It's not every day you see two NHL franchise owners -- competitors on the ice -- team up to go into business together off it, but that's exactly the scenario unfolding between the San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild.
San Jose Sharks co-owner Kevin Compton has bought into Mission Hockey, the Santa Ana, Calif.-based equipment manufacturer controlled by Bob Naegele Jr., who is also majority owner of the Minnesota Wild.
Compton is one of five partners in San Jose investment group Blue Line Associates, the majority owner of the Sharks. He won't say precisely how much of the Sharks or Mission he owns, but says "these are not small (ownership) positions."
While it's an interesting business development that these two club owners have teamed up as partners in an off-ice venture, their cooperation also raises some questions about possible conflicts. The NHL's injury analysis panel, for example, is conducting an in-depth study into the one-piece composite sticks that are favored by most players today, looking at issues such as breakage, safety concerns and shot velocity. Would the committee be less likely to recommend new regulations in these areas, knowing that two NHL owners are directly involved in the stick business? Further complicating matters is the fact that Mission has a representative on the panel, along with other manufacturers.
"Whether there actually would be a conflict, there's certainly grounds for saying there'd be a perception," said Jeff Citron, a Toronto corporate finance and sports lawyer, and a former counsel at the NHLPA.
Dave Dryden, chair of the NHL injury analysis panel, insists that his committee's impartiality is guaranteed by the fact that general managers, players and other stakeholders are involved in the process.
"I can see the perceived issue that's there," he said. "But we've tried to make this process so open that even in the panel meetings, we have two manufacturers there. There's no sense of bias towards anyone."
While there is no precedent like the Sharks-Wild partnership on the hockey equipment side, Dryden cites the example set when the panel studied seamless glass over the last two years. One of the companies involved in that business is preferred NHL arena supplier Athletica Inc., of Minneapolis, which is owned by Naegele's son, Bob Naegele III.
"Sure, they had their reasons why they wanted their product to be used, but they had to follow the same guidelines as everybody else," Dryden said. "Everyone gets treated the same."
Compton and Bob Naegele Jr. both stress they will keep their team business separate from their Mission partnership.
"I'm not on any NHL committee, I'm not on the board of governors, and I would not try to get involved or have any influence in any of those things," Compton said.
Added Naegele: "If something were happening at the NHL level, I wouldn't impose myself on the standards committee."
He says players in San Jose or Minnesota may get the first opportunity to test new Mission product, "but there's certainly no obligation."
Nor will price discounts be afforded the Sharks or Wild.
"Our intent is to make good product that can enhance the performance of players in the league, no matter what team they're playing for," Naegele said. "The product has to stand on its own and the players are always free to choose (any brand)."
Stick-y business
No other technical innovation has swept through the game like the one-piece composite stick has over the last few years. It's no wonder, then, that the NHL is carefully studying the impact of this technology from a number of different angles. The league's injury analysis panel is conducting a comprehensive stick study at the University of Calgary in time to make a presentation to the league around the All-Star Game.
Favored by most NHL players today, the sticks have also come under fire from goaltenders, who complain they're facing increasingly harder shots, and from hockey analysts, who complain the sticks break too easily. All of these arguments, however, are being made without supporting research, and the panel wants to change that.
"We're looking at breakage, shot velocity, blade curvature and length of sticks, and trying to understand all of that better," Dryden said.
Recommendations the committee may bring forward could include limitations on stick weight, stress points and one that is quite likely, relaxing the half-inch limit on blade curvature. The International Ice Hockey Federation has a curve limit of five-eighths of an inch, and the manufacturers have long been calling for a single standard.
Those calling for a ban of the high-tech weaponry? Forget it. Too many players love the new sticks. It's also big business. Consider, for example, that NHL stick suppliers each pay a $25,000 licensing fee to be included in the league's on-ice branded exposure program. The one-piece composite stick has been the biggest boon to the hockey equipment business in decades.
The celebration goes on
Despite the pall the Dan Snyder-Dany Heatley tragedy has cast over the Atlanta Thrashers this season, the club is pressing on -- on and off the ice.
Prior to the accident, the club was gearing up for fifth-anniversary celebrations, which included adding a fifth-year patch to the jersey and raising an anniversary banner to the rafters of Philips Arena.
The team's early on-ice success is well documented, with the Thrashers sitting atop the Southeast Division with a 14-11-3-1 record and 32 points. Sniper Ilya Kovalchuk leads the league in goals with 18 and is fourth in points with 34.
"We've never come out of the gate like this," general manager Don Waddell said. "We've never been over .500 at this point of the season in any of our previous years."
This success segued perfectly into the unveiling of a new third jersey in a Thanksgiving night home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Attendance, meanwhile, is on the rise. "Our weekend games have been outstanding, averaging 17,000-plus," he says. Mid-week dates continue to be a struggle, attracting crowds of about 12,500.
"We've talked about turning the corner and winning more hockey games, and people are ready for that," Waddell said. "Winning has helped spark our attendance, and if we continue along that road it's only going to get better."
Given the way the season began, it's cause for celebration indeed.
Wayne Karl is a freelance writer based in Toronto. He can be reached at wkarl@rogers.com.