The take on Oshawa Generals phenom John Tavares and his handlers trying to get him admitted to the 2008 NHL draft -- his birthday falls five days after the Sept. 15 cutoff -- is that as a matter of common sense, it has to happen.
Exceptions need to be made for exceptional individuals, plain and simple. It's petty and arbitrary for the NHL to make a player who is in the top one-100th of a per cent of his "graduating class" of 1990 birthdate players wait while some mid-level plugger who might never play in the NHL is drafted because he's older by a week.
The league could handle this easily -- just say the player has to be 18 when the regular season starts in early October, which Tavares (pictured) will be in fall 2008. Or create "admissions review" that pore over the scouting reports and do an interview to gauge the young man's emotional readiness.
Keeping Tavares out of the league until 2009 might amount to restraint of trade. Did Hilary Duff have to wait until a certain age before she could start making movies and albums?
Hockey Canada and the CHL certainly are in a conflict. Hockey Canada would no doubt love to have Tavares in junior in 2008-09 so he can play in the World Juniors in Ottawa, but that is going to sell out no matter who is on Team Canada. The CHL really can't say anything since a member league made an exception to let Tavares play when he was underage.
Mirtle and Lowetide have threads going on this.
Related:
Tavares too good for OHL? (Ryan Pyette, Sun Media)
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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2 comments:
Tavares will simply go to Europe for a year if the NHL digs in their heels on this. There's no way the kid will play for pizza money in the OHL for another season due to some arcane NHL rule, nor should he.
Dennis,
You're probably going to be proven right in the long run.
Someone should figure out if there's a means by which Tavares could sign with an AHL club. When Eric Lindros was refusing to play for the Soo in 1989, his parents/agent approached the Leafs and Flyers (according to the book Net Worth) about signing him to an AHL contract, then calling him up to the NHL.
Obviously, with the CBA, they might not be able to do that, but some AHL operators have something in their affiliation agreement with the parent NHL club which allows them to sign a few of their "own" players.
The other possibility that's playing on my mind is Don Levin, owner of the Chicago Wolves, signing Tavares for 2008-09 if he couldn't play in the NHL. Levin is generally considered the most fan-friendly owner in the AHL and has seldom avoided a chance to make light of the sorry state of the once-proud Blackhawks franchise.
(The Wolves used to have billboards saying WE PLAY HOCKEY THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY -- WE WIN. During the lockout, their slogan was STILL NEED A REASON? WE GUARANTEE A SEASON.)
There's always been rumblings about what the Wolves are willing to pay players. So in 2008-09, when Patrick Kane will be with the Hawks, Levin could sign Tavares and say, "Look at our phenom."
Other than not wanting to go against the hockey establishment, what's stopping him? Why wouldn't the Hamilton Bulldogs, who only get about 4,000-5,000 fans per game (most on discounted tickets), sign Tavares for one season? Why wouldn't MLSEL put Tavares under contract and have him play for the Toronto Marlies, who are also struggling at the gate?
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