PEORIA, Ill – The 2004-2005 season was cancelled due to an owner’s lockout.
The 1994-95 season was virtually cut in half for the same reason.
In 1992, a brief 10-day strike of NHL players delayed the playoffs and set the tone for the 1994 lockout.
Although that first strike was 20 years ago, it was the first time the players ever really stood up to the owners. “Net Worth” by David Cruise, is a book, just as old. It details the 70 years of abuse and mistreatment of the players at the hands of the owners and is one of the most comprehensive histories of the business side of the hockey game ever written.
Now, to many people, the idea of reading about the business side of a sport may not sound appealing. “Net Worth,” however, reveals that the off-ice side of the game was often bloodier than any of those “old time” hockey games did.
Take the ultimate ‘old-time’ hockey player – Eddie Shore. He was tough as nails on the ice. He was one of the few players that realized that it was the owners who really had the upper hand. In 1939 he bought the Springfield Indians, and team that he ran – like a tyrant – until 1967. In fact, in 1967 the entire team boycotted him.
This became the first real organized action, albeit just the team, against any hockey ownership of any kind. Eddie Shore, on whom Crusie focuses for two separate chapters, had a much greater impact on the NHL as a minor league owner than he ever did as a player.
The book goes into great detail about the 1957-58 ‘player rebellion’ led by Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings and Doug Harvey of the Montreal Canadiens. Concerns about the player pension led to the first attempts to organize the NHL players, at first with an association and then with a union. The ownership ruthlessly killed off this attempt to organize, basically in order to keep the players from knowing how poor the pension plan actually was and how little they were contributing to it. Conn Smythe, Jim Norris and Clarence Campbell played key roles by trading players leading the organizational efforts, including All-Star Lindsay. In fact, Jack Adams, general manager of the Red Wings, planted false stories in the press, inflating his salary and other rumors.
The portion of the book dealing with these intial organizing efforts was actually made into a film broadcast by the CBC in 1995. It shares the name with the book, “Net Worth.”
The book reveals the players often hot themselves in the foot when dealing with ownership. Incredibly tough and ruthless on the ice, players feared alienating the fans and appearing greedy. Since very few of them had attended college, they were easily intimidated by “legalese” and naive enough to believe the promises of the owners.
When they did finally organize, they put one of their heroes in charge. Alan Eagleson had helped settle the 1967 player dispute with Eddie Shore. He made a name for himself as the player agent for Bobby Orr.
He dominated the player agent market in the early 70’s. The players put him charge of their union, the NHLPA. In that capacity, he did a very poor job of looking after the players’ interest. Yet the players allowed him to stay. Even Bobby Orr, told by Eagleson he was worth “millions” and “set for life” a year or two before was revealed to be nearly broke when he retired.
There are a number of great and sometimes sad stories in the book. It is long – nearly 400 pages, but well worth the effort for any hockey fan. It also serves as a good background for anyone wanting to understand the history of the relationship between the NHLPA and the NHL owners as the current collective bargaining agreement enters its final years. Contact the author: Shaun.Bill@ProHockeyNews.com
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