For those who follow the goings on in the financial markets closely, the recent rally in the US Dollar in terms of the trade-weighted index was quite an event, considering the extreme weakness of world's reserve currency over the past 7 years. The blast upwards to 76 on the index has some people proclaiming (and I'm not one of them, mind you) that the Bear Market in the dollar is over:

"This is the watershed week for the US dollar," said Marc Chandler, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. "The magnitude of the dollar's moves and the breaking of key technical levels suggest that a major shift in the outlook towards the dollar is occurring as massive positions are adjusted." Other analysts described the widespread buying of dollars as "capitulation"

One might be wondering what this has to do with the NHL, and, as the title of this post suggests, the salary cap? Allow me to build my case slowly if you would. Considering that according to this article in the Toronto Star I found at this post by my old blogging buddy the EclectEcon over at the Sportseconomist.com, the driving force behind the >10% rise in the salary cap for each of the past two seasons was the strengthening Canadian Dollar:

The increase in the value of the Canadian dollar may be responsible for as much as half of the league's revenue gains since the NHL went through the lockout of 2004-05, say several sources familiar with NHL finances.

"If you take out the Canadian teams, which have done so well since the lockout largely because of the Canadian dollar, the league's revenues are actually only growing at a 2 per cent clip per year," says an executive with a U.S.-based NHL team, who requested anonymity.

With the Loonie averaging near parity with the $USD over the past year and having broken down out of the box formation that held it in check between $1.02 and $0.97US for the past 9 months to its closing price as of this writing to $0.938, there is a real possibility of a contraction in league revenues due to this breakdown of the exchange rate.

While most of us in North America were trying to find a way to get away from the heat, Paul Kelly, head of the National Hockey League Players Association wasn't being chary about raising the heat when it came to the fight that's beginning to engulf international hockey.

On Saturday, Kelly released a statement protesting an action by the International Ice Hockey Federation suspending six players from international play, including Alexander Radulov, a Russian now currently under contract to play next season for the Nashville Predators in the NHL as well as Salavat Ulaef of the KHL.

Kelly's statement follows in full:

"Yesterday's announcement by the IIHF that they have suspended certain Players from international competition has no basis in fact or law, and constitutes a violation of the rights of these Players. The affected Players are being unfairly singled out in a dispute between the NHL and the KHL over whether to respect each others' contracts. The NHLPA's strong objection to this unilateral action by the IIHF has been registered, and unless this action is reversed, the NHLPA will consider all legal options available.

As has been previously reported, the IIHF, the KHL, the NHL, the NHLPA, and several IIHF Federation members met in Zurich, Switzerland on July 10th to discuss the issues existing between the NHL and KHL, as well as other international ice hockey matters. Contrary to public comment by various attendees, while the meeting was productive and progress was made in several areas, a transfer agreement was not reached by the parties. In the absence of a transfer agreement or a written memorandum of understanding agreed to by all necessary parties, including the NHLPA, the IIHF cannot unilaterally act to sanction members of the NHLPA.

The NHLPA appreciates that the IIHF is taking action in an attempt to resolve the dispute between the NHL and KHL. The NHLPA will support these efforts by the IIHF, but not if individual Players are subjected to improper sanctions."

When the NHLPA announced that it hired Glenn Healy away from the television studios to become their "Director of Player Affairs", I was rather happy that our airwaves were now free of his crappy color commentary, and that was the end of that.

What I didn't expect, however, was that this hiring could be the signal that the NHL is preparing itself for a bitter battle with the NHL when the current CBA expires.

Per Adam Proteau of The Hockey News, a dude who knows his stuff, the league and NHLPA are slowly digging in for what could be the nastiest war yet.

NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw wanted to make a statement about the steely resolve his members would have in a potential labor showdown with the League. And he decided to use the NHLPA as Exhibit A:

"We are not hockey players," Upshaw said Thursday afternoon. "And they are not hockey owners. So this is what they have to understand. And if they believe that there's a chance that we're the hockey players, that curved stick on the ice, that ain't us – even though they play in Green Bay, where it gets pretty cold ... That's not where we are. The economics in this league are good and getting better. And the players should get their fair share."

