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NHL Cannot Pick and Choose Moments to Enforce Its CBA

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:30:09 +0000

I kind of don’t care about the NHL trying to clamp down on long-term contracts.

I think it’s a stupid loophole that teams are exploiting, but I also think it’s one that needs to be closed during contract negotiations, not after.

But I can totally get that the NHL wants to make sure everyone works within the framework of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The NHL obviously feels long-term contracts, like those given to Roberto Luongo and Ilya Kovalchuk, violate the spirit of the CBA, if not the letter.

And to be honest, those contracts might even violate the letter. I’m not a lawyer. I still get 12 cassettes a month because of the last contract I signed.

But I do want to point out one thing.

Back in June of 2008 the Tampa Lightning hired Greg Malone as their head of professional scouting, right around the time they traded for the rights to negotiate with Ryan Malone.

Greg Malone, in addition to being a former NHL player and a scout for Phoenix and Pittsburgh, is Ryan’s father.

A few days later Ryan signed a seven-year deal with the Lightning.

Maybe Ryan would have signed the contract without his dad getting hired in the organization.

Maybe Tampa really wanted both Malones.

But what if Greg was hired to make Tampa more desirable to Ryan? Then shouldn’t Greg’s salary count against the cap, too?

Also, please note Ryan has not indicated his dad’s hiring was a factor in his decision to sign with Tampa.

Within the NCAA, this sort of thing is common, but is also a violation of NCAA rules.

As far as I know, the CBA has no such rule prohibiting the hiring of family members as a recruitment tool, but it gives teams an unfair advantage, much the way a front-loaded long-term contract does.

If the NHL wants to make sure all of its contracts honor the spirit of the CBA, it needs to start looking at all of the contracts that get signed. The league also needs to look at all of the things that happen around a signing.

It’s not enough to care when it’s a $100 million contract spread out over six decades. The NHL is either interested in preserving the spirit and integrity of the CBA or it’s not.

Up until a few weeks ago, the league seemed to have no interest. Now, suddenly there is interest.

Since that’s the case, the league needs to do the right thing and review every contract signed since the lockout.

It’s not fair to punish the most recent offenders while possibly missing out on some older ones.

Without consistent enforcement of the CBA, the NHL’s actions over the past few weeks will seem downright arbitrary.

Lightning and Devils Use Gagne and Kovalchuk to Show Different Approaches to Cap

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:52:52 +0000

It’s pretty perfect that Ilya Kovalchuk was signed to a massive contract by the Devils on the same day the Lightning traded for Simon Gagne.

It shows the two styles of managing in the NHL.

On the one hand, you have the Devils going for the expensive, long-term contract. In Kovalchuk’s case, it’s 17 years, $102 million, with a cap hit of just $6 million per season.

With the signing of Kovalchuk, the Devils now need to dump salary, meaning the Devils will probably go at least another season without a top line center.

The Devils will proably send the next few seasons dumping salary to fit Kovalchuk under the cap, depending, of course, upon what the next CBA brings the NHL.

When a team goes for the huge contract, the usual price for acquiring a big player, is that existing salary needs to go to fit the contract. And salary usually correlates to talent.

So the Devils, by signing Kovalchuk, have gotten stronger, but by having to dump salary, they’re going to get weaker. And given that the entire league knows just how much the Devils need to dump, they probably won’t get much back for whoever they wind up trading away.

This isn’t a big deal if Kovalchuk plays as the Devils expect and is able to pretty much dominate on his own. But if Kovalchuk needs any kind of lift, any kind of complementary player on his line that the Devils don’t already have under contract, it’s going to be tough to bring that player in.

The flip side of managing in the NHL is Gagne’s trade to Tampa.

The Flyers wanted cap space, presumably to sign a number one goalie (although no one will be surprised if the Flyers don’t upgrade their goalie position, since it seems to be something the team rates just above dental work and colonoscopies).

The Flyers got back defenseman Matt Walker, an unexceptional defenseman, for Gagne.

But the Lightning? They got an intriguing player. Gagne is fierce when he’s healthy, but his health has been an issue. But assuming he can stay healthy, can you imagine Gagne with Steve Stamkos?

