I'm Gonna Be SO Unemployed in 2011

by SamFels on Jul 28, 2009 1:15 AM CDT Comment 23 comments

Interesting piece by Puck Daddy tonight on the future of long-term deals. Frankly, it boggles my mind how senseless owners are, and the lengths they'll go to to try and protect themselves from their own stupidity. We lost an entire season and much of the game's fanbase so they could institute a system they thought would protect themselves from themselves. So they hired people smart enough to keep their teams intact, and now that's not good enough?

A major flaw in the thinking is that every sport wants to model itself on the NFL. Obviously, wanting to emulate the king in this country is not the worst idea. However, it is not the salary cap, or the parity, that makes the NFL the leading sport on these shores. They are part of it, but not the main whole. The TV deals, the fact that it has one day all to itself, and most of all, the gambling, all contribute to the NFL's lofty status. But when NHL owners study the NFL through lenses shaped from their pocketbooks, all they see is the cost certainty.

Frankly, I think the NFL's parity makes it far less enjoyable. The fact that Super Bowl berths are passed around like a joint almost renders them meaningless. Wait long enough, you'll get your turn. Football, for me, was more enjoyable in the 80's, though I only remember it as a kid, when the Giants, Niners, and yes, Bears, could be counted to be powers. Those teams and games against them meant something. When you look back at the teams that won then, you know who they had to overcome. It made the accomplishment greater. These days? Doubtful.

It's better for the game if great teams stay together. The only team people will remember from this era, from the late 90's on, are sadly, the Red Wings. But did they ever have a great rival? A Celtics to their Lakers? A Giants to their Niners? Maybe the Pens now, time will tell. But it's those titans that draw interest to the game. A name everyone recognizes after years and seasons of success. Having a rotating cast of Finals teams doesn't do anyone any good, and cheapens the accomplishment of winning the Cup. The public doesn't get to know any of the players or coaches. It's just another Swedish guy lifting the Cup. But even the casual fan, when he hears, "Detroit Red Wings" knows the style they play, the talent they put on the ice. There's an instant connotation. When you hear 80's Oilers, you think goals goals goals. When you hear 80's Forty-Niners, you think Montana to Rice. When you hear 80's Giants, you think LT and Mark Bavarro and Phil Simms. Now, what do you think when you hear 2004 Lightning? Yeah, not much.

Of course Brian Burke is bitching about long-term contracts. Not only is bitching the only thing he's really good at -- other than use big words to describe toughness that gives Canadians a breeze between their legs --, but these long term deals give him less access to other team's talent. Well, tough shit. Draft better, make better trades, and stockpile your own talent. You think if Burke had a Toews or Keith to lock up right now he'd be complaining about these deals? Probably not, as if he'd have time to get Don Cherry's lips from around his dork anyway.

There is still cost certainty. The Wings, Hawks, Flyers, and any other team that have signed these deals will eventually pay the money on them, unless the owners change the system again because they don't like the one they just created. It's silliness. The NHL needs teams to sustain succes and be perenially challenging, to build up a familiarity. If teams can't acquire enough talent to lock up long-term, that's their fault, and they should suffer for their own stupidity. But no, they're going to make us all suffer for their stupidity, with yet another work stoppage.

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"Now what do you think when you hear 2004 Lightning?"

… a memory sneaks into my brain: Geez, Jassen Cullimore is going to help out this blueline a ton ….

by ChicoMaki on Jul 28, 2009 7:27 AM CDT reply actions

I think of the saying, “Safe is Death.”

And that’s about it when it comes to the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning.

Well…that and the fact the Conn Smythe Trophy winner from that season is now in Dallas.

But that’s it.

Defending Big D | TheStarsFans | But a Hawks fan since 1989

by Brandon Bibb on Jul 28, 2009 10:32 AM CDT up reply actions

So....

What would become of the existing long term, front loaded contracts if they institute some sort of cap on contract length (after another crippling lockout, of course)? I would think that the current contracts would just be grandfathered in since they occurred during the previous CBA and just no new ones over a certain number of years would be allowed. The point that I’m getting at is that it could be a good thing that the “Big Three” will need to be signed before the current CBA expires because the Hawks could probably still get away with signing them to extremely long term contracts (though they are probably all still young enough to fulfill a super long deal).

Oh, and Brian Burke is a bitch.

by Geoffhawk on Jul 28, 2009 10:00 AM CDT reply actions

Lightning, growing the sport where it wouldn't exist

I generally agree with the sentiment that it is important to have certain “power” teams constantly competing for the title. That is healthy for the sport and rivalries are good for continuing to grow the game.

But it is also important to get new blood. The NBA has the problem of too many power teams without injecting new blood. For the last 10 years it has been Spurs and Lakers with some surprises here and there. But it is these surprises that make the next season interesting.

