Debtors market

Kovalev deal underscores the desperate state of hockey

Years hence, when the NHL has shrunk by a team or 10, when players have accepted a salary cap and when the league's financial operations are most unlike what's in place today, we will look back at this week in the life of the Pittsburgh Penguins and nod knowingly. "That was the sign of the apocalypse," we'll say. "That one woke everyone up."

The trade that sent Alexei Kovalev back to the Rangers reveals not only the Penguins' desperate plight, but also that of the league. The deal fortells even more ominous news than this season's troubling headlines in Buffalo and Ottawa. The Sabres bankruptcy? Not the league's fault, but the doing of greedy and, by all appearances, unscrupulous owners. The Senators insolvency? Not the league's fault; blame the Canadian buck and the strangely isolated Corel Centre. Ottawa's team has always been in a bit of an uneasy state.

The Penguins are different. Yes, they, too, were in bankruptcy a couple years ago. But Mario Lemieux bailed them out. This is a franchise that has employed the NHL's two greatest players not named Gretzky of the past two decades. It's a team that has historically benefitted from superb local support, and strong local TV ratings. It's a team that, under the shrewd guidance of general manager Craig Patrick, made the postseason every year from 1991 to 2001, winning two Stanley Cups and 81 playoff games along the way. This is not the Tampa Bay Lightning, folks.

Kovalev is 29 and will earn $4.6 million this season, a figure that could jump to $7 million in arbitration after the season. For what he brings to a game -- and Kovalev's one of the top five forwards in hockey, easy -- he is not overpaid. He's not even due for free agency until after next season. When the Penguins can't afford to keep a guy like this, the NHL has revealed the latest of its numerous dead spots.

"It was the best deal we could make," said Patrick, after he'd gained about $2 million in salary and received $3,999,999.99 (the NHL had capped a cash exchange at $4 million in the deal) from the Rangers in the eight-player deal. And Patrick may have been right. You can't judge this trade from a hockey perspective. No matter how many times you draw it on the locker-room grease board, a Bouchard, a Lintner, a Samuelsson and a Fata don't add up to a Kovalev (not to mention a Laukkanen, a LaCouture and a Wilson). Mellon Financial Corp. accountants may be the only people who can accurately evaluate how the Penguins made out.

In the past 19 months the Penguins have given up Alexei Kovalev and Jaromir Jagr for seven guys you will never, ever tell your grandkids about. Of the three prospects they received in last year's deal for Jagr, two are in the minors and one, Michal Sivek, has two goals in 30 games with Pittsburgh.

That's not to blame Patrick or the Penguins. They're playing on a spectacularly unlevel surface. While the Rangers keep adding to an already bloated payroll, and New York GM Glen Sather continues to deliver a product far less encouraging than what his predecessor, Neil Smith, put forth, the Penguins have to keep skating right on the edge. Though attendance is down seven percent at Mellon Arena -- a predictable softening given the financial environment -- it shouldn't result in a team's overhaul. But in the NHL, where TV dollars are few, and ticket revenue essential, it does.

"It is difficult for us to compete right now with the system we have in the NHL," Lemieux said after the Kovalev trade. "You have to make moves that are difficult for the players and, especially, for the fans."

The tight budget has been wearing on the mind of Pittsburgh's player-owner for some time. It sure looked like frustration last week when Mario dropped the gloves against the Panthers' Brad Ference and drew his first regular-season fighting major since, get this, Ronald Reagan was president.

From there the Penguins' week got weirder: After Lemieux was done fighting, Steve McKenna, who had scored eight goals in 245 games coming into the year, potted two in a win over the Bruins.

And it was from there that the Penguins' week got sadder: Kovalev was dealt and the next day forward Aleksey Morozov announced he'll miss the rest of the season after undergoing wrist surgery. About then, Lemieux was speaking out again, this time to say he may retire after the season. Wow. If attendance is flagging now ...

It was a strange, dark week in Pittsburgh, and Monday was a dark day for the NHL -- a day that won't be soon forgotten.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides each week at CNNSI.com.

 

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