WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.259 The Deep Dive, the wild 1991 -92 NHL season strikes, 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:07.160 sharks and draft drama. Join us for a deep dive 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:11.000 into the 1991 -92 NHL season, arguably the most 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:13.769 pivotal and chaotic year in hockey history. We 00:00:13.769 --> 00:00:15.990 unpack the bizarre origins of the San Jose Sharks 00:00:15.990 --> 00:00:18.410 expansion, the unbelievable drama of the Eric 00:00:18.410 --> 00:00:21.230 Lindros draft, and the intense 10 -day NHL player 00:00:21.230 --> 00:00:23.129 strike that changed the business of the sport 00:00:23.129 --> 00:00:25.949 forever. Discover how Mario Lemieux finally dethroned 00:00:25.949 --> 00:00:28.149 Wayne Gretzky, why Brian Leach made defensive 00:00:28.149 --> 00:00:30.289 history, and how throwback jerseys and celebrity 00:00:30.289 --> 00:00:32.810 captains like Mr. Rogers, John Candy, and Michael 00:00:32.810 --> 00:00:35.479 J. Fox revolutionized sports marketing. Whether 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:37.299 you're a diehard hockey fan or just fascinated 00:00:37.299 --> 00:00:39.380 by pop culture and labor history, this breakdown 00:00:39.380 --> 00:00:41.679 of the NHL's 75th anniversary season is packed 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:44.460 with aha moments and surprising trivia. SEO keywords 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:58.840 woven in. Have you ever looked at a single year 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:01.200 in a sports history and just realized it completely 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.719 changed the DNA of the game? Oh, absolutely. 00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:05.780 Where there's a clear before and after. Right. 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:08.439 I'm talking about a specific season where the 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:11.780 tectonic plates shift and the league that comes 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:14.359 out the other side is unrecognizable from the 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:16.819 one that started. Yeah. Because today we are 00:01:16.819 --> 00:01:20.540 taking a deep dive into the 1991 -92 National 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:23.879 Hockey League season. And looking through our 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:27.060 stack of sources, the sheer volume of history 00:01:27.060 --> 00:01:30.500 packed into these eight months is staggering. 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:32.400 It really is. When you actually get into the 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.040 source material, you realize this isn't just 00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:37.599 a breakdown of standings or a recap of a championship 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:40.340 run. No, not at all. We are looking at a snapshot 00:01:40.340 --> 00:01:43.299 of a league. caught dead in the center of an 00:01:43.299 --> 00:01:45.640 identity crisis. And that is exactly our mission 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:47.780 for this deep dive. We're going to explore how 00:01:47.780 --> 00:01:50.659 this specific season, which was the NHL's 75th 00:01:50.659 --> 00:01:53.120 anniversary season, was this incredibly chaotic 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.219 collision of shifting eras. You have the league 00:01:56.219 --> 00:01:58.700 trying to manufacture mainstream Hollywood crossover 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:01.420 appeal. You have an unprecedented labor strike 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:04.180 that stops the sport cold. There are these highly 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:07.200 convoluted boardroom compromises to birth an 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:10.460 expansion team. And then on the ice, you see 00:02:10.460 --> 00:02:13.219 a massive changing of the guard among the game's 00:02:13.219 --> 00:02:15.539 legendary superstars. And if you're listening 00:02:15.539 --> 00:02:17.219 to this and you follow the business of hockey 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:19.860 today, you really have to understand that 1991 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:24.139 -92 was the exact moment the NHL was dragged, 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:27.180 somewhat kicking and screaming out of its traditional 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:30.319 old boys club operational model. Right into the 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:33.639 modern era. Exactly. They were forced to transition 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:36.360 into a modern billion dollar entertainment industry. 