Economics in the parallel universe

By Mike Chen Sports Central Columnist

Salaries are out of control, players and owners are equally greedy, and ticket prices are too high. What if money didn't matter? What if those cash-strapped NHL teams didn't have to sell off their high-priced players at the trade deadline?

Let's play make-believe for a moment. Let's pretend the NHL's average player salary had not grown at an exponential rate since the early-'90s and that cash-strapped teams didn't have to deal away their players at the trade deadline. Assuming all trades that were not motivated by financial reasons still occurred, the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Phoenix Coyotes would have vastly different rosters right now. In fact, the very outcome of the Stanley Cup finals would probably be drastically altered by these non-transactions. Here is a theoretical view of how things might have been...

The Wayne Gretzky-owned Phoenix Coyotes had a mass of exodus of players over the past few years, including Jeremy Roenick (essentially for Daymond Langkow), Keith Tkachuk (for Ladislav Nagy and Michel Handzus, who was in turn traded for goaltender Brian Boucher), Nikolai Khabibulin (for Paul Mara and a bag of pucks), Dallas Drake, and Keith Carney. Reversing and rewriting history, we can look at the 2002-2003 Phoenix Coyotes if hockey decisions, not money, were the key factor. This is also assuming that some of the deals, such as getting rid of dead weight in Robert Reichel, Travis Green, and Sergei Berezin, were still completed, and that the devastating injuries to Krys Kolanos and Landon Wilson did not occur.

Line 1: Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, and Krys Kolanos. Roenick and Tkachuk worked magic with each other, and young Kolanos would probably thrive next to the two American scorers.

Line 2: Daniel Briere, Shane Doan, and Branco Radivojevic. With Tkachuk and Roenick still there, Briere's recent trade to Buffalo (partially motivated due to his lack of size) may not have been necessary.

Line 3: Landon Wilson, Brad May, and Dallas Drake. Wilson, out with a career-threatening eye injury, and May, popular in the locker room and with the fans but dealt to Vancouver, had good chemistry when both managed to be in the lineup at the same time. Drake would have added to the line to make a very tough, physical third line that could chip in its share of goals.

Defensive Pair 1: Teppo Numminen and Danny Markov. Numminen, ever steady with a good offensive nose, and Markov, an absolute steal from Toronto and future all-star, would prove to be as good offensively as defensively.

Defensive Pair 2: Keith Carney and Ossi Vaananan. Two steady players to guide the blue line, with Vaananan providing more of the punch and Carney providing more of the stability for the duo.

Goal: Nikolai Khabibulin. While the signing of Sean Burke has proved to be a stroke of genius for the cash-struck Coyotes, in fantasy land, the younger Bulin Wall would have been the preferred choice.

What you have here is a mix of great defense, all-star forwards, talented young blood, and one of the best goalies in the NHL today. Quite a difference from the current roster of young players and no-names, and maybe even good enough to be a Cup contender, if the second line was on track.

The decision for Mario Lemieux to return as an active player next season is an uncertain one. At the beginning of the season, the Penguins were on pace to break the record for power play percentage and Lemieux was having fun. After the Alexei Kovalev deal, Lemieux appeared increasingly downtrodden in interview after interview. But, for argument's sake, let's pretend that money was never an issue in Steeltown, and assume that Mario's magnificent comeback several seasons ago still occurred.

Darius Kasperaitus, Jaromir Jagr, and Alexei Kovalev were traded for less than a bag of pucks. Ron Francis and Robert Lang left for nothing in return. While the theoretical changes to the Penguins roster may not cut as deep the Coyotes' lineup, the impact on the top two lines is phenomenal. Imagine a team with the following top six forwards: Lemieux, Martin Straka, Jagr, Kovalev, Francis, and Lang. Six dynamic, creative players who would make the top unit on any team.

The skill level for the bottom half of the Penguins forwards, along with much of its defense, is largely unchanged. Yes, there was a matter of salary dumping when blue liners such as Ian Moran were given away at the trade deadline, but those moves comprised of journeymen who were replaceable parts of the machine. Goalie Johan Hedberg, plucked off the San Jose Sharks a number of years ago for one of those journeyman players named Jeff Norton, would still be in place.

The bottom line is that without these financial considerations, the Penguins could field two lines stronger than many teams' first power play unit. All they would need is a group of capable defensemen and an average goalie and they should win with sheer firepower. Would that make them Stanley Cup champions? Without a better defense, probably not. But if Mario had his playmates and was creating magic, who knows what they could have achieved?

Still, the most convoluted situation may be the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers, under Glen Sather (who has since gone bonkers in New York), managed to make the proverbial mountains out of molehills when trading players who were about to break the bank. For example, Bill Guerin turned into Anson Carter (who subsequently went for underachiever Radek Dvorak and Cory Cross) while Roman Hamrlik turned into Eric Brewer.

Once again, let's assume that the deals motivated by money did not occur. Two significant deals that took place were largely hockey decisions: Boris Mironov, who was holding out but was a known locker room cancer and had horrible conditioning, and Dean McAmmond for Ethan Moreau and Daniel Cleary, and Tom Poti, who was getting booed out of town by the Edmonton faithful, for Mike York. Another player, third line wing Mike Grier, was dealt to free up ice time and stock draft picks. And while Tommy Salo has performed admirably, it's no secret that Curtis Joseph was loved in Edmonton and would have been re-signed if possible. With that in mind, the potential lineup looks like this:

Line 1: Doug Weight, Bill Guerin, and Ryan Smyth. This line has the potential to be as good as any in the NHL with a playmaker in the middle and two crash-and-bang finishers in their prime.

Line 2: Mike Comrie, Mike York, and Ethan Moreau. Youth, speed, and smarts. While not the necessarily the most threatening line, a considerably talented second line that can put in their share of goals.

Line 3: Todd Marchant, Shawn Horcoff, and Alex Hemsky. Developing talent (Horcoff, Hemsky) and a speedy, two-way center (Marchant). The parts on the second and third line may be interchangeable during a season, but for depth chart's sake, we'll keep it as this.

Defensive Pair 1: Roman Hamrlik and Jason Smith. The quintessential pairing of one stay-at-home defenseman and one offensive-minded defenseman.

Defensive Pair 2: Janne Niinima and Steve Staios. Similar to the above with a combination of steady D and an offensive threat.

Goal: Curtis Joseph. Where would the Leafs and Red Wings, have finished if Cujo never ventured east?

That leads to the even bigger question: where would Detroit, Dallas, Philadelphia, and the rest of the big spenders be if they couldn't buy players from small market teams? Imagine a Red Wing team stuck with Chris Osgood in net, or a Stars team that did not have an excess of first line forwards. The New York Rangers, perhaps the victims of bad karma for annual blank check signings, might have looked at the draft instead of their wallet for building back a winner. Chances are, they couldn't have been any worse than the current product in Madison Square Garden.

Some will say that there's no point in imagining what might have been. And while money certainly doesn't buy wins -- the Devils and Senators are proof that things can be done under a budget -- you can be pretty certain that those teams wouldn't object to having the resources if necessary.

With the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement war on the horizon, issues like this must be looked at and studied. Seeing these hypothetical situations just might make players and owners think, "How did it get to this?" And that's good for all of hockey.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.