NHL Lockout: The Best Thing To Ever Happen?

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futurcorerock

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Nov 15, 2003
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Alright, so I understand the thread title will spurn some of you on to state some of the other instances in which the game has flourished (Gretz to LA, Olympic participation), but for the sake of the argument could we stick to the question at hand: Has this NHL Lockout been the best thing to ever happen to the league?

Granted there are going to be some "no's" and "you're an idiot's", but consider the facts:

The prospect of rule changes have been discussed over the past few years, little has been done to make the sweeping reforms that may be needed to the game. With the lockout, the NHL has assured us a brand new scoring-friendly product. From the obvious (Goaltenders' Pads, Obstruction) to the questionable (Shootouts, Nets), many of the innovations had been within the spectrum of the hockey realm for a number of years, but had not been acted upon. No new innovation occured to spurn on the new movement other than the lockout's duration and the desire to win back fan support

The economic framework of the new NHL promises to be one that could be considered one that offers teams and players a fair deal. The owners will get the much needed salary cap to help control escalating salaries around the league and help improve the competitive balance on the market. Though the players could be seen at a loss, they will see free agency ages drop by a few years, linkage and will keep some of the bells and whistles of the old CBA such as Arbitration. Through the modest setback, it's ensured that the salary cap will be able to rise in future years alongside the growth of the league and allow the players a stake to their former claim... and more

Marketability has come up again and the NHL has seen the error of it's ways in alienating itself from the players. Infintely bound, the players and teams both carry the load of promoting itself to the sports world, not one or the other. Before, it was hard to find an NHL commercial featuring it's best players. Now, there's been a considerable buzz that the NHL will be able to launch itself again with the help of veterans and youth alike.

So my take on it? I think the lockout is going to be one of the most defining moments of the NHL. If all the changes do occur as stated above, the NHL is going to have the lockout as a launching pad for it's game, being able to repackage a busted product and put it back on the market. The lockout itself can be better seen as a hibernation for the NHL to collect it's image and plot a long-term strategy to ensure the health of the league and further promote the sport throughout North America

oi!
 

txomisc

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I would say it certainly has the potential to result in alot of good things. Things that would not have occured without the lockout. The game probalby would have further spiraled into a grab fest boredom wins type game. Hopefully the results going forward are much more positive.
 

Realm

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I agree, I think this will be great for the game down the road....not the next few years maybe though.
 

usiel

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Definitely damage has been done (obviously) but yeah there are definitely things that have changed because of this lockout that will help the league/players most likely become more popular. Better parity is going to help the league's health overall. Sure it sux for the deep pockets owners who can outspend the short pocket ones. Can you imagine what Snyder or J. Jones football budgets would be without a cap???
 

HockeyCritter

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If the CBA fixes the off ice portion (economic aspect) of the game --- then yes, in the long term it was worth it.

Of course they also need to fix the on ice aspect of the game as well --- but that's a different thread.
 

nyr7andcounting

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No way.

The best thing they could do is fix the rules, somehow make the game more exciting on the ice. That has nothing to do with the CBA though, they could have made these changes without a lockout and probably would have.
 

EroCaps

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nyrmessier011 said:
NO

You don't need a 285 day lockout to call obstruction, take out the red line and trim down the ridiculous equiptment goalies wear.

You do to completely renovate the economic structure...
 

mintsauce

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nyrmessier011 said:
NO

You don't need a 285 day lockout to call obstruction, take out the red line and trim down the ridiculous equiptment goalies wear.

True, but now because of the lockout they're actually making some changes, so even though you don't need a lockout for them, they're coming as a result of it.

I think that even though the lockout has been unbelievably frustrating, it will be extremely beneficial in the long run. More balanced teams is something i'm especially looking forward to.
 

NJD Jester

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futurcorerock said:
Marketability has come up again and the NHL has seen the error of it's ways in alienating itself from the players. Infintely bound, the players and teams both carry the load of promoting itself to the sports world, not one or the other. Before, it was hard to find an NHL commercial featuring it's best players.

National businesses don't view hockey players as mass-market sports celebrities any longer. I don't know how the lockout fixes that.

The NHL has proven time and time again that, despite Mr. Bettman's legacy as a marketing genius, it doesn't know how sell the sport to American fans, even as the sport boomed in the wake of the 1994 Finals. I don't know how the lockout fixes that.

Many of the sport's top stars don't speak English as a first language. I don't know how the lockout fixes that.

Economically, the lockout might change the sport for the better. I don't see how it manages to fix the league's marketing problems, especially after these players missed an entire season.
 

PredFred

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In some aspects I believe you are correct. The NHL finally woke up and realized the casual fan didn't give a rats tail. They saw their real value to the sports world and realized they had to make some changes. On the other hand, I feel they have also alienated some of the more passionate fans as well. The casual fan will come and go. The hardest job they have is bringing back the hardcore fan that they managed to run away.

On an off topic...I've seen where some of the Euro leagues are actually reinstating the red line because it has completely removed the forecheck from the game. So I'm not sure the removal of the red line is a great thing, but I do think something needs to be done to open it up.
 

Patman

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NJD Jester said:
National businesses don't view hockey players as mass-market sports celebrities any longer. I don't know how the lockout fixes that.

