Politics, credit downgrading, and hockey; or how NHL contraction could end up on the table

We really don’t need any more jingoism in hockey. Canadians should be proud that so many people love something they identify with so closely.

(I’m sure I’d have more to say if I wasn’t coming down with a cold today. Great post Cassie, I’m going to go home and chug some OJ and curl up on the sofa.)

I’m curious whether or not things will get to a point where contraction is a real possibility… I hope not, though. I guess we’ll see.

I can’t help but snicker a bit about the demonization of “the Canadians,” though. Yeah, there are dumb folks out there who don’t realize that hockey can do well in sunny climes, but that’s not everyone. And yeah, most Canadians would prefer to watch their team play against another Canadian team, and cheer for Canadian squads before American ones; but tell me the opposite isn’t true, too.

Realistically, Canada can take on maybe two teams right now—look at Quebec and Southern Ontario—but that’s it. So you’re bang on in saying that if the American economy doesn’t rebound, and if financially struggling teams can’t find other buyers, the league might have to look at contraction. Man, that would suck.

Looking forward, this isn’t an ‘us versus them’ thing. It’s a hockey fan thing, wherever you are, because if the NHL is looking at contraction, our beloved game is in serious trouble.

Really great post Cassie.

I’m not going to defend those Canadians (probably a larger group than I care to admit) who feel that the cure to all the ills of the NHL is to move teams to Canada. It’s a naive and shortsighted opinion. But I do think that the idea is routed in a rivalry between the US and Canada that is very hard for some in the US to understand.

We want to be seen as equals to the US but it doesn’t often work out that way for us. Have you ever been travelling and been mistaken for a Canadian? I’ve been mistaken for an American more times than I can count. In almost every sport you can think of you routinely hand us our asses. All of this and more breeds a very one sided rivalry that most Americans don’t even know exists. In an effort to come ahead for a change we lash out when it comes to the one thing we feel superior at which happens to be hockey. Like I said it’s not right but hopefully you can understand a little where it comes from.

I was corrected on Twitter. Apparently the lowest the Canadian dollar ever got during the last dip was $0.61 US in 2002. I must’ve transposed the 65 cents into 56 cents or something.

I tend to be sentimental about things. Same goes for my hockey. At its most basic, I think the league really need only ensure the Original 6 don’t fold. All others are open for contracture/moving. Sure, I don’t like the fact my other team (the Blues) is in significant financial difficulty.

I think what’s further interesting—using Cassie’s article as a fabulous point-of-departure—is what happens to the league if/when the league contracts? Assume the Panthers contract (not that I harbor ill-will toward the “Stinkin’ Panthers” but am using them hypothetically here). Will the league contract only one team? Not likely. To even things up, I can easily foresee a Western Conference team closing up shop, too. Let’s say—again, purely hypothetically—the Coyotes join the Panthers in the ride into the sunset.

In that case, what happens to the players? The league would then have to figure out what to do with up to 100 players. Supplemental draft? Can you imagine David Booth or Ekmund-Larsson in Lightning Blue? What would happen to the respective AHL teams? Would they fold as well? If not, what would their role then be in what has historically been primarily a development (“farm”) league.

This topic alone could be worth a full-length article by itself.

You keep mentioning that the Islanders have Ownership problems. While this was true in the past, Wang has been the most solid owner of the team for some time. He offered to build a new arena for the team (along with upgrading the area around the arena) as part of the Lighthouse project with his own funding. It was approved by the county the arena is in, but not the township. Mostly because Politics in Long Island are a joke.

The most recent referendum had the biggest opponents of the Lighthouse Project from the Township on board (particularly Kate Murray) and the county behind it. The Bond was going to be paid back to the county via a minimum payment to the county by Wang every year (of 14 million) or 11% of all revenue generated at the Coliseum, whichever was higher. In the end it would have paid back 70% of the bond + interest, which is more then most Sports Stadiums bonds which average around 40%. Unfortunately the Dems ran a campaign telling old people that if this passed their taxes would go up. Of course one might question how much taxes would go up without the Islanders bringing in revenue to the area, but they don’t think that far ahead.

Wang still seems to be holding out on eventually building something at the Islanders current site. While the team has lost anywhere from 200-400 million during his ownership, those losses are mostly due to how poorly the lease is setup for the Islanders. Pickett signed a 30 year lease back in 1985, in which he had no leverage to move the team to get a better lease. Until recently the County (who actually own the Arena and surrounding area, the Islanders are just a tenant) got all profits from concession stands and parking. Meanwhile the County has also done the bare minimum in upkeep on the building. For example the 1985 lease had wording that the Coliseum was going to get a thorough renovation for 1990, as it was already one of the worst buildings in the league by that point. The renovation never happened.

While Wang does get ridiculed (and rightfully so) for some of his “interesting” ideas, he’s always had the money to pay the bills and seems dedicated to keeping the team where it is. This is despite huge overtures lately from Suffolk County, Brooklyn and Queens. And supposedly the TV deal that the Islanders signed with the MSG network (MSG has given huge cable deals to the Devils and Islanders to kill competition) makes up for the money he loses on the team.

The Islanders are just a lot more stable then people give them credit for, even with 2015 looming.

Honestly, since becoming a fan of the Panthers, my worries of relocation/contraction have completely vanished. There is a certain level of stability that simply isnt obvious at first glance.