The Lockout That Destroyed the 2004-05 NHL Season

welcome back all right starting off today with a history video and yet there isn't a season for me to put on this board there isn't a logo for me to put on this board cuz no games were played 2004 2005 and I'm going to explain my get up here I've got my uh Jackal and Hyde uh Jersey because there was certainly some Jackal and hide from both the players and the owners during that period of time and you can't see me my John Cena hat because we didn't see any hockey players playing NHL hockey that year so I figured that works at any rate uh cost certainty were the two words that echoed throughout the hockey landscape that year uh it was stated by Gary bman and what's interesting is the first lockout bman was still kind of the the the seen as the mouthpiece of the owners and not necessarily seen as commissioner vetman but the time we reach the 0304 season and then we get into the lockout uh Absol absolutely he was seen more as the commissioner which I still say is what the owners wanted the owners wanted to hire Gary bman so that everybody be mad at him don't be mad at the 30 owners who vote in favor of a lock outat get mad at the guy who's sitting at the microphone and taking the questions right so for bman uh it's salary cap or nothing and for Bob goodno who was representing the nhlp he came out and said we will not have a salary cap and that's why Bob goodno is no longer the head of the NHL PA once we heard this stand which was the NHL saying we're losing money we've got too many teams losing money we need to have cost certainty and the nhlpa saying listen you guys can mind your own business and do your own books but we're not going to agree to a salary cap we knew what was coming the players have been preparing for roughly two years they basically been told you guys need to make sure you got you know enough money to carry over a little bit obviously the Union does pay out a bit during a strike but um or in this case a lockout but it's it's not the kind of money that they're used to getting from their contracts right now average salaries had gone through the roof uh 93 $94.95 the average salary in the NHL was 733,000 Us by 0304 it was $1.8 million per player and so the NHL looked at these spiraling costs and rather than look at the owners that signed off on these contracts or the GMS that offered them they decided the players were the problem and this is where my disconnect with the league comes in and I've said this before uh if you if you spend yourself into the poor house that's probably saying something about your lack of restraint restraint on spending and that was kind of how I saw it that these GMS would get into bidding wars and oh this guy got him for 6 million and this guy 6 and a half million and there wasn't really a checks and balance in place to make sure they could afford these contracts they were signing but again is that on the players right but because of the fact that the billionaires controlled more advertising money and they definitely had more of an ability to spin this uh the sentiment from the public turned against players pretty quickly it became players are being greedy uh ticket prices are already going up way too fast and this is on the players the players they're they they're huge ridiculous uh basically demands for contracts are what's putting us here so there were also planned rule changes that had been sheld until we'd have a CVA agreement they were even going to mess around and see if no touch icing would work so what we have right now is the hybrid icing where it's not fully no touch icing but they were considering it and various rules to try to encourage scoring in the National Hockey League because they understood that while the salaries had gone through the roof scoring had dropped through the floor so that that was something that just didn't work right you're paying you know ridiculous amounts of money to players and the game had never been more slow plotting um scoring chances what are those like it was just it had really really dried up and so the National Hockey League had two problems they had the cost certainty issue and they had an entertainment issue this was not an entertaining product to watch anymore so refs weren't calling anything and I I put this up here because one of the articles I was reading from this period of time was that one of the arguments that fans had was was refs weren't calling anything in the third period or overtime of playoff games and that the way that a game's called in December is not the same way that a game's called in the playoffs so that was a thing that used to happen in the National Hockey League I'm really glad that doesn't happen anymore so this this argument over you know referees should just call it the same from game one till the the Stanley Cup Final it's been out there for a very very long time this is 20 years ago we're still having the debate now I don't think it's ever going to change now one thing that had happened was Dominic hasik had come out of retirement to sign with the Senators so Ottawa was seen as a potential favorite going into the 0405 season a season that was never meant to be proving that the hockey Gods really don't like Ottawa very much but hosik signing in Ottawa was seen as a very hopeful uh sign of things of course at this point we're a little over a decade since the Canadian team won a Stanley Cup but Ottawa was seen as a team that might be able to get it done that adding hasik gave them that goal they might need now we're not going to ever repeat for Tampa and I think if we'd had the 0405 season there was a much better chance then when we get to 056 and everything blows up uh and this was a Lost season for Detroit Detroit was seen as a potential Contender as well so in in Detroit definitely some frustration for their fans the idea that maybe the 05 cup would have gone there uh but frustration all around the league now one thing that