by Jesse Liebman
Editorial. Photos by AP News
It’s been said that there will never be another “Miracle on Ice” ever again. What happened 30 years ago in a quiet town in the Catskills of New York was one of those moments that transcended sports and was branded into the annals of human consciousness.
Since that day in 1980, the face of ice hockey at the Winter Olympics has changed dramatically. Since 1998, professionals have been allowed to represent their countries in a tournament that was once reserved for the best amateur players in the world. But the pendulum is slowly swinging back, and now that the Vancouver games are underway, the question on everyone’s mind is: Is this the last time we’ll see NHL players in the Olympics?
Once the tournament ends and the Olympic cauldron is extinguished, our thoughts will turn to the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. There has been a lot of controversy and questions about whether the NHL will send its players to compete for international glory.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the owners and the players union does not account for 2014, which means that NHL teams would have to individually give their players permission to take a leave of absence for two weeks. In the span of two weeks, NHL teams play between five to nine games. Some teams may not be so willing to squander critical points in the standings as the season winds down with a playoff berth on the line.
Additionally, there is a significant chance that a player could get injured. Case in point: in 2006, Czech goalie Dominik Hasek saw his NHL season come to an end after sustaining a knee injury in the opening period of the Games. Many general managers and coaches are terrified of seeing this happening to their teams.
Another possible reason why the NHL has been reticent in their commitment to 2014 is because of the time difference. Sochi is eight hours ahead of New York time; will the casual fan even be up or have the free time in the United States and Canada to follow the games?
And while this situation ordinarily wouldn’t raise many eyebrows, there is a large faction of Russian players who want to have the opportunity to play at home on the world’s biggest stage.
Last season the number of Russian players in the NHL made up the sixth highest percentage of any nationality in the league after the United States and Canada. The total used to be stronger a decade ago, when the NHL wasn’t threatened by the tax-free promises of the Kontinental Hockey League, but the quality of players hasn’t diminished; in fact, it’s probably gotten better. With names like Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk leading the way, it’s hard to argue.
In Europe, winning a world championship or an Olympic gold medal is a more sought-after dream than the Stanley Cup. For many of us here in North America, the thought is sheer lunacy. But people forget that these players come from a continent where international competition is what drives the game.
When a superstar like Ovechkin – arguably the best player in the world right now – goes on record stating, “I don't care. I'll go play in the Olympic Games for my country. If somebody says to me you can't play, see ya,” people stop and listen.
That declaration has essentially put commissioner Gary Bettman in a virtual no-win solution if an agreement isn’t reached: either the NHL loses Ovechkin and a bunch of other Russians for the duration of the Olympics, or Ovechkin packs his bags and stays in the motherland.
Granted, that probably won’t happen because Capitals owner and AOL media mogul Ted Leonsis recognizes the star power that Ovechkin has in the long run and wants to keep his investment (Ovechkin signed a 13-year contract extension in 2008 worth $124 million) happy, and Ovechkin knows the NHL is the best league on the planet, despite the KHL’s insistence of flashing even more money in the charismatic winger’s face.
On the other hand, there’s still a case to be made for the NHL not to bother with reaching an agreement on sending its players to Sochi. When NHL players were first allowed to participate at Nagano in 1998, it was about showcasing the best players on the planet in what was supposed to be the best winter sport on the planet.
But the hockey world has gotten smaller lately; less than a decade ago, it was the Czechs and Slovaks that dominated the hockey landscape. Now, the Czech Republic and Slovakia aren’t even top-tier nations. There may be 12 nations participating in men’s hockey this year, but the reality is that only four of those teams – Canada, Russia, Sweden and Finland – are serious contenders for the gold medal. The Americans have a formidable team, yes, but they aren’t expected to do much with a team that has virtually zero Olympic experience.
The fact of the matter is that there is no longer a sense that the Olympics are worth it – ratings are down, and there is too much of an inherent risk for the NHL to take in sending all of its best players overseas – and there has been a strong sentiment of returning the ice hockey competition back to its amateur roots. If a few pros want to compete for their nation, they have every right to, as long as they can work out an individual agreement with the teams that sign their paychecks. The NHL has taken many risks over the years; some have worked and some haven’t. But the Olympic experiment has run its course.
No comments:
Post a Comment