00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:38.900 They were trying to grow up. And I mean, the 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:41.729 growing pains were... So let's start with how 00:02:41.729 --> 00:02:43.569 they tried to dress up those growing pins. The 00:02:43.569 --> 00:02:45.969 75th anniversary. Yes. The league is celebrating 00:02:45.969 --> 00:02:48.189 its 75th anniversary and they decide to lean 00:02:48.189 --> 00:02:51.030 heavily into nostalgia and marketing. The players 00:02:51.030 --> 00:02:52.870 are wearing special anniversary patches, but 00:02:52.870 --> 00:02:54.830 they also introduced this turn back the clock 00:02:54.830 --> 00:02:57.069 program. Right. You had the original six teams 00:02:57.069 --> 00:02:59.090 wearing vintage throwback uniforms for select 00:02:59.090 --> 00:03:03.129 games. The Bruins wore their 1933 designs. The 00:03:03.129 --> 00:03:06.210 Blackhawks wore 1940 gear. The Red Wings threw 00:03:06.210 --> 00:03:09.050 it back to 1928. Which looked amazing. They did. 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:11.449 They even had the Wales and Campbell All -Stars 00:03:11.449 --> 00:03:14.830 wearing 1952 vintage jerseys for the All -Star 00:03:14.830 --> 00:03:17.669 game. It was a huge visual shift. But if we look 00:03:17.669 --> 00:03:19.590 at the underlying strategy, it was actually a 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:22.770 massive retail breakthrough. How so? Well, the 00:03:22.770 --> 00:03:24.930 NHL was actually taking a cue from Major League 00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:27.969 Baseball here. MLB had been experimenting with 00:03:27.969 --> 00:03:30.189 turn -back -the -clock games for a few years. 00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:34.030 But the NHL's execution was so visually striking, 00:03:34.129 --> 00:03:36.949 and the fan demand to purchase these sweaters 00:03:36.949 --> 00:03:40.629 was just overwhelming. It proved there was an 00:03:40.629 --> 00:03:43.550 untapped secondary market for team apparel. Which 00:03:43.550 --> 00:03:45.590 is wild to think about now. If you were looking 00:03:45.590 --> 00:03:48.289 at your favorite team's modern reverse retro 00:03:48.289 --> 00:03:50.889 or third alternate jersey today, you were looking 00:03:50.889 --> 00:03:54.250 at the direct lineage of this 1991 -92 campaign. 00:03:54.490 --> 00:03:56.870 Absolutely. It essentially birthed the modern 00:03:56.870 --> 00:03:59.729 alternate jersey cash cow. But, and this is where 00:03:59.729 --> 00:04:01.569 it gets weird, the marketing push didn't stop 00:04:01.569 --> 00:04:04.110 at apparel. Oh, the captains. Celebrity captains. 00:04:04.189 --> 00:04:06.870 The league decided that... Every single team 00:04:06.870 --> 00:04:09.009 needed an honorary celebrity captain for the 00:04:09.009 --> 00:04:12.069 season. And looking at the list, it is a perfect 00:04:12.069 --> 00:04:15.530 time capsule of early 90s pop culture. It really 00:04:15.530 --> 00:04:18.310 is. You had John Candy for the Kings. Perfect 00:04:18.310 --> 00:04:21.170 fit. Ralph Macchio for the Islanders. Jim Belushi 00:04:21.170 --> 00:04:23.949 for the Blackhawks. Michael J. Fox for the Bruins. 00:04:24.490 --> 00:04:27.670 And amazingly for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Fred 00:04:27.670 --> 00:04:31.339 Rogers. Mr. Rogers. Which seems like a fun, quirky 00:04:31.339 --> 00:04:33.800 piece of trivia until you consider what the league 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:36.000 was actually trying to accomplish. Right. Think 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:38.160 about the NHL's reputation at that time. It was 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:41.139 heavily regional and it was widely viewed by 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:45.699 corporate America as a brutal niche, cold weather 00:04:45.699 --> 00:04:48.220 blood sport. Very rough and tumble. Exactly. 00:04:48.810 --> 00:04:51.509 By aligning themselves with mainstream network 00:04:51.509 --> 00:04:54.910 television stars, and specifically someone like 00:04:54.910 --> 00:04:57.870 Mr. Rogers, I mean the ultimate symbol of gentle, 00:04:57.990 --> 00:05:00.230 neighborly kindness, they were attempting to 00:05:00.230 --> 00:05:02.290 sanitize and nationalize their product. They 00:05:02.290 --> 00:05:04.209 wanted everyone to feel welcome. They wanted 00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:06.889 a lucrative U .S. national television contract. 