helped get people through that lock was Sydney Crosby was in his draft year and Crosby was lighting up Junior Hockey and was seen as like the next one and he was going to be a phenomenal player I definitely heard some people say well look until he's played a game in the NHL he might be a bust we just don't know there's way too much hype around this guy way too much hype when there's this much hype right yep uhhuh anyways uh so Crosby's in the spotlight we know that he ends up getting drafted by the Penguins the draft that they had in 2005 had to be weighted to favor teams that had finished towards the bottom of the standings I think it was averaged over three years and so it was a it was a real true draft lottery where all the picks from 30 through one were revealed and Pittsburgh got number one which some people didn't like at the time uh there were those that were not a big fan of that at the time uh but at any rate yeah Crosby's in the spotlight uh the Thrashers uh were seen as a potential playoff team in 2005 too they put together a pretty good roster and and so we just don't know what we lost with that lockout season there could have been some great story lines in the 0405 season that now it's just remembered for the lockout the lock out began September 16th 2004 in theory the reality is that a lot of free agents were out there because on July the 1st it was crickets nobody was signing nobody nobody was signing because we knew what was coming the season got canceled in February 16th of 2005 and and I remember the mood being just end it just get it over with and then there was a rumor afterwards that Mariel U Wayne Gretzky and some others had had been working behind the scenes on an agreement and then there was a meeting and then that meeting didn't come bring anything to fruition and it all fell apart uh there was a website created freest stanley.com so if you've watched the series all the way through you know that the Stanley Cup started out as a challenge trophy was awarded by Lord Stanley and you could challenge for it eventually the NHL gets the rights to it and so it's theirs and nobody can challenge for it anymore even though the wa did try but free Stanley was with the mind of hey if the NHL's not going to award the trophy that trophy should be given back there should be holders of the cup and then we can have a tournament where somebody gets their name on the Stanley Cup in 2005 and if it's not an NHL team well then it's not an NHL team and it and honestly as silly as it may sound to some I thought it had some validity I didn't think for a minute that the Stanley Cup was going to get awarded to a junior hockey team or to a senior like double a hockey team out of Ontario or something like that but I I did think that there was something to the idea that that that trophy shouldn't be sitting there for a year so there was some debate about whether or not the NHL might lose control of the trophy if the if this fight went on for more than a year but of course it got solved before we look at a second season uh ESPN had a two-year deal with the NHL basically an extension of their contract but they had an out after year one and guess what this was year one the NHL couldn't have timed the lockout worse not for for uh basically broadcasting in the US so right now we've got ESN plus and it's all back on ESPN but it shouldn't have left ESPN and the lockout was was blamed by many for ESPN just saying you know what we're done like hockey in Canada will always have a national audience it would take a lot in a long time for Rogers or TSN or anybody who has rights to say ah we'll relinquish these we'll opt out I can't see it now the NHL commissioned a report which claimed that 76% of all revenue for the league was going to the players and immediately the NHL PA disagreed with that claim and they wanted to see the numbers which as I remember the NHL said no it's our report go get your own report um and so basically this was to set up the idea that the NHL's losing money and plenty of times we had owners and bman himself coming out with hey you know we want to we want to keep this product uh where it's it's reasonably cheap and and and inexpensive to go to games for fans uh the players are and I mean they wouldn't use the word greedy necessarily but they would insinuate greedy that the players were greedy and that they were driving costs out of control for your your basic uh you know hockey viewer and fan that might want to go and see a game and they talked a really good really really really good game and that's part of how they they swayed public opinion but the reality was that you had billionaires on one side millionaires on the other billionaires will be able to outweigh millionaires uh even though the NHL players had been getting ready for this for a couple of years still the owners many of them had other businesses that made money so losing their NHL team for a year wasn't necessarily a huge deal to them in fact for the ones that are losing money at the NHL at this point they're arguing they make better money by shutting the league down than they would have if they' played that season and again looking at where costs are now when you look at the salary cap and looking at what the costs were then I don't know how much truth there is to it I think there's some truth to it I think there are some teams that might have been on the verge going out of business but I don't know how much truth there is to it uh negotiations stalled from September until December one of the most frustrating things about this this time was that September 16th the lockout starts and they just go home they just go home and so as fans the the message it sent to me as a fan was something simple okay so we don't agree so we're just going to go home and uh and stop negotiating see so if you guys care so much about the game and the fans are so important why aren't you guys locking yourself in a room and hammering this out why