As Puck Drops in Vancouver, Owners Clearly Upset

Tonight was the first night of men's Olympic hockey in Vancouver. USA won their opener over Switzerland 3-1 and Canada looks like they are running away with their opener against Norway. The bigger story? Whether or not we will see a tournament with so much talent again. These Olympics mark the last year of the NHL deal to break the season for two weeks and allow NHL players to play in the Olympics. Most owners clearly can't wait for this to end.

"From an ownership stand point, in the middle of the season, we would just as soon skip it," said Blackhawks owner, Rocky Wirtz. "It doesn't add any more to our sport."

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager, Brian Burke, also echoed some of the owner's sentiments. "We've done it three times; the only time we got any kind of bang out of it was in Salt Lake. Nagano, Torino, we didn't get anything out of that. So there's a lot of sentiment that this should be the last Olympics that the players play." The problem for the owners is that the Olympics are high risk for them with little reward. In the middle of the season the best players are being sent to play in a different tournament that generates little excitement and no revenue. High Olympic ratings and attendance put no money in their pockets. What if Alex Ovechkin were to get injured? Or Sidney Crosby? The chances of many Stanley Cup contenders can be significantly hurt by injury or fatigue and the owners will have gained nothing from it.

The owners have voiced very valid arguments and concerns, but it's time for them to wake up to reality. It's true that Olympic hockey doesn't seem to draw much attention unless it is played in Canada or America. To continue the season, however, makes no sense. Right now, Olympic hockey is not shown on NBC, but is rather relegated to CNBC. Only a few games are shown on prime time. The rest of the Olympics do very well in the ratings. If owners think people are going to watch NHL hockey during the Olympics, they are sadly mistaken. Low ratings for Olympic hockey doesn't mean low interest in Olympic hockey, it means low interest in hockey. What owners don't seem to realize about the Olympics is that while they may not be gaining anything from them, they aren't losing anything either. NHL ratings during the Olympics if they chose to continue with the season would be a complete disaster. It would be a real reality check when owners find out more people are watching figure skating than regular season NHL games, which I guarantee would happen.

If playing during the Olympics doesn't make sense, what about not playing? The NHL could keep its Olympic break even if it doesn't allow NHL players to play. It would allow players to rest, but this is an even worse set up. Halting NHL play while not allowing players to go to the Olympics would be a slap in the face. If they aren't going to continue the season, there's no reason to not go to the Olympics. The NHLPA has already made it clear that this is extremely important to players. They want to play. Ovechkin upped the ante a few months ago during an interview in which he said that he would play in the Olympics even if the NHL season continued. "Nobody can say to me, 'You can't play for your country in the Olympic games.'" While players have an obligation to their NHL teams, they clearly have passion for these games. Why stifle that? There are various other international hockey competitions, but none with the same spotlight and prestige as the Olympics. This is really the only major international stage for these players. To deny attempt to deny them of that chance is pretty rotten. Imagine trying to tell David Beckham that he can't play in the World Cup because of his obligation to the LA Galaxy. He would walk too.

Ok, so the Olympics don't give the NHL much of a boost. That's nothing compared to the hit they'll take if they stupidly try to continue playing. Can players get injured? Sure, but the international game is not nearly as physical. Hitting is not as much a part of the game and fighting is absolutely not allowed (which will be true in the NHL in the next 5-10 years, but that's an issue for another blog). There are no enforcers on these Olympic rosters. Of course the possibility of injury is still there, but it's much less likely. The NHL can learn a lot by studying a much more skilled style of hockey as we saw when they adopted many rules from Olympic hockey after the lockout. When there is growing fear that European leagues such as the Russian KHL league will begin taking away NHL players (Jaromir Jagr, Viktor Kozlov, Sergei Federov) why deny the players something that they have made clear is extremely important to them? Why risk stars like Ovechkin walking out on the NHL to play Olympic hockey? Owners may be focused on the cons of Olympic participation, but if they really thought about what would happen if they were to try and continue with the season, they would realize what a complete disaster that would be.