wazee said:
Russ Conway is losing his objectivity. Fast. Given his history, it is natural that he would favor the player’s side. But this article, he has let his heart overrule his head which is never a good thing for a journalist.
I'm not sure why you think he is losing his objectivity. The only "leap" he makes is to guess that a couple of big market teams like Toronto and Philadelphia would jump to a rival league. Other than that, where has he strayed?
wazee said:
Let’s look at his assertion that 2 or 3 rival leagues are forming to challenge the NHL.
First, he names the WHA. A ‘league’ that has been in the talking stage for two years and is still without investors, teams, or arenas. The WHA is having trouble even putting on an exhibition tournament. Does Conway really believe the WHA is a threat to the NHL or is he just trying to convince us that the players have options?
Conway goes out of his way to point out the short-comings of the WHA, post past and present, stating the "comical" beginnings of its first incarnation, and the "hockey hotbed" quip at Omaha's expense in its second re-incarnation. Other than that, he states what the WHA is planning on doing, and the effects the old WHA had on the NHL, even though that league too, was dismissed as a joke at the time. But is it not true that star players defected to the WHA, a bidding war was started, and the league eventually had to swallow Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hartford and Quebec? Where is his "lack of objectivity" here? Seems like he is simply stating facts. IF the WHA gets off the ground, then yes, it would provide the players with options, and yes, if anything has been learned from history, the NHL should be wary of it.
wazee said:
Second, he mentions the Bain offer to the NHL and spins it to seem like the Bain group is interested in starting a rival league even though he quotes Bain group member, Randy Vataha, as saying "We're not looking to start a new league. We want what they've got. There's underutilized assets," he says.
He also has a quote from Vataha stating "we're not going away." If they aren't going away, then they only have two options, right? Convince the owners to sell, or... force the owners to sell. The best way to force them to sell, would be to start up a rival league, poach some big market teams (like Philadelphia and Toronto, Conway's only leap of faith - albeit a big one), and drive the NHL to its knees, so that they would have no choice but to merge/sell to Bain. Bain was willing to drop a minimum of $3.5 billion on the NHL, something tells me they would have a lot of reserves if they wanted to go toe-to-toe with the NHL.
wazee said:
So how does Conway think the Bain group might become interested in a rival league…Well…because the Leafs and the Flyers are going to break away and join the rival league. Bet all those Leaf fans will be delighted to give up their Stanley Cup dreams…
Don't think it really matters to Bain what Leaf fans think. It would be all about scorched earth warfare. If the Leafs ownership group decides to abandon the NHL, where would the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs play? The ACC would be taken out of commission, and is Maple Leaf Garden still available for hockey? Where would the Flyers play? Doesn't Snyder own the arena there, too?
The defection of one or two big markets to a rival league would be a devastating blow to the NHL. That's a fact. No bias on Conway's part there, other than to hypothesize that Toronto and Philadelphia are the two to go. And even then, Conway points out that there is no guarantee of success, as the USFL and the XFL proved. How is this biased?
wazee said:
Third, agent Rich Winters is ‘exploring an international league, with North American teams in one division and European teams in another’. Like we haven’t heard that one before.
And Winters seemed more than willing to talk about the venture. Does that make Conway biased, or merely a good journalist, reporting on what is going on? The option is obviously being explored, why is Conway being biased by reporting on it?
wazee said:
And Russ Conway says the owners are desperate??
Everybody has always said that replacement players are a last resort. Even the owners have said this. Last resort usually imply desperation, in my mind. "We can't get anything else done, we need to get hockey going, we have to do this."
Where is the bias?