Some random thoughts on a snowy Monday . . .

That's right, I said "snowy" Monday. It's snowing here in SK today.

Anyways, I just finished reading a story on TSN.ca about Canucks GM Dave Nonis' recent criticism's of the NHL. In particular the chubby-faced one was bashing the NHL's current schedule as well as the new set-up of the CBA that allows for players to become free-agents after seven years in the league.

I have to say I agree with the general sentiment that the NHL's current scheduling system is severly flawed. As a Red Wings fan I know it gives us a significant advantage to have to play the likes of Columbus, Chicago and St.Louis eight teams each throughout the season. That's as close to a guaranteed 48 points as you can get from 24 games. That means the wings only have to amass MAYBE 40-50 more points in their other 58 games in the season in order to make the playoffs. That's a lot of night's off if you ask me. Anyways, I think it's best for the fans in the west to get to see the likes of Crosby, Ovechkin and Jagr a couple times a year just like it's best for the fans out east to get to see the Thornton's, Iginla's and Hemsky's on a more frequent basis.

The NHL talks about wanting to use their marquee players to bring more exposure to the game well they'd be better off by exposing those marquee players to a broader range of people groups throughout the regular season would they not?

Anyways, the point I want to focus on was part two of Nonis' rant, and that's the issue of when players can become free agents. Nonis particularly mentioned the fact that Sidney Crosby will be an unrestricted FA when he's 25, just when he's coming into his so-called prime. Nonis' complaint was that the Penguins organization will have spent seven years of development funds on Crosby and could stand to lose him just when he's supposed to be at his best. How is that fair to the Penguins he asks? The other part of his rant was that this new system would lead to constant player movement and provide teams with the opportunity to turn the ship around quicker than they could have in the old system.

To those complaints I say "Ya, and that's a bad thing because?" I really don't see what the problem with either of those things is.

In the case of players becoming free agents at a younger age I say that's a good thing. It puts the honus on the organizations to make sure that they're constantly looking to build a winner and not just simply taking advantage of having marquee players to fill seats without actually looking to provide that marquee player with an opportunity to compete for the Cup year after year. If Pittsburgh can compete on a yearly basis and show's Crosby they are committed to doing so then why wouldn't he want to stick around and win as many cups as he can with that team?

To me Nonis sounds like he's already starting to lay the groundwork for making excuses when he starts losing his marquee players in the next few years. It's not his fault, it's the leagues fault for introducing a system that allows younger players the opportunity to move to a better situation. Sorry Dave, shop your crazy somewhere else.

It's instant accountability to GM's and owners throughout the league to ensure that each franchise is run in such a way that you'd be crazy if you ever wanted to leave that organization. If you have a league where you have 30 teams pulling out all the stops to recruit and retain players then you're going to have a league that will succeed.

As a fan of the game I love the fact that there's tons of player movement both during the season and during the off-season. Sure there's a part of me that loves to see guys like Steve Yzerman who play for one team their entire career but if every player did that then it wouldn't be all that special. One Steve Yzerman for every 100 Anson Carter's is alright by me.

I want to know that when my Wings lose Yzerman to retirement and Shanahan to free agency that it won't be 5 or 6 years before they're respectable again. Isn't that great news for the poor and suffering fans in Leaf's nation who've waited 157 years for their team to return to respectability?

When it all comes down to it the last thing the NHL needs is fledgling GM's with very little (if any) notariety speaking out publicly about their distaste for the NHL's guiding principles and practices. Let's face it, Dave Nonis is no Brian Burke or Lou Lamoriello. He's not even a JFJ at this point.

You have beefs, fine, feel free to air them behind closed doors. But for the foreseeable future all members of the NHL- players, management, league officials, etc.- should be exhibiting a united front in the face of the public if they want to avoid falling further into obscurity and spending the rest of their lives doing a real job.

If there's one thing I'm positive about, it's that the negativity has got to stop.