from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,

When you look at what Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks got in their new eight-year contracts Wednesday and compare this to what the top players were getting back in 2004 before the salary cap, it just might be that the NHL Player’s Association has outlived it’s usefulness.

While it may sound to many in Canada like these two guys are making a wage that nobody should get for playing professional sports, it is also quite clear that if the normal market basics were to play out and these two could sell their services to any team the way a person can work for any firm he or she chooses, they are tremendously underpaid.

The collective bargaining agreement between the NHLPA and the NHL is clearly holding many players back and not just the top earners. What it does is create a minimum wage which may, repeat may, help quite a few players, but for the most part it serves to put the players into a straight-jacket so they can be beaten up by the NHL owners who have seen the asset value of their franchises skyrocket since the players rolled over when locked out back in 2005.

The argument that it is holding back the top players is absolutely beyond discussion.

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