A Piece of Me

Imagine you had a successful dog walking business in Toronto’s Beach community. There are a lot of dogs and dog owners in that area and business is really booming. You have staff, happy customers, lots of leashes and lots of poop bags. So you decide it’s time to reach out and expand your business by opening up in a new location. You do your research and see that there are tons of communities in Toronto, in Ontario, and all across Canada that are filled with dogs and dog owners. AND these areas are under-supplied with dog walking services. So when it comes time to expand your company, you decide to open your first satellite location in tiny shack on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. Where having a dog as a pet is against the religious beliefs of the locals, where dogs are used for sport, or left to roam the streets wild

Not the best business idea the world has ever seen.

This is what the NHL has been trying to do. Trying to bring the game of hockey to places like Phoenix, Nashville and now Kansas City is not just stupid - it's ridiculous! Oh, sure. I know this kind of thing has been done before. Jamaica had a bob-sled team, right? Sure, but incidents of products swimming that far upstream are pretty few and far between. At some point you have to do what makes sense.

I understand that the goal is the lucrative US TV contracts. But that voice in Kevin Costner’s head was right when it whispered to him, “Build it and they will come.” You can’t hand-shake your way into a lucrative US TV contract – okay, maybe you can, but you really shouldn’t be permitted to do it that way and it's not the best way to do. Fix your product, make sure your ducks are all in order and expand into places that make sense.

If the NHL had any real leadership at all - or any brains, they would be looking at how they could expand into markets that have already proven themselves as "hockey markets" – you know, with people who like hockey. So yes, that means more Canadian teams – many more Canadian teams. It probably means 3 or 4 more teams in Ontario alone. I think the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) can EASILY handle 2 more teams alone! But it also means places like Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Russia.

Oh, I’m not sure how it would all work out. There would legal issues - that’s why the NHL has an army of lawyers. There would be travel concerns – I’m guessing that airline sponsorship might be a little easier to get than that lucrative US TV contract. Maybe the current-NHL teams all play each other for the Stanley Cup and then the winner of that part of the new world-league plays the winner from the European part of the new world-league. That would keep the air miles down at least. It COULD be worked out somehow.

To say it can’t be done. Well, that is just protecting the status-quo. Ever notice how many super-hero movies are coming out? That’s because they know that each of those comic books and graphic novels has its own built-in fan base. Before the movie is made they already have a market for it! That’s just good business.
I don’t actually believe that the new Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia is going to start challenging the NHL for fan loyalty or even for revenue. I’m talking about leadership and what makes good business sense for the NHL.

On that note, The Philadelphia Flyer’s Jaroslav Modry has agreed to play hockey in the Czech Republic next season. He is just the latest in a long line of NHL players and future NHL-ers that leaving to play hockey in those other countries that like hockey – and dogs.

We are all familiar with the more high profile NHL players who have signed contracts to play hockey overseas this year (Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Radulov, and Ray Emery). But there are a lot of other second and third tier players who have already made the decision to leave the NHL and play for teams in Russia and the Czech Republic. Most of them aren’t “big name” players so no one is prepared to hit the panic button – yet. But if you look closely there are also a few surprises and a few young guys who a few NHL teams had being grooming for the future (you’ll note this isn’t a complete list as I’ve missed a few goalies as I was mostly compiling this list for our annual hockey pool and unfortunately our pool doesn’t include goalies):

* Joe DiPenta (ANA)
* Jason King (ANA)
* Bruno St. Jacques (ANA)
* Alexei Zhitnik (ATL)
* Steve McCarthy (ATL)
* Joel Kwiatkowski (ATL)
* Karel Pilar (ATL)
* John Grahame (CAR)
* Andrei Zyuzin (CHI)
* Jeff Jillson (COL)
* Jaroslav Hlinka (COL)
* Mark Rycroft (CBJ)
* Nate DiCasmirro (CBJ)
* Dick Tarnstrom (CBJ)
* David Vyborny (CBJ)
* Johan Holmqvist (DAL)
* Bryce Lampman (DAL)
* Janos Vas (DAL)
* Mark Hartigan (DET)
* Allan Rourke (EDM)
* Magnus Johansson (FLA)
* Branislav Mezei (FLA)
* Jozef Stumpel (FLA)
* Martin Lojek (FLA)
* Kevin Dallman (LA)
* Jon Klemm (LA)
* Petteri Nummelin (MIN)
* Branko Radivojevic (MIN)
* Chris Simon (MIN)
* Alexander Radulov (NSH)
* Sergei Brylin (NJ)
* Jordan Parise (NJ)
* Noah Clarke (NJ)
* Karel Rachunek (NJ)
* Mike Morrison (NYI)
* Josef Vasicek (NYI)
* Jaromir Jagr (NYR)
* Martin Straka (NYR)
* Ivan Baranka (NYR)
* Ray Emery (OTT)
* Niko Dimitrakos (OTT)
* Jaroslav Modry (PHI)
* Patrick Thoresen (PHI)
* Denis Topelko (PHI)
* Marcel Hossa (PHX)
* Niko Kapanan (PHX)
* Mark Ardelan (PIT)
* Curtis Brown (SJS)
* Dmitri Patzold (SJS)
* Martin Rucinsky (STL)
* Alex Brooks (STL)
* Jean-Guy Trudel (STL)
* Martin Kariya (STL)
* Hannu Toivonen (STL)
* Kyle Wanvig (TB)
* Chris Harrington (TOR)
* John Pohl (TOR)

Pretty long list eh? Whatever the NHL does or doesn’t do with expansion, you can at least expect this list to get longer every year.

"It seems that Tretiak is still too inexperienced to stand up to the NHL sharpshooters. He is not confident with his ability in tight situations. The goalkeeper is definitely the weakest link on the Soviet team."
- Canadian Hockey Experts, after watching Vladislav Tretiak let in 9 goals during a game in
Russia the day before his marriage, quoted in Tretiak: The Legend