don't you get a third party mediators step in and go okay you'll get this you'll get this done and sign like I I've this is the one thing that's always frustrated me with the National Hockey League and I think this is why we've had so many labor stoppages they don't negotiate until there's a gun to their head they don't negotiate until they're at the very last moment and it drives me insane um I I would I i' you know I'd give him a little little little little bit of a with with like one those tiny little hammers just hit the right part of the brain where it kind of knocks their memory for a bit and go hey you got five hours to get a CBA done you got five hours hey you got and do that like six months before the cba's due they they they get a CBA done in about 5 hours I I just and it is so frustrating so they go months with nothing and so we as fans are left to say so does the league actually care about the fans as much as they're saying because they're not fighting that hard to get the season going and the players was kind of the same thing of okay so they're going overseas they're playing in Europe they're still making an income how desperate are people to actually get National Hockey League hockey back uh February 14th of 2005 the union offers a $52 million cap but not tied to revenues okay okay we'll agree to a salary cap but not tied to revenues uh the league countered with 40 million plus 2.2 million in benefits the nhlpa rejected it this is the moment where the the nhlpa should have Tapped Out the moment that they tabled an offer that had the word salary cap in it they had lost it was over this was done you have now agreed to a salary cap that's it and players were I'm trying to try trying to think of a G-rated way way to say this they were very perturbed not happy uh this the union just absolutely threatened to implode that the union threatened to implode and when it came out of hey so $52 million cap then there were a lot of players who rightfully asked so why have we been sitting out we were told there will be no acceptance of a salary cap ever and now you've put an offer out there that includes a salary cap so the NHL knowing there's blood in the water would never move off of that like the numbers change but they don't have to move off a salary cap now cuz the players agreed to it the players saying it's not tied to revenue though and the NHL is going yeah it is and you're going to agree to it at that moment Gary bman had won at that moment Bob good know's job is essentially finished as the nhlpa head so there were last minute attempts to save the season as I said which again was more frustrating for me as a fan than anything CU word leaks out of okay they've got concessions here and here they haven't agreed on this they've got a concession here they're just isn't enough time left because Gary bman had said February 16th and we're done why weren't they negotiating in December why weren't they negotiating in November what was wrong with October why couldn't they negotiate then there was nothing they were hammering out on February 14th that they wouldn't have been able to try to hammer out in November it's just that pressure point has to be there or else the NHL and the NHL PA don't sit down and talk about it so Marty Walsh don't allow this to happen this is the biggest mistake from this era everybody basically wants to say ah it's all Gary bman and it's it's easy it's easy to blame the guy in the picture there and say it's all on him this was all on him he did it he did it no both sides were definitely at fault here and both sides definitely sat at home and did not negotiate which did not sit well with fans made it feel like okay they can live without us cool good to know um I was honestly kind of surprised at how quickly fans returned to the arena which didn't work for the fans because there were fans that were threatening to boycott when they did get this done they were saying you know what this has gone on too long there's too much greet on both sides what about us why don't we have a say in this fine we're not going to go back when they when they get this negotiated and they're going to be absolutely stunned by empty Arenas that was the conversation it didn't happen so this is why when people talk about I'm never going to watch the NHL again I'm done with the NHL I always kind of chuckle and think sure because I've been hearing that for a long time and you in 2004 and 2005 it was prettyy deafening from fans the idea of hey you guys negotiate this or else we're not coming back and neither the union nor the league seemed to be bothered by that threat and now they know that threat is completely and totally empty so sides began meeting again in June so from February until June crickets which again is just awful it was like they went well season's canceled all right bye everybody all right we're going to we're going to like a 6 and a half hour meeting because of that whole grety Lemieux thing that people were talking about but then then were then were just going to go home until June so they don't want to lose another season I wish they hadn't wanted to lose the One season but they did and a deal is ratified July 21st of 2005 now the union vote was 87% in favor overwhelmingly in favor but it means 133% of the players were still saying screw the cap and there were players who did not come back to the National Hockey League after that not in the kind of numbers that I think we remember like there's a lot of people that sort of think oh it it ended some of these great careers some of them yes but uh it it I I think that's just sort of how you know time works and guys were getting older anyways so after ratifying this deal it's 5 days before Bob goodno is gone and Bob goodno was a dead man walking as soon as that Union offer $52 million cap came up and it always felt like there was infighting and I I don't think goodno wanted the cap I always got the feeling that goodno was strong armed