Comments on: Morning Papers Take: Not agreeing with Lamoriello on Olympics

By: dave

dave — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:26:37 +0000

I’m all for keeping the NHL involved in the Olympics. It is the best showcase for the sport.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:49:11 +0000

What better attention grabber than the Olympics to capture fans after the Super Bowl. It appears on NBC primetime as the feature sport for the cost of zero dollars to the NHL. I mean if Lou wants to capitalize on the NFL season ending, this sounds like the perfect opportunity. And doesn’t the NHL play games immediately after the Super Bowl every other season? How well does that work? Oh wait, they’re sitting at home waiting for the All-Star game to play out the next weekend.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:30:22 +0000

Bob, good angle on your comments. But even if that is the case, the NHL should not ask for compensation. The Olympics only spurs interest in the game and each Olympic season still has 82 games.

By: Bob Roberts

Bob Roberts — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:13:04 +0000

When Lou Lamoriello says “…we have an opportunity to keep the fans going to the games,…” he probably means “we” as “NHL hockey teams” rather than the NJ Devils, but I watch Devils games regularly and it looks to me like the quote is particularly appropriate for him: looks like a lot of empty seats to me, “announced attendance figures” notwithstanding.

In the big picture though, if you want to expand to Europe it’s hard to imagine a better commercial than NHL players playing at a European-hosted Winter Olympics.

If the IOC paid the NHL anything for the players to come you might think Lou was posturing for negotiations directly, but that’s not the case, is it? Maybe he thinks the IOC will adjust the dates to accomodate the NHL?

Given that it appears that LL rarely, if ever, gives an interview without a purpose, and that he is clearly anything but stupid: could he be negotiating the new CBA already? He is the only non-owner on that bargaining committee for the NHL, isn’t he?

If that’s the case, and he’s attempting to make NHLPA participation in the 2014 Games a bargaining chip I think he’s wasting his time if the public stance of AO and Geno is to be believed.

Vintage Lou Lamoriello. He might be HOF material at some point.