HockeyNHL must go to Sochi in 2014

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There are plenty of good reasons, although the most important is to avoid an embarrassing showdown with the league’s most exciting player. The fortunate thing for Gary Bettman is that the IOC, the IIHF and the Russian host city need the NHL, and he knows it. Everyone ridicules his stubbornness, but he does have some very legitimate concerns and enough leverage to get them addressed. This is not really about player participation, as much as how much money the NHL can make.

Remember the tremendous 2002 tournament? There were so many great games. After the incredible USA/Russia semifinal, Bettman did interviews where he basically admitted there was no way the NHL’s quality of play could measure up to what we were seeing there.

Now, as then, it will be difficult to maintain the momentum in the United States for two reasons: First, more people will be interested in a gold medal game involving the National Team than even a Stanley Cup Final game between two other cities. (You know what city had the fifth-largest viewership share? Milwaukee! Right after Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Minneapolis. That’s not going to happen for an NHL game.) Second, for the most part, the games can’t possibly measure up to what we saw Sunday.

So, Bettman knows his biggest opportunity to make money is during the Games, not after.

Michael Farber reported in Sports Illustrated that two of the NHL’s biggest issues were branding and accessibility to players. The second issue is the easiest to solve. If you’re a non-rightsholder at the Olympics, it’s incredibly restrictive. You can’t even take a TV camera into a venue. The IOC protects its partners, which is fair. The NHL network is not a rightsholder, and really isn’t interested in being one. But, there’s room to create some kind of “second-priority” status, making it easier for the league to get interviews. No live allowed, and the league could put them on its website with photos, just like other non-rightsholders do.

Bidding rights will be lower

As for the branding issue, according to Farber, “In Salt Lake City ... the NHL had the right to have its shield appear with the Olympic rings. That didn't happen in Turin or Vancouver.” That’s big money. But, the Olympic Committee guards this turf like Mama Bear protecting her cubs. Even Hockey Canada was forced to surreptitiously sew its logo inside team jerseys.

The IOC has not yet awarded the television rights for the 2014 Games and is aware that the bids from both Canada and the United States are expected to be lower. Does uncertainty involving NHL players further devalue the package? The answer would have to be yes. Also, can Russian organizers charge huge dollars for tickets without the best players from every country? Probably not.

So, Bettman has the ability during a difficult financial period to go to all of these organizations and say, “I’m getting grief, but you need us, too. What’s it worth to you?”

If the NHL is invited to the licensing party, we’ve probably got a deal. If not, we’ve got a problem. Did you see Jacques Rogge playing to the crowd before draping a gold medal on Sidney Crosby? Probably doesn’t go over as big with a centre from the Albany River Rats.

There is one other problem: the tournament schedule. Both the league and players’ association want more input. Personally, I think they should work this out on their own. It’s beyond ridiculous that there was an NHL game scheduled Monday night. (Fredrik Modin never forgave the Tampa Bay Lightning for ordering him back to North America while the rest of Team Sweden went home to celebrate for one night in 2006 – not that I can blame him.)

My solution: In an Olympic year, the league should shorten the season. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, we make the 2013-14 a 74-gamer. That’s 90 per cent of a regular schedule. The owners lose five home dates (not that some teams would care), but the players would have to give up 10 per cent of their salaries for that season alone. (Shouldn’t be too hard since some of the Russians are threatening to forfeit 100.)

Licensing deal + payroll savings = no excuse to avoid visiting a Russian resort in winter 2014.

30 THOUGHTS – OLYMPIC VERSION

(With the trade deadline, things can change so quickly that I’ll save the hockey stuff for next week.)

1. The biggest lesson of the Vancouver Games: In Canada, any athlete – not just a hockey player – can handle the pressure, given the proper infrastructure to succeed. There is a reason this is the best hockey country in the world. It is demanded. To their credit, the men’s and women’s players/coaches/executives embrace that challenge. For the first time ever, it was expected of the other athletes and they delivered.

2. Some of them complained about Own the Podium, saying it put too much emphasis on victory. But, 14 golds and 26 overall medals later, I can’t help but wonder why we didn’t do this before. Isn’t that much, much more preferable than being the answer to the trivia question: “What is the only country not to win a gold medal on its own soil? Oh, and did I mention it happened twice?”

3. Who cares who really “owned the podium?” It’s more important that Canada showed it can be an Olympic sporting power. Wouldn’t it be awful if many of the same athletes didn’t have a similar chance in Russia because this program is cut?

4. After 12 days out of the country, I only had to be in Vancouver for less than 24 hours to see how the athletes’ successes made Canadians proud. “Just glad to be here” should never be acceptable again.

5. Hopefully, the Vancouver/Whistler success means Quebec City gets the 2022 event. If the U.S. can get three Games (two summer, one winter) in 18 years, why not two here in 12?

6. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more nervous crowd than the one at GM Place heading into the third period of the gold medal game. Despite the 2-1 lead, the people weren’t as energized as they’d been for the first 40 minutes. It was as if they were expecting a U.S. goal. The full energy didn’t return until Crosby’s winner.

7. Funny story: Apparently, the wife of one Canadian-born NHLer (not on the Olympic Team) said with about 30 seconds left, his wife blurted out “we’re going to win!” Six seconds later, wonder if he considered calling a divorce lawyer.

8. A starting NHL goalie said Monday he was happy for Roberto Luongo because “it means Luongo doesn’t have to answer questions about not winning anything.”

9. That said, even though the Canucks are predictably downplaying Ryan Kesler’s comments about Luongo fighting the puck, the goalie clearly didn’t appreciate it. Luongo is very, very sensitive and it will be interesting to see if hard feelings last.

10. I asked a Canuck fan sitting behind me how he’d feel if Kesler scored the winner in OT. He said, “Bittersweet.” Just a guess – but probably a lot more on the bitter side.

11. If I was Mike Gillis watching Pavol Demitra play for Slovakia, I’d ask for a refund for the first half of the season.

12. And Jonathan Toews was the tournament’s best forward.

13. Can’t believe there is a belief Ryan Miller allowed a softie on the tournament winner. Think about it: out of nowhere, a guy with 40 goals and the game’s most lethal backhand gets the puck right in front of you. There was no way to predict that would be Crosby’s move.

14. Doesn’t it look like Rick Nash is dying to play in meaningful games?

15. The coaches found a great role for Brenden Morrow with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, but credit to Doug Armstrong, who fought hard for his spot on the team.

16. How will Evgeni Nabokov and Miikka Kiprusoff’s Olympic failures affect their NHL performance? Tommy Salo was never the same after that Belorussian shot bounced off his cranium.

17. Slava Bykov – who speaks fluent French – was apparently a legitimate contender for the Montreal Canadiens’ coaching job. Bob Gainey’s top three choices were said to be Bykov, Jacques Martin and Jacques Lemaire (in no particular order).

18. Most ridiculous controversy: The Canadian women’s gold medal celebration. Those players spend four years training for one game. (The world championships are nice, but not what really matters.) If they don’t win Olympic gold, it’s a failure. It’s not like an LSAT or MCAT, which you can take several times. Under that kind of pressure, was the celebration really that bad?

19. Most ridiculous controversy II: American snowboarder Scott Lago sent home because someone took photos of a female fan kissing his bronze medal as it hung around his waist. Who’s the biggest problem? The athlete, the person who took the photos, or the person who put them online? Lago is the least guilty. Complete overreaction.

20. That’s why even though I didn’t really like seeing Ovechkin forcefully push away that fan’s phone, I find it harder and harder to get upset about it. In this era of people refusing to respect others’ privacy, we’re going to see more and more of this.

21. The most impressive thing about VANOC was its ability to fix problems. Everyone is going to make mistakes. What separates the best from the worst is their ability to adapt. Early on, there were complaints about the buses and the fence around the flame. Instead of ignoring those issues and praying they’d go away, VANOC fixed them. That’s the sign of a good organization. Also liked how it used the closing ceremony to give Catriona Le May Doan her chance to light the torch after bad hydraulics prevented it from happening in the open. Terrific touch.

22. That said, both VANOC and the IOC still owe Nodar Kumaritashvili’s family an apology for the embarrassing (and probably legal-driven) decision to blame the Georgian luger for his death. Really hope the IOC learns and makes it policy that host countries can’t prevent foreign athletes from practicing on Olympic tracks.

23. The only good thing about losing Clara Hughes as an athlete is that TV will be gaining one heckuva commentator.

24. The way Jon Montgomery can walk and chug beer, he’d probably be a good media member too.

25. Felt a little badly for Kaillie Humphries/Heather Moyse and Helen Upperton/Shelley-Ann Brown that their 1-2 bobsled finish came on the same day as the Canada/Russia game. Anything that happens against men’s hockey gets overshadowed amidst the hype.

26. Non-athletic highlight of the Games: Neil Young at the closing ceremony. What a performance.

27. How many people think Stephen Harper prorogued parliament solely to attend the Olympics? Then again, at least he wasn’t stiff-arming women in bars like Jack Layton.

28. Best thing about Ovechkin’s hit on Jaromir Jagr: No stupid revenge fight for a clean hit. (I know there’s no fighting. It was still nice to see a team suck up a clean hit where a star player got hurt. And I don’t mind the fisticuffs.)

29. John Furlong’s bucket list should include learning French.

30. Best tweet of the Olympics came from Ethan J. Skolnick, a Florida Sun-Sentinel sportswriter. When Sarah Palin used her Twitter feed to cheer for the U.S. during its 5-3 round-robin win over Canada, Skolnick wrote, “Reconsidering rooting interest.” Beautiful.

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