Think about how well Stamkos played with Steve Downie last season. Downie is hardly an offensive presence, but his ability to create space for Stamkos paid off for both players. Now, add another big body to help create even more space for Stamkos. But a big body that can score consistently, like Gagne can.

Suddenly, the Lightning not only have two scary-as-anything scoring lines, but they also have the ability to spread some of that scoring down to a third line, if new coach Guy Boucher is so inclined.

If Gagne stays healthy and performs as well as he did in the playoffs, he’s also going to take a lot of pressure off of Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier, helping them see better match-ups. And if he’s put on a line with those two? That could certainly work also.

Teams like the Lightning, that stay under the cap, have the ability to get players like Gagne for virtually nothing. Plus, if we fast forward to the trade deadline, even more players of Gagne-like quality (with the risk that implies) will be available.

Because as teams like the Devils become capped out and unable to retain quality players, teams like the Lightning have the ability to swoop in and grab the cap victims.

It’s not simply a matter of the Devils having made a bad move yesterday, while the Lightning made a good one.

Instead, the issue is the Devils lost a whole lot of roster flexibility while the Lightning kept their options open.

If the Devils don’t need roster flexibility or options over the course of the season, it’s a moot point. But if the Devils do need to add some pieces, it’s going to be a tough road for them.

If the Lightning find themselves needing to add some pieces, the only question is going to be which team’s cap to pick over.

Guy Boucher Chooses Tampa Lightning

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:01:36 +0000

A lot of NHL teams are making the most of the Stanley Cup intermission.

The Blue Jackets hired Scott Arniel after getting turned down by Guy Boucher.

Arniel is an AHL coach who was in the mix for the Oilers coaching job before it went to Pat Quinn.

Boucher reportedly turned down the Columbus job to take a job as head coach of the Tampa Lightning, which just goes to show you that Andy Warhol was right, when he said that in the future, everyone will coach the Tampa Lightning for 15 minutes.

Boucher is a better fit for Tampa then he was for Columbus. Defenseman Mattias Ohlund definitely has the puck-carrying skills required by Boucher’s system and playing under Boucher will do great things for the young Victor Hedman.

But I think Tampa GM Steve Yzerman really liked Boucher’s psychology background, what with one of the Lightning coach’s big responsibilities being motivating Vinnie Lecavalier. In fact, if I were the GM of the Lightning, I might hire a team coach and a personal coach for Lecavalier.

Boucher is a young guy with no NHL experience and he’s already had two job offers in the span of a few hours. You have to wonder if the pressure of it all will catch up with him at some point. Especially given that he’ll be learning the coaching ropes in the historically dysfunctional Tampa organization.

Meanwhile, out in New Jersey, the coach search seems down to Michel Therrien and Devils hero/perennial coaching candidate John MacLean.

Both are strong candidates but it’s interesting to see the different comfort levels in franchises. The Devils are all about NHL-proven ability, which is why they’ve been so reluctant to pull the trigger on MacLean, a beloved Devil with lots of assistant coaching experience, but no time as an NHL head coach. I can’t see GM Lou Lamoriello ever taking a chance on a guy like Boucher, with no NHL experience.

Of course, you have to wonder why anyone wants to coach in the NHL. Not when they have to participate in exchanges like this:

Q. Peter, are you sticking with Michael in goal?
Peter Laviolette: I don’t comment on line-ups.

Of course. Why would anyone want a coach to comment on his line-up? During the Stanley Cup finals. In a potential elimination situation. What a silly question.

Yzerman is hoping Boucher has the same chance to be just as ridiculous some day.

NHL Should Let Stars Shine Not Manage

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:22:28 +0000

In graduate school I took a management course where we had to read canonical leadership books (most of which seemed to come from the 1960s and 70s).

I read THE PETER PRINCIPLE, which maintains that every employee within an organization rises to their level of incompetence. It sounds cynical, but the logic is that someone is good at their job so they get promoted. If they’re successful at the new position, they’ll get promoted again. If they’re not, they won’t get promoted anymore.

The book makes the case that you need to look at an employee’s skill set before you promote him, since being good at a job and being a good manager are often two very different things.

I think about this a lot because of the way the NHL works.

Great players tend to find their way into management positions, even though there’s really no correlation between the skill of scoring goals and the skill of managing an NHL franchise.

Steve Yzerman is now running the Tampa Lightning after a lengthy apprenticeship in the Detroit organization.

