By Ted Cabata, Staff Writer | Follow him on Twitter
I hope everyone is enjoying the doldrums of summer and making it through this heat OK. Just remember hockey season is right around the corner. This week unfortunately it looks like the heat got the best of the Sunbelt teams; and the rest of the NHL in general as no trades have occurred and only 3 signings have been made. All 3 were out of the Sunbelt so it’s a pretty quiet week for all of us.
This should be the point where Hurricane and Predator fans take that extra week to enjoy the accomplishments they’ve had this summer and for the rest of us fans to start getting geared up for camps to (hopefully) open.
The two things I want to focus on this week are Shane Doan and the looming lockout I keep referencing each week.
Shane Doan obviously will have a major impact on the Sunbelt. He currently plays in Phoenix where the team is struggling to get ownership in place, a new arena built, and survive out in the desert. Doan is the face of this organization and to lose him would be a big blow to the city and the team.
I don’t think Doan is going anywhere, but I think like anyone in Phoenix he wants to see what the teams future will be before he commits to anything long term. I believe he also has concerns about the on going CBA negations which could also impact not only himself but the Coyote team as a whole.
Speaking of the CBA, things continue to look gloomy as the owners and players meet to try and settle on a new long term agreement. If you can’t tell from some of my earlier writings I have taken a few jabs at the owners, and I probably will continue to until they make some kind of concessions to the players.
The main reason I support the players is because this isn’t the NFL. This isn’t a sport that only we Americans like, in fact it’s much more popular in Canada and other countries as it is here. There is nothing wrong with that, but the owners need to remember that at some point they risk a lot of foreign talent deciding that for the amount they get in pay and revenue from jersey sales and etc, it is no longer worth it to be half a world away from their families. If this happens it would completely transform the sport and take away a great amount of talent from the league.
Here’s hoping it never comes to that and the players and owners reach an agreement before the season so we don’t have to face a lockout. But in case we do, I would love to hear your thoughts, whose side are you on and why? What impact do you see a lockout having? Let me know and I’ll try and include some answers in future updates.
