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Posted on 02/18/2005 11:35:24 AM PST by Alberta's Child
A brief timeline of the modern National Hockey League. I posted some of these items on a long thread the other day, and I though I'd take the time to build on it some more . . .
1. In 1967, the NHL expands from the "Original Six" teams (which is really a misnomer because the league varied from 4 to 10 teams throughout the first 25 years of its existence from the 1917-18 to the 1942-43 seasons). The Original Six play in their own division, while the new expansion teams -- which include the California Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the St. Louis Blues -- are assigned to their own division. It will be several years before these expansion teams are truly competitive . . . the Stanley Cup is won by Original Six teams in 4-0 sweeps in the Finals every year from 1967-68 to 1969-70.
The 1967 expansion also marks the beginning of the National Hockey League Players' Association. Alan Eagleson is named the executive director of the NHLPA, a role he would fill for almost 25 years.
2. The Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks join the league for the 1970-71 season, and the divisions and playoff format are modified. The Original Six teams continue to dominate the league through the 1972-73 season.
3. The Atlanta Flames and the New York Islanders are added between 1972 and 1974. The Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals join in 1974-75, bringing the league to a total of 18 teams.
The World Hockey Association begins play in 1972, and becomes a credible competitor to the NHL when Chicago Blackhawks star Bobby Hull is signed to a $1 million WHA contract and NHL legend Gordie Howe comes out of retirement to join the league.
4. In 1973-74 the Philadelphia Flyers become the first team from the post-1967 expansion era to win the Stanley Cup. They win a second consecutive Cup in 1974-75 over the Buffalo Sabres -- the first time two post-1967 expansion teams meet in the Finals.
5. The first obvious signs of economic strain in the NHL appear in 1976-77, when the California Seals move to Cleveland and become the Barons and the Kansas City Scouts move to Colorado and become the Rockies. The Barons only last two years in Cleveland before they merge with the Minnesota North Stars.
1977 also marks the year John Ziegler is named commissioner of the National Hockey league, replacing NHL icon Clarence Campbell -- who had served in that position since 1946.
6. The World Hockey Association folds in 1979 under a mutual agreement with the National Hockey League, in which four WHA teams (Quebec Nordiques, Hartford Whalers, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers) are permitted to join the NHL.
The Edmonton Oilers become one of the top teams in the NHL almost immediately. Their best player is the legendary Wayne Gretzky, whose relationship with the team is based on a contract with Oilers owner Peter Pocklington that dated back to Pocklington's ownership of the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA (more on this later). The WHA was able to get first crack at the 17 year-old superstar from Brantford, Ontario because NHL rules prohibited teams from drafting junior players until they turned 18.
7. In 1980-81 the Flames move from Atlanta to Calgary, becoming the fourth team in western Canada. The Colorado Rockies move to the new arena in the New Jersey Meadowlands in 1982-83 and become the New Jersey Devils. The 21-team configuration is the most stable in recent decades, lasting from this point until the addition of the San Jose Sharks in 1991-92.
During this period, the league's conferences and divisions are named after legendary figures from the game's storied history in North America. The Prince of Wales Conference (the eastern teams) includes the Patrick and Adams Divisions, while the Clarence Campbell Conference (the western teams) includes the Norris and Smythe Divisions.
8. The 1983-84 season ends in some controversy, as the Pittsburgh Penguins are accused of of deliberately losing games late in the season to secure the #1 selection in the 1984 draft. A young phenom named Mario Lemieux was in the process of tallying 133 goals and 282 points while playing for Laval of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League that year. Lemieux is drafted by the Penguins in 1984 and immediately makes his mark as "the next Wayne Gretzky."
9. The 1987-88 Stanley Cup playoffs descend into chaos when New Jersey Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld is suspended by the NHL for an incident in which he (allegedly) tells a referee Don Koharski to "go have another donut, you fat pig!" after Koharski ejected him from a playoff game between the Devils and the Boston Bruins. The Devils get an injuction against the suspension in Federal court, and Schoenfeld coaches the next game. The NHL referees walk out in protest, and the game is officiated by college and high school officials called in at the last minute. Through it all, John Ziegler -- the commissioner of the NHL -- cannot be reached while he is on vacation in Europe . . . DURING THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS.
