When hockey fans criticize Gary Bettman for the way he's run the NHL, one of the most frequent complaints is his drive to grow the sport in non-traditional markets by putting franchises in cities like Phoenix, Raleigh, Atlanta, Tampa, and Nashville.
If Donald Fehr and the NHL Players Association have their way about it, that effort could be responsible for fans having NHL hockey to watch earlier than expected this year.
When the NHLPA presented its counter-offer to the owners during Tuesday's collective bargaining negotiations, the players made two key moves. First, they showed willingness to reduce their share of hockey-related revenue based on the fact that certain clubs are in financial trouble, Second, they called for increased revenue sharing among the NHL teams in order to benefit those same financially strapped clubs, singling out the New York Islanders, Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets as teams that would benefit under the players' proposal.
The strategy is clear: to drive a wedge between the owners of small-market teams and rich clubs like the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers, and get enough sympathetic ears among the owners to get a new CBA approved. The question is whether or not it will work.
In a summer that's seen the Nashville Predators make an unprecedented financial outlay in order to keep Shea Weber after their captain signed a big-money offer sheet with the Flyers, there's a lot to like about this strategy. The Flyers signed that offer sheet expecting for the Predators to not be able to match it, looking to use the financial muscle of Ed Snider to overpower the small-market Predators. A move that could put the teams on more even financial footing could certainly find fans in Nashville, and similarly positioned clubs would undoubtedly like to have a bit more of the power that their big-market brethren enjoy.
Will that be enough? Probably not enough to get a new CBA from the players' proposal. It's still a good sign, though. As the great playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, "A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."
In the coming weeks, we'll see how many NHL owners consider themselves "Paul."
