I personally could care less if we send NHL players or not. It was pretty cool to see Canada win gold in Salt Lake City and Vancouver, but didn't really care about Sochi.
If they go fine, if they don't go, fine - it will make for some interesting times.
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Yeah, I'm not sure how you would ever top Vancouver. Or even Salt Lake City for that matter. My interest level in Sochi was probably half of those two Olympics, it'd be ven worse for these games at 3am
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It's really amazing how much the game has evolved. I clicked randomly in that video just to see a bit of the hockey and a Russian player shot a puck on the Canada goalie, unscreened from BEHIND the blue line.
The goalie threw his shoulder at it and awkwardly knocked it down and the crowd went wild, lol.
Bettman on PTS with Bob McGowan this afternoon, would not touch the Ovechkin comment other than to say players are contractually obligated to the NHL.
I can't see how a player is contractually obligated to a league. They sign the contract with a team but if that team for some reason allows their player to go that's just like scratching him for x games. Can the NHL really suspend players for this?
NHL can not stop the season but I don't how they can stop players from going.
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I can't see how a player is contractually obligated to a league. They sign the contract with a team but if that team for some reason allows their player to go that's just like scratching him for x games. Can the NHL really suspend players for this?
NHL can not stop the season but I don't how they can stop players from going.
All NHL standard player contracts have these lines:
Quote:
6. The Player represents and agrees that he has exceptional and unique knowledge, skill and ability as a hockey Player, the loss of which cannot be estimated with certainty and cannot be fairly or adequately compensated by damages. The Player therefore agrees that the Club shall have the right, in addition to any other rights which the Club may possess, to enjoin him by
appropriate injunctive proceedings without first exhausting any other remedy which may be available to the Club, from playing hockey for any other team and/or for any breach of any of the other provisions of this SPC.
7. The Player and the Club recognize and agree that the Player's participation in other sports may impair or destroy his ability and skill as a hockey Player. Accordingly the Player agrees that he will not during the period of this SPC or during any period when he is obligated under this SPC to enter into a further SPC with the Club engage or participate in football, baseball, softball, hockey, lacrosse, boxing, wrestling or other athletic sport without the written consent of the Club, which consent will not be unreasonably withheld.
That language was what was negotiated in the CBA and agreed to by the NHLPA.
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I can't see how a player is contractually obligated to a league. They sign the contract with a team but if that team for some reason allows their player to go that's just like scratching him for x games. Can the NHL really suspend players for this?
NHL can not stop the season but I don't how they can stop players from going.
If a team let their players breach contracts and play in other tourneys the NHL could take action against the team. And no, it's not like scratching them.
If Washington let Ovechkin go, they'd better let any other player on their team go as well. Then let them field a team of AHlers.
I'd like to see Ovechkin challenge this. He's probably the only one who can really do it or seems to have the desire, balls, and clout.
"Okay do what you got to do. Void my contract, hold back my paycheque, whatever. I'll be back in three weeks and tell me then if I'm no longer on the team. I'm sure someone else in the NHL could use me".
I have no idea if that's even possible though it seems like it should be.
I personally could care less if we send NHL players or not. It was pretty cool to see Canada win gold in Salt Lake City and Vancouver, but didn't really care about Sochi.
If they go fine, if they don't go, fine - it will make for some interesting times.
So you do care ... even if just a little?
How much less could you care?
I care immensely. I'm very disappointed NHL players are not likely to play in the tournament. It is incredible best on best hockey, that has meaning for the players.
FWIW - the 2010 final between Canada-US gold medal game was the most watched hockey game in the US since 1980 Olympics with an average of 27.6 million.
The 2014 semi-final between Canada-US was (is?) the most watched broadcast ever on NBCSN and also had the highest ever NBC streaming audience at the time (obviously way lower numbers than 2010 given the time and the channel it was on).
That 2010 audience is about 3 to 4 times higher than a Stanley Cup game. If the NHL can't earn money from that exposure, they've got issues. The 2014 audience close to a normal Stanley Cup game on NBC and it was on NBCSN.
They can't earn money from that exposure. That's the whole point. The IOC gets the money.
The NHL can't even post highlights from the games on their website. They also can't sell merchandise promoting players who played great in the Olympics. If anything, they probably lose merchandise revenue in Olympic years when fans decide to buy a Crosby Team Canada jersey instead of a Crosby Penguins jersey.
The viewership might be 3 or 4 times higher than a Stanley Cup Final game, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's some invisible hockey market they just need to tap into. It more likely means that there are just fans of multiple teams who will watch the Olympics to cheer on their country who will only go out of their way to watch the Final if their team is in it.
The Olympics get viewership from a high percentage of fans of all 30 NHL teams. The Stanley Cup Final gets viewership from a high percentage of fans of 2 NHL teams and a lower percentage of viewers from the other 28 teams.
The Super Bowl is really the only championship whose ratings are relatively insulated from fluctuations because of the actual teams in the game.
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All NHL standard player contracts have these lines:
That language was what was negotiated in the CBA and agreed to by the NHLPA.
6. Right to injunctive proceedings (can seek an injunction which may not necessarily be successful, no?).
7. What constitutes not unreasonably withheld?
I personally could care less if we send NHL players or not. It was pretty cool to see Canada win gold in Salt Lake City and Vancouver, but didn't really care about Sochi.
If they go fine, if they don't go, fine - it will make for some interesting times.
Agreed. I'm fine with them not going. More worried about what the fallout might mean in the next round of CBA negotiations.
Interesting read from the POV of Vlasic: http://www.cbc.ca/playersvoice/entry...o-the-olympics
"What I was seeing was completely ridiculous. It was April 3, and the commissioner of the National Hockey League, Gary Bettman, announced that NHL players would not participate at the next Winter Olympic Games, taking place in less than a year in South Korea. And that the case was closed. At first, I told myself they had missed April Fools by two days."
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