NHL players taking jobs in Europe that put others out of work: why?

A quick but very genuine thank you to those who sent warm wishes for a Happy Birthday to me on Twitter.  I was touched by the response.


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I know that the moment a person takes a position that appears even remotely “anti-player" in the ongoing NHL dispute,  they will be accused of being “pro-owner”.  Many will take offence and automatically defend the players.  To a point, I get it.  Like a lot of people, I've been a long-life "underdog" guy (not just in sports) and almost always throw my emotional support to whoever is being bullied, harassed or put down in some fashion.

But when it comes to the NHL lockout,  I really struggle to have sympathy for the players, I really do.  I'd like to support their "cause", but I just can't- even when thoughtful people send me stuff to read, financial breakdowns and all that, all information and perspectives that are supposed to make me feel as though the owners are the bad guys here because they keep taking from the players.

In any event, I raised this particular issue that I'd like to deal with today years ago when I wrote about Chris Chelios signing during the last NHL lockout to play for a team in the United Hockey League.  The result, as I recall, was that some player lost his job (I think he was making $500 a week or thereabouts) so the NHL star could come in, sell a few tickets for the owner and stay in shape until the lockout was over.

I know this world is, sadly, all about survival of the fittest, but I find it so ironic (hypocritical is really the word that springs to mind) when I hear players talk about “principle” and “fairness” in these negotiations when a bunch of them have already flown the coup to play overseas.

The vast majority of those heading to play in Europe (and believe me, they’ll all come scrambling back the moment a CBA is signed…) don’t need the money.  In fact, none of them do.  (You may say, hey, Michael, we don't know their personal or financial circumstances.)  But, well...c'mon.  I mean really.   They’ve made, literally, millions and millions of dollars already in their young lives.  Mike Modano said the other day that he "lost" 7 million because of the last lockout.  But how many millions did he make in his career?  The numbers are absolutely staggering.

Yet, the moment they may lose a “pay check”, these players (at least some of them) steal someone else’s job. And they could not care less if that takes food off the table for some faceless (to them) person on a team in Austria, Switzerland, Germany or wherever.

To me, it just stinks.

Do they have a “right” to do this?  Sure, I guess.

Should they do it?   That’s another question.

Ted Wyman wrote a great piece out of Winnipeg (I think it was in the Winnipeg Sun) and he expressed perfectly what I’ve been saying on this topic for years.  Here’s a line from his story this week:

These players are not happy with the millions they would get out of 50% of all the revenue coming into the NHL, but they are willing to take someone else's job and play for a couple hundred grand in Europe?

Exactly.

Look, as I’ve said here before, this whole greedy mess is sad from all sides.  The smartest thing we fans can do is ignore them all, as best we can.  (More on that subject soon.) But I just wanted to get this off my chest today.  I know many of you will not agree but this is really how I feel.

I gave up on the owners years ago, but it is "their" money (we contribute a lot as well) and "their" league that makes these players millionaires.  And it’s not that I expect much from the players, but they are so disconnected from the everyday person that it is laughable when they do and say things to try and gain our support.

So for me, taking the jobs of those players nowhere near as well off as them—when these NHL’ers already receive all the perks of notoriety beyond a huge salary, and related hockey revenues—is disgusting.

Forget that these guys are turning their backs on fellow NHL’ers in the same “union” fellow players that are just waiting for the dispute to end and those who are being loyal to the ‘cause” on the ground here in Canada and the United States- some on the negotiating team.  That’s bad enough.  But they're also taking the jobs of individuals who badly need those jobs.

We should remember these players the next time we hear their careers are “short” and they need to “make it while they can”.  Yet in turn, they don’t care a whit when they put someone else out of a job that that person's family was depending on.

Sadly, we'll all set that inconvenient bit of selfishness aside the moment NHL hockey returns.  But we shouldn't.