Robert Tychowski exposes NHL player career massochism

September 24, 2004

Robert Tychowski: Questions needing answers

Robert nailed it. My favourite question was this one:

"What else am I qualified to be doing for $1.8 million US a year? And if this goes as long as they say it might, how long is it going to take me to make up all the money I'm losing?"

Answer: It won't happen. NHL players will never recover the money they'll lose this year. I'm convinced the agents have brainwashed their players into believing this is somehow worth it for them. Only the agents have a chance of improving their situation long term by fighting long and hard in this labour battle. The longer the players don't play, the more money they lose that cannot be recouped, and the longer they don't play, the shorter their NHL careers are going to be, because they'll get older and rustier when plenty of great players are still being actively developed.

The good news is for the fans is, eventually, we'll get hockey back, and the circle of life gives us an endless supply of hockey players.

If the average NHL career really is 4 years like the NHLPA says, how in the world can the average NHL player sacrifice 1/2, 1 or even more years of that career when the PA is already offering to reduce salaries. The average NHL player can only lose in this deal. The PA sucks.