Life-long contracts? Bleh.
Why is the NHL allowing such long-term contracts these days? Players like Luongo, Sedins, Ovechkin, Richards and Zetterberg all have 10+ year contracts. Some of these contracts lasting until they hit around 42 years of age. In my opinion, this does make watching NHL any more exciting than before. In fact, it makes the NHL more predictable and consequently less exciting. So you have the key players on the same team their entire careers. It is way more exciting to see them move from team to team, stir things up, win Stanley and move on. To be fair, there would be some players who would naturally stay in one team their entire career (e.g., Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman), however, this should be a choice and based on their previous success within that team instead of being bound to a big, fat juicy contract.
I can’t blame all this on player’s greed, however. It should be considered that the NHL low salary cap has a huge impact on how NHL has evolved (or devolved) into today’s game. Furthermore, the NHLPA should also think less about the money and more about the game.
I was a strong Luongo believer before. Not quite anymore. Not after consecutive disappointing post-seasons. I personally want someone else to step up and proof to the fans that they can be consistent in net. And hopefully they will be able to help us (finally) bring home the prize trophy.
Players should be awarded based on their performance and not based on their current play.
There’s an interesting article on whether long-term contracts in the NHL makes any sense. Good read! http://www.sportsperspectives.com/archives/2166
By writing this post I am by no means retracting my passion for this sport. I am still a strong supporter of the NHL and hockey as a sport. October 7 is when the puck drops for the regular season!