The NHL has proven time and time again that, despite Mr. Bettman's legacy as a marketing genius, it doesn't know how sell the sport to American fans, even as the sport boomed in the wake of the 1994 Finals. I don't know how the lockout fixes that.

Many of the sport's top stars don't speak English as a first language. I don't know how the lockout fixes that.

Economically, the lockout might change the sport for the better. I don't see how it manages to fix the league's marketing problems, especially after these players missed an entire season.

The NHL still wants to operate under the same fiction they've been selling themselves prior to the lockout. Its the idea that the more you can emulate everybody else the more money and success you will attain. Bettman's failure is to not understand his product and not understanding what brought itself success in the first place in the early 1990s. It would do the league a lot of good to see what was the prevailing factor in the rise of the league from the 80s to about 94-95 and chuck out today's prevailing model for today's society that has repeated burned hockey over and over again. It is probably better for the interest to be the true rouge and go its own route instead of striving to be another face in the crowd. The NHL cannot fix its problems in a slick marketing campaign highlighting stars. This is going to be a long 5-10 year road back to respectability and no amount of flash and style is going to help hockey because they just become group doing the same shtick. The NHL needs to go back to the focus of the teams and their relation to the hometown fan first... the national media will not save them. The teams of the league need to endear themselves to the city and build up the league from within.

The English fluency of the stars means very little and even then its not a large problem. The NHL's power is not in star appeal, never has been. The problem is the league has been explicitly selling the stars of the league and that's the problem. Hockey's history talks much about the teams and not the individuals and the reflects back on the nature of hockey as a team sport. It was the team as an extension of the people and fans of that team. The NHL forgot what gave them power and that was the teams and the players that gave them character, but the teams were secondary. Only a few super-stars transcend that team status, Gretzky, Lemieux, and Messier (mostly by age) are a few players that can overcome that divide but there aren't too many players that will.

If the NHL tries to post-lockout market on the stars of the league they will fail miserably... after that we'll see the "revolutionary rules changes" as the problems will compound (also due to the insistence of succeeding in markets that will not work) as markets will begin to fail. The NHL cannot succumb to the culture of conformity otherwise it fails to realize how they are in fact a different animal... if they try to sell the stars first and foremost then the NHL has learned nothing of the 1996-present. The NHL will need to see that 1) (which they have) the game has been tightened up through lax officiating and equipment increases despite the overall talent increase, 2) some markets will not work and weren't a good idea... wait and see is a good proposition but you don't sell tickets and merch about dreams of glory in a place that won't care, 3) the post lockout is a long term situation and not something resolvable, 4) doing "more" in the way of revolutionary changes may not work and such measures should be handled with extreme care or the league will start going down the toilet of history.
 

19nazzy

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Its nice to see some of the great stars of the league who have had injury problems have had a year off to recover their ailments.
 

Le Golie

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It seems very ironic to say it, but I really do think this has the potential to turn the NHL around. It certainly ushers in a compltely different era, economically for sure and hopefully entertainment wise as well.
 

Icey

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Sometimes you need to go in reverse before you can go forward. Ever try putting a car in reverse when your still driving forward? Kind of difficult.

This league needed to totally shut down in order for them to take a long hard look at the product. And they realized it wasn't pretty. I think this lockout will produce a better on ice product as well as a better off-ice product. This league will be 100% better when they return in October.
 

gerbilanium

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Oct 17, 2003
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You would think ranger fans would welcome pretty much any new system. This will help the big guys too, maybe not initially. They will probably have the cadillac scouting, coaching, training facilities, but as a small market fan I would take that a million times over a $50 million dollar difference in team payroll.

You big marketers, you must in the dark recesses of you soul look at Detroit compared to Calgary's payroll in the playoffs and say "OK that's kinda ridiculous". I know Calgary beat them,but who did you put money on before the series.

I feel guilty when the stampeders play saskatchewan because Calgary is reportedly a big spender.
 
It's hard to say whether or not it will be the "best" thing to happen. But it could certainly rank as one of the biggest.

Before now the NHL to me had two defining events:

The expansion in 1967 and the formation of the WHA in 1972.

I suspect I will have to add the Lockout of 2005 to that list for better or for worse.
 

blitzkriegs

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nyrmessier011 said:
NO

You don't need a 285 day lockout to call obstruction, take out the red line and trim down the ridiculous equiptment goalies wear.

No maybe you don't, but did you see ANY progress in affecting the changes you state in the past 3-5 years? Answer = NO.

Call obstruction - the NHL tried over and over again; players whined over and over again.

take out the redline - subject of much debate, but never serious debate until Shanahan's conference, then the league's conference, then the rules camp

reduce goalie equipment - the NHL tried several times, only to be jammed by the PA w/grievances.

So, let me ask you. Where was the force, pressure, inertia going to come from to overcome these obstacles?

Shanahan took his own initiative during the lockout to try top find to make the game better while his union boss had done nothing to help the cause for years. Why? because stalling the NHL for on ice-issues helped (at least he thought) his cba bargaining position.

The lockout has allowed much desired reflection by all sides that would have never happened absent this lockout b/c the sides were too adversarial and too involved in bargaining power, not the state of the on ice product.
 

AM

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yes

the economic system had to change.

Lets hope they get it right... or at least right enough it can be fie tuned next time out.
 
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