Bad Luck Or No Luck At All

Just when you think the NHL might be catching a break, well, not so much.

A terrific looking Stanley Cup final matchup on the heels of a compelling playoff tournament is the good news.

The bad news? Suddenly a steroid story - hardly a scandal at this point, but certainly a story worth keeping an eye on. Maybe this fellow arrested in Florida is a crackpot and a blowhard, but it does seem peculiar that of all the teams he could have named, he named the Washington Capitals. Strange.

The Phoenix Coyotes tale of woe, meanwhile, just keeps being a gigantic headache for the league, and the optics could conceivably get worse in the next 10 days.

Right now, the NHL is sticking to its story that it is fighting the attempt by Jim Balsillie to relocate the Coyotes to Hamilton on the basis of the need to follow league rules and regulations. Fair enough.

But if, hypothetically, Balsillie and Jerry Moyes win their motion June 9 on the relocation issue before Arizona bankruptcy judge Redfield T. Baum, a victory that would theoretically pave the way for the Coyotes to head north, the NHL would find itself in a tricky spot.

It could appeal, and has already said it would. But then the issue no longer is about following league rules, but then becomes an overt attempt by the NHL to block a move of an American team to Canada, a move tacitly approved by the bankruptcy court.

It's then not about NHL rules and regulations. It's about seeking relief from a judicial body to stop a seventh team in Canada from becoming a reality.

Maybe the NHL carries the day June 9th and this all becomes a moot point. Otherwise, it will be more difficult than ever for Gary Bettman to avoid being painted as a anti-Canadian in his outlook if he is seen to be using the courts to block what would be a very popular move of the Coyotes to Hamilton, popular at least among Canadian hockey fans.

Comments

[Marijan Kalman]

NHL doesn't have any testing in playoff and so many loopholes in regulation of testing, it is common knowledge that 80% of players are "juiced". Ask team doctors under oath what their players are using and how often.STOP this hypocrisy of pretending that people around hockey don't know what is going on.Test all players tomorrow and you will be shocked by results. Steroid are in NHL same like NBA,NFL etc.

[Mike M]

I'm not sure I'm following you here, Damien. Why is it strange that the alleged steroid dealer named the Washington Capitals? Would it have been less strange had he named the Flyers? I don't understand.
And if the NHL appeals a decision from Baum, the issue will be identical to the one currently before the court. Those who view this as an overt attmept to keep a seventh team out of Canada already believe that, and an appeal won't change their mind. Similarly, if you believe that Bettman's goal is to preserve the NHL's rules irrespective of where a team might end up, then an appeal would be a logical thing to do. In my view an appeal by the NHL wouldn't change perceptions at all.

[Stephen]

Agreed with Mike - plus, the appeal is necessary for any number of reasons, not least of which is that the other sports leagues will be pressuring Bettman to do so because they'll want this decided one way or another and now that they have a test case, they'll want as high a court as possible to deal with the matter.

On the drug testing issue: three Olympics have pretty conclusively proven that NHLers are no better or worse than any other Olympic athlete in terms of substance violations. You know what? I'm perfectly fine with that.