THERE are drop-dead messages, delivered sometimes in the form of a slap across the players’ collective face, and there are drop-dead dates, and they are never to be confused. Which means simply that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s decision to refrain from establishing both a drop-dead date on the season and the minimum number of games that would comprise a credible schedule stands as the one and only prudent judgment he’s made throughout the lockout.
Should the players’ latest initiative somehow lead to a negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement – not at all the likely end to this endeavor – there is no schedule too short to play. A 24-game season played entirely within the division would certainly be acceptable if the league could be in position to go by the third week in February.
They played 44 and 48 games in the 30’s; 48 to 50 to 60 in the 40’s; 70 throughout most of the Original Six era. They’ve played 74, 76, 80, 84 and, most recently, 82 throughout the expansion era. So what’s the magic number?
What’s the magic number for re-establishing the NHL as open for business? What’s the magic number for being in position to have a stress-free summer and autumn? What’s the magic number for avoiding sports infamy?
Even if the NHL is only able to get on the ice for a 30-team, come-one, come-all playoff tournament beginning in late March, it is a worthwhile endeavor. It can be a Stanley Cup tournament the way Wimbledon is a tournament. The NHL wants to come back with a hard-cap marketing message of “Anyone Can Win” the Stanley Cup. Even without the cap, the league would be able to fairly proclaim, “Anyone Can Win” an all-inclusive Lord Stanley’s Cup Tournament.
Some might call a 24-game season or a 30-team tournament an insult to fans. My view is that the insult comes with not playing at all. My view is that if, as expected, the owners yet again demonstrate their intransigence and allow the season to slip away, they will have destroyed their already tattered covenant with their fans.
This isn’t the best time for the players to strike a deal, it is the best time for the owners. As a whole, they have yet to feel any pain. But a cancelled season will bring a whole hailstorm of pain down upon them. Franchise values will begin to plummet if there is no agreement for 2005-06, and that will not happen unless a deal is struck now.
The league needs to get back on the ice. They need to get back on the ice now in order to re-establish credibility for next year. The Magic Number, you see, is 1.
One Collective Bargaining Agreement.