10. In the late 1980s, Pocklington decides to sell off part of the Edmonton Oilers through a sale that would make them a publicly-traded company (similar to a move the Boston Celtics had attempted around that time). His biggest problem is Wayne Gretzky . . . even though Gretzky is playing under a unheard-of 21-year contract, this contract is not with the Edmonton Oilers -- it's a personal-services contract with Peter Pocklington. To get Gretzky on the Oilers' balance sheet, Pocklington must tear up his old contract and sign Gretzky to a new one with the Oilers. But Gretzky indicates that he may only play another 2-3 years, so Pocklilngton is effectively forced to trade him to the Los Angeles Kings for an enormous pile of cash just to prop up the team's balance sheet in advance of the IPO.
11. Bruce McNall, the owner of the Kings, immediately becomes a celebrity among NHL owners and one of the most famous team owners in all of sports as a result of this trade. He is appointed the head of the NHL Board of Governors, and is later instrumental in hiring Gary Bettman as commissioner in 1993.
The hiring of Bettman is questioned by many long-time hockey fans, since he is a New York lawyer who spent the previous 12 years as a senior executive of the NBA. Well-founded stories persist to this day that Bettman had never even watched a hockey game until he was hired by the NHL. He is tasked by the NHL with growing the league into a "big-time" sport in North America, and one of his first orders of business as commissioner is to discard the traditional conference and division names and replace them with bland geographic names similar to every other major sport.
12. The establishment of the San Jose franchise is another key milestone of economic instability in the post-1967 era, for this marks the first time the league "re-expands" into a market that it had abandoned fairly recently (when the Seals left for Cleveland).
13. The "Wayne Gretzky era" reaches its peak in 1992-93 when the Kings advance to the Stanley Cup Finals with a stirring victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Campbell Conference finals. But a relatively obscure Montreal Canadiens team ends the Kings' playoff run in the Finals and wins the legendary franchise's 24th Stanley Cup. As of 2005, the 1992-93 Canadiens are the last team from Canada to win the Cup.
14. Alan Eagleson, the head of the NHL Players' Association from 1967-1991, is indicted for fraud and embezzlement in 1994 for his dealings with the NHLPA and is later convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prision.
15. In what will probably be remembered as the start of the NHL’s current misfortune, the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup in 1994 -- their first Cup victory in 54 years. The popularity of the NHL seems to be at its height, due to the extensive media exposure and great story lines in the playoffs. The Rangers win the Finals in seven games against Vancouver, after beating their cross-river rivals in New Jersey in a seven-game Eastern Conference Finals that is still remembered by many as the greatest NHL playoff series of all time.
With the Stanley Cup in New York and former NBA executive Gary Bettman at the helm as commissioner, the NHL seems poised to take its place among the other major North American professional sports leagues. Nobody would have known it at the time, but big-time NBA-like status would come with a serious downside for many hockey fans -- it will be ten years before another team from Canada appears in the Stanley Cup Finals.
16. The 1993-94 season also marks the first of many franchise moves that seem to be completely at odds with the notion of hockey as a winter sport. Only a few years after they made the Stanley Cup Finals, the Minnesota North Stars are sold to an owner who promptly moves the team to Dallas. Over the next few years the Hartford Whalers will move to North Carolina, the Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix, and the Quebec Nordiques move to Denver. By this time, Edmonton is the only WHA franchise left in its original city.
All of these moves are based on the misguided notion that hockey is a big-time television sport, and these teams are worth more money in southern U.S. cities with large potential television audiences than in northern U.S. and Canadian cities with great fan support but small television markets. In a twist of irony, the NHL effectively determines that a city with 500 hockey fans among 3 million people is a stronger market than a city with 200,000 hockey fans among 500,000 people.
17. The 1994-95 season is delayed by a lockout when the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement expires, and is shortened to 48 games. The Stanley Cup stays in the New York City area as the New Jersey Devils win their first championship after an improbable run through the playoffs as the #5 team in the Eastern Conference.
In a bizarre turn of events, the playoffs are marked by a series of media stories about an ongoing dispute between the Devils and the owner of the Continental Airlines Arena, the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority. In the midst of the playoffs, rumors whirl about a potential lawsuit against the NJSEA for breach of contract, under which the team -- which would go on to win the Stanley Cup, mind you -- would immediately vacate the arena and move to Nashville. During the course of the dispute Gary Bettman makes a number of public comments in support of the team’s potential move. He is interviewed on the Fox network at the Continental Airlines Arena between periods in the last game of the Finals, and must shout his responses to the Fox announcers to be heard over the cries of "Bettman sucks!" emanating from the crowd in the arena behind him.
