Now...that's not a true statement. But what if it was? There is an article on ESPN today (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3520860) stating that LeBron would consider playing in Europe if the price was right...and by right I mean $50M.
The five of us who started this website often argue about this. What if the European leagues become successful in their attempts to snatch up high profile stars from the NHL? With today's salary cap, the max contract a player in the NHL could receive is $11.34M per year.
What if a Russian team offered an NHL star $25M per year? Impossible? Far from it. With the new Russian Super League and Czech teams shelling out big money for washed up players, I think it is closer and closer to becoming a reality. Throw in the weakness of the US dollar and I think it's only a matter of time. What is $25M to us is only €16M to them (feel free to convert to whatever ridiculously-named currency is appropriate).
So what does that mean to the NHL? It could mean big trouble. Fortunately for them, their three biggest stars (Crosby, Ovechkin, and DiPietro) are locked in to contracts through 2013, 2021, and 2022. (Just kidding about DiPietro but had to throw it in there for a laugh...since Garth Snow and the Islanders have given me so many over the years). But what happens in 2013 when (hypothetically) Crosby is on pace to break all of Gretzky's records and he gets an offer for $30M a year for 10 years from Omsk to play side by side with the 84-year old Jaromir Jagr? Crosby...the face of the NHL and the player the NHL has built their "new" NHL around.
What happens then? Does the NHL crumble? Probably not, but it would most likely mark the beginning of the end. What happens next? Does the NHL become desperate and switch to 4 on 4 in an attempt to survive? Mags would wet his pants and petition to become the Commish of the new, new NHL. He'd bring back emails he saved from 2005 stating that the NHL should go 4 on 4 and tell the whole world "I told you so". Stay gold, Mags. Stay gold.
Posts
