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Sporting News, The, March 4, 2005 by Kara Yorio

OK, so there won't be a 2004-05 NHL season. Now what?

Players who haven't found other places to play will scramble to play wherever they can. Others will just wait. The league's schedule makers are looking at next season, and teams are supposed to be preparing for it (although many are laying off remaining employees). But this is not simply about the loss of the season.

Wooing back fans when things finally are settled will require a huge public relations and player marketing effort, which doesn't bode well for a league that hasn't been good at that.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves because that's just one item on a long list of possible ramifications.

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The retiring sorts

Players in their late 30s and early 40s--Steve Yzerman, Mark Messier, Al MacInnis, Chris Chelios, Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, Luc Robitaille, Scott Stevens, et al.--will have serious trouble coming back from a lost season, getting in shape and overcoming the combined effects of age and years of wear and tear. Still, a few players, such as Mats Sundin, have said the break their bodies are getting could add years to their careers.

The same can't be said of those in their final season or two. The break is likely the end, and it's not the way these players should go out.

The draft

The cancellation of the season does not necessarily mean there won't be a draft in June. There is time to get a new CBA in place before then, which would allow the draft to go on as planned. However, there is little motivation to get a deal done by then, so the draft is unlikely to happen on schedule. Agents are gauging the legality of having their draft-eligible players declared unrestricted free agents if there isn't a draft. So, phenom Sidney Crosby, for example, could end up going to the highest bidder instead of the team with the top pick.

No matter the result of that legal wrangling, a draft must be held before the next NHL season begins. The NHFs Bill Daly has said the order of the draft would be decided in a 30-team lottery weighted on the results of the 2003-04 season.

Juniors, Europe, college and minor leagues

If the lockout continues into what would be next season, then players who might otherwise have left college or juniors early will stay with their teams. The European leagues and North American minor leagues will get more NHL players, and the levels of play and the fan bases will rise in those leagues.

The game itself

Styles of play are cyclical. Last June, the Lightning and Flames got to the Stanley Cup finals by using an aggressive style that honored defensive responsibility but also got the most out of young legs and an attacking game plan. Coaches around the league would have considered mimicking that style, and general managers would have kept it in mind when creating rosters. Any momentum in that direction is lost in the lockout.

There is, however, a glimmer of good news. Whenever the league returns, it will come back with new rules (such as wider blue lines and tag-up offside) that encourage a faster-paced, offensive style of play-something commissioner Gary Bettman says he was ready to do for a shortened season. The league is going to promise something exciting, doing all it can to bring back fans.

Impasse

The league could go to the National Labor Relations Board and ask that a legal impasse be declared. That would allow the NHL to unilaterally implement its last offer to the Players' Association. If that happened, the Players' Association would likely go on strike, and the owners could turn to replacement players (except in Montreal and Vancouver, where it's illegal to use replacement players).

No news is bad news

Newspapers, radio and television were all over the NHL cancellation for two days. But the lockout wasn't a big story in the United States in the months leading up to cancellation, and it won't be in the coming months, either. The media decide what fans read, see and hear and, in turn, what fans know and care about. The NHL is going to be hard-pressed to return to the level of coverage it had before.

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Sporting News, The, March 4, 2005 by Kara Yorio

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