Upshaw clearly sees a parallel between his association's looming war with the NFL and the issues that (depending on whom you believe) initiated the lockout: NFL owners can reopen labor negotiations this fall, and want to reduce the players' share of league revenues from its current level of around 60 percent. But as Upshaw noted: Football owners can't use the crutch NHL owners used in claiming to fight for the survival of the League, and football players are already getting a "fair share" by competing in a capped environment. But Upshaw is selling hockey players short -- he thinks they're labor war pushovers, but, in hindsight, they may have won more than they lost. Maybe his buddy and noted hockey fan Snoop can talk some sense into him. Because if there's anyone who understands the nuance of the CBA, it's the guy who gave the world "Gin and Juice."

The NFL's labor leader did have some sunshine for the NHL's labour leader, Paul Kelly, praising his decision to reach out to Gary Bettman: "I'm from Texas, and we know that you catch a lot more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. And I think Kelly understands that, because he's now trying to catch some flies with some honey by meeting."

Does anyone feel that the NHL season is too short? Do you not get enough hockey after 82 regular season games and four rounds of playoffs to satiate your addiction?

The answer is YES, if you are NHLPA head honcho Paul Kelly. In his mind, it's really quite simple: one more home game per team equals more revenue which equals more money for his players.

The Board of Governors is rumored to be heavily leaning towards adopting this measure, since it would also mean more money for the owners to pocket. Lovely.

Kelly initiated the 84-game talk for a variety of reasons. One extra home game per team - which is the net result of going to 84 games -- would obviously positively impact Hockey Related Revenue and since the players share in that, the NHLPA is all in favor of increased revenue. Who isn't?

But Kelly's desire for two extra regular season games would come at the expense of two to four pre-season games and that, really, is the key.

Now, I, along with many others, would have no problem with reducing the exhibition schedule. All too often, exhibition games involve prospects who have no real shot at the NHL this season, or any other season. Exhibition games don't mean much, and aren't providing us a lot of entertainment. You'd figure players already train so well in the off-season that many exhibition games aren't needed to them to get into game shape.

Unfortunately, The Powers That Be don't seem to realize that the fans get 'hockey fatigue' far too often, as the playoffs end later and later each season. Unless your team is involved in those late playoff rounds, or you are a serious hockey fan, it is very hard to maintain interest in hockey games that are played in June. Hell, I'm a die-hard hockey fan, and my mind begins to wander and my interest begins to wane after the second round is completed.

If the NHLPA and NHL were smart, they'd reduce the exhibition schedule by two games, and then keep the 82-game schedule as it is. One home game per year is not going to provide a monster boost to salaries, and will hinder the opportunity to shorten the season to a more reasonable level.

I was never all that enamored with previous NHL bosses Bob Goodenow and Ted Saskin. Oh, Goodenow was exceptional about making his players rich, and Saskin did help end the lockout, but these men did little to help grow the game. Goodenow was purely obsession with how much coin his charges made, and Saskin was, as we know, hella corrupt and prone to forgetting who his bosses were (the players)

So, the more I read and see of new NHLPA boss Paul Kelly, the more impressed I am that he seems to 'get' the fact that there are many other issues to be dealt with other than how much the players make.

In a two-part interview with The Hockey News, Kelly spills the beans on a variety of topics, including the subject of mandatory visors.

That's a big issue we talk about all the time. I tell the players that, when it comes to visors, there are basically three ways to go: you can make them mandatory, starting tomorrow; you can grandfather them in, so that everyone new to the league has to start wearing them; or you can go with players' choice.

Right after I tell them what the obvious options are, I tell them, 'Look guys, a single eye injury can cost you your career. It is really essential to protect your eyes, and on behalf of the players' association, I strongly recommend guys put visors on.'

One major bone of contention I had with previous NHLPA leadership was how little they cared about player safety. Goodenow didn't seem to care about seamless glass or no-touch icing or visors as health issues that needed to be dealt with. At least Kelly realizes that a safe player is one that will likely have a longer and more prosperous career. Can you think of any non-sports union that cares little about the safety of its members? I sure can't.

Going forward, I have hope that the new NHLPA leadership will continue to address many other topics, such as marketing, that previous NHLPA leadership didn't seem to care about. If the NHLPA takes a more active role in promoting the game, one would have to figure that would mean more revenues, higher salaries, and happier players.