00:05:07.269 --> 00:05:09.430 And to get that, they needed to prove they were 00:05:09.430 --> 00:05:11.470 part of the broader North American entertainment 00:05:11.470 --> 00:05:14.850 tapestry. You see that exact same push for expansion 00:05:14.850 --> 00:05:16.529 when you look at how the San Jose Sharks were 00:05:16.529 --> 00:05:18.720 born that year. Oh, the boardroom drama. The 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:22.160 NHL is finally expanding to 22 teams, bringing 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:24.420 hockey back to the Bay Area for the first time 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:26.319 since the California Golden Seals left in the 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:30.439 late 70s. But the mechanical process of how the 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:33.319 Sharks franchise was actually created is one 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.779 of the most convoluted boardroom compromises 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:38.579 in sports history. It's a mess. To understand 00:05:38.579 --> 00:05:40.319 the Sharks, you have to understand the leverage 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:42.560 held by George and Gordon Gund. Right. The Gund 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.000 brothers. Right. They owned the Minnesota North 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.319 Stars at the time. Ironically, they were the 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:49.399 same brothers who had previously owned that Golden 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:52.259 Seals franchise, moved them to Cleveland, and 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:54.000 eventually merged them with the North Stars. 00:05:54.220 --> 00:05:57.480 It's a tangled web. Very. By 1990, the North 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:00.019 Stars attendance was slipping, and the guns wanted 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:02.560 out of Minnesota. They officially petitioned 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.519 the NHL for permission to relocate the franchise 00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:08.319 to the Bay Area. And the NHL, terrified of abandoning 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:10.620 a massive traditional hockey market like Minnesota, 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:13.720 flat out refuses the relocation. Which put them 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:15.920 in a bind. Exactly, because they needed the guns 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:18.180 to be happy, and they also really wanted the 00:06:18.180 --> 00:06:20.399 expansion fee from a new team. So the compromise 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:23.660 they strike is absurd. The league tells the guns, 00:06:24.410 --> 00:06:26.790 You can't move the North Stars, but if you sell 00:06:26.790 --> 00:06:29.389 the North Stars to a new owner, we will immediately 00:06:29.389 --> 00:06:32.470 grant you the new San Jose Sharks expansion franchise. 00:06:32.910 --> 00:06:35.550 It's a fascinating workaround. They essentially 00:06:35.550 --> 00:06:37.910 force an ownership group to sell a distressed 00:06:37.910 --> 00:06:40.670 asset to a stranger just to buy the rights to 00:06:40.670 --> 00:06:43.170 start from scratch on the West Coast. And because 00:06:43.170 --> 00:06:45.610 the guns were starting from scratch, the league 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:48.050 had to figure out how to stock the San Jose roster. 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:50.790 Without completely depleting the rest of the 00:06:50.790 --> 00:06:53.129 team. Right, the dispersal draft. This is where 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:55.189 the minutia gets really interesting. Yeah, because 00:06:55.189 --> 00:06:57.110 the guns were giving up their stake in the Minnesota 00:06:57.110 --> 00:07:00.750 roster. The NHL allowed San Jose to cannibalize 00:07:00.750 --> 00:07:03.649 the North Stars first. Just raided them. Pretty 00:07:03.649 --> 00:07:07.389 much. In May of 1991, Minnesota was allowed to 00:07:07.389 --> 00:07:11.329 protect 14 skaters and two goalies. The Sharks 00:07:11.329 --> 00:07:14.329 then drafted 16 unprotected players directly 00:07:14.329 --> 00:07:17.089 from the North Stars system. Wow. Only after 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:19.149 that did San Jose and the newly sold Minnesota 00:07:19.149 --> 00:07:22.029 North Stars participate in a standard expansion 00:07:22.029 --> 00:07:24.589 draft, where they alternated picks from the rest 00:07:24.589 --> 00:07:26.750 of the league. And you have to look at where 00:07:26.750 --> 00:07:29.370 this brand new, heavily compromised roster actually 00:07:29.370 --> 00:07:31.930 played their games. This is the best part. The 00:07:31.930 --> 00:07:34.089 Sharks' new arena in San Jose wasn't ready yet. 00:07:34.170 --> 00:07:38.009 So for this inaugural 91 -92 season, they played 00:07:38.009 --> 00:07:40.389 in Daly City at a venue hilariously called