Purging The Pucked-Up World Of Coaching

Little did anyone know that Mike Babcock’s firing in Toronto was going to uncover a much bigger story in the NHL. With the news that Babcock was out in his fifth year, we also learned that the future HHOF coach was something less than subtle in his dealings with players. 

Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner told a story from his rookie year about being asked by Babcock to make a list of which teammates were not pulling their weight. That seemed to invite a few former NHL players to recall their battles with coaches besides Babcock. The most damning was Akim Aliu who accused Calgary coach Bill Peters of using the N word on him in the minors.

Peters was also accused of punching players, as was former NHL coach Darryl Sutter. Stories were corroborated. Peters was fired, and the GMs who hired him and indulged his behaviour— Brad Treliving in Calgary, Ron Francis in Carolina— were under the microscope. That opened the flood gates to the culture of “what happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room”.

Don Cherry’s stories of Eddie Shore’s cruelty to players in the 1950s were not an exaggeration or an aberration. The tough-love culture of the Sutter clan was, I can attest, not a fiction. But few dared to complain. This time, however, the mainstream media was damning hockey for its cultures of racism, sexism and every other ism they could hurl against the NHL.

But, while cleansing the sport of its recidivist element is long overdue, blaming hockey alone for this behaviour misses the point. Some writers were vowing to take their kids out of hockey and put them into soccer or basketball. But there are bully coaches who say inappropriate things in all sports— including soccer and basketball. There are also female coaches who have bullied their players in the past.

Also, it needs to be said, most of the stories were from a decade ago or longer. The modern world of hockey is no longer a swamp of Graham James and David Frost predators. At most levels, the closet dictators of the past have between weeded out by players and parents. Do they still exist? Yes. But just as Cherry has now been purged from the system, those coaches who emulated rock ‘em/ sock ‘em in the dressing room are gone from the sport.

In part they are gone because the young stars of the sport will no longer tolerate it. As I wrote at the start of the season, all sorts of changes are being driven by the huge dollars owners have invested. Marner’s contract earlier this season— six years at an average annual value of $10.893 million— was typical.

“Marner joined young RFA players such as Matthew Tkachuk, Nylander, Sebastisan Aho, Mikko Rantanen, Brock Boeser— among others— in establishing a new salary threshold for players coming off their rookie contracts. Some have signed. Some still hold out.

But if the situations have one thing in common it’s the attempt by elite young players to stretch the CBA to accommodate their status as the stars of the game. The CBA wants these players to wait to get paid the big money on their third contract. The RFA class want to grow their brand now, but they can’t while trapped in the current NHL CBA. In a violent sport where it can disappear overnight. As Freddie Mercury sang, the young guys want it all, they want it now.

As NHL players watch stars in NBA and MLB push their salaries to $30, 40 or 50 million a year many are wondering why their value should be suppressed. In the past the NHL Players Association was successful in pitching a one-for-all/ all-for-one philosophy among its members. Sure, Sidney Crosby takes less than market value but then there’s money left over for the grunts on the third and fourth lines or for the veterans trying to squeeze out a final contract. 

The sacrifice was abetted by what the legendary writer Roy Macgregor described as hockey’s ”modesty gene”. From Gordie Howe through Wayne Gretzky to Crosby the bell cows of the NHL players have buried their own ambitions for the god of “The Game”.  It guided them through several lockouts in the post-Alan Eagleson NHLPA era. 

Naturally owners loved it as players were their own worst enemies. But there is evidence in this RFA raffle that this modesty is about to start changing…  This shift highlights the attitude of younger consumers who are less interested in the crest-on- the-chest loyalty. Their interest lies in merger of sports celebrities and the star-making machine of the culture industry. They have no interest in Columbus versus Winnipeg on a freezing February night unless something more than a score is produced.

While Crosby is a star within the NHL’s tighknit culture, the casual fans are more interested in P.K. Subban being seen with Lindsay Vonn at the U.S. Open tennis Finals. The future of remuneration in a digital sports world will depend on hits online rather than hits on the court or the ice. 

Leaving NHL superstars— who bring in the money— wondering why they’re still falling on their swords to preserve millions for the foot soldiers— who bring in none.”

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the publisher of his website (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). He’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also a best-selling author whose new book Cap In Hand: How Salary Caps Are Killing Pro Sports And Why The Free Market Could Save Them is now available on brucedowbigginbooks.ca.