Like it or not, the Flyers' method of team-building and long-term planning very much revolves around their longstanding willingness to spend to (or beyond) the salary cap ceiling. It's been that way ever since Comcast bought the game and has continued into the salary cap era.
It's no s secret the Flyers get "creative" with the cap, taking advantage of its loopholes. They are a team that also prefers to lock up nucleus and potential nucleus players in long-term contracts to pre-empt their unrestricted free agency. They make bold trades. They are most certainly aggressive in pursuing other teams' coveted free agents, both of the unrestricted and restricted (Ryan Kesler in 2006, Shea Weber in 2012) varieties.
You can debate whether these methods have been beneficial to Philly's all-consuming pursuit of its elusive third Stanley Cup championship. You can debate whether other teams have any right to gripe about the organization "breaking unwritten rules" that are legal under the CBA but drive up costs. But there is no disputing that the Flyers management has always gone all out to try to win the Cup.
That philosophy remained very much intact in the months leading up the current lockout. For one of the few times in team history, the Flyers came up empty in their pursuit of players they wanted, but they certainly put their all into crafting an offer sheet to Weber that the Nashville Predators had to severely strain to match. Likewise, the Flyers outbid everyone else for the services of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Those players simply preferred to play together in Minnesota.
Some folks have been puzzled from the start why the Flyers and the other big-market, big budget teams would have put their support behind the current lockout in the first place. It's a lockout designed to tie the hands of creative teams. League officials know full well that teams like the Flyers are going to be forced to pare down their rosters -- if not immediately, then within the next season or two -- to get compliant with the lowered cap ceiling.
Whenever Gary Bettman talks about "competitive balance", it has zero to do with actual on-ice competitiveness. Pre-cap and cap-era history shows that the introduction of the current salary cap has had
little to no effect on teams' ability or inability to compete for playoff berths or even to win the Cup.
Rather, what Bettman is really talking about is propping up the teams with financial problems without additional relocations of U.S.-based teams in non-traditional markets to Canadian markets clamoring for teams (ala Atlanta to Winnipeg). Contraction is also unappealing both the league and the union, but for different reasons. In fact, the NHL is more likely to undergo additional expansion in the future than it is to contract.
Bettman's strategy for expanding league revenues has long been steeped in having a coast-to-coast, north-to-south presence of the NHL around the United States. It is NOT about ticket sales in the weaker markets. It is NOT about television ratings, either. Rather, it's about the higher franchise fees, broadcasting and advertising revenues that come from having a presence nationwide.
But who is going to foot the bill for keeping afloat the financially weak teams with unstable ownership? The NHLPA's first answer has always been increased revenue sharing by the deep-pockets teams with the troubled ones. The NHL, conversely, wants to force increasing spending control by even the teams that can afford to (and are willing to) spend. By slashing the percentage of revenues that go to salaries and providing something less than make-whole on existing contracts, they would put more money in owners' pockets.
There is an undeniable personal financial benefit to someone such as Ed Snider to see the NHL "win" the negotiation with the union. However, the more the lost organic revenues pile up as the lockout continues, the less the personal advantage. That's especially true when the next CBA itself will be designed to go AGAINST the hockey operations interests of the deeper-pockets teams.
I don't know if the reports of Ed Snider becoming disenchanted with the NHL's handling of the lockout are true or not. I do know he's been a solid supporter of Gary Bettman over the years. However, I also would not be surprised if Snider and some of the other big-market owners have started to turn up the pressure on Bettman and Bill Daly to get a deal done soon. If not, they stand to lose even more.
From day one, there was never going to be a "winner" in this lockout. That's why so much more should have -- and most certainly could have -- been done to avoid this situation. Instead, the NHL opted to go for the most draconian route possible, starting with its ill-advised first offer to the union (which made the lockout a certainty) right up through following a rather predictably scripted pattern thereafter.
I'm not saying the NHLPA is blameless by any means in this process. They most certainly are not. The union has undertaken its own course of action that has prolonged the lockout by delaying negotiations likely to lead to a settlement without actually producing a better end result for the majority of its constituents.
As for the Flyers' outlook, well, they are losing money daily when they could have been reaping the financial benefits of what had been a boom period of growth both for the organization and the league. And when there is a new CBA in place, the rules will take steps to prevent them from doing business the way they want to do it.
Neither the owners nor the union gives a damn what is the interests of the fans. Never have and never will. But for fans who root for a team like the Flyers, it is especially galling that two-plus months (and counting) of the season have been lost and the entire season may be in jeopardy when it is designed to bring about a result that will not see the on-ice product improve and may weaken their favorite team's roster in the not-too-distant future.
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There are no Flyers-related games or Flyers prospects in action today. Following is a roundup of yesterday's results.
FLYERS IN EUROPE
* KHL:
Ruslan Fedotenko had two assists in HC Donbass Donetsk's 6-4 loss to Ak Bars Kazan. Fedotenko skated 27 shifts for 18:25 of ice time. He went 16-for-34 on faceoffs and was credited with two shots on goal.
* DEL:
Danny Briere was credited with one assist and took two minor penalties in Eisbären Berlin's 5-2 win over EHC Red Bull Munich. The team is now off until Friday. There is no update yet on the status of injured
Claude Giroux (neck/head).
* EIHL:
Tom Sestito was credited with two assists and stayed out of the penalty box in the Sheffield Steelers' 3-2 win over the Edinburgh Capitals. In two games this weekend, the tough guy forward racked up six points. He had a hat trick and an assist in Saturday's win over Braehead.
JUNIOR AND COLLEGIATE PROSPECTS
* OHL:
Scott Laughton earned a power play assist in the Oshawa Generals' 3-1 win over the Niagara IceDogs. Teammate
Colin Suellentrop did not record a point in the game but was plus-one.
* NCAA:
Shayne Gostisbehere scored the game winning goal in Union College's 4-1 win over Penn Sate. With the score tied 1-1 early in the third period, Gostisbehere ripped home a power play goal from the right point to give his team a lead they would continue to build upon for the remainder of the game.
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