the 00:07:40.389 --> 00:07:42.430 Cow Palace. The Cow Palace? It was literally 00:07:42.430 --> 00:07:46.529 a livestock pavilion built in the 1940s. It perfectly 00:07:46.529 --> 00:07:48.550 illustrates the dichotomy of the league that 00:07:48.550 --> 00:07:51.110 year. You have them making aggressive, complex 00:07:51.110 --> 00:07:54.029 corporate moves to expand into the future, but 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:56.759 they're operating out of outdated... makeshift 00:07:56.759 --> 00:07:59.060 infrastructure. That struggle for control off 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:01.439 the ice is mirrored perfectly in how the draft 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:04.259 unfolded that same year. We have to talk about 00:08:04.259 --> 00:08:07.500 the Eric Lindros saga because it completely upended 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:09.879 the traditional power dynamic between a player 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:12.540 and a franchise. The Quebec Nordiques hold the 00:08:12.540 --> 00:08:15.660 first overall pick in the 1991 entry draft, and 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:18.259 they select Lindros, who is universally viewed 00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:20.639 as a generational franchise altering talent. 00:08:20.779 --> 00:08:23.279 But Lindros had made it explicitly clear prior 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.959 to the draft. that he would not play for Quebec. 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:28.959 He warned them. He did. And it's important to 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:32.019 clarify why, based on the sources. It wasn't 00:08:32.019 --> 00:08:34.200 just a young player rejecting a small market 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:36.580 or a French -speaking city, which was the narrative 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:39.120 floating around at the time. Lindros, in his 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:42.580 camp, cited deep, fundamental distrust of the 00:08:42.580 --> 00:08:45.320 Nordiques' ownership and management, specifically 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:48.179 team president Marcel Aubut. So the Nordiques 00:08:48.179 --> 00:08:50.120 draft him anyway, basically calling his bluff. 00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:53.710 Yeah. And Lindros doesn't blink. He refuses to 00:08:53.710 --> 00:08:56.110 put on the jersey at the draft podium. He refuses 00:08:56.110 --> 00:09:00.190 to sign a contract. He sits out the entire 1991 00:09:00.190 --> 00:09:03.870 -92 NHL season playing for the Canadian Olympic 00:09:03.870 --> 00:09:06.710 team instead. It was unheard of. For an 18 -year 00:09:06.710 --> 00:09:08.970 -old prospect to exert that kind of leverage 00:09:08.970 --> 00:09:11.350 in an era where restricted free agency barely 00:09:11.350 --> 00:09:14.169 existed, it was a shock to the system. It was 00:09:14.169 --> 00:09:16.389 an incredible assertion of individual player 00:09:16.389 --> 00:09:19.100 empowerment. Historically, drafter players were 00:09:19.100 --> 00:09:21.240 essentially property of the team that selected 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:23.179 them. You signed the contract offered or you 00:09:23.179 --> 00:09:25.000 didn't play professional hockey. Simple as that. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.200 Right. Lindros, withholding his labor, forced 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:30.440 a breaking point. And the resolution of that 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:33.340 standoff in June of 1992 was just as chaotic 00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:36.340 as the holdout itself. The double trade. This 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:37.899 is one of my favorite details from the source 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:40.409 material. It's so good. The standoff lasts a 00:09:40.409 --> 00:09:44.029 full year, and right before the 1992 draft, Marcel 00:09:44.029 --> 00:09:46.809 Abut finally caves and agrees to trade Lindros. 00:09:47.269 --> 00:09:50.990 The problem is, he verbally agrees to trade Lindros 00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:53.470 to the Philadelphia Flyers, and then, roughly 00:09:53.470 --> 00:09:55.470 80 minutes later, he agrees to trade Lindros 00:09:55.470 --> 00:09:58.129 to the New York Rangers. Abut essentially panicked. 