Book Overview

Money Players

In late February 2005, NHL owners and Bob Goodenow of the NHL Players Association met behind closed doors in what was purported to be a last-ditch effort to end the lockout and save the season. At issue was a salary cap—and who called the shots in the hockey business. Having succeeded in disgracing Alan Eagleson as director of the union, Goodenow used strikes and hardball negotiations to push up player salaries. While players got rich, owners said Goodenow ignored the overall health of the game. By 2005, furious owners were crying foul. Citing the dismal state of NHL finances, the owners demanded a salary cap. Goodenow refused—resulting in a 103-day lockout. When the NHL and the players union finally settled, Goodenow was-by an amazing twist of fate—out of a job and the union was badly divided. The owners got their salary cap, but at what long-term cost to the sport? There was only one real loser: the fan. Money Players is not a fuzzy pink valentine to the game that is played on the ice; it’s a bare-knuckles brawl of a book about how the real game has been played behind closed doors between rich execs and agents. Bruce Dowbiggin’s controversial but eye-opening report takes readers from the locker rooms to the boardrooms. And it’s not a pretty picture.