18. The Devils settle their dispute with the arena landlord and go on to become one of the most successful franchises in the NHL over the next decade, winning the Stanley Cup in 1999-2000 and 2002-03 and losing in the Finals in 2000-01. But their on-ice success is tarnished by an abysmal off-ice performance that is symbolic of the "big-time" NHL. Despite winning three Stanley Cups in nine years, the team can’t even sell out many of its playoff games in that period.
19. Los Angeles Kings owner and former conquering hero Bruce McNall is indicted and convicted on multiple counts of bank fraud in 1996, and is forced to sell off many of the Kings' assets. It turns out that his financial empire was all smoke and mirrors, and he effectively had a net worth of ZERO while he owned the team.
Over the next few years in the 1990s, the NHL goes through a series of embarrassing episodes with the New York Islanders in which successive prospective owners come forward to buy the team, only to have their financial plans fall apart under close inspection by the league (a close inspection that the NHL implemented only in the aftermath of the McNall debacle). In at least one of the cases, the buyer's plan is predicated on utterly fraudulent financial arrangements.
20. Mario Lemieux retires in 1997 after a career marred by injuries and a battle with Hodgkins Disease. The Hockey Hall of Fame grants a special waiver of its normal three-year requirement for retired players before they are eligible for induction, and Lemieux is immediately elected to the Hall.
21. The Pittsburgh Penguins teeter on the brink of financial collapse on a number of occasions in the late 1990s. Mario Lemieux is forced to take a partial ownership of the team in lieu of his deferred payments on his original contract with the team. He really has no choice in the matter -- if the team were to go bankrupt, his "guaranteed" contract would be worthless.
In 2000, Lemieux -- who is already a fixture in the Hockey Hall of Fame -- returns to the ice in a desperate attempt to boost sagging attendance for the Penguins and restore some value to the franchise. When the NHL players are locked out by the owners in 2004-05, Lemieux finds himself in the peculiar position of being on both sides of the labor dispute.
22. The addition of the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Bluejackets franchises for the 2000-01 season bring the league to its current total of 30 teams.
I know this will be treated as blasphemy, but..."The Wayne Gretzky era" was already in it's decline in 92-93. The Mario Lemieux era began in 1988 when the young star led team Canada to a victory in the Canada Cup. Then led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup victories in 90-91 and 91-92. The Penguins continued to be the winningest team in the NHL until 95-96 season when Detroit took the mantle.
Little known NHL fact: After Marcel Dionne won the scoring title in 1979, no one NOT named Gretzky, Lemieux or Jagr would lead the league in scoring for the next 22 years.
That's really a myth about the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens have played the trap for decades, and were often among the top-scoring teams in the league during their dynasties. And the New Jersey Devils, who are often seen as the modern-day equivalent of those "trapping" teams (mainly because of the influence of former players and coaches from the Canadiens like Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, and Pat Burns), were at or near the top of the league in goals scored in their first two Stanley Cup years.
What has made hockey almost unwatchable has been the manner in which teams play the neutral zone trap but don't mount a counter-attack out of this defensive system. This is largely a function of the lack of talent in the NHL, not the defensive style of play.
Was that picture taken before or after Dino was arrested for walking around on his balcony wearing a sweater -- and nothing else? LOL.
I love watching hockey games live, but on TV the excitement doesn't translate very well. Baseball is also more enjoyable live, but I can enjoy the game on TV. Football, in my opinion is better on TV. Of course, I've never really had great seats.
Bourque wasn't a rental, because they kept him for the next season, and would have kept him after that if he hadn't retired. The true rentals the team that gets them at the deadline make no attempt to resign them, they're there for one Cup run and how ever that turns out they won't be wearing that jersey next year.
I don't see anything awful with the NFL system except for the true career players. Players could be cut at any time LONG before the salary cap went in place. The real source of the bogus long term contract in the NFL isn't the cap but what I call the "respect clause". Some players feel they're not getting respected unless there's a huge bottom line to the contract, so teams give them these huge backloaded contracts that they have no intention of honoring after 3 years, but at least the player is getting "respect" so his agent can't put a bug in his ear, and they'll renogiate things later.
Only 24 year-old unrestricted free agents I see are the under peformers like Cryin Ryan.
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Three major issues are being constantly overlooked in this debate vis-a-vis players salaries:
1. The issue is not the marquee star making 8 million bucks a year, since most teams in the league are lucky to have one or two players of that stature. The issue is the 8-12 guys on the roster making between 2-4 million bucks a year. We live in an era where a mediocre player can command that kind of moeny because of what's known as "comparative production" numbers.