00:09:58.509 --> 00:10:01.110 He tried to leverage two massive offers against 00:10:01.110 --> 00:10:03.970 each other and just created a colossal legal 00:10:03.970 --> 00:10:06.570 mess. A total disaster. The NHL actually had 00:10:06.570 --> 00:10:08.669 to bring in an independent arbitrator, Larry 00:10:08.669 --> 00:10:11.409 Bertuzzi, to untangle it. And Bertuzzi ultimately 00:10:11.409 --> 00:10:13.610 rules that the Flyers deal was made first and 00:10:13.610 --> 00:10:17.029 was binding. And the haul was astronomical. Huge. 00:10:17.230 --> 00:10:20.370 I mean, Peter Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Ron Hexdahl, 00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:22.629 Steve Duchess, Kerry Heffman, future first round 00:10:22.629 --> 00:10:25.889 picks, and $15 million in cash. But looking back. 00:10:26.379 --> 00:10:29.360 Lindros demanding control over his career was 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.059 really the canary in the coal mine for the massive 00:10:32.059 --> 00:10:34.120 league wide labor battle that was brewing that 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:37.139 very same season. Exactly. You transition from 00:10:37.139 --> 00:10:39.480 an individual player demanding agency to the 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:42.240 entire collective body of players demanding their 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:46.500 fair share. Which brings us to April 1st, 1992. 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:50.340 The strike. The NHL Players Association, now 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:52.980 led by Bob Goodenow, calls a strike. And this 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:55.480 wasn't just a minor grievance. This was the first 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:58.559 work stoppage in the 75 -year history of the 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:00.559 league. And if you're a fan of hockey history, 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.659 you know the name Bob Goodenow is pivotal here. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:06.899 He had just taken over the NHLPA from Allen Eagleson. 00:11:06.899 --> 00:11:09.399 Right. Eagleson was notoriously cozy with the 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:11.659 league's owners. often to the detriment of the 00:11:11.659 --> 00:11:15.279 players. But Goodnow was militant. He was brought 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:17.580 in specifically to audit the books and get the 00:11:17.580 --> 00:11:19.879 players what they were owed. The sources outline 00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:21.940 a few major sticking points in these negotiations. 00:11:22.620 --> 00:11:24.539 The players wanted changes to the free agency 00:11:24.539 --> 00:11:26.700 age and the mechanics of salary arbitration. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:29.019 But one of the most contentious issues at the 00:11:29.019 --> 00:11:31.220 bargaining table was revenue sharing from trading 00:11:31.220 --> 00:11:33.879 cards. Trading cards. Yes. When you think of 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:35.559 a labor strike, you usually think of health care, 00:11:35.659 --> 00:11:38.279 pensions, or salary caps. But trading cards were 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:40.700 the battleground. Sounds funny now, but it was 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:43.379 huge money. You have to put yourself in the context 00:11:43.379 --> 00:11:47.440 of 1992. This was the absolute peak of the junk 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:51.259 wax era. Companies like Pro Set, Score, and Upper 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:53.240 Deck had recently flooded the market. Right. 00:11:53.379 --> 00:11:56.139 Trading cards had transformed from a bubblegum 00:11:56.139 --> 00:11:58.679 wrapper novelty into a multi -million dollar 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:01.379 industry practically overnight. The existing 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:03.440 collective bargaining agreement hadn't accounted 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.019 for this windfall, and the owners were pocketing 00:12:06.019 --> 00:12:08.679 the vast majority of the licensing money. The 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:10.879 players recognized that their likenesses were 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.720 generating this immense wealth, and they wanted 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:16.299 the contract updated to reflect it. Makes sense. 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:18.820 And when you look at the broader financial disparity 00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:21.019 between the players and the owners at this time, 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:23.399 you really understand why the union was ready 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:25.700 to walk out. The numbers are staggering. Give 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:27.559 them to us. Well, the players were fighting over 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.700 playoff bonuses. Under the old system, if you 00:12:30.700 --> 00:12:32.460 were on a team that lost in the first round of 00:12:32.460 --> 00:12:35.519 the playoffs, your bonus was $3 ,000. Okay. If 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:37.720 your team won the Stanley Cup, the bonus capped 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:40.399 at $1 ,000. $25 ,000 per player. Which is nice, 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:42.460 but... Right, but compare that to the owners. 