FAR more important than Patrick Roy’s refusal to play for Canada in the Olympics is the NHL’s current policy that will bar the league’s Slovakian players from representing their country in the qualifying rounds in the Salt Lake Games.
It is a policy that would be wrong-headed at any time – was, in fact, for the 1998 Nagano tournament – but now, when all of us in the threatened, civilized world have greater national consciousness and pride than ever before, it is nothing short of scandalous.
The NHL will shut down for 12 days in February to accommodate the Olympic tournament. By doing so, the league has forced a compressed schedule on its 30 teams that has eliminated important off-days and practice days. It has mandated a potential Game 7 of the Finals for June 20, 10 days later than last season and about three weeks later than acceptable. And, by sending its athletes to the Olympics, it will allow for 12 days of rest for the overwhelming majority of its players while subjecting the league’s best players to fatigue and potential injury.
Which is to say no one should pretend the Olympics don’t in a number of different ways skew the season.
But the NHL doesn’t seem willing to skew the season to accommodate the dozen or so Slovaks who, as it now stands, will be unable to participate in the qualifying round in which eight countries will compete for two entries into the medal tournament. Slovakia will play its first game on Feb. 9, its next on Feb. 10, its third – very likely its last – on Feb. 12.
Slovakia GM Peter Stastny has appealed in writing to the NHL office, and though the league has yet to formally respond to the request, we’re told to expect no change from the policy in force four years ago that essentially eliminated the country before NHL players could suit up for a game.
The league is proud of its game’s international flavor. It is a wonder to watch Americans, Canadians, Russians, Swedes, Finns, Czechs and Slovaks speak the universal hockey language in a team-oriented framework. But now that it can put its money where its mouth is, the NHL won’t do it.
We’re talking about players such as Peter Bondra, Zigmund Palffy, Miro Satan, Zdeno Ciger, Zdeno Chara, Pavol Demitra and Jozef Stumpel; honorable men who want the same opportunity to represent their nation that Roy had the freedom to reject.
The argument against releasing these athletes from their teams in the midst of the schedule – Bondra, for instance, would miss two games for the Caps, as would Demitra for the Blues – is obvious. Their NHL teams would likely be adversely affected by their absence. Who knows? The loss of one game could keep a team out of the playoffs.
There are those within the league who believe the decision should be left to the individual teams, but that isn’t fair to anyone. There are those around the league who have suggested that some of the affected players may simply leave on their own after repaying one-game’s salary to their respective teams. But one agent who represents one of the above-cited players told Slap Shots this week that he has counseled his client against such action, warning that he might then face a potential breach-of-contract suit seeking damages in the millions.
This is on the NHL, not its teams, not its players. Gary Bettman and the league hierarchy have a responsibility to enact policy for the game’s greater good. Under that umbrella, and if the league truly represents the best interests of all its players, not just those hailing from the six countries already in the Medal tournament, there is no real choice here.
The NHL must let the Slovaks go in time for Feb. 9 vs. Germany. Any other call for the year 2002 would be shameful.
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Dallas has already made two deals this week – little ventured, little gained – but a well-placed source has informed us of advanced discussions between the Stars and Blues, of all teams, regarding a Joe Nieuwendyk-for-Scott Young swap.
He hasn’t asked out yet – not yet, and perhaps he won’t make a formal request – but Pavel Bure is about as unhappy as it gets these days and would love to be dealt out of Florida. “Fed up with it,” are the words a confidant used to describe the Russian Rocket’s mindset.
Finally, when Larry Robinson said during training camp that this would be the year in which Martin Brodeur wouldn’t play his customary 70 games, who would have guessed that the coach meant this would be the year the goaltender played 80?
