Ken Dryden: "To understand this dispute, you have to follow the pride"

[RGM81]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle6065334/

Apparently, that didn’t happen. A human face at least temporarily has been put on the other side. Before each side becomes officially evil again, they might keep some things in mind as they work through the tough stuff to get to a deal.
First, this agreement was never going to happen fast. Nothing was going to get done before the labour pact expired Sept. 15. A negotiation is about issues but it’s also about the relationship between its parties. If the issues this time didn’t seem that difficult – the 2004 negotiation about a salary cap was far more fundamental – the relationship question was going to be tricky.
History matters. In 2004, the players lost. If one was to compare those negotiations to a season, the players had gone into the Stanley Cup final against the owners as the heavy favourites. Year after year the owners had chased after free agents pushing salary levels higher for every player and every team. The owners, despite NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s exhortations and ridicule of them in NHL governors’ meetings, seemed powerless to stop themselves. The NHL Players’ Association, led by Bob Goodenow, just said no to anything the owners proposed. They knew, eventually, the owners would give in.
But this time the owners changed the NHL’s by-laws. A vote of three-quarters of the league’s governors was needed to overturn any agreement Bettman made. Bettman, stung by years of frustration, now with the power he needed, was ready.

A great read, courtesy of a brilliant mind. This man really should be more involved with hockey.

[centrehice]

The NHL owners, and Board of Directors should have done everything in their power to push Ziegler aside and get Dryden into this post.

He should have been groomed when Clarence Campbell was still top dog. Dryden told everyone his career would be a short one, and when he announced that in the 70's they should have prepared.

The rest of us just assumed that this was his job anytime he wanted it. I don't think he wanted to live in New York. The NHL head office back in Toronto where it should be, and Dryden would have been at the helm. I truly believe this.