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A lot of people are being negatively affected by the NHL work stoppage. But at the end of the day, very few of those people have any power to do anything about it.

The rest of us wait for Gary Bettman and NHL owners on one side, and Donald Fehr, players and agents on the other to work something out and save a season of hockey.

But while those relatively few individuals have the power to work something out, they also have the responsibility to do so, and the pressure of expectation from everyone else.

The longer this goes on, the more “optics” matter; if most or all of a season is lost, the suffering that comes with it will have a longer term price in terms of damage to various brands: the NHL, NHLPA, and the personal brands of Bettman, Fehr and some owners.

In my opinion, Bettman himself could have the most to lose. First, Bettman represents the owners. They are his bosses. Right there, aside from the fact that Bettman is already an unpopular commissioner, the optics hurt Bettman. The owners basically chose to lock the players out. That’s no secret.

Further as the representative of the owners, Bettman also suffers (and perhaps unfairly) from the negatives associated with certain owners—those who have operated contrary to their own austerity measures supposedly worked out during the last lockout. The owners can’t (and won’t) fire themselves. They can fire Bettman.

But the big albatross for Bettman is the fact that the bad economics that exist today largely ladder back to his ill-conceived over-expansion into traditionally non-hockey markets—a fool’s errand that now has the larger, more stable franchises at least partially, indirectly subsidizing the smaller, dicier ones. While the NHLPA certainly strongly opposes contraction because of the loss of “union jobs,” everyone and his brother knows the over-expansion is at Bettman’s feet.

Meanwhile, the day-to-day economic realities place more pressure on the owners. Sure, a lot of them operate their teams at a loss while making profits in their “primary” businesses. But, hey, there’s a reason they locked the players out and bit the bullet. The present finances, even when playing, are not favorable.

Without any revenue from an actual season, the owners suffer more than the players do. Most players have found “gigs” that at least partially replace their NHL salaries. Owners, and those who work in their hockey operations, don’t really have the same “luxury.”

And this, again, comes back to Bettman.

Apparently, the two sides met over the weekend, and will do so again this week. These are good signs. My information and belief has been and remains that the owners would like to see regular season play start around 12/1. If my information is correct, then this is what the owners “budgeted” for going in to the lockout. What that means is, as that date becomes more tenuous or unlikely, the more pressure, again, falls on Bettman mostly to get a deal done.

Feelin’ it, Gary?

All for now, some more polls to come, and more information on why we’re building these all time teams soon TBA.




JJ

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