THIS was March 17, when the Red Sox were in Tampa to play the Yankees in an exhibition game. It was also one day before the defending world champions were scheduled to depart for Japan to open their season in Tokyo against the A’s.
“One thing we won’t do is use the schedule as an excuse,” manager Terry Francona manager said in the visitors’ dugout during batting practice. “When we come home, we’re going to try and beat the next team [we play], whether we’re tired or not.”
Those are words to live by for the Rangers and Lightning, who are opening their seasons this weekend in Prague, and for the Penguins and Senators, who are commencing play in Stockholm. Those will be words to live by for the four, six or eight teams that will probably open the 2009-10 season in Europe.
This NHL exploration of the global market is as welcome as it is necessary. This is not a time for this league to retreat into its own North American borders, regardless of what the habitually ignorant Don Cherry might have to say on the subject. It cannot afford to.
But the league needs to develop a sound plan here, and it needs to do so in conjunction with not only the IIHF, but with each international hockey federation. It needs to form a genuine partnership with the folks from whom NHL teams mine their natural resources. And that includes Russia.
Let’s get this straight. The NHL’s stance on Alexander Radulov is 100-percent correct. The winger is under contract to the Predators. The lack of a transfer agreement does not mitigate that fact. The KHL should send him back.
But let’s also understand that the Radulov issue should not stand in the way of the NHL’s mandate to strike a meaningful deal with the Russian Federation, and let’s also understand that the NHL likes to game the system whenever it works to its teams’ advantage.
Darius Kasparaitis was allowed to go from Broadway – all right, Asylum St. in Hartford – to Russia to accommodate the Rangers. Vitaly Vishnevski was permitted to go from Newark to Russia to satisfy the Devils. Nikolai Khabibulin appears on his way from Chicago to Russia with the NHL’s blessing, though the goaltender could remain here if the Blackhawks can pull off a trade.
It’s time for the NHL to enter into a comprehensive agreement with European leagues that includes the adoption of team-negotiated player transfer fees. It is a standard in soccer. It is part of baseball. It should become part of the 21st Century NHL.
No doubt some in the NHL will argue that the adoption of transfer fees will favor big market clubs. That will be the posturing of small-minded individuals. The league and the PA must amend the CBA to incorporate a mechanism to allow the orderly flow of willing players between countries.
For it is not only in the NHL’s best interests to present a product that reflects the best of the world stage, but considering the unknown but real looming threats to the industry posed by the American economic crisis – how many ownerships are at risk if credit lines are reduced or eliminated; how many corporations will be compelled to cancel sponsorship deals, suite rentals and pricey season ticket subscriptions? – it is in both the NHL’s and the NHLPA’s interests to act quickly and in a bipartisan manner to tap new sources of revenue.
As Francona said, “No excuses.”