There is no denying that NHL owners (some) are losing money with their respective teams. You also can't deny that paying a guy $10 million plus for a season of hockey seems a bit much. As some teams payrolls top $80 Million per year it's no wonder the NHL wants something in place in a new CBA that will help reduce the cost of labor and at least give them a chance to break even if not turn a profit.

I am all for that.

Now I haven't researched all the free agent signings but off the top of my head, the Chris Gratton signing in Philly, The Bobby Holik signing in NY and the Yashin signing on the Island seem a bit high. Each GM decided it was worth it and made the offer. Perhaps as the Rodent pointed out, the Rangers needed Holik to fill a huge void and had to offer up the big bucks. Maybe Millbury on the Island thought he needed a big scorer to fill his empty seats. Whatever the reason, no one forced these GMs to make such offers. The end result was a raising of the bar on salaries and that has had a bad effect around the league.

The NHL, a league that has already lost out on it's popularity highs of 1994 has seen a decline in TV ratings and overall interest here in the States. Since most franchises are here in the lower 48, that's bad for the league for sure. In Canada some of the smaller markets have suffered due to the Canadian Dollar (on a nice comeback, thank you very much) and draw fan support from a much smaller pool of fans.

So....something has to change if the NHL is to remain a viable professional sport. Even the staunchest "pro player" pundits can agree to this I'm sure. But a $31 Million cap seems like the wrong solution on a variety of levels to me.

First I want to address the players salaries. Too high? In some cases, yes. But don't give me the "I would play for free" crap. It's not a valid argument. If that's the case I want you to report to work and tell them they don't have to pay you for 6 months. Let's see how long that lasts. After working as long as 15 years, every day just to get a shot at the NHL....a pro hockey player is playing hockey both for love of the game AND as a job. It's a limited career so they'll need to make what they can, while they can. Free isn't an option, OK?

Second, it's unrealistic to expect an owner to pour money into a hole without a return. For some, losing a few million to win a Cup is worth it, but only one team a year can win it so that leaves 29 guys who may have wasted a lot of bucks. Competing for a Cup while making a few bucks....now that's more like it. It's a balance that each team must weigh while making decisions on player personnel.

Now that we have decided that the players have a right to earn a living and the owners are not obligated to lose millions each year.....what do we do now?

I think the answer lies somewhere between the hard cap and the free wheeling spend-a-thon that we have witnessed in these past few seasons. That's what I hope the NHL and NHLPA think. It's something that could be negotiated in time to save this season and the next. It's do-able dammit.

I guess we'll find out in a few hours.

----}- Bird

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