One has to wonder why National Hockey League players are not pushing to get back to work and making some money to support themselves and their families.
And, while wondering about that situation, we discover a “cover-your-butt” clause in the NHL deal between players and owners.
What happens is that while playing hockey since the last collective-bargaining deal was struck, the player was putting a buck or two into an escrow account. What that means, basically, is that while being locked out or striking or if it is indeed a work stoppage, these guys are not going to have to stand in line for employment insurance or welfare cheques.
In fact, these poor guys will still be making what you and I would consider a decent wage while the dispute lingers on, and on . . . and on.
In simple terms, for every million dollars a player earned last year he can get $100,000 a year while sitting out. As an example, and I only pick on Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla because he’s close, he has a contract that calls for $7 million a season. So this guy has to get by on only $700,000 this season.
Then there is Brad Richards of the New York Rangers, who just happened to be the highest-paid player in the league last year. Somehow, he and his family will have to scrape by on $960,000 this season if the two sides don’t make a deal.
Well, sort of, because there’s more to his case coming up in a few paragraphs. Because there is more to the stupidity of this whole mess, and it just points out that these people pay their employees simply too much money to play a kid’s game.
You might remember, or in fact read about it on these pages, that the Nashville Predators were forced to match an offer that Philadelphia made to defenceman Shea Weber for zillions of dollars over the life span of a cat or a dog. Well part of that deal was a signing bonus of 13 million bucks. And, whether or not the league sees action this year, Weber must be paid that money.
And it so happens that the Predators are one of the “have-not” clubs in the league.
To be honest, they couldn’t really afford that Weber contract but had to match it or possibly fold the franchise tent. So the club has to pay out $13 million while not one dime is being added to the bank account without fans paying to watch the team in action.
Remember I mentioned Brad Richards?
It seems his deal with the Rangers included an $8-million bonus, so he has to get that plus his escrow money which means he can afford to take the kids to the store for the odd Popsicle when it’s hot outside.
And then there’s Tyler Myers of the Buffalo Sabres and the Minnesota Wild pair of Zach Parise and Ryan Sutter, who each are owed $10 million in bonus money.
In total there are 20 players who must be paid at least $1.75 million in bonus bread and another 30 who will get between $300,000 and $1.5 million for signing on the dotted line marked bonus.
Of course, there are some borderline players who signed for poverty-like salaries of under $1 million. But you would hope that those would be the smart ones who put their money away just in case a lockout, strike or work stoppage ever developed.
You know, it sometimes makes one feel better to blow off a little steam.
The bottom line here is that no one should feel sorry for an NHL player being out of work at this time when he should be, in fact, hard at work trying to entertain the hockey-loving fan who pays the way.
And no one in their right mind would be feeling sorry for any of the owners who are all at least multi-millionaires or billionaires who really will only use the money they are losing these days as tax writeoffs.
This week’s joke is about the little girl who was attending her first wedding and asked her mother why the bride was dressed in white? She was told: “It’s because white is the color of happiness and today is the happiest day of her life.” The little girl thinks for a minute and then asked, “So, why is the groom wearing black.”
And yet another reason why golf is better than other sports: Not only does nobody levy fines against pro golfers who choose not to practice, but nobody cares.
