Bluelines: Rivalries, CBA news and missed calls to the Hall

Jun 15, 2005

Once the official NEW NHL sked is released, expect a lot more intra-Conference games than before. The password is RIVALRIES!

Here’s the inside scoop on the ESPN-NHL split. Contrary to most reports, the league wanted no more to do with the network. This goes back a couple of years as Gary Bettman watched ESPN’s treatment of the NHL become shabbier and shabbier. League strategy now centers on several TV options. If nothing else, ESPN showed that it knew how to kick a loyal partner when the NHL was down!

For those wondering when the CBA will be wrapped up, the equation is simple: When the players take their destiny in their own hands. Remarkably, that’s what seems to be happening.

One of the unanswered questions Bob Goodenow should be answering is why did his union only begin studying the Levitt (NHL Fiscal Problems) Report so many months after it was issued?

It would surprise no one in the know if the NHL eventually adopted the European custom of putting corporate logos on hockey jerseys.

The late Brooks was honored in Lake Placid, but why not Toronto? (AP)

Insiders tell us that the primary reason Edmonton’s successful AHL Road Runners have been gassed is that they became too popular for their own good. On the assumption that there’ll be NHL hockey in the fall, Oilers’ brass wants no competition from a minor league team.

With Ryan McGill dropped as Rangers’ AHL coach in Hartford, it’ll be interesting to see who takes over; specifically whether g.m. Jim Schoenfeld goes behind the bench.

Dom Hasek’s assertion that he wants to return to Ottawa next season is well and good. But what happens if the NHLPA’s anti-make-a-deal forces within the union suddenly rise up and take over? We’re told there recently was an attempt to persuade Europeans like Hasek to reject the pact when it’s done.

The “Where’s Sid Crosby Going To Play?” rumor mill is running overtime. He’d love Pittsburgh because The Kid and Mario Lemieux are good pals. Imagine Kid Crosby and Le Magnifique on the same line!

Bain Capital—and it’s ever-growing offer to buy the NHL—could be the bane of the NHLPA, if the union isn’t careful. Should there by no CBA done by mid-July, the NHL could tell the union fuhgetaboutit. Bain then steps in, buys the league – but lets owners such as the Red Wings’ Mike Ilitch continue to run their teams. If Bain moves – bet on it! – the union is bye-bye!

Every week in every way, we hear that Mike Gartner’s stature at the CBA negotiating table is growing. Classy as a player, MG introduced that reasonable feel of his when it was most needed.

Don’t for a second believe the periodic Toronto-based rumors that Wayne Gretzky is holding out on re-signing with Phoenix because of a possible Rangers’ front office offer.

Much as we’re big fans of Robert Esche, the lad from Utica is going to have his hands full at training camp. Antero Niittymaki finished the AHL playoffs with a (Phantoms) Calder Cup. Plus a 15-5 record, 1.75 goals against and .943 save percentage. Beating Chi four-straight in the Finals, Niitty was 0.91, .971 and playoff MVP!

Nobody inspired more smiles among the Hall of Fame selectors than the sight of Al (Radar) Arbour in Toronto. Face it, the NHL never has been graced by a more insightful, humorous, likeable and sincere guy than Alger from Sudbury.

'Radical' Milbury is ready for change. (AP)

Hall of Fame voting – especially the omissions – invariably produces gripes. The most legitimate beef this year surrounds the inexplicable failure to induct Herb Brooks.

Echoing the feelings of many American hockey people, Lou Nanne tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “I’m totally upset that Herb didn’t get in. It’s a large oversight.” Or, as the paper notes, “The Hall includes coaches and management types called ‘builders.’ If Brooks doesn’t qualify as a builder, who does?”

Answer: Herb belongs but – let’s face it – there’s such a thing as politics; which may also explain the exclusion of Glenn Anderson, Dino Ciccarelli and Rick Middleton. “It makes you wonder,” the Pioneer Press concludes, “if there’s a bias toward Canadian builders over American builders.” Good question!

And speaking of egregious Hall omissions: Kevin Lowe, who covered up for all Paul Coffey’s mistakes, when Coffey pretended play defense for Edmonton, definitely rated induction.

What do media types feel about the state of the NHLPA? Writing for CanWest News in the Calgary Herald, Iain Macintyre claims that the union has been “cleaved in half” by the Civil War.

“Most of its 700 members feel betrayed, having been promised for years by Bob Goodenow and the executive that they could win the Salary Cap issue,” says Macintyre. “That if they displayed resolve and solidarity they could survive an extended lockout, that their financial sacrifice in 2004-2005 would be repaid with the continuation of a free-market system.”

Macintyre concludes: “That Goodenow should lose his job seems beyond debate.” We’re told that Goodenow’s NHLPA “golden parachute” is so lucrative he won’t have to work again for the rest of his life!

Since Bob (TSN) McKenzie rarely is wrong, we’re assuming his call that Brian Burke has the Anaheim job is on target. LA Times’ Chris Foster adds that it’s a five-year deal at one mil per. With the exception of Al Coates, all hockey personnel – including Mike Babcock’s –contracts are up.

After the NHL-NHLPA Civil War is over, there’ll be battle within the league. It’ll pit the conservative-traditionalists against the change-the-rules radicals. Mike Milbury is fast becoming leader of the latter.

“Everyone’s always talking tradition,” Milbury tells the Boston Globe’s Kevin Dupont. “and heritage and it’s been that way for years. We focus on that and meanwhile nothing gets done!”

Milbury not only boasts he’s “a radical” but adds that he votes “yes for everything!” We wonder whether he’d vote “aye” for Ken Dryden’s four-skaters-a-side-for-60-minutes idea; the best of them all!

When the NHLPA membership decides whether or not to dump Bob Goodenow, it should consider Toronto Sun columnist Mike Ulmer’s point: “The contract the players eventually sign will be the biggest backtrack in the sport’s history.” Or try the Toronto Star’s Damien Cox: “The union was essentially hijacked by a small group of strong-willed individuals and paid employees with the broader interests of the majority shoved aside.”

Ask Steve Thomas or Mike Commodore who spoke up against the Cap last Fall. “They were crushed and silenced and, in some cases, forced to recant,” Cox correctly concludes.

And if anyone still is foolish enough to doubt the NHL owners’ resolve, believe this: the governors are fully prepared to sit out the 2005-2006 season if a satisfactory CBA is not signed!!

If Steve (Toronto Sun) Simmons has it right that Al Mogilny will accept more than a $3 million pay CUT to play for Toronto next season, we’re looking at one helluva story.

“What Mogilny is doing,” says Simmons, “is what enough players haven’t been doing throughout the lockout. He’s relying on himself rather than his association.”