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.919 The owners stood to earn approximately $500 ,000 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:50.840 per playoff game in gate receipts and local television 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:53.340 revenue. Half a million dollars for every single 00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:56.019 night their arena was open for a postseason game. 00:12:56.200 --> 00:12:58.759 Which is precisely why Goodenow called the strike 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:02.720 on April 1st. The timing was a calculated strategic 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:05.759 masterstroke. Oh, brilliant. By walking out right 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:07.559 at the tail end of the regular season, just days 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:09.259 before the playoffs were scheduled to begin, 00:13:09.460 --> 00:13:12.539 the players held maximum leverage. Because they 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:14.960 knew the playoffs were where the owners realized 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:17.379 almost all of their operating profit for the 00:13:17.379 --> 00:13:19.740 year. Exactly. The union essentially looked across 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.419 the table and said, if you want your half a million 00:13:22.419 --> 00:13:24.399 dollar playoff dates, you're going to fairly 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.679 compensate the labor providing the entertainment. 00:13:26.899 --> 00:13:29.600 The strike lasted 10 days. The two sides finally 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:31.559 reached an agreement that was retroactive to 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:33.919 the start of the season, meaning no games were 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:36.879 actually canceled. Just postponed. Right. But 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:39.059 those 10 days of missed regular season action 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:41.820 had to be made up. The final 30 games of the 00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:44.139 schedule were pushed back, which subsequently 00:13:44.139 --> 00:13:46.700 pushed the Stanley Cup playoffs deep into the 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:49.659 spring and pushed the finals into June for the 00:13:49.659 --> 00:13:51.980 very first time in league history. The short 00:13:51.980 --> 00:13:54.799 -term result was a delayed season. But the long 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:57.159 -term ripple effects of that 10 -day stoppage 00:13:57.159 --> 00:13:59.820 fundamentally altered the NHL's corporate structure. 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:03.000 How so? Well, the players secured major increases 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.360 in their playoff bonuses, gained more control 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.700 over their likeness rights for merchandising, 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:10.000 and saw improvements to the arbitration process. 00:14:10.419 --> 00:14:12.799 In return, the owners got the regular season 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:15.320 extended from 80 to 84 games for the next few 00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:18.320 years, and they added neutral site games to gauge 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:20.970 future expansion. But the real casualty of the 00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:22.690 strike was in the commissioner's office. Oh, 00:14:22.690 --> 00:14:25.090 yeah. The owners were furious that the season 00:14:25.090 --> 00:14:28.309 was disrupted. They felt NHL president John Ziegler 00:14:28.309 --> 00:14:30.789 had completely mishandled the negotiations and 00:14:30.789 --> 00:14:33.429 allowed the union to dictate terms. As a direct 00:14:33.429 --> 00:14:36.289 result, Ziegler was ousted. The league installed 00:14:36.289 --> 00:14:39.049 Gil Stein as an interim president. And then by 00:14:39.049 --> 00:14:42.429 early 1993, the owners brought in Gary Bettman 00:14:42.429 --> 00:14:45.549 from the NBA to be the NHL's first ever commissioner. 