NHL Week in Review (February 5-11)
In the NHL the pay has skyrocketed in recent years as teams become more valuable and players want a bigger piece of the pie.
The same can be said for every sport as teams are making more money than ever before and as a result, are paying their players more.
It is a trend in all professional sports as players earn more and more while the teams earn more and more.
It has been one of those debates that rages one regarding how much someone is getting paid and whether they are overpaid or not.
It is a problem at all professional levels but there is another issue that plagues the amateur levels of every sport.
That is the issue of paying players at the amateur level and whether or not they should be paid for playing.
The NCAA has been dealing with this issue in football and basketball as those two sports tend to make the most money in a school.
Yet despite their ability to make money, they have never passed it on to the players that put on the show that can make the money.
That has been a point of contention for the student athletes that are forced to scrape by to live and be able to play football or basketball.
They struggle to pay for living expenses and food while schools make millions thanks to the play of the players.
The NCAA has seen a number of lawsuits against them while players have also attempted to form a union in order to fight for their rights, namely paying the players.
It has been a long fight for players in the NCAA but they are not the only players looking to get some type of support.
They have been joined by the players in the CHL who this week have begun to make headlines in their attempt to get a higher wage.
The CHL is the main feeder system into the NHL as the best young players in the world all play in one of the three leagues that make up Canada’s top major junior league.
These players are the best players from throughout Canada along with some of the top players from Europe and the USA.
To enter the NHL the best bet is to go through this league and everyone in this league has hopes of playing in the NHL.
Not all will though as many will see their hockey careers end after a few years in the league and then they are left to themselves.
This week the lawsuit against the CHL gained headline news and the arguments for and against paying players more seemed very familiar.
It is not that players don’t get paid any money in the league as they get a weekly salary from their teams but that salary isn’t the biggest.
For the players, it is the fact that playing hockey in the CHL is much like having a full-time job and as it is a full-time job they should be paid accordingly.
For the teams in the league, this is not a job as it is more of an opportunity for the players that get a chance to play the game they love and get seen by the top league in the world.
The CHL also provides a scholarship fund for the players to take advantage of after they leave the game.
These factors, according to the league and the teams, are enough to take them out of the labour laws in Canada, meaning they don’t have to pay their players any more than they already do.
A big part of the argument from the league is that the teams could not make enough money to afford to pay players anymore.
They are a business that put everything back to their teams and therefore would go out of business should they have to pay their players more.
That could be the deciding factor in the decision as teams will need to prove that they will fold if they have to increase the pay to their players.
With that in mind, the league is required to release financial records for their teams in order to prove that they can’t pay any higher prices.
It has led to some mixed reactions as there are teams that are losing money and others that are doing very well.
Those struggling teams might have a problem while there are plenty of teams that could easily afford to pay their players more.
It is only making the debate that much bigger as what has been happening in the NCAA for years is now in the hockey world.
It will have an effect on that world as the CHL is the main place to get young talent and the NHL will be watching to see what kind of effect the decision will have.
Overtime
(More on this week in hockey)
Arena Deal Falls Apart
The Arizona Coyotes had some hope at the beginning of this year when Arizona State agreed to help them develop a new arena in Tuscon but that has fallen through and now the Coyotes are once again left in limbo
Julien Fired
It was one of the bigger surprises this season as Claude Julien was fired as the head coach of the Boston Bruins ending the longest head coaching tenures in the league and one of the most successful while many think he won’t be unemployed for long
Trade Talk
The Trade Deadline is coming fast and the talk about big trades have heated up with the biggest debate this year surrounding who will be buyers and who will be sellers while Matt Duchene, Kevin Shattenkirk and Martin Hanzal top the potential trade list
Key Scores:
Edmonton Oilers 1-0 Montreal Canadiens (SO)
– The Edmonton Oilers are looking to end a long streak without a playoff appearance but they want to make a bigger impression and they did in this game beating a top team in the league in a shootout and proving they belong
Calgary Flames 3-2 Pittsburgh Penguins (SO)
– The Flames have been a team that has had their good moments and their bad this season but they’re still fighting for a playoff spot and beating a team like the Penguins can give them the confidence they need to make a run
Vancouver Canucks 3-0 Columbus Blue Jackets
– It has been a surprising year for the Blue Jackets who are real contenders in the eastern conference while the Canucks have been more inconsistent but that didn’t stop them from a convincing win over Columbus
Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 Edmonton Oilers
– It wasn’t the showing that the Oilers wanted as they were outplayed by the Blackhawks in a game that showed just how much the young team needs to grow to match the top teams in the league
Next Week:
Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins (Sunday, February 12th; 7:30 pm ET)
– It is one of the biggest rivalries in the sport and with the Canadiens not looking as strong the Bruins are looking to make a run at their big lead in the division starting with this game that is sure to have plenty of hate involved
Anaheim Ducks vs. Minnesota Wild (Tuesday, February 14th; 8:00 pm ET)
– The Wild are another big surprise this year as they are the top team in their division and they will try to continue that standing against a team used to being at the top in the Ducks who are having another strong season
New York Rangers vs. New York Islanders (Thursday, February 16th; 7:00 pm ET)
– The Battle of New York is beginning to get a lot more interesting as the Isles are beginning to play better and making a run at the playoffs while the Rangers are trying to stay in the fight and both will meet in what could become an important series at the end of the year
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (Friday, February 17th; 7:00 pm ET)
– The defending champions meet a team looking to make some noise and beating one of the best teams of the last decade could do exactly that as the Jackets try to prove once again they are for real
The Sport Addiction 