Presumably he’s learned the skills to be a successful GM, but could someone else have learned them more effectively? What if someone with a formal statistics background had had the same kind of apprenticeship as Yzerman? Which would be the stronger GM?

In Denver, there’s a small buzz Joe Sakic might be interested in beginning the process of learning to be an NHL GM.

Like Yzerman, Sakic was a gifted NHL player with a lot of insights into hockey. But does that guarantee he’ll be a good GM? Do the skills of playing well translate to managing well?

We could ask Calgary’s Darryl Sutter. He was a solid NHL player, a great NHL coach, and is now a GM. If you want to know how the skills of management have translated, all you need to know is that the Flames’ president is insisting Sutter take on some people to help him with his GM duties.

Obviously, being a great player doesn’t preclude anyone from being a great GM. But not being a great player, or a player at all, also doesn’t preclude anyone from becoming a great GM. And some of the NHL’s great GMs weren’t/aren’t great players. Guys like Punch Imlach, Bill Torrey, and Lou Lamoriello, to name a random few.

It’s great that the NHL has so much respect for its great players and it’s great that these players want to maintain a role in the league. But as GM duties become more complex, requiring skill sets beyond simply evaluating talent, maybe it’s time for teams to look beyond fame. Maybe it’s time for teams to train managers who can do more than score goals.

Just as the NBA and MLB are embracing managers with statistics/data analysis backgrounds, maybe it’s time for the NHL to do the same. Guys like Yzerman and Sakic might eventually make fantastic GMs, but there’s really nothing in their training to indicate that should be the case.

Bolts Fire Coach Rick Tocchet And GM Brian Lawton

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:57:47 +0000

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New Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is off to a dramatic start, firing coach Rick Tocchet and GM Brian Lawton.

Vinik said he wanted a clean slate to work with.

Not helping things was the fact that Lawton and Tocchet spent much of the second half of the season at each other’s throats.

The team definitely imploded on Tocchet toward the end of the season, but I thought he deserved another season if for no other reason than his handling of Steve Stamkos.

Vinik has to remember that if it wasn’t for Tocchet, his top goal-scorer might have been Martin St. Louis and his 29 goals, not Stamkos and his 51.

It also would have been interesting to see Tocchet coach with a well-constructed line up.

Tocchet wasn’t an amazing coach, but he coached well enough last season to keep his job. I understand the appeal of the fresh start, but Vinik would have probably had plenty of chances to fire Tocchet if things really didn’t work out next season.

Speaking of ownership changes, Mike Modano is part of a local Dallas group trying to buy the Stars.

I bet Marc Crawford is wishing he had given Modano the captaincy back after previous coach Dave Tippett took it from Modano.

Because as we saw in Tampa, a lot of times, new ownership likes to make changes.

The Benefits of Benching

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:27:38 +0000

I have to say, and say completely without sarcasm, that I think Tampa does a nice job with their young players.

Victor Hedman was starting to look a little overwhelmed and outmatched on the ice. Coach Rick Tocchet could have yelled at him or coddled him or told him to figure it out. But instead, he benched Hedman for a game and Hedman found the experience helpful.

Hedman noted being in the press box gave him a different perspective on the game. Literally. Because you can see more from above the ice than on it.

Tocchet also sat Steve Stamkos a few times last season, which seemed to give him some perspective on the game.

In general, I think more NHLers could probably use a night off from time to time. I know the last thing a player wants is to be benched, but sometimes even a night away from the ice can make a huge difference in how a player approaches the game. You see the benefits in baseball, where players tend to get more days off due to the grueling MLB schedule.

Sometimes players learn more about the game, and their game, when they’re not actually playing.

Tocchet should consider starting a foundation to remove the stigma of benchings. It doesn’t have to be a punishment. Maybe instead of saying a player is a healthy scratch, we can start saying he’s a mental health scratch. Or maybe just say a scratched player is on a special vacation.

It’s all in how you spin it.

Tocchet and Hitchcock Try to Turn Things Around

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:54:03 +0000

When a GM supports a coach, that’s usually the surest sign the coach is about to be fired.

Down in Tampa, GM Brian Lawton is supporting coach Rick Tocchet, even as the team struggles to find consistency.

