Shellacked! The Crushing of the NHL Players Association

July 19, 2005
By: Dave Zirin

Not since Ronald Reagan gutted the PATCO Air Traffic Controllers has a union suffered such a high profile thrashing. After the longest labor lockout in the history of pro-sports, the National Hockey League Players Association now resembles John Ashcroft after 12 rounds with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.

Not since Ronald Reagan gutted the PATCO Air Traffic Controllers has a union suffered such a high profile thrashing. After the longest labor lockout in the history of pro-sports, the National Hockey League Players Association now resembles John Ashcroft after 12 rounds with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is strutting like a peacock and the sport’s thirty billionaire owners are hailing this man who almost destroyed their sport. Meanwhile, NHL Union chief Bob Goodenow might as well be buck-naked and holding a sign that reads, “will negotiate for food.”

As Damien Cox of the Toronto Star put it, “Only the 30 owners can really be excited about the results of this lockout, for they have won a lopsided decision over the once-powerful players, leaving the union humiliated and divided after surrendering close to $2 billion in salaries and gaining little in return.”

The terms of surrender include a 24% pay cut across the board for every player -- guaranteed contracts be damned. But that’s not the bitterest pill. The deal also includes the one concession that the union swore it would reject: a “hard salary cap.” Now, no NHL team can exceed $39 million in spending. For clubs that already spend more than this, players will either have to renegotiate or be cut from the team, and accept two-thirds of their salary as compensation.

Players are already breaking ranks to show their frustration. As Detroit Red wings goalie and former team union rep Manny Legace told the Associated Press, “We lost a season for no reason. It makes no sense what we ended up doing. For years, Bob [Goodenow] was telling us, 'No cap. Owners aren't telling us the truth about their books.'  Then after saying we wouldn't even consider a salary cap, he backed down on that at the last minute just before the lockout. It was too late, and now we're taking a worse deal.''

Many hockey fans in various