I am from Florida, not a hockey market. But I was sitting down every night to watch the Lightning and it really got me into hockey. I remember screaming so loud at my TV when Martin St. Louis scored the game-winner in Game Six that I woke up half my house. I went to my first NHL game that season. It was incredible. The lockout killed a little bit of my interest, but I can say I am a hockey fan because of it.

Sure, Tampa is still not a great hockey market. But that run opened hockey up to an entirely new group of fans. It is good to have power teams, but it is also good to have Davids to defeat those Goliaths. The big problem is when teams cannot stay on top — like the Lightning did after the lockout. That is what is really bad.

There has to be quick ascendencies to the top. Staying on the top. And then a slow decline to begin again.

Philip,
The Curse of the Big Aristotle
http://bigaristotle.blogspot.com/

by philrsquared on Jul 28, 2009 10:37 AM CDT reply actions

I see where you're comin' from

…but also like the NBA, I think there were plenty of David and Goliath’s before the league became 30 teams, many in now soundly confirmed uninterested markets. I feel bad for the Lightning too, but they have a Cup and still have some of the more exciting players in the league to watch live on the ice night to night.

Did you hear Vancouver is crying for another NBA franchise? Don’t care? Neither do I.

I’m pretty sure the league can be comprised of 30 healthy, self-sustaining teams, but the suits have to realize that along with opening things up (and welcoming great new fans), the market also becomes more fickle and must respond more aggressively – so you have to put the teams where they will actually work, and not just according to your star accountants mathematical theories. For some current markets, this is too great a burden to endure through the rollercoaster seasons. There are many teams in this league that sell out every night over years and years, through good and BAD.

The 2 Florida teams finished in the bottom 10 of the NHL for attendance this past season… though not as low as Nashville, Phoenix, or the Islanders to name a few of the more dismal markets. If you’re Tampa, a slide from 8th (2003) to 21st (2009) in league attendance standings has to cause some concern, uh, to be polite. If it weren’t for the faces of LeCavalier and St. Louis (and those of the Lightning Girls) showing up and performing night after night, I wonder where those attendance #’s would be?

I raise a pint in favor of long term contracts.

"Call Detroit, tell dem... BULLSHIT!"

by Hungryhawk on Jul 28, 2009 12:47 PM CDT up reply actions

Screw Burke...

Just like Burke had his big “screw you” to Dany Heatley for asking for a trade, knowing full well Heatley had no interest in going to Toronto, where Burke had no such issue when Pronger asked for a trade while Burke was in Anaheim.

Long-term contracts are crucial to the NHL, because they have to be able to build fan support in markets that haven’t been hockey-friendly to this point, and without long-term deals, you run the risk of having hockey versions of the Pittsburgh Pirates, where everyone knows they can only enjoy a good young player until he get UFA status, or gets traded to a team with deeper pockets.

But, yeah, the NHL will probably punt another season, just in time for the current network contracts to expire, thus insuring no big windfall from new contracts.

HOCKEENIGHT.COM...home of FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS and the HOCKEENIGHT PUCKCAST!!!

by Forklift14 on Jul 28, 2009 12:01 PM CDT reply actions

the NFL

There are so many NFL elitists out there that are always yapping. “The NHL….who cares….MLB…….who cares, football is america’s game”. What they don’t understand is that fantasy football has probably been the main contributor to the spike in popularity of the NFL. I’m not sure how long fantasy sports, and more specifically fantasy football, has been around (I would assume a decade or so), but I remember the “good old days” when people who liked sports watched sports simply because they liked it, not because they want to beat some tool in their office at fantasy football (or insert any other fantasy sport).

Don’t get me wrong, I like the NFL, and I love me some Bears football, and call me elitist if you want, but I liked it better when sports was reserved for sports fans who had no other motives than desparately wanting their favorite teams to win. I’m not saying that everyone into fantasy sports didn’t like sports before, but we all know the kind of people Im talking about, the sports statistician that materialized out of nowhere, the guy who thinks he knows more about sports than you because he can quote Andre Johnson’s YAC average this season. I understand that fantasy sports has brought more people into the sporting world, but are they really the people we want to talk sports with? When the bears lose and get smoked by Adrian Peterson should you really be comforted by the fact that he is on your fantasy team!?

Sorry for the rant, it wasn’t directed at anyone, but the talk of the NFL being at the height of its popularity, while true, drives me insane.

"If you're scared, go buy a dog" - Stacey King

by hackerar on Jul 28, 2009 12:54 PM CDT reply actions

I couldn't tell you Andre Johnson's YAC is

but I will tell you Mark Buerhle’s BABIP is almost impressive as his WARP and WHIP. Of course, when you factor in the fact that his DEF_EFF is highest among regular pitchers in his rotation, you have to wonder? Is it luck? Of course, QERA would suggest his numbers may worsen over the course of the year. But with Buerhle being Buerhle, I wouldn’t be too sure.

