Scanlan: NHL players damned if they go, damned if they don’t
An old proverb suggests that before we criticize a man, we should walk a mile in his shoes.
An old proverb suggests that before we criticize a man, we should walk a mile in his shoes.
As it relates to NHL players taking jobs from players overseas: Try to put yourself in the role of a locked-out NHL player these days (and get past the part where you are buying a Porsche, hiring a nanny and scooping a chalet in Tremblant).
I expect you’d feel damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Damned if you abandon the “lockout cause,” fly over to Europe to bump some journeyman player — often a Canadian “import” — in Switzerland, Sweden or Germany. How could you steal that guy’s livelihood?
Damned if you stay home and let the skills erode. For older players, inactivity during an entire lockout could mean the end of a career, as it did for dozens of players in 2004-05. Is this really the way Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson could go out? Brutal. At the other end of the spectrum, twenty-somethings lose precious development if they do nothing more than pickup hockey.
Winger Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks brought more attention to this dilemma when he told a New Jersey newspaper he would not be going overseas.
“I think it’s important to stay here (in the U.S.) and be part of the solution, and not just run from it,” Ryan said.
Ouch. “Run from it.” Nice sendoff to Claude Giroux and Daniel Briere, a couple of Jersey area players who normally suit up for the Philadelphia Flyers and had just announced plans to go to Germany to play.
(Briere-Giroux theme song: ‘First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.’)
It’s a noble sentiment from Ryan, that he wants to stay home with his NHL Players’ Association brethren and help get a deal done, as though Ryan and his fellow players are walking a picket line outside the auto plant like a real union. Not quite. Ryan’s comments might just be more to add to the pile of endless spin doctoring. In truth, he might prefer to stay home, avoid the hassle of Europe and play golf this fall. We’d have to walk a mile in Ryan’s shoes to know.
Earlier in the lockout, Mark Spector of Sportsnet profiled 38-year-old Domenic Pittis of Calgary, who lost his job in Switzerland because of NHL “replacement” players. Pittis had won a championship with Zurich last season, figured he could parlay that into another gig as an import player, but became chopped liver when NHL stars like Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton and Rick Nash were available to Swiss league teams.
Who can blame Swiss franchises for pouncing on the best NHL talent, when it only comes around … oh, every seven or eight years in one of the NHL’s regular lockouts.
Pittis understood why he lost his job: “If you have a talent and somebody else wants to pay you for it …”
Detroit Red Wings executive Jim Devellano wasn’t so far off comparing players to “cattle.” When prime rib becomes available at a rare, discounted price, who wants hamburger?
Now, consider the pressure on NHLers to get playing — somewhere.
For younger pros, like Senators defenceman Jared Cowen coming off a solid rookie season, the resident general manager is going to insist that he join the AHL farm team to stay sharp. If that bumps an AHL type down the depth chart, perhaps all the way to the ECHL, that’s the nature of the beast in a lockout. The ripple effect hits all, including Cowen, who desperately wants to continue what he started in the NHL.
Caught in between are the slightly older players, needing a place to play. Many of them have not landed yet. Some will. Many won’t, and could soon be joining your neighbourhood pickup squad.
Then there is the case of the European NHLer with a profile overseas. We can only begin to imagine the pressure on brand name European players to come “home” to play. The KHL grabbed its players quickly. Was there any doubt the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar would be back in Russia at the first sign the lockout was real?
I’m picturing the media and fans of Jokerit in Finland, waiting, day-to-day for the legendary “Finnish Flash,” Teemu Selanne, to commit to playing this season. Incredibly, this fall marks the 20th anniversary of Selanne’s rookie NHL season in Winnipeg, when he destroyed the league with 76 goals and 132 points. Think about what has happened in that span of time — the NHL has been through three lockouts, Winnipeg lost its NHL franchise for 15 years, got it back last season, and now may sit out another season.
All the while, Selanne, 42, remains in demand, insisting he is only going to play this one last season, just as 2011-2012 was supposed to be his last, and if he does join Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson in Jokerit, some lesser player is going to be bumped.
Sad. But it’s not sadder than team staff being laid off or working shorter work weeks, no sadder than arena staff, officials, restaurants, shops, hotels, bars and stores being affected by this unnecessary mess.
When it comes to lockout victims, the bumped players in Europe have to get in line for sympathy.
wscanlan@ottawacitizen.com
Twitter.com/HockeyScanner
Walk a mile in their shoes?
Give me a $5,000 – $10,000 pair of shoes and I’ll be glad to do so, beats the worn Nike’s I have to wear since I’m a working stiff.
Speaking of Spezza, last we heard he had zero goals, zero assits (do they even count assists over there?) and was a minus player. So much for newfound “maturity”, “leadership” and so on huh? When he doesn’t have Alfredsson holding his hand or a coach disciplining him he reverts to his error-prone, inconsistent hockey. Lovely for us whom are going to make him our captain.
Here’s hoping Alfredsson never retires so that day is delayed as long as possible.
I don’t think it’s even that important to suit up in games in leagues like Switzerland. To put as much importance on is as; “twenty-somethings lose precious development if they do nothing more than pickup hockey.” is pure BS. Playing is a Swiss league is nothing more THAN pick-up game for NHL regulars. Also, where is it proven that playing in those games really provides that much benefit or not playing there will cause a player to lose their skills or even ending aging players careers. Father Time has more to do with that than anything else. If you’ve made up your mind to keep your skills sharp, you’ll do just that. I mean, c’mon, these guys aren’t little kids. They are Pro’s. If don`t know how to train and stay ready, go work at Tim Horton’s. Someone else who kept themselves ready will do what you couldn’t do and steal your job. They don’t play any meaningful games from June to November, and they come back just fine and the intensity and drive is healthy (for most people). I`ve seen this stuff written before by hockey scribes and it drives me nuts. Scanlan usually writes pretty good columns, but this is one just dumb. Nothing more than conjecture and silly outdated philosophies.
I’ve heard that many European leagues have banned NHL players from moving over as a result of the lock out or restricted the number of NHL players that a team can take.