The NHL in 2004: A League in Limbo

The new World Hockey Association held its free agent draft last Saturday, followed by an amateur draft on Sunday. Teams loaded up on NHL prospects and veterans, believing that the WHA can replace a locked-out NHL in the hearts of fans and the wallets of players.

Simon Gagne of the Philadelphia Flyers was the first player selected in the free agent draft, by the Quebec Nordiks.

“The Toronto Toros picked disgruntled Boston Bruin Joe Thornton fifth and used their second-round pick on Ilya Kovalchuk,” reports the Toronto Star. “Which will give the Toros a devastating offensive punch if there's an NHL lockout and if Thornton decides not to play in Switzerland after all and if the Toros can sign them and if they find a place to play and if Ted Nolan agrees to coach them and if there's even a league to play in once all these annoying wrinkles are worked out.”

Sounds promising.

The Toronto team is also inviting the most famous 16-year-old in the hockey world to get an early start on his pro career. Sidney Crosby was the top pick in the WHA amateur draft. Crosby’s agent says he isn’t interested. Where’s his sense of history? After all, when the original WHA got started back in the 1970s, it made a splash by persuading a teenage sensation to come aboard. Wayne Gretzky made his professional debut with the long-gone Indianapolis Racers.

Most teams are probably still confused about the value of the 2004 market. What should one pay for an aging but capable goal poacher like Brett Hull? Or a younger one like Glen Murray? How about a highly-skilled-but-not-always-reliable power play defenseman like Alexei Zhitnik? What would you pay for him? Nobody seems to know. All the talk of a salary cap doesn't help.

Arbitration sessions, which are held in August, are often acrimonious affairs in which a player argues for a big raise while his team argues that he isn't worth it. The decision usually covers a one-year contract. The team can refuse the decision, making the player an unrestricted free agent.

Every player with an NHL contract will return to North America whenever NHL hockey resumes. That ties the hands of the European teams. Most of them are restricted in the number of imported players they can carry, and a guy who jumps ship a few weeks into the season cannot be replaced.