The Puck Stops Here

It shouldn't suprise anyone that Sidney Crosby's agent Pat Brisson says that Crosby is considering playing in Europe next year should the NHL labor dispute continue. Apparently they have had talks with Sweden, Switzerland and Russia about Sidney playing there next year. TSN's story about this is here.

This scares me a little bit because if Sidney really enjoys himself in Europe given the expected limitations on entry level salaries in the next NHL CBA, there exists a faint chance that he will never come back. There exists a faint chance that we will never get to see him play in the NHL.

Given that Sidney is a North American player who grew up in our culture with dreams of playing in the NHL, this is an unlikely possibility. However, for European players this is quite a bit more likely. If the money isn't going to be there in their entry level deals why should players like Alexander Ovechkin or Evgeni Malkin move to a new continent in a different culture to play hockey? Maybe they won't ever do it. If they don't then hockey fans lose out. They don't get to see some players who might be really special. This is one of the nightmares that I think will likely develop out of the lockout.