the red line handcuffs the offense. This may allow more cherry picking, but more cherry picking means more goals for both sides. Think about it. If one of my guys is down on the other end of the ice, and the puck is down on my end, the other team has a 5-4 and a better chance to score. Meanwhile, if the puck gets poked out to the cherry picker, he has an exciting one-on-one between him and the goalie.
Finally, reinstitute tag-up offsides, like in the AHL. As it is now, a player has to skate around aimlessly and wait for his teammate to get out off the offensive zone before he can enter the zone with the puck. Tag-up offsides would allow the player to go on offense right of the bat with no whistle as long as his teammate skates back to the neutral zone and touches the blue line. In the AHL, it has made the game flow better, and it has allowed more opportunities to set up offense. And Americans like offense.
Making some small changes to the game will make hockey easier and more enjoyable for American sports fans. And in the end, it will ensure that the fans are not insulted again by billionaire owners arguing with millionaire players over a few bucks.
Nick Thompson is a senior communication major. He can be reached at [email protected].