Anger and Frustration Bubbling Under in the New NHL

For the most part, it's been all goals and smiles and shootouts since business resumed in October. But two of hockey's most respected voices raised a middle finger to the new NHL this weekend.

"Everybody keeps saying this is great. It's not great. It's not hockey." Such was the verdict of Red Wings' captain Steve Yzerman after Detroit's recent loss to Edmonton.

"There are penalties all over," he said. "I'll just use Mathieu Schneider's penalty (in the Oilers' game) as an example. He steps up and takes his guy out, and his stick gets caught and the crowd cheers so the referee puts his hand up. There has to be some discretion. The referees have to use some judgment on what is a penalty and what is not."

It would be fun to eavesdrop the next time Yzerman and team mate Brendan Shanahan discuss the state of the league. Shanahan is one of the loudest voices in support of the new game, including the tighter officiating standards. In the meantime, the backlash against Yzerman is already underway.

Meanwhile, an ugly rift in the NHL Players' Association grew wider on Saturday, when Steve Larmer quit the union executive. In his angry letter of resignation, he accuses the NHLPA of "misinformation and denial of information to the players that is totally disrespectful."

Larmer invokes the union's darkest era, the 1970s and '80s, when Alan Eagleson ruled the players with an iron fist.

"I remember the Eagleson days when the PA was ruled by the minority and the majority was kept in the dark," writes Larmer. "Our group of players challenged it, demanded change and received it. We all vowed that those days would not return but low and behold they have."

Larmer's anger stems from the appointment of Ted Saskin as the NHLPA's new executive director, an appointment made without a secret ballot of all players, as required by the constitution. A group of dissident players has protested the move, and now have Larmer and his public resignation on their side.

Does all this sniping and backbiting matter to the average fan, who just wants goals and big hits and great saves? Probably not. But it is startling to see the usually reserved Yzerman speak forcefully against the game. How many other voices might he represent? As for the union mess, how much of the discontent dates back to the end of the lockout, when the NHLPA essentially surrendered its principles? How long before the wedge between the players infiltrates the game, showing up in how they meet on the ice as team mates and opponents?

Update: NHLPA President Trevor Linden returns fire.