The Hockey News: Who Cares About Canada?

Ken Campbell of the Hockey News posted a diatribe criticizing Montreal Canadiens president Pierre Boivin when he, as Campbell put it, “carped” about the sagging Canadian dollar.

“…it was pretty pathetic” wrote Campbell.

Boivin, in a speech to Montreal's Board of Trade last week, was quoted as saying, “We better not return to the 78-cent dollar because we'll be in the same position we were before the lockout…If we calculate against an 80-cent dollar, we're not any further ahead than we were before the lockout."

In his disrespectful, journalistic spit at the state of Canadian NHL teams, Campbell at least correctly points out that the recent NHL/NHLPA collective-bargaining agreement, “…that was supposed to solve all the financial woes and create a competitive and financial utopia for all 30 teams was struck in July 2005…” when the average value of the Canadian dollar was 81.2 cents against the U.S. buck.

 However, he apparently fails to understand that the lock-out was staged for one reason and one reason alone…to break the player’s union. Which it did. The owners, both US and Canadian, immediately went back to inflating player salaries with genius deals like the Scott Gomez contract.

In his article, (which can be viewed here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?page=campbell081125), Campbell then goes on to snivel about the what he evidently thinks is the unfair advantage of living in a country where economic Darwinism sometimes takes a back seat to social responsibility.

He jealously points a finger at the fact that the Canadian government came close to a bailout package for all six Canadian teams (Though the actual execution of this highly theoretical proposal was far from a forgone conclusion).  

Unable to credit the importance of Canada, and Canadian fans to the sport of hockey, he mocks the six Canadian franchises saying that, “…many people have been led to believe (Canadian-based NHL teams) are the sole driving force behind any of the league's financial success since the lockout.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?