Will the NHL Maintain Elite Status?
Skip Sauer’s post about the NHL being on thin ice leads me to say something too few are talking about. It’s something I keep going back and forth about with any of the hockey people I know. Players aren’t simply signing over in Europe - some are signing for real money.
Yesterday’s story about Stephane Veilleux was simply about picking Russia over the minors money-wise - but Russia is starting to pay a decent sum to its players and already has million dollar contracts; this is merely a stepping stone if the NHL doesn’t resolve this dispute immediately. What happens when the Russian league gets even stronger during this lockout (and Russia’s middle class continues to grow)?
Suddenly you have homegrown players here in North America “defecting” to Russia. Maple Leafs dreams or not, 18-year old Canadian kids will not think twice about cruising around Europe with a few extra million in their pockets.
Where’s the entrepreneurial spirit over there? I’m quite surprised a few owners haven’t met up to try and build some super league over there (despite a few being named “super league”, it doesn’t exist yet). A few of the best teams in each country’s elite leagues and you still have decently easy travel and tons of competition and talent; and most likely a hell of a lot more revenue as well. You don’t have to abandon the lesser teams either. Most of the leagues can survive a drop of a couple of teams, and some could combine their forces as well to create an upper-tier minor league system over there. There’s a ton of opportunity, and it’s not as risky as it may seem - after all, many Europeans have already signed contracts without escape clauses. Lockout or no lockout, they’re staying there now and it’s foolish to let that much talent fade into the European leagues as they stand now.
If you have a case against a cap, this can certainly be on the list and be believable. The NHL is in more danger of not being an elite league then most care to acknowledge. Hockey does not need a soccer situation. Fans over here do not want to pick one of many leagues or attempt to follow all of them.
Side-note: I’m surprised that the only European league (that I know of) to have a North American television contract is the Swedish Elite League (the SEL has a contract with Rogers Sportsnet in Canada). With so many players in Russia and the Czech Republic, and even a couple of stars in Switzerland, I would expect some local sports stations to at least try and grab a few games from a league where the most local talent has surfaced.
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