While ESPN3 ironically considers online streaming Kontinental Hockey League games, one player in on the lockout talks says the NHL is risking its very stature, as well as its attraction to European stars.
“If [the owners] get everything they’re asking for, I don’t believe the NHL will survive as the best league in the world,” Devils goalie Johan Hedberg told The Post yesterday.
“I know guys who are saying they won’t come back if the NHL doesn’t honor the contracts that teams have signed.”
Hedberg’s warning comes as the Russia-based KHL announced (perhaps prematurely) a deal with ESPN3 for streaming of games, beginning today. ESPN has not televised live NHL games in years, but had not yet confirmed the deal the KHL announced.
Dynamo Moscow’s Alex Ovechkin was slated for today’s action, while Ilya Kovalchuk of St. Petersburg would appear Oct. 6 against Zdeno Chara’s new Prague squad. Evgeni Malkin (Magnitogorsk) and Pavel Datsyuk (CKSA Moscow) are also playing in the KHL.
Talks on a new collective bargaining agreement broke off yesterday in Midtown without progress, and the league is expected today to cancel the season openers, which were to begin Oct. 11.
Hedberg, 39, joined the negotiations last week, while the league and the union were discussing side issues.
“Look, in Europe, hockey is big. In Russia, hockey is big. They would love to keep their players on home ice,” Hedberg said. “As much as guys love it here, and they do, they don’t feel the NHL is treating them how they should be treated.”
The sides may reconvene later this week, but broke off talks yesterday without much optimism.
“Today wasn’t really encouraging, that’s for sure,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “We’re looking for a long-term deal that’s fair for the players, fair for the teams and good for the fans. That’s what we want from this negotiation, but we need a negotiating partner to get there.”
The owners want the players’ share of hockey revenue slashed from the current 57 percent to 49 percent, then down to 47 percent over a six-year deal. The players have offered to limit their share’s increase from the current $1.87 billion to $2.1 billion over three years.
The issue is a pay cut opposed to a pay increase. The league said that since it made the last proposal, it’s the union’s turn to close the gap. The union says, phooey. So each waits for the other to budge and no one’s moving.
“Unless and until we hear from them and they make some movement or show some willingness to compromise, I’m not sure how we get this done,” Daly said. “By losing our preseason, we’ve probably done close to $100 million in damage to the business that’s not going to be recouped, that’s going to cost both sides.
“It goes back to us really tackling the main issues that are at issue and seeing if we have some traction towards some middle ground.”