Some people are not going to see the big deal with this, and on one level I can see why they’d feel that way. A larger part of me, however, is absolutely blown away with the fact that a player poll such as the one released tonight thought to be a good idea by a few parties.
Haven’t heard about it yet? Here it is: Sports Illustrated polled 161 active NHL players and asked them who they felt were the most overrated players in the league. I’m not going to spend time reviewing the results as I’m sure a thousand news sites and blogs have already covered the players listed in great depth and most of you are likely familiar with the list already. What I am going to do is ask you to consider a few questions I had just hearing about the poll and to hear your thoughts around them and any other reactions you may have had yourself.
1. Who at SI thought this was a good idea?
Don’t get me wrong. I understand that as a purely response driven industry an article like this is going to achieve a number of things. Page views/hits, chatter and mentions of the Sports Illustrated name will spike with this type of thing. What I mean is did anyone consider the potential negative kickback this could create for the publication. Players mentioned are going to be pissed. Many players who did not participate in the poll will likely share these feelings as well. While I feel these feelings are most likely misdirected, one could certainly make a case for resenting whoever at SI created the context for such negative feelings being created. Is this going to make players feel motivated to involve themselves with SI as an organization or go out of their way to make themselves available to them? One could argue that the players probably realize the game is in a place in the US where passing up any exposure is not the best move and as such you’re not going to see players distancing themselves from those associated with SI, someone at the magazine had to have asked the question as to when it’s ever a good idea to stir the pot when it didn’t need to be stirred. There’s a difference between asking the hard questions and asking just for the sake of causing controversy. It’s not hard to imagine that some folks at SI will be getting an earful from individuals involved with the game, be they players, management, league officials or union leadership, and I don’t reckon the exchange will be cheery.
My million dollar question though: Does anyone have a right to be slagging the SI folks? I ask because ultimately the big question is…
2. What were the players who responded thinking?
As best as I could determine there are 778 players currently represented by the NHLPA in the league. This poll managed to get 161 of them to respond. That’s approximately 21% of the membership. So pretty much one out of every five players effectively, in my opinion, threw one of their colleagues under the bus. Anonymously. What kind of locker room atmosphere does that create, more so on teams where relationships may already be strained? If you’re one of the players named on the list and have some folks sharing the room with you who you realize are not your fans are you now wondering whether your own teammate took a shot at you? If you’re a player already struggling and you here this does the already fragile ego take another hit? We can say that these guys should be professional or tough enough to let this stuff slide, but let’s face it: that’s a view that’s often easier said than done.
Does anyone else get the sense as I do that this also demonstrates an increasing lack of respect some players have for each other, in as much that the flippant attitude towards a peers physical well-being we have seen demonstrated on the ice at times is now being demonstrated off the ice. I’m not naïve enough to think that players haven’t had words such as these for each other in the past, but rarely do you see such a large group willing to air these opinions for public consumption. We hear about an honour code in the game, but where is the honour in what these guys did? A gutless move, and I’m willing to bet that called on it fewer than 10% of these players would be willing to admit to being part of the group who responded. I can bet, however, that after having to answer to teammates, the next people wanting a chunk of anyone admitting to being involved with this would be…
3. The NHLPA and the agents:
Picture the scenario where you’ve got a player heading into an RFA negotiation after having put up numbers comparable to a Lecavalier, Iginla or Kovalchuk in their better years over the course of two to three seasons. You’re in an arbitration scenario and your goal is to shoot for their type of contract cash-wise. As an agent it gets your client the best possible deal, and as the union you get to see that the value of contracts for your membership stays at an acceptable level. Does it help or hinder you in such negotiations to have had 20% of this players peers name these guys as overrated?
Better yet, you’re heading into the lead up to negotiations for a new CBA. You’ve just won a solid victory over the league by managing to kibosh next year’s realignment. You feel like you’ve got some momentum. New leadership, united players, financially stable league…then something like this comes along that works to fracture player relationships as opposed to building them. I’m not here to suggest that this poll is a game changer in CBA negotiations by any means, but as a representative at this level do you not want to see your membership seeking to maintain unity, or at the very least not actively creating problems amongst one another?
4. The Owners/GM/Coach:
What more can be said here other than to reiterate that fractured teams do not function or play as well as cohesive ones. Again, this in and of itself is not an event that will sink a team, but if you’re a coach, GM or owner who is dealing with a delicately balanced team or a superstar with a fragile ego and they’ve hit this list, you’re not happy. If there’s already problems in a locker room and it comes to light that one of your players took part in this and teammates take exception, this adds to the mix. If you’re an owner or GM who believe one of your players is overrated and are trying to move them to make your team better and all of a sudden a list like this comes along and the player is on it does this give you leverage or take it away? I’m not saying a potential trade partner is necessarily going to change their evaluation of said player based on the opinion of their peers in this poll, but it may provide him with something of use in negotiations, however minor it may be in the role it plays.
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Please understand my context: I’m not suggesting that this is a catastrophic event. It’s not the first time SI has done a poll of this nature, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I do believe, however that it was an unfortunate occurrence that a surprising number of players chose to take part in without considering potential outcomes for themselves, teammates, team staff, or peers across the league in general. My opinion is that some of this involvement was out of ignorance and that with more thought involvement would not have taken place. At the same time I also feel that in many cases it could be argued to be reflecting a general tendency to not consider the impact of one’s words as the respect for one’s peers just isn’t there as it used to be. Hockey is a game that likes to talk about honour, and that’s fine. But what is good on the ice should be good off it as well, and in this case the honourable thing to do in my mind would be to realize that this was not a topic that necessitated comment. Besides, what better story could the players have had on their side than for SI to try to do this poll only to have no player willing to comment?
These are only a few of the thoughts that jumped out of my head as I processed this. Some people may agree, others may disagree and others may be very indifferent to the whole thing! Regardless, I’m very interested to hear how you feel about this. Jump in with your thoughts in the comments as I think it’s great getting many different perspectives on this type of thing!
Cheers folks, and until next time…
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Shawn Gates
[email protected]
Twitter: ShawnHockeybuzz
Facebook: Shawn Gates
Facebook Group: Hockeybuzz Collectibles
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