00:14:46.110 --> 00:14:48.070 Inbetman's primary mandate from the ownership 00:14:48.070 --> 00:14:51.230 group was to enforce labor peace and ensure the 00:14:51.230 --> 00:14:53.289 owners never lost leverage to the union again. 00:14:53.570 --> 00:14:56.330 Which set the stage for the next few decades. 00:14:56.629 --> 00:14:58.950 Absolutely. If you follow the league, you know 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:01.549 that mandate led directly to the massive owner 00:15:01.549 --> 00:15:05.210 -initiated lockouts in 1994, 2004, and 2012. 00:15:05.649 --> 00:15:08.889 The 1992 strike proved that the old gentleman's 00:15:08.889 --> 00:15:11.250 agreements were dead. The sport was officially 00:15:11.250 --> 00:15:13.889 big business, and the boardroom was now a battlefield. 00:15:14.539 --> 00:15:17.200 With all of this off -ice chaos, the double trades, 00:15:17.379 --> 00:15:19.559 the arena issues, the literal halting of the 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:21.500 season, you might forget that there was actual 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:23.399 hockey being played. Yeah, easy to overlook. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.720 But the performance on the ice was just as historic, 00:15:26.019 --> 00:15:28.360 serving as its own changing of the guard. Let's 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:30.100 look at the scoring race. For the first time 00:15:30.100 --> 00:15:33.419 in his entire NHL career, Wayne Gretzky failed 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:36.049 to finish in the top two in league scoring. Which 00:15:36.049 --> 00:15:38.250 is a statistical anomaly that proves just how 00:15:38.250 --> 00:15:40.389 explosive the league's offense had become that 00:15:40.389 --> 00:15:42.649 season. I mean, Grisky didn't have a bad year. 00:15:42.769 --> 00:15:45.750 Not at all. He put up 121 points in 74 games 00:15:45.750 --> 00:15:49.350 for the Kings. But he was simply outpaced. Outpaced 00:15:49.350 --> 00:15:52.309 by Mario Lemieux, who won his third Art Ross 00:15:52.309 --> 00:15:55.950 trophy with 131 points. And the context here 00:15:55.950 --> 00:15:59.330 is crucial. Lemieux put up those 131 points in 00:15:59.330 --> 00:16:01.750 just 64 games because he was battling severe 00:16:01.750 --> 00:16:04.129 back issues. Incredible. But even more surprising 00:16:04.129 --> 00:16:06.350 than Lemieux winning the title was who finished 00:16:06.350 --> 00:16:08.990 second. Lemieux's teammate in Pittsburgh, Kevin 00:16:08.990 --> 00:16:12.350 Stevens, finished with 123 points, edging out 00:16:12.350 --> 00:16:14.950 Gretzky. Stevens became only the third player 00:16:14.950 --> 00:16:17.450 in NHL history to ever... outscore Gretzky in 00:16:17.450 --> 00:16:20.009 a regular season. Marcel Dion had tied Gretzky 00:16:20.009 --> 00:16:21.870 in points during Wayne's rookie year, winning 00:16:21.870 --> 00:16:24.009 the title on a goals tiebreaker, and Lemieux 00:16:24.009 --> 00:16:25.950 had beaten him in the late 80s. But seeing a 00:16:25.950 --> 00:16:28.029 power forward like Kevin Stevens push Gretzky 00:16:28.029 --> 00:16:30.590 down to third place, it really signaled that 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:33.330 the unchallenged, decade -long dominance of the 00:16:33.330 --> 00:16:36.210 1980s Oilers era was officially giving way to 00:16:36.210 --> 00:16:38.740 a new wave of high -octane talent. And it wasn't 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:40.480 just the forwards lighting up the score sheet. 00:16:40.539 --> 00:16:42.840 The defensemen were capitalizing on this open 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:46.120 offensive style of play, too. Brian Leach of 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:48.299 the New York Rangers finished the season with 00:16:48.299 --> 00:16:52.039 102 points. Huge season. He won the Norris Trophy, 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.980 but more importantly, he became only the fifth 00:16:54.980 --> 00:16:58.440 defenseman in NHL history to break the 100 -point 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:00.899 barrier. And to put that into perspective for 00:17:00.899 --> 00:17:04.240 you, the listener, Leach's 102 points was the 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:06.970 high watermark for defensemen. for over three 00:17:06.970 --> 00:17:10.650 decades. 30 years. He was the absolute last blue 00:17:10.650 --> 00:17:13.869 liner to hit 100 points until Eric Carlson finally 00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:17.390 did it again in 2023. Leach's performance anchored 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:19.509 a New York Rangers team that dominated the regular 00:17:19.509 --> 00:17:22.410 season. They finished with 105 points, winning 00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:24.589 the President's Trophy as the league's top team 00:17:24.589 --> 00:17:27.490 for the first time since the 1941 -42 season. 