After the lockout that cost all of us the 2004-05 season, we kept hearing about the “New NHL”; a new game, a new way of doing business. There were new shiny rules and most significantly, a brand spanking new salary cap with which the owners would be able to keep the league running at a “profitable level”.


With some new rules and the different interpretations of already existing rules, the spending habits of the owners, as a whole, have not changed a bit.


Don’t get me wrong, I am not pointing the finger at any one or two owners / GMs, because it is not just one cavalier renegade that could be sending the NHL towards another showdown with the NHLPA come the completion of the 2010-11 season.


The NHLPA holds the right to re-open the agreement after the upcoming 2008-09 season, which I cannot fathom happening with some of the new contracts being inked over the past 24 hours.


The one classic example is Chicago, always a frugle team that would never be a major player in free agency, all of a sudden signs two free agents, defenseman Brian Campbell and goaltender Cristobal Huet. With the contract amounts, I’m sure that somewhere Bill Wirtz is rolling over in his grave.


Brian Campbell all of a sudden became dyslexic, as his $1.7 million per year deal has exploded into a ballooning $7.1 million per season.


Cristobal Huet was signed to a 4 year, $22.5 million deal with the Blackhawks. This for a netminder that will be 33 years old when the season starts, that has never gone deep into the playoffs at any time in his career.


At first glance, this appears to be an atrocity. What in the world is Dale Tallon thinking? Campbell and Huet are very good players & I do not begrudge any players finding a deal that is as good as they can get….because somewhere along the way when this kind of a situation comes along, someone will come out of the woodwork and over-spend. If Tallon hadn’t offered them these numbers, someone else would have.


Chicago will be a nice fit for “Soupy”, as he will anchor a young and upcoming defense on a very young and upcoming team. He will step right in and man the point on the power play and with talent the likes of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Martin Havlat & Robert Lang, he stands to put up some really impressive offensive numbers this season. But now that the Hawks are already $3 million over the cap for the upcoming year, someone will have to be offered up to trim the budget to comply with the cap. Most likely to go are Havlat or Lang.


And with Chicago’s vast improvement appearing to be well on the way to continuing next year, Huet should rack up some real impressive totals as well.


But take a look at the big picture and how the shape of the league is changing. There are teams like Detroit that can consistently keep their roster pretty much the same, with a few minor tweaks here and there. And they do that through good scouting, good drafting, and good development of their players. They are ready to jump in and fill any gaps that are created by replacing players that have retired, left as a free agent, or if a player’s level of play has dropped off significantly.


And then they’ll sign the occasional HUGE free agent, as they did today by inking Marian Hossa to a 1-year deal today.


But teams such as the Red Wings are not the norm and are very much in the minority. What is happening is that a team will take a few years at or near the bottom of the league standings, collecting a stable of top draft picks that then move into NHL superstardom very quickly, and then the real fun for the team’s GM begins. Look no further than the Pittsburgh Penguins as a perfect example, as Ray Shero could probably keep all of the phone companies in business over the next few weeks.


The problem becomes after the entry level deals start to get close to their expiration, of course the Sidney Crosby’s and Evgeni Malkin’s are due huge pay increases. And when a team has that much young talent all developing into top-level NHL stars at the same time, so comes the realization that the contracts are all going to be in need of super inflation in accordance with their development.


What happens is the teams really need to take a shot at the Stanley Cup right at the beginning of this cycle, and here’s why. As the Crosbys, Malkins, Kanes & Toews are playing incredibly and at their entry level salaries, this is the time to bring in other players via free agency that will possibly push your team over the top. What will happen is that the youth will continue to get better and better at the same time and the teams will not be able to keep all of them as their contracts come due.


But it looks like we’ll see teams over spending on a chance to win the big prize, and after they either succeed or fail, after a couple of years most of the players will be gone from their roster, with just the main core remaining to try and rebuild again. It’s a vicious cycle. No continuity from one year to the next, not a lot for the fans to identify with as they become familiar with players, only to see them sent packing shortly after. Kind of the A.D.D. or “short attention span” version of “The Coolest Game on Ice”.


And it’s been said that there will be no true NHL dynasty ever again, and I cannot see that statement being any more pertinent than today. The last dynasty was the Edmonton Oilers winning 5 Cups in 7 years from the mid-80s into the early 90s, but that was when the big money came into the game and started changing the face of hockey forever.


Yes folks, for better or for worse this is the “new NHL”. And as the owners continue to drive salaries and change upwards, lets hope that they don’t hold that against the players in the next couple of years with another lockout to correct their mistakes.