Let's face it, ESPN has a near-monopoly on the American sports-watching public. While Fox Sports Net and other channels do a good job on a regional level, the kind of national, mainstream exposure that ESPN generates just can't be matched by any other party.

Small wonder, then, that new NHLPA boss Paul Kelly wants the league to do everything in its power, including begging, pleading, and butt-kissing, to get the NHL back on ESPN. (Reg. required)

We need something in addition to Versus. They do an excellent job of the telecasts that they produce, but, and I hear the numbers that they're now available in 73 million homes, the reality is most people -- the casual sports fan -- don't know they exist, can't find it on the dial. They don't promote, they don't advertise, they don't bring to the table what an ESPN or a Fox Sports on a national level could bring."

Kelly is right about Versus in that they give the NHL exceptional coverage and attention, but just don't draw enough eyeballs or have enough viewership to saturate the market.

While we know that ESPN treats hockey like a leper, especially in the post-lockout years, we must realize that the NHL needs ESPN if it is ever going to generate a greater number of casual viewers. Even if ESPN's slant on hockey is the usual 'entertainment-first' dreck we've come to expect from "The Worldwide Leader", it's still better than not being noticed at all.

Here's hoping Kelly can work together with Bettman and the league to bring NHL hockey broadcasts back to ESPN. Even if both men disagree on many things, they can both agree that hockey on ESPN = more money, which is exactly what both men want, above all else.

After months of in-fighting, the NHL Players Associating finally got around to hiring a replacement for the oft-colluding Ted Saskin.

Ironically, the man they hired, Paul Kelly, is the man who once helped take down former PA head Alan Eagleson.

"I really do believe that it's a new day. I want it to be a positive relationship between the NHL Players' Association and the league. I think we owe it to the fans to put that lockout/work stoppage and all of those issues behind us."

"To focus on the game, win back our traditional fans, develop new young fans, do a better job of marketing our young stars of the game, do a better job of the TV coverage and the media attention particularly down in the United States."

A lot of the usual goody-talk, mixed in with a dash of optimism. How the PA, itself, markets the players is beyond me, other than to make them more readily available to advertisers. The marketing should be left up to the NHL to handle, with the NHLPA giving full co-operating for anything that doesn't involve putting Sidney Crosby in a chicken suit.

Perhaps the PA will finally get a leader than can cater to the best wishes of the players, AND not be a puppet for the league, AND not piss off Bettman and company so much that they want to spite the union.

Perhaps.

In other positive PA news, it appears that Eric "The Big E-go" Lindros has basically accepted that his playing days are over and is the most likely candidate to become the NHLPA ombudsman, the newly created principal liaison between the players and their leader.

For a union that has had many issues with their management going off and doing their own thing, this is a great first step into assuring accountability. While we may think of NHL players as spoiled millionaires, they still deserve to be done right by the union that is supposed to be working FOR them.

Whenever I hear Gary Bettman talk about how the NHL has recovered from its suicidal work stoppage two years ago, it reminds me of a delusional daddy trying to ignore that a particularly vicious and fracturing family fight ever happened. A sense of normalcy eventually returns, but the scars still run deep; then comes one of those moments in which the wrong thing is uttered by the wrong person, and all of a sudden your crazy uncle is taking a bowl of mashed potatoes to the forehead during Thanksgiving dinner.

So as Paul Kelly was being confirmed as the new executive director of the NHLPA, Detroit's Chris Chelios was reigniting feuds with Bettman, Bill Daly, Ted Saskin and agent Don Meehan. So as the NHLPA's implosion was being remembered as a Greek tragedy, League lap dogs like Stan Fischler are still clinging to the notion that the lockout was a "no-win" war, even as salaries escalate and free agency for young stars beckons earlier and earlier.

But to truly see the scabs of previous labor fights ripped open, one must read this blistering, rambling rant by George James Malik on Kukla's Korner. It's a self-congratulatory tirade of such focused outrage that the only thing keeping him from completely morphing into hockey's version of Howard Beale is an overcoat, a television camera and Faye Dunaway grinning devilishly from the control room.