Faceoff

How do you fix the National Hockey league

By Times staff writers
Published January 16, 2005

Lord, I miss hockey.

I miss the grace, the power of its stick-wielding gladiators, the special memories it has provided.

There is a hole in my heart; I call it hockey.

Okay, so I'm kidding!

Seriously, totally joking.

Now, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't mind the occasional hockey highlight here and there, but, frankly, I like the lockout. I don't find myself distracted from the football playoffs, the baseball free-agent signings were thrilling, and I can even name a player or two in the NBA. And that bowl season ... wow! What a doozy.

My solution to the holdout is, well, no solution at all. Let the players and owners grind it out. Let them cancel the season. Let them get their act together. Let them be big babies.

Certainly don't dissolve the league. That's just silly. It's nice to know that one day they'll be back. Everything will work out. We'll have hockey again. Just consider this a legal separation.

Now where did I put that Tampa Bay Storm ticket brochure?

- JOHN C. COTEY

Dissolve it ...

Hockey is a perfect game, a mix of speed and power, grit and finesse. The NHL, however, is a blight, a dysfunctional drain.

Bloated by expansion, stocked with too many marginal players and choked by an economic system that a disinterested U.S. fan base can't sustain, the league has ceased to function after 86 memorable years. It's time for owners in the league's solid markets to start thinking Plan B. If possible, buy out owners in marginal markets - you couldn't cut a check fast enough for Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos - or use the squadron of lawyers who should have been negotiating with players to craft an end game.

Then start over with 16 teams. All the current Canadian teams plus Boston, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York and St. Louis are charter members. Find four more markets willing to pledge to an intentionally exclusive fraternity. Maybe it's the home of the Stanley Cup champion, maybe not. Play 55 regular-season games. Gary Bettman does not get to come.

Imagine a league of stars in markets that truly care, playing more games that really matter. There used to be a league like that. But that one doesn't play games anymore.

- BRANT JAMES

[Last modified January 16, 2005, 00:33:22]