On the Penguins: The cloud on NHL horizon
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It is not, for most people in the NHL, the most pressing concern at the moment.
Not when there is a trade deadline looming, a stretch drive getting near and, in a couple of months, a Stanley Cup to chase.
But it is not one that can be ignored, either. Because it certainly is not one that will go away on its own.
The league's collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players' Association will expire Sept. 15, and, unless a replacement deal is in place by then, at least part of the 2012-13 season could be in jeopardy.
Maybe just a little of training camp would be lost. Perhaps only a few games.
Or it could be the entire season would be sacrificed.
Wouldn't be the first time.
And while it is premature to fixate on a worst-case scenario, it would be unrealistic to pretend that the possibility doesn't exist.
"I think it's fair to say that nobody wants a lockout, players or the owners," said forward Craig Adams, the Penguins' player representative to the NHLPA. "That's a reason for optimism. But I think that's always the case."
The last time the NHL had a collective bargaining agreement expire, it took 10 more months to replace it -- and, as a result, the 2004-05 season never happened.
The nuclear winter that hockey experienced then yielded the current salary-cap system that was intended to give all franchises, assuming they were well-managed, an opportunity to be competitive on the ice and profitable off it.
Much has changed since the current CBA was agreed to in July 2005, and perhaps no franchise is more different now than the Penguins.
When the previous labor deal ran out in '04, the Penguins were the prototype of a small-market, have-not franchise.
They had not qualified for the playoffs since '01, their fan base had shrunk and management made personnel moves based as much -- or often, more -- on financial considerations as anything to do with hockey.
The franchise was trapped in a self-sustaining cycle of fiscal and on-ice losses, and there were times when its very existence was in doubt. Ownership told anyone who would listen that the Penguins' survival hinged on getting a more owner-friendly CBA and an up-to-date venue to replace Mellon Arena.
The team ultimately got both, and today is profitable and a consistent winner.
Not every club has as much at stake in CBA negotiations as the Penguins did in the middle of the past decade, but having a satisfactory agreement clearly can have a profound impact on how a franchise fares.
First Published February 12, 2012 12:00 am
