Fan Face Off: NHL Players – Good or Bad for the EIHL?
Welcome to the first of a new ad hoc feature in which our crack team of Elite League writers brandish their pens (or should I say, hover hawk-like at their keyboards) ready to debate a burning question in the hope they can ease said burn with the salve of wit and good sense.
This week, it’s time to cut to the chase – the NHL lockout is good for NOBODY. Hockey’s cries of collective anguish can be heard echoing around empty ice hockey arenas across North America, and are echoed by fans on our fair isle. But is the 2012/13 lockout – for however long it lasts – a golden opportunity for Elite League sides? Four whole NHLers have signed with EIHL clubs so far this season – three in this past week alone – but what does it mean for the league? What are the knock-on effects of having a collection of superstar hockey players grace our shores? A cross-section of hockey writers – all EIHL fans themselves – consider the question: NHL players – good or bad for the EIHL?
Katy Parles (neutral):
I miss hockey. I miss having a team of my own in the EIHL, so to deal with an NHL lockout on top of this is tantamount to Chinese water torture. So, NHLers? Yes please. Ice hockey is minority sport in the UK and struggles with PR at the best of times, so the publicity and increased awareness that having bona fide stars of the game in our league will bring is undeniably a massive coup.
But is it fair on those teams who can’t afford to host NHL stars on their books? In my opinion, as long as the better-off sides don’t start stacking their ranks, it’s not going to be a massive issue. I saw the first of the arrivals, Panthers’ (and Carolina Hurricanes) forward Anthony Stewart, a couple of weeks ago, and he didn’t set the world alight.
To be fair to the lad, he’d barely stepped off the plane before being whisked to glamorous Sheffield, and to expect him to shine immediately upon entering a new team, dealing with a combination of jetlag, culture shock and heavy legs was perhaps unfair, however it illustrated a key point: one star player does not a winning team make. OK, if Sidney Crosby graced our shores and took up residence in Hull, the Stingrays would be likely to pick up an extra win or two. But no player can do it alone, so unless these NHL stars fit in within their teams, their impact is not guaranteed. If they come over with the right attitude and work ethic there’s no reason why they can’t be a positive influence on their team, the league and the state of the sport in the UK as a whole.
Stuart Coles (Coventry Blaze):
For me, locked out NHL players provide some benefits. If marketed properly, it can be a good news story and generate interest in our minority sport. How often do you actually see teams on the local news? Nottingham have had a big sign about Anthony Stewart up, he’s been splashed all over the front of their webpage and it’s getting people talking about the club. I think there has been an effect on attendances as well – the crowd in Nottingham for the recent Panthers-Blaze game was one of the biggest I’ve seen and it looks like the game between them at the Skydome on Sunday is close to selling out; an impressive feat given it’s an early season challenge cup game which isn’t on our season ticket.
It’s difficult to say what the effect Matt Beleskey (Anaheim Ducks) will have for the Blaze, since the Nottingham game is his debut. However, with Coventry being so successful during the previous lockout, local fans have high expectations for his impact on the team.
Rob Howe (Sheffield Steelers):
Being completely honest here I’m not entirely sure, aside from some short term marketing opportunities, what having a smattering of 3rd and 4th line NHLers plying their trade in this country right now brings to the Elite League. Sure the arrival of Stewart (Nottingham), Miller (Braehead), Beleskey (Coventry) and Sestito (Sheffield) has given the sport some extra and much needed media exposure. But in the cold light of day the fact that a few local TV news crews have been enticed to some local ice rinks more out of curiosity than anything else doesn’t, in my opinion, count for a great deal.
Let’s not kid ourselves, as soon as the NHL and the NHLPA strike a new deal the afore named players, and any others who’ve been tempted over in the mean time, will be hot footing it back over the Atlantic before you can say ‘CBA’ let alone ‘Collective Bargaining Agreement’. These guys are here for one reason and one reason alone – to get fit, to stay sharp and to be ready when the call comes.
To coin a well used phrase in this Olympic year, what will the legacy be this time? During the 2004-05 lockout the EIHL ended up with seven NHLers spread across just three of the seven teams. Hardly a ringing endorsement. And it’s not as though we’ve seen a steady stream of players coming out of the NHL to these shores in more recent years either. No, sadly in my opinion the EIHL is just being used as a glorified training camp, albeit with the odd chance of some sight-seeing.
Patrick Smyth (Belfast Giants):
During the last NHL lockout the Belfast Giants did not bring in any of the possible available resources. Whether that was due to financial constraints or not I am unaware, however I do recall at that time hoping we would employ someone from that league and provide the crowds with as high quality entertainment as was available.
The current, apparent, “arms race” between certain clubs to find such talent once again doesn’t concern me in the slightest, so long as it remains financially viable for the that club to do so. The arrival of Miller, Sestito, Stewart etc may be the first in a long line of locked out NHLers who come to retain their fitness in our league, but in the end the financial aspect of employing such a talent must be kept realistic.
Fans must also remember that the standard of NHLer falls into tiers itself, something that is being reflected across Europe. Claude Giroux and Danny Briere have gone to Germany, Zetterberg to Zug and Chara to Prague. These top level talents will command large fees in leagues far in advance of our own. As such the lower line players sit with a realistic chance of employment in the UK, or even the lower line AHLers who would find themselves pushed out by NHL players dropping to their league ahead of a trip to Europe.
NHL players in the Elite League good or bad? Good for me. Not for any real reason of promotion or exposure to new markets etc. Purely for a selfish want of high quality entertainment. If members of the hockey elite have a viable means to play in games I can attend.. then I want them there. It’s quite simple.
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So there you have it – four reasoned responses, and four differing opinions. It remains to be seen as to what overall effect the arrival of locked out NHL players will have on the EIHL this time around, and no doubt we will be debating the subject in rinks and rink bars for as long as this lockout lasts and beyond.
You’ve heard our thoughts – now why not share yours? Continue the debate with us using the comments section below!