One more thought on the NHL…

Something to think about. Name two groups OTHER than fans that have significant financial realities tied up to the NHL season.

One of them are journalists. If you’re a hockey writer, or a hockey talking head, your livelihood is tied to there being hockey to write (or talk) about. Al Strachan just isn’t going to go off and cover the Brier in a few weeks.

Remember that as you continue to read (or listen to) all those self-righteous journalists taking shots at the NHL. How much of that is those people not wanting to end up at the auto show writing features on next generation airbags?

But there’s another group that is set to lose a huge amount of money in all of this — the agents. if there’s no hockey, there are no paychecks (or significantly reduced ones). if there are no paychecks, there are not percentages to pay agents. If you’re a hockey agent, or work for one, you’re in a real world of hurt — and you’re not in any position to influence the negotiations.

Or are you? If you read the articles on yesterday’s negotiations, both sides make it clear they weren’t as close as the rumors had them out to be — yet both sides are being ripped (by the journalists who played up those false rumors of it being a done deal that they got from sources) for not making the deal neither side seems to think was there, other than in the minds of the press and the rumor mill.

So what gives?

Here’s my thought: where are these rumors coming from? Answer: people trying to influence the negotiations, obviously. Using the press and the rumors and sites like eklunds to try to push both sides into an agreement neither side wants. Who’d do that?

there are clearly groups on both sides fighting to get this solved — and groups on both sides fighting back.

But, since the word clearly went out to a lot of players that it was all over but the shouting, to the point some flew back from Europe, and it was all over the press and rumor mills that it was all over, where did those rumors come from? Who told the players to catch the next plane home?

Most likely, their agents. The ones not being paid because there’s no season to take a percentage out of.

So, is all the crap the players and owners are being ripped for in the last week nothing more than both sides being manipulated by the agents into a deal that benefits neither side, but instead benefits the agents by starting the money teat again?

I’ve come to think you’re seeing a major manipulation (and an attempt to hijack) the negotiation process by the agents, who are using the public rumor mill and their friends in the press to try to drive pressure on both sides to settle, while at the same time playing games with their clients. and what we’re seeing is the results of that campaign, where the agents are trying to create a situation that forces both sides to take a deal neither side seems to want. And if you think about it, the “split it down the middle” $45 million number is the way an agent would think, no?

And that’s something I’ve wondered for a while — where did Eklund come from, and why? What’s HIS agenda, other than ego?

Could he, perhaps, work for an agent? be one? many of his sources sure seem to be coming from there. Is his real purpose not to inform, but to push a third agenda onto these negotiations through public pressure?

Makes one wonder.

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