With two arenas in the metropolitan area unconstrained by NHL affiliations, the Players Association has a golden New York chance to showcase its constituency, make some money, give the public the hockey it will otherwise miss and make a statement in the court of public opinion.
So far, though, four days into the owners” Lockout III, sources said the union has not approached either the Meadowlands’ arena, nor the soon-to-open Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Islanders and Devils are still slated to meet in preseason, although that game is likely to be canceled momentarily.
A union official said the players association is concentrating on getting a deal done with the NHL, and that setting up games seems premature now, although it is reported Hockey Canada already has turned down involvement in a union-based Canada-Russia tourney.
The sides held “brief conversations’’ Tuesday night and are expected to speak again Wednesday. Ominously, no in-person meetings are scheduled.
The union has offered to limit its increase in its pay pot from $1.87 billion to $2.1 billion over three years, while the NHL wants the players’ share to plummet from 57 percent of hockey revenue to 49 percent, shrinking to 47 percent over six years.
In both previous lockouts, 1995-95 and 2004-05, such thoughts of a players’ league or nationality-based tournaments foundered on a lack of available venues, especially around New York. This time, however, the Devils are no longer in the home of their championships, and the Islanders have the option of playing in Flatbush.
A snag is reported to have arisen for players such as Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk, who signed to play in Europe during the lockout, with Alex Ovechkin also reportedly lining up. The International Ice Hockey Federation had not issued required transfer certificates for those moving to European leagues from the NHL.
That hassle can be easily solved, and the speed with which so many players made their temporary move overseas will put a crimp in any plan for North American tourneys.
Still, there are plenty of fabulous players without a place to play. Besides New Jersey and Brooklyn, there are arenas in other cities in the U.S. and Canada that could handle such games. Large college and minor league arenas, and basketball buildings would be potential sites — even football and soccer parks.
In Canada, there’s Quebec, Saskatoon, Halifax and the old Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver without NHL or AHL teams, and seating of 10,000 or more. In the U.S., there’s Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Baltimore, Rosemont, Ill., (Chicago), Miami, Orlando, Allen, Texas (Dallas), Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Ontario, Calif., Cow Palace outside San Francisco, Salt Lake, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Auburn, Mich., (Detroit), Atlanta, Portland, Spokane and Minneapolis. There are sure to be some conflicts with the NHL among those, but there are enough choices to make it work.
One of the highlights of the first lockout was a Wayne Gretzky-organized game outside of Detroit, where the IHL Vipers played. Petr Sykora was an undrafted phenom with the Vipers then, playing against the top pros, and he made his mark that night.