00:17:27.569 --> 00:17:30.069 They were a powerhouse. They were, but despite 00:17:30.069 --> 00:17:32.829 their regular season dominance, the climax of 00:17:32.829 --> 00:17:35.450 this bizarre year belonged to the team that managed 00:17:35.450 --> 00:17:37.930 to navigate the chaos better than anyone else. 00:17:38.369 --> 00:17:40.869 The Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins' run is 00:17:40.869 --> 00:17:43.319 the perfect capstone to this season. Think about 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:46.000 it. They had the celebrity captain sideshow with 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.380 Mr. Rogers. Right. They had their star player 00:17:48.380 --> 00:17:51.319 battling injuries. They endured the 10 -day labor 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:53.880 stoppage just as they were gearing up for a playoff 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:56.160 push. And yet they stayed completely focused. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:59.279 In June, playing later into the summer than any 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.079 team had before them, the Penguins repeated as 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:05.180 Stanley Cup champions. Sweeping the series. Yeah, 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:07.599 they swept the Chicago Blackhawks in four games 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:10.220 in the final, and Mario Lemieux captured the 00:18:10.220 --> 00:18:13.490 Conn Smythe trophy as the playoff MVP. When you 00:18:13.490 --> 00:18:16.269 synthesize all of these events, you see exactly 00:18:16.269 --> 00:18:19.150 why this season is the dividing line in hockey 00:18:19.150 --> 00:18:21.109 history. It really is. When you look back at 00:18:21.109 --> 00:18:23.430 the modern NHL, the salary caps, the billion 00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:26.150 -dollar TV deals, the highly structured drafts, 00:18:26.150 --> 00:18:28.970 the alternate jersey programs, all the DNA for 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:31.369 that modern league was forged in the fires of 00:18:31.369 --> 00:18:34.970 1991 -92. You had the old guard on the ice making 00:18:34.970 --> 00:18:38.029 way for new challengers. You had the messy, lucrative 00:18:38.029 --> 00:18:40.529 birth of modern sports merchandising. And you 00:18:40.529 --> 00:18:42.410 had a labor strike that permanently altered. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.579 the power dynamic between the athletes creating 00:18:44.579 --> 00:18:46.619 the product and the owner selling it. I want 00:18:46.619 --> 00:18:48.119 to leave you with one final thought from the 00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:50.400 source material to mull over because I think 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.960 it perfectly encapsulates the irony of this specific 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:55.859 year. Let's hear it. Amidst all this modernization, 00:18:56.099 --> 00:18:59.440 the NHL passed a new rule. mandating that the 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.299 final minute of every period be measured on the 00:19:02.299 --> 00:19:05.259 scoreboard in tenths of a second rather than 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:07.319 whole seconds. Right, making the game more exact 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:10.099 for television. Exactly. It was a push for absolute 00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:13.420 precision, a very modern concept. But the scoreboard 00:19:13.420 --> 00:19:15.920 at the St. Louis Arena was so incredibly old 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:19.279 and outdated that it physically lacks the hardware 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:22.220 to display tenths of a second. Wow. The league 00:19:22.220 --> 00:19:24.059 actually had to give them a waiver until the 00:19:24.059 --> 00:19:26.200 following year. That's amazing. And that is the 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:31.220 1991 -92 NHL season in a nutshell. A sports league 00:19:31.220 --> 00:19:33.720 racing headfirst into the modern billion dollar 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.220 corporate era while its foundational infrastructure 00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:38.779 desperately struggled to keep up. A perfect metaphor 00:19:38.779 --> 00:19:42.000 for a truly unforgettable year. Thanks for taking 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.079 this deep dive with us. Keep questioning the 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:45.880 history behind the game and we'll catch you next 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:46.180 time.