It only requires one mediocre player to push the case that 8 goals last season pales in signifigance when matched against his +30 rating in a defensively-oriented league. One dumb GM will come along who puts a premium on that statistic to give the man his raise and suddenly, all players who fall into that category or close enough, start demanding similar salaries from their teams.
In another scenario, a decent player at the end of a contract and nearing free agency can make a demand on his team. The team is forced into a dilemma: we can keep a player we like (or who is at least a known entity) at an inflated cost, or try to trade him and get nothing for him (even a 1st round draft pick takes several years to develop), or try to go to salary arbitration with him and hope not to get raped too badly. As the Free Agency rules stand now, an unrestricted free agent (10+ years in the league, making less than the league average) has the advantage. His team must pony up to keep a known entity, trade for a player whose team does not want a similar situtaion in two years with another player, or spend the time to develop talent in a sport that demands winning now in order to keep butts in the seats. This is why every GM in the league hopes the NY Rangers will throw ridiculous money at their mediocre veterans and take them off their hands. It also raises the league median salary for the next round of free agents.
This does not excuse teams like the Rangers, who have more money than sense, from doing other stupid things, like signing a meatheaded Eric Lindros to an $8 mil per contract when the next hit he takes could be his last. The larger markets with the cash to spend are artificially inflating salaries. A luxury tax would seem to be in order if the current system is to continue, something the owners will never agree to. The players have to give on this one.
2. The second issue is the comparative value of the Canadian versus the U.S. Dollar, as well as Canadian tax rates and work rules. With a Canadian dollar worth about 25% of a US dollar, and even less after the exhorbitant Canadian taxes, the better players who can command the money naturally migrate south, making Canadian teams less competitive, and consequently, money-losing propositions (unless we're talking the major cities of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, which have a larger fan base and nothing else to offer). The Canadian government has to give on this one.
3. The salary cap offer put on the table by both the players and the league would have been somewhat equitable except for one fact: it was all about the higher end of the salary structure and not the lower end. In fact, there was no "floor" in the salary cap discussions. The reason being that without an agreement on the lower end, the owners would feel free to push "take-it-or-leave-it" contracts on the players. Both sides have to give on this one.
And just for good measure:
4. Gary Bettman can talk about all the new rules changes that will take effect whenever the league deigns to play again, but it's just a different shade of lipstick on the same pig. Taking out red lines and rounding off goalie equipment does not make the sport any better, nor more exciting. In light of the recent rules changes (extra two-feet behind the net, obstruction penalties, faster face-offs, regulating the size of goalie's pads, the instigator rule, etc), fiddling with the structure of the game is not the answer (although I would accept a widening of the ice, say 6', and increasing the size of the net by a couple of inches).The answer is to have more competitive franchises in more places.
What the NHL fails to understand is that many fans will watch a 1-0 defensive battle provided the competitive angle still exists. That competitive angle no longer exists: the game is all about slowing everything down because the talent no longer exists the way it did 10 years ago, in part due to expansion, just to stay competitive standings-wise.
Restructure free agency, put a hard cap (top and bottom) in place, remove some of the more ridiculous rules changes, contract by a minimum of four teams, and let the guys play, and this sport will go back to what it always was: a fast-moving spectacle of skill, toughness and endurance.The fans will come back, the question is whether the people who want them back actually know what the fans want?
-- almost half the Vezina Trophy winners for top goalie (six times for Hasek, plus once for Olaf Kolzig);
-- four different league MVPs (Federov, Hasek, Jagr, and Forsberg);
-- almost half the Calder Trophy winners for rookie of the year; and
-- arguably the best defenseman in the NHL today (Niklas Lidstrom).
In additon, these European stars are now disproportionately represented among the top goal scorers. Since Brett Hull last led the NHL in goals scored in 1992, only five of the fifteen league leaders in goals scored (including those who shared the lead) have been North Americans -- Mario Lemieux, Keith Tkachuk, Jarome Iginla (twice) and Rick Nash.
This league is going to be in a world of hurt if this modern brand of European player stays home.
Oh, goodness -- the glowing pucks. LOL!
Along with "Caddyshack" and "Major League", "Slapshot" has to be one of the funniest sports movies ever.
The Montreal Canadians won 24 Stanley Cups with a neutral zone trap. The Rangers can't beat it in New Jersey and all of a sudden it becomes "boring hockey'.
