Back to school blues nothing compared the NHL’s summer blues
No, I’m not talking about St. Louis.
First it was the Phoenix Coyotes, then (and still) it was Dany Heatley, and now the firing of Paul Kelly. The summer for the National Hockey League has been mired in scandal and feuding between supposed “professionals”.
The Phoenix case could have easily been resolved 3 months ago if Gary Bettman and Bill Daly possessed the ability to see reason. I’m sure that there is something deeper to this whole thing that’s getting past this particular 15 year old, but much older, more educated people than I have seen the exact same things that I have. Bettman and Daly figure that an owner willing to keep the team in Phoenix for about 100$ million less that the proposed bid which would move the team to southern Ontario could be considered a franchise saviour. Then MLSE adds more fuel to the fire, saying that another team in southern ontario would be infringing on the Leafs fans territory, and Eugene Melnyk comes out at questions Jim Balsillie’s integrity, when all he is trying to do is save the NHL an extra 67$ million dollars. Really, this whole situation, franchise and league are in shambles. Let’s hope this gets resolved on the September 12th auction, please.
Now, onto Heater. I think mostly everyone knows about all this, seeing as Heatley was beloved in Ottawa by most Sens fans, but probably disliked everywhere else. Personally, I think Ottawa would be better off without him, with some more young talent coming back their way via trade, but this looks very optimistic going forward. So far this summer, nothing has happened on this front. Just an endless loop, with the frequent refrains of “we’re getting there” and “it’s a matter of time” then finally, “talks are almost dead.” I won’t be surprised to see Heatley back in a Sens uniform, but how will it go over in hockey country? A question I cannot wait to see answered.
As kind of an insult to injury, another issue with the brass of the league has arisen, with Paul Kelly being fired from the position of Executive Director of the NHLPA.
This has basically been a cataclysmic summer for the league, a summer of creating hype, then going nowhere. Let’s hope that the actual players performances during the games of the sport of hockey, which is what we’re supposed to be concentrating on, funny enough, make up for the lack of anything positive since the Penguins hoisted the cup all the way back in June. However, if the summer is just a sneak peak at the future of the NHL, then dark times are approaching.