out and they were like look just you know give them this this cap this number here Ted sasin would take over sasin wasn't in charge of the Union that long as I remember but I haven't done like nhlp head videos other than on eagleson um but I could and I I absolutely probably should so during the lockout oh I also wanted to mention coming out of this tro Bill Dy gets promoted to the role he currently occupies Bill Daly was excellent for the NHL his ability to send a message and and and talk to the press and his ability to keep us cool and as calm uh absolutely bman looked at him and said that's the guy uh during the lockout 78 players played in uh Russia 75 played in Sweden 51 played in the Czech Republic and 43 43 played in Switzerland I believe it was 45 played in Finland as well I don't have the Finland on the board there but I think it was 45 now that sounds like it must have been great for those leagues and it was but what this also causes is a knock on effect so if there's some players playing in the AHL who would have been in the NHL there are players playing in foreign leagues that wouldn't have been playing there so for guys who are making you know a couple of grand a month to play in these leagues well now they're out of work because the nhlers have come over and taken their jobs so something that there were there was some talk about it at the time was that these guys have got themselves locked out of their league and then they go overseas and they make money pushing guys out of their jobs it just didn't sit well I think with some players and honestly for some fans myself included it kind of felt like well wait a minute and then there were attempts to start rival leagues as well there were wh rumors that had started in 2002 and it just never quite worked I think Bobby Hall was behind it it just never quite happened there was another rival League that was attempted but that never came to fruition either you had the NHL Allstar tour I believe it was Gretzky's all stars that was out there too um or was that that was in '95 but there were I know there was like a star tour of uh various NHL Allstar players and you could go out and watch them play their exhibition game I think they had like a fouron four setup or whatever it was but the the the attempts to start rival leagues all fell apart of course and so for hockey players trying to keep themselves in shape and and get some hockey in uh they were doing whatever they could to get that but it was definitely in some cases at the expense of career minor Leaguers who were out of a job now because of them so it was not just the National Hockey League affected it was other leagues around the world uh any professional hockey league might have had nhlers in it that year because they didn't have an NHL to play in so they end up giving the players a year in the AHL though and I I think one thing is that while you had some veterans that were playing that shouldn't have been it also prevented some players who were young and maybe not ready for the NHL to come up to the to play in the AHL and then come up to the NHL after the lockout settled uh Jason Spa was the example that everybody used where he probably would have been up with the Ottawa Senators that year instead he has to stay down with their AHL team I think it was the Binghamton Senators at the time not sure but at any rate uh speta has to play in the AHL and he played really really well he got to dominate at the AHL level and then the following season in the NHL he was fantastic so there's something to be said for players having a chance to play in the AHL it g gave some young guys a chance to develop that way so the players who didn't return after the lockout uh Ron Francis eagor larionov Al McKinnis Mark Messier Adam Oz Scott Stevens amongst those that didn't return all of those veteran older players and made sense they wouldn't have come back in 056 although there were some that felt that the year on off gave them a chance to heal up and might have extended their careers I believe it was tamos salani that credited the lockout with extending his career but at any rate it was an ugly scenario it was an ugly time and it was frustrating as fans because you would get these times where they would meet and they' negotiate and then they'd go home and I just I to this day do not understand going home without a deal and if it's well they were too set in their their you know know their their side of the the the argument okay well then take a couple of days or a week why does it require months why why just it's it's so insane to me that they couldn't sit down and negotiate because when they needed to the following June they did and of course the NHL players took the salary cap uh they also screwed over players coming in on entry-level contracts uh that's where the entry level cap came in and for the veteran players they were kind of fine with that they wanted to get back to playing hockey and for the young players they'll figure it out and of course to this day the entry level contract is still uh very similar to what we had coming out of the lockout in 056 but 2004 2005 was the season that should have been it wasn't and to this day it's one of those things that I just I find it to be a head scratcher and it's why as we look ahead to 2026 and there's the possibility that we could be staring down the barrel of a lockout in 2026 I don't think we will but this is why I worry that we could because I've seen before they don't negotiate ahead of time they they seem to find whatever reason it is to keep things going for as long as possible in terms of lockouts and they don't negotiate until they absolutely have to it's the absolute last minute and that's very frustrating as a fantas see so let me know your thoughts in the comment section below as always don't forget to hit like And subscribe in the event you've not done so already thank you guys so much for all your support I will talk to you again soon