Waltzing Around The Truth

If the first casualty of war is truth, there is surely the sniff of cannon fire around the business of professional hockey these days.

The NHL can't quite get its story straight when it comes to the Phoenix Coyotes and dealing with Jim Balsillie. The NHL Players' Association, meanwhile, just decapitated its executive director, Paul Kelly, and is determined not to honestly tell the larger hockey community exactly why they did that.

The two issues are not un-related.

While the league and players are, according to the last CBA, supposed to declare all hockey-related revenues and share them according to a set formula, the league has effectively cut the union right out of all discussions relating to the bankrupt Coyotes. Astonishingly, the NHL has committed $140 million to buying the Coyotes if necessary, monies that, at least in theory, are partly those of the NHLPA.

But the union has no say.

With Kelly, meanwhile, the union at least had some potential to improve their working relationship with the league, although after putting the union in a stranglehold in the last CBA negotiations, the NHL, quite naturally, feels it can do whatever it wants without consulting a fractured, dis-spirited and dysfunctional union.

Now the players are clearly looking to go more hardline, although they won't say that, hiding behind bureaucratic doubletalk and pretending that Kelly wasn't undone by an internal coup.

If that's the direction in which the players go, any possibility of forging a better working relationship with the league, and possibly getting a bigger say in issues like the Coyotes, will go out the window.

The union seems to want a second Bob Goodenow. The league successfully separated Goodenow from the union in 2005 - some would argue the lockout was really about that and nothing more - and would be only too happy to do it again in the next round of labour talks.

The players, with no unity or collective backbone, are in no position to stand up to the league, but they may be driving themselves to the edge of that cliff again. 

But they won't be honest with their plans, and the skullduggery which unseated Kelly is an ominous sign of the civil war that is still being waged within that organization.

The league, meanwhile, keeps trying to pretend that Phoenix is salvageable. Only enormous concessions from the City of Glendale can make that work, and local politicians are saying they won't be giving away anything significant to make the Coyotes stay.

So nobody's dealing in truth these days in the hockey industry, perhaps a sign of a bigger war lying ahead in the near future.

Comments

[James Ballswin (Realizar)]

The "Fight for Phoenix" soap opera will produce an identical spin-off battle the next time an American NHL team that goes up for sale (see Columbus).

The Betteman-era NHL has completely soured the game of hockey for me.

(Let's go Raptors)

[mike]

Don't the players just get a share of the top-line? So how, in any theory, does the NHL's $140 MM partly belong to the union?

[Bill]

Damien,

With the damning letter from MLSE,the ever-changing position of the league in this case and the unanimous vote against the Balsillie bid by the league (even though it is the highest), what do you think of the chances of an anti-trust lawsuit coming from Balsillie are if the judge rules against him tomorrow?

[doug]

open your eyes Damien, the NFLPA is being investigated for collusion with Godell..so it is not paranoia on the union's part it is fact..these commissioners will stop at nothing, at least in the States the justice department investigates, in canada no one says anything...so to havge someone like Kelly be "pals" with Bettman is not what a union wants....

[Punky]

the union is too weak to make any sort of impact. They lost their last bit of credibility with Kelly. The union has to take position on Phoenix (meaning:oes it stay in Phoenix or not). If is does not do this then its damning it self.

Phoenix is too soon to a union which has no real direction.

This mimics Canadian politics, we might again be going to polls this fall, for another change?

[MIke]

Damien,

Thanks for telling it like it is. Ignore the ignoramuses and keep up the good work!

[robguy]

Great article Damien!
At one point I thought Kelly was going to get involved in Phoenix when he basically said the union would be more interested in another team in Canada and openly wondered about the viability of a team in markets like Phoenix. Then the union got largely silent for the past few months with the most pro-Balsillie interview that I heard coming from Barry Melrose on the fan.
The Esposito article today made me remember that by in large, athletes (current and former) think of themselves only. Espo has forgotten that Tampa played in a barn (and so did Ottawa) for years before getting a suitable arena - yet he criticizes Copps where perhaps some of the best hockey has been played in the past 30 years (87 and 91 Canada Cup.) Espo defends Tampa even though their TV ratings at under 9000 a game are lower than Phoenix! And Phoenix has never won a cup or playoff series! Self interest like Gretzky - I think so. Sorry about the rant...

[Geoff Read]

Damien,

I like your blog and I usually like your columns. But I think you've gone a bit off the deep end on this issue. Essentially, you've (like most pundits) condemned the actions of those who removed Kelly without knowing the facts. There could very well be more than meets the eye here.

And your statement, "If that's the direction in which the players go, any possibility of forging a better working relationship with the league, and possibly getting a bigger say in issues like the Coyotes, will go out the window," makes no sense at all. They had nice guy Kelly in place... was that getting them a say in the Phoenix situation? Maybe they realize that the league plans to run roughshod all over them, as is obvious, and they think a return to a more strident style of leadership is necessary to make themselves heard. Criticize Bob Goodenow if you want, but he made a hell of a lot of gains for the players while in office and brought stability and coherence to an otherwise fractious organization. Under Goodenow, the NHLPA mattered. Militancy works.

[Bold Bravado]

Damien, this whole thing with Balsillie and the NHL defies business logic. You have a business that is unprofitable in the region it currently resides, you have the ability to relocate to another region that could prove to be profitable. What's the hold back??
OK, so you are encroaching on regional rights of both TO and Buffalo. Fine, so pick another city. Winnipeg, Quebec, Saskatoon, Kingston, London or any other with a populace of greater than 200 300K in Canada could potentially support a team. If ownership of a Canadian hockey team is what truly Balsillie’s mandate is, there should be no issue.
Then on the other side of the table is Bettman, his allegiance is to the owners first and foremost, the owners who continually pump money in the form of transfer payments to offset the losses of teams such as Phoenix. Based on what Bettman is saying, the owners don’t mind losing money???? Hold on though, we can play some games in Canada for revenue generation, but don’t want to put a team there full time because it might make money!
On the outside you have Moyes and Gretzky with a sprinkling of Peddie and now Melnyk. Moyes who’s asking himself, “Why did I ever get involved with the NHL” and Gretzky who’s wondering if he can coach US college hockey for $6 million a yr? Then Peddie who’s asking “where is Hamilton” and Melnyk whose initial reaction to Balsillie’s comments were “HUH, Jim who said what”??
This whole thing stinks, is a black eye on the NHL as being a professional sport and quite frankly has really put a bad taste my mouth from a sport I have loved since childhood. It’s stupid, the worst thing, as my father always told me, “You can’t fix stupid”!!!!