rinkrat
10-18-2006, 04:32 PM
intersesting article from Kamloops that I found posted on the Chiefs fan forum.
Some pot shots taken at Toigo.I guess he's a bad guy for wanting his players to look classy at the Memorial Cup.
From Kamloops This Week
Thwack! The rules change
By RICK WILE
Oct 15 2006
I had an interesting chat with WHL commissioner Ron Robison this past week after governors met in Calgary to conduct business resulting in some tweaks - and a big thwack.
The league's two-man referee system went from 40 per cent to 50 per cent, meaning 378 games in the 756- game regular-season schedule and all of the playoffs will have two guys on the ice wearing red armbands.
The move to 50 per cent results in about 75 more regular-season games and the playoffs under the two-man system.
Another tweak is the advent of a video-editing studio at league headquarters, with immediate access to every game for reviewing the work of officials and the ability to have footage available for all discipline cases.
The third tweak is the movement by the league forcing the umbrella organization, the Canadian Hockey League, to have a written constitution in place to guard against repeating a situation this past summer, which had the Ontario Hockey League's Owen Sound Attack violate unwritten guidelines by signing Trevor Lewis from WHL recruiting territory in Utah.
That was only round one.
The WHL goes to a CHL meeting in mid-November questioning the CHL structure.
The "thwack" is interesting as the WHL took steps to ensure a level playing field and maintain a competitive balance among its 21, and soon to be 22, teams.
It's major junior hockey's version of a salary cap, called a "spending guideline", to give teams equal footing.
We saw it in the WHL playoffs last spring when the Vancouver Giants were denied the chance to fly back and forth to Prince George in their first-round series because both teams wouldn't be flying.
Then, after winning the league title, team owner Ron Toigo got his knuckles rapped for buying clothing for each of his players before going to the Memorial Cup.
The publicity generated by the move was seen as giving the team an unfair advantage, in the eyes of some, in possible future recruiting.
There are also safeguards in place outlining what teams can give players in the recruiting game.
Gone is the gentleman's agreement, in favor of a legally binding document to protect small-market teams from possible outrageous spending sprees by big-market teams.
Controls are down in writing, with member teams signing the document.
Breaching the agreement, according to Robison, will result in fines and a loss of high draft picks.
It's all nice in theory, but catching perpetrators is akin to chasing a ghost. You know it's there, it just slips through your fingers every time you get close.
Toigo has also been a target of speculation during his time in the league for sweetening the pot for players, starting with skilled forward Brent Ascroft when Toigo owned Tri-Cities, to the 2004/2005 Vancouver Giants when the perk cupboard was full for the likes of Czech goaltender Marek Schwarz, Slovakian defenceman Andrei Meszaros and Canadian phenom Gilbert Brule.
Then there were the days when perks were commonplace in the league.
Brian Shaw, the late owner of the Portland Winter Hawks, was demanding in the 1980s, but renown for his generosity, offering players extra cash and trips to Hawaii based on performance during the heyday of the Hawks.
He probably wouldn't think much of today's WHL landscape, but then again, he would probably find a way around it.
Now, it's a matter of not getting caught.
Rick Wile is sports director at Radio 'NL
Some pot shots taken at Toigo.I guess he's a bad guy for wanting his players to look classy at the Memorial Cup.
From Kamloops This Week
Thwack! The rules change
By RICK WILE
Oct 15 2006
I had an interesting chat with WHL commissioner Ron Robison this past week after governors met in Calgary to conduct business resulting in some tweaks - and a big thwack.
The league's two-man referee system went from 40 per cent to 50 per cent, meaning 378 games in the 756- game regular-season schedule and all of the playoffs will have two guys on the ice wearing red armbands.
The move to 50 per cent results in about 75 more regular-season games and the playoffs under the two-man system.
Another tweak is the advent of a video-editing studio at league headquarters, with immediate access to every game for reviewing the work of officials and the ability to have footage available for all discipline cases.
The third tweak is the movement by the league forcing the umbrella organization, the Canadian Hockey League, to have a written constitution in place to guard against repeating a situation this past summer, which had the Ontario Hockey League's Owen Sound Attack violate unwritten guidelines by signing Trevor Lewis from WHL recruiting territory in Utah.
That was only round one.
The WHL goes to a CHL meeting in mid-November questioning the CHL structure.
The "thwack" is interesting as the WHL took steps to ensure a level playing field and maintain a competitive balance among its 21, and soon to be 22, teams.
It's major junior hockey's version of a salary cap, called a "spending guideline", to give teams equal footing.
We saw it in the WHL playoffs last spring when the Vancouver Giants were denied the chance to fly back and forth to Prince George in their first-round series because both teams wouldn't be flying.
Then, after winning the league title, team owner Ron Toigo got his knuckles rapped for buying clothing for each of his players before going to the Memorial Cup.
The publicity generated by the move was seen as giving the team an unfair advantage, in the eyes of some, in possible future recruiting.
There are also safeguards in place outlining what teams can give players in the recruiting game.
Gone is the gentleman's agreement, in favor of a legally binding document to protect small-market teams from possible outrageous spending sprees by big-market teams.
Controls are down in writing, with member teams signing the document.
Breaching the agreement, according to Robison, will result in fines and a loss of high draft picks.
It's all nice in theory, but catching perpetrators is akin to chasing a ghost. You know it's there, it just slips through your fingers every time you get close.
Toigo has also been a target of speculation during his time in the league for sweetening the pot for players, starting with skilled forward Brent Ascroft when Toigo owned Tri-Cities, to the 2004/2005 Vancouver Giants when the perk cupboard was full for the likes of Czech goaltender Marek Schwarz, Slovakian defenceman Andrei Meszaros and Canadian phenom Gilbert Brule.
Then there were the days when perks were commonplace in the league.
Brian Shaw, the late owner of the Portland Winter Hawks, was demanding in the 1980s, but renown for his generosity, offering players extra cash and trips to Hawaii based on performance during the heyday of the Hawks.
He probably wouldn't think much of today's WHL landscape, but then again, he would probably find a way around it.
Now, it's a matter of not getting caught.
Rick Wile is sports director at Radio 'NL