Ice Capades by Sean Avery & Michael McKinley

Author:Sean Avery & Michael McKinley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

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June 2005 comes and goes, and it’s the first time since 1919 that there has been no Stanley Cup Final. The league and the union still have not agreed on a deal, but I know that the players will cave if it comes down to us going back to work in September or not. The media has been full of “the sky is falling” reports that fans will be lost and that it will take years to restore our “brand,” but I don’t believe that. The lockout has made people realize that they follow the NHL because they love it. You always want the fans to love the game as much as you do.

But what people don’t realize is the toll the lockout takes on the players. Marriages and relationships start to crumble under the stress. A player’s whole domestic life has been built on the rhythm of him being away—at practice, at games, at home and on the road—and now the radical change in that rhythm has forced all kinds of adjustments that are a struggle for many. I don’t know anyone who got divorced right after the lockout, but I know that when we had these NHLPA meetings guys were clearly expressing their frustration: “My wife doesn’t know what to do with me. My wife is going to kill me. I don’t know what to do with me.” That kind of thing, from all over the league, and it became sort of a running joke, whenever it could be inserted in a conversation: “If this lockout doesn’t end soon, I’m going to wind up divorced.”

I know of a few players who had to go to a company in Florida which was loaning guys cash and using their guaranteed contracts as collateral—not guys making the NHL minimum, either, but guys who were making millions and living the high life. Talk about risky, because who knows what will happen to those contracts once we settle?

The only thing that I think players would fight for until the end of time is to keep guaranteed contracts. Your career can be over in a flash because of the kind of work you’ve been hired to do. It’s immoral and certainly should be illegal to cut a guy loose from his contract because he was too injured to continue, or because a labor dispute changed the game.

But from where I sit in June of 2005, I know more than ever that players will never beat the owners in a work stoppage. It would be the worst bet to take in the history of gambling.

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