Got more soul than a sock with a hole.

by chrome on Jul 28, 2009 3:12 PM CDT up reply actions

hilarious

and to clarify, I enjoy stats, stats in sports are good. For example, due to my own curiosity, I looked up Tazer’s face off win % in the playoffs and saw that his percentage was at like 62% (at one point), and why you ask did I do this……..not sure, maybe I’m a sports freak, but I can tell you that it had nothing to do with fantasy hockey.

"If you're scared, go buy a dog" - Stacey King

by hackerar on Jul 28, 2009 3:23 PM CDT up reply actions

No I know what you're saying.

Fantasy football has ruined football for me. I don’t want to watch it with anyone anymore, because I just don’t give a shit that some dude on the Chargers is your receiver.

Got more soul than a sock with a hole.

by chrome on Jul 29, 2009 10:28 AM CDT up reply actions

Holy fuck...

I just remembered why I left all my technical jobs behind; conversations with more acronyms than verbs… the jargon…the jargon…! (sweaty fat bald guy breathes heavily: end scene)

by russellguldin on Jul 28, 2009 10:55 PM CDT up reply actions

NFL’s success
4. violent hits by defensemen who never have to worry about getting hit back unless they’re matching up against the Hines Ward…aka the MLB AL DH pussification system. Hi Pedro Martinez & Roger Clemens.
3. 16 game regular season (‘so every game is meaningful’)
2. fantasy football
1. gambling

the NHL isn’t alone, every league needs to adopt the best aspects of the other major sports. Unfortunately MLB needs some sort of loose salary cap ..doesn’t need to be a hard cap like the NHL but like $150M max along with a floor. The NFL and MLB both need entry level rookie deals along the lines of the NBA. to eliminate the ridiculous bonuses and long term contracts. The NBA just needs to go away, and run NBA games from 1979-1998 on a loop, and the NHL needs to do away with the 3 year entry level contracts and institute an approach more like MLB where the drafting clubs control the players’ rights for 5-6 years with smaller and more reasonable escalators. As Eddie O discussed last week, there needs to be something done about the 3 year entry level deal escalators…it’s ridiculous. Mid-tier players like Buff should not be going from six figure deals to $3M.

by Crease Monkey on Jul 28, 2009 3:49 PM CDT reply actions

It would make the Toews/Kane situation much easier, wouldn’t it?

by russellguldin on Jul 29, 2009 8:13 AM CDT up reply actions

A big reason for the popularity of football

is its accessibility to play. Grab a football and five other people and you can play a fun scrimmage just about anywhere. What kid didn’t play touch football in the street or tackle football in the grass? You can play a game of football just about anywhere and anywhen. Hockey requires, at least, a smooth surface, a stick and a ball or puck. Everywhere in the US is a market for football because a pickup game can be played everywhere in the US. When anyone can go out at any time and play a sport, it is very easy for a sport to become popular with a population.

I read an article in a sport magazine many years ago that responded to the NHL’s expansion by comparing US sports to soda. Baseball was Coca-Cola, football was Pepsi, basketball was 7-Up, and hockey was RC. The article said that RC was a great soda, just as good as the others, but it didn’t have the national distribution that the Big Three had, nor did it have their advertising dollars. What it had was a flavor that appealed to enough people that allowed RC to make a good profit while also keeping its customers in some regions very happy. The biggest mistake that RC could make would be to try and spend a ton of money and get into regions that it was never in before in order to try and supplant the Big Three. It would not, it could not, do so. What RC does instead is just stay happy and relatively small.

Needless to say, Bettman never read the article, and he clearly drinks Coke. Mixed in with the blood of children choking on broken dreams, of course.

by russellguldin on Jul 28, 2009 11:06 PM CDT reply actions 3 recs

Very nice turn of phrase, sir.

I now understand why I prefer RC.

SHOOOOOOOT IT!!!! Anon

by burpchelischili on Jul 29, 2009 5:21 AM CDT up reply actions

I love some RC Cola!

Pick-up football+gambling+playing once a week+favorites winning more often than not=Why the NFL is successful.

by Mike Martin on Jul 29, 2009 12:08 PM CDT up reply actions

That sounds like something they serve at Barleycorn.

Got more soul than a sock with a hole.

by chrome on Jul 29, 2009 1:14 PM CDT up reply actions

I grew up with...

RC and hockey. Nothing wrong with that!

by MissConduct10 on Jul 29, 2009 3:37 PM CDT up reply actions

RC merged back with 7up awhile ago so they’re back to 3rd class citizens. I worked for 7-up a couple summers while on summer break from college. The 7-up Co is a strange corporation in that they are happy to be the third choice and anytime they develop or are contracted to distribute a hot product like Vitamin Water a few years ago they’ll quickly sell it. I think Snapple is about the only product that they’ve held on to. They’re not interested in getting into fast food chains for fountain drinks or stadiums etc. They do have the market cornered on drink mixers…but yeah they like being #3.

by Crease Monkey on Jul 29, 2009 3:46 PM CDT up reply actions