One thing that’s forgotten about Tocchet is that he’s a new coach with an inexperienced coching staff. Rookie coaches and rookie players aren’t always the best combination.

Tocchet still might figure things out. And the main thing keeping him in his job is he’s not Barry Melrose. I suspect Tampa ownership loves Tocchet for that alone.

Speaking of struggling teams, things are rough in Columbus. In fact, things are so bad, coach Ken Hitchcock opened up to the team:

According to players, who didn’t want to discuss the meeting publicly, Hitchcock opened up in a way they have not seen, letting down his “coaching” guard and showing them a side that rarely finds its way through all the film study and the harping on playing more competitively.

If I’m a Blue Jacket and Ken Hitchcock is spilling his guts to me, I’m even more freaked out now. I was under the impression Hitchcock wasn’t programmed with feelings.

Obviously, Hitchcock is totally out of coaching bullets. Flipping through his coaching playbook, he probably realized the only things he hadn’t tried were “emotional sharing” and “shooting a player in the leg.”

Of course, the season isn’t over yet.

Also, 30 years ago today, Mike Milbury beat a Ranger fan with a shoe.

I love that story because when you look at what Milbury did as a GM, the shoe thing seems like one of his sanest moments.

Tocchet Benches Everyone

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:06:22 +0000

Some interesting coaching from Tampa Bay’s Rick Tocchet last night.

Despite a strong-if-ultimately-ineffective game from Vinny Lecavalier, Tocchet wound up benching his top two lines for most of the third.

Tocchet was probably upset that the Caps have pretty much owned Tampa Bay since 2007. He also couldn’t have been happy about his team dropping five of their last six.

Tocchet is obviously trying to send a message to his stars. The concern is that he can’t bench them forever. And his top two lines probably realize that, too. So do they take away a lesson from the benching, or do they begin the now patented Tampa Bay Lightning move of ignoring their coach?

Which brings us around to the patented Tampa Bay Lightning question of if the team would consider moving Lecavalier. Rick Carpiniello says any rumors you’ve heard about that are pure speculation.

The thing that makes me wonder if Tampa would move Lecavalier is that he was lumped into the mass benching despite playing a tough game. Has Tocchet burned out on his star? Has the organization? Is everyone ready for a change?

Some NHL GMs Already Prepared to Surrender

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:59:48 +0000

What a crazy season.

Jeff Gordon says he’s already hearing trade chatter from certain NHL GMs, with many already thinking about giving up their season and trying to dump salary.

What separates NHL GMs from most other sports, is that NHL GMs only seem to think about salary implications after a contract is signed.

Vinny Lecavalier, under attack in Tampa, has to be one of those names being whispered about (despite a strong game last night and despite a no-trade clause). People are surprised by Lecavalier’s struggle; I was surprised by his success.

Carolina will also probably be a fire sale, although the Hurricanes seem to alternate strong/awful seasons with a relatively static line-up.

The fact that there are GMs who have already given up on their season is pretty sad, though. Did no one in management see St. Louis’ miracle run last season?

On the flip side of dumping salary, if the play of the Avs continues to be strong, they’ll probably be buyers before the trade deadline. Terry Frei didn’t realize how good the Avs were until he went to Canada and saw the attention the Avalanche were garnering.

Stamkos Busts the Bust Myth

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:54:50 +0000

Are we too impatient with first-round draft picks?

Maybe.

Even though he finished last season relatively strong, Steve Stamkos was written off as a bust, or at least as someone with the potential to be a huge bust. Now, 10 games into Tampa’s season, Stamkos has nine goals and five assists and looks like a real NHL presence. In fact, Stamkos leads Tampa in goals so far this season.

Vinny Lecavalier says the Lightning are average now, but are close to becoming much better.

There are certainly a lot of nice pieces to work with. It makes you wonder just how much damage Barry Melrose did in his short tenure as coach, if the team is just snapping out of its malaise now.

Maybe the Lightning should see if Alexandre Daigle is available. I wonder if Tampa coach Rick Tocchet could get him going.

Speaking of coaches, Marc Crawford coached his 1,000th game last night. Interestingly, none of Crawford’s 1,000 games has included his starting an NHL-quality goaltender. Look it up.

Over on Bleacher Report, I wrote about how some NHL teams are so deep, no injury seems to be able to stop them.