Let's call it what is : a delayed forecheck. Your first forward onthe scene would normally go into the offensive zone and forecheck. Instead, he stays high, waits for the first D to D pass to figure out which way the puck is going, and then closes on the puck carrier. The rest of the team then follows suit. The puck carrier then has to make a second pass up the ice through a tangle of legs and sticks in order to get up the ice.
The Canadians lived and died by it, and in recent years, so did the Devils and the Wings. Because you can no longer put a murders row on the ice (like the Oilers and Islanders of old) thanks to free agency and expansion, we now have 30 teams that play some variation the theme. There are not enough skill players, on any team, that can be put on one or two lines, that are capable of breaking this system with finesse, great passing or skating.
Here's another interesting NHL fact . . . Only eight different teams won the Stanley Cup in the 32 years between the 1961 Chicago Blackhawks' championship season and the and the 1994 New York Rangers' championship season. This included 12 by the Montreal Canadiens, 5 by the Edmonton Oilers, and 4 each by the New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs. The 1988-89 Calgary Flames have the unusual distinction of being the only team to win a single Stanley Cup in that era.
You're right about hockey -- it's not a good sport to watch on television. The puck is too small, and television doesn't give you the kind of overall view of the ice surface that you really need to appreciate the game.
>> I guess we could move Carolina back to Hartford. Why did they move in the first place?
As I understood it, the owner was not satisfied with the facilities and wanted a new arena. So he moved to Carolina, and they went from getting (from memory, could be off on the numbers) 11-12,000 fans game in, game out to 5,000. Eventually they picked up some steam and were back at Whalers level. Then they went to the SC finals and really started bringing in fans, but the next year they were horrible again and attendance dropped. They were always horrible in Hartford, but still drew in a decent fan base to the games.
Maybe they could be contracted. If Karmanos lost his shirt and was kicked around by the other owners, that would be enough for me.
I still think of Bourque as a "rental," mainly because I'm convinced he would have retired -- and the Colorado management knew this when they traded for him -- if the Avalanche had won the Cup in 2000.
I don't see anything awful with the NFL system except for the true career players. Players could be cut at any time LONG before the salary cap went in place.
What you didn't have was young players starting in the NFL before they were ready -- especially quarterbacks (Eli Manning, Ben Roethisberger, etc.) -- simply because the teams that drafted them may not be able to afford them after their first three-year contract expires. THAT kind of idiocy is a function of the salary-cap era.
I'm not sure I agree with everything you've suggested, but that's a great summary you posted there.
Look.. to put the same thing in perspective in terms of baseball..I'm using round numbers here..to make the point....Yankees draw 4 million, have a $200 million payroll..ticket prices are insane..I go to about 4 games a year...because I get tickets from some peopel who I do business with. I can fortuately easily afford to attend more games..but no way in hell will I spend $500 to take 4 people to a Yankees game..it's insane..So let's have a salary cap of $100 million..you figure theplayers would scream, the fans would bitch..but let the Yankees announce that they are cutting EVERY ticket by $25..across the board..( 100 mill/4, OIOW)..and the fans would rejoice.. Infact, baseball has MORE leverage than hockey..because hockey players can go overseas..there's no place baseball players could go and earn even 25% of what they make now..
One of the things I liked about games on ESPN were the sort of overhead view, from right about the glass behind the goalie. You really got a good sense of how the play was developing. Of course I'd been watching the game for 20 years or so by that point and it's hard for me to NOT understand what is happening on the ice, just from the way the players move.
They need to have some creative directors come in and help design a good way to present the sport on TV to get around it's inherent limitations for newbies.
Marquee players making 8 million bucks is a definite part of the problem. That's what marquee players in the NFL are just starting to make, and their teams have a solid 3 times the revenue. Even Roenick has admitted that marquee NHL players probable shouldn't be making more than 5 mil. Now the 2nd teir guys don't help matters any, but their salary is "in line" if you assume the marque guys should be making 8 (half the talent, half the pay, that works).
Canada's tax rate certainly doesn't help them. But there's not much the NHL can do about it. I know in 2000 the Canadiens were the lowest taxes team in Canada at $25 mil, which was enough then to get you an all-star 1st line on both offense and defense (now just offense).
Yeah, they need a floor. So does the NFL. IMHO that's the only thing the NBA capdoes right.
In theory caps restore competitive balance, if they're done right. The cap has done wonders for NFL parity, but a bad cap has done nothing for NBA or MLB parity. Only time will tell.
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