The NHL's 2024 trade deadline has come and gone, but there's still a debate about the timing of the deadline. This 1996 article from The Hockey News Archive explored the issue.
Vol. 49, No. 29, April 5, 1996The NHL’s trade deadline has once again come and gone, but there’s still a debate as to when the deadline should be – and more specifically, why the deadline should come sooner in the regular season.
In this opinion article from The Hockey News’ Archive, contributor Eric Duhatschek penned a piece that argued the case for an earlier deadline.
(And don’t forget – you can get full access to The Hockey News' exclusive Archive by visiting THN.com/free and signing up.)
Duhatschek spoke to legendary NHL coach Scotty Bowman for the article, which appeared in The Hockey News’ April 5, 1996 edition (Vol. 49, Issue 29). Bowman was not a fan of the late-season deadline, arguing instead for an earlier deadline similar to what the NBA does with its trade deadline. And he pointed out that some deals were being made with business in mind, rather than hockey in mind.
“It used to be that every trade was made on talent,” Bowman told Duhatschek. “Now, a lot of trades are business deals. You know what it’s like. When a trade is made now, the first thing they do is involve the league. They look through the contract, ‘Who’s paying this bonus? Who’s paying that?’ So I think the league should be very careful about our trading deadline. But I don’t know. I’m just one voice.”
Duhatschek advocated for an earlier deadline, and he made a good case for the NHL doing so.
“By pushing the deadline to early-February, it would make teams in the lower echelons think twice about gutting their clubs too early,” Duhatschek wrote. “The alternative, leaving the trading deadline 25 days from the end of the season, makes it too easy for richer teams to quick-fix their problems. It’s just one more step towards a two-tier league, featuring half-a-dozen haves and a whole bunch of have-nots.”
NHL TRADE DEADLINE SHOULD BE MOVED UP
Vol. 49, No. 29, April 5, 1996
By Eric Duhatschek
More proof that hockey is turning into baseball occurred just before this year’s NHL trading deadline when all the teams hopelessly out of playoff contention started dumping players and their contracts on the would-be contenders.
This rent-a-player philosophy started in baseball some years ago and is one of the most insidious by-products of the free agent system in all sports.
Analyze all the major deals and you’ll see that cash, money, moolah figures prominently in them all.
“Do you remember when teams used to make trades and worry about talent?” said Scotty Bowman, the Detroit Red Wings’ director of player personnel and head coach.
Vaguely.
Nowadays, you watch the San Jose Sharks dump right winger Ray Sheppard and center Craig Janney; the Los Angeles Kings dump defenseman Marty McSorley and right winger Jari Kurri; the New York Islanders dump left winger Wendel Clark and defenseman Mathieu Schneider; the Buffalo Sabres dump defenseman Charlie Huddy.
You see center Wayne Gretzky and defenseman Phil Housley traded so the Kings and Calgary Flames can turn to their fans and say, “We got something for players who would otherwise walk away this summer as unrestricted free agents.”
So the also-rans became younger; the would-be champions get older; and a dozen prominent players - too many, really - change sweaters.
To Bowman, the solution is to make the NHL trading deadline earlier by a month or more. As it is, nine NHL teams had already played 70 games by the day before the deadline and with a couple of notable exceptions, the jockeying was mainly seeding purposes, not to see who was (or wasn’t) in the playoffs.
Bowman raised the matter with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, believing Bettman’s former employers, the National Basketball Association, have got it right.
“The NBA had its trading deadline three weeks before (ours)-after the 14th week of a 24-week season,” Bowman said. “We have ours only four weeks from the end of the season.
“It used to be that every trade was made on talent. Now, a lot of trades are business deals. You know what it’s like. When a trade is made now, the first thing they do is involve the league. They look through the contract, ‘Who’s paying this bonus? Who’s paying that?’
“So I think the league should be very careful about our trading deadline. But I don’t know. I’m just one voice.”
Perhaps, but Bowman raises a valid point.
Ultimately here, the issue is strategies of team building. The way things stand now, there should be a reward for teams, such as the Red Wings, that build through a logical, orderly procession - good drafting mixed in with smart trading and exceptional coaching - as opposed to teams which use their financial wherewithal to plug holes on a short-term basis.
Teams auctioning off all their high-priced players will argue they’re pursuing a different agenda. What they mean is they’re throwing in the towel on the current season.
By pushing the deadline to early-February, it would make teams in the lower echelons think twice about gutting their clubs too early.
The alternative, leaving the trading deadline 25 days from the end of the season, makes it too easy for richer teams to quick-fix their problems. It’s just one more step towards a two-tier league, featuring half-a-dozen haves and a whole bunch of have-nots.
In theory, we are supposed to be entering the golden age of hockey. The quickest way to kill the momentum is to destroy the competitive balance. The popularity of pro sports revolves around the notion that on any given day anyone can win.
Take away that enduring little myth and suddenly, the Madison Avenue types have nothing left to sell.
The Hockey News Archive is an exclusive collection of more than 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 articles exclusively produced for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until this day. Visit the archives at THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com