Link: Tom Benjamin's NHL Weblog: Just Business.
I've never really felt that Tom Benjamin was all that balanced in his view of the business side of the NHL but this latest piece shows a considerable lack of insight.
Under the old CBA, a player like Orszagh was still an asset, so paying him while he was hurt could pay off for three years after his recovery. Obviously, there were risks attached to doing something like that, but at least there was also a reward. The equation has changed under the new agreement. Instead of just risking money, the Predators are also risking cap space.
This is a sincere stretch. Under the old CBA Orzsagh might have retained more value because the price of mid-level Free Agents was too high for the Predly's budget with which to replace him. Even if that were true, which is pure conjecture, that is definately not the case now. In effect, what Tom is saying is that the value of players like him when injured was artificially inflated due to the restrictive UFA rules under the old CBA. So, a team like Nashville would keep a guy with a blown ACL and MCL on the payroll (paying him millions of dollars, mind you) for hoping he'd return to form in the three years they still held his rights as a RFA. This course of action is in opposition to finding a suitable replacement for him right now. This sounds like bad management of resources to me. Is this what you want your teams spending your ticket money on? Furthermore to think that the cap had anything to do with Poile's decision is ludicrous. Nashville is going to be nowhere near the cap this year, even with signing Paul Kariya.
If the old CBA was in place, does anyone think the Sabres would have qualified Tim Connolly if he was still feeling the effects of that concussion from the year previous? I doubt it. And, if we did would you as a fan be happy about it. Spending 1/26th of your budget on a player that may not ever be able to play again?
Now, don't get me wrong, I do have a lot of sympathy for Orszagh's situation. It's a real shame his career at this level may be over, but that's the way things go sometimes. It's not right or wrong. It just is.
But, crying a river over how the Predators treated him and that the new CBA is at fault? Please!
I feel bad for him, of course. Who doesn't? A career threatening injury is nothing to laugh at or write off, but it's also not the Nashville Predators responsibility either. Playing NHL hockey is not a right. Guys get injured in these tournaments (the World Championships where Orszagh blew out his knee) all the time and it's one of the reasons why the teams are reluctant to let the players participate. It's an issue every time the Olympics come around. The Preds are out a forward that they spent all that precious time and money developing only to see it come to naught in a tournament that is, at best, to them just advertising. It certainly isn't the core of their business.
Personally, I'm hoping Orzsagh is right, Poile is wrong and the guy can still play. I'd love to have him sign with the Sabres at or near the minimum, and give some of our underachievers a kick in the pants. If I were Darcy Regier I'd offer him a tryout at camp certainly.
Ta,
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