Asham Signing with Pens a Sign of the Times

Joe Sakic may have just recently retired, but the days of a National Hockey League player staying with one franchise their entire career have never seemed further away.

Over the weekend, checker Arron Asham signed a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, a move that would usually be reserved for the last sports page in even the most fervent hockey market. However, this time it’s different.

Forget that the Penguins will be Asham’s fifth NHL team (Montreal, New York Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia) and that he’s quickly building up a resume to rival that of Mike Sillinger. No, the reason why this relatively minor transaction is newsworthy is because Asham is just coming off a successful playoff run with the Pens’ cross-state nemeses, the Philadelphia Flyers.

The hatred between the two cities, at least when it comes to hockey, has been well-documented, the actual rivalry between the teams doubly-so, even in the recent past. In the 2009 post-season, the Flyers were trailing the Pens three games to two but were well-poised to force a game seven, leading 3-0 in game six of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. The Pens rallied to win that game, eliminating Philadelphia and striking a hot poker through the hearts of Flyers fans everywhere.

I’m sure the pain has yet to fade yet or that it will ever. It was at least still raging these past playoffs even though the Pens and Flyers did not meet each other. There Flyers fans were, in the stands of the Wachovia Center, on their feet, applauding as the scoreboard updated to show that the Montreal Canadiens had upset the Pens in their conference semi-final showdown. Their elation, eerily reminiscent of a championship celebration, was about as ill-timed as a joke at a funeral, which in a weird way is exactly what it was... a laugh at the Pens’ expense as they died a most improbable death.

Sure, they may have been happy that the more difficult obstacle en route to the Stanley Cup Finals had just been eliminated, but in actuality the Flyers, that night, were playing just game six of their series against the Boston Bruins after being down three games to none. While fate may have been on their side, the odds definitely were not in their favor to eventually move on to face the Habs. But they did, becoming just the third team in NHL history to turn the trick. And, yet, despite laying claim to the rare ability to bask in the glory of that miracle with his now-former Flyers teammates, Asham, with a flick of the wrist, a pen in his hand, chose to switch sides just like that.

There is no doubt that the salary cap kept the Flyers from re-signing Asham, as, following Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren’s off-season shopping spree, Philadelphia is right up against the $59.4-million ceiling. But he most definitely did not have to opt to play for the Pens. Clearly, there is much more at work here than simple economics. It is quickly becoming a deep-seeded facet of the sport’s culture.

For every Joe Sakic in hockey there are at least five Ashams or Steve Begins out there, Begin being the former Hab who spurned Montreal by signing with the hated Bruins last off-season. An unrestricted free agent again, no one would likely hold it against him if he were to go for the trifecta and sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He needs a job and if Hogtown were to call, in these dire times of financial uncertainty, even for professional athletes, full-time employment is full-time employment.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, you have the case of one Mike Modano, arguably the most celebrated American hockey player of all time. Modano, the highest-scoring American, had up until this past off-season played his entire 21-season career with the same franchise. However, upon being notified that the Dallas Stars would not re-sign him, despite being the face of the organization, he joined the Detroit Red Wings.

Modano’s skills at the age of 40 can certainly be questioned, but his off-ice worth, his experience, his leadership would have all been invaluable tools to a team looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007-2008. Instead, the Stars decided that the $1.75 million Modano signed for with the Wings was too high a price, despite consistently finding themselves well under the league’s ever-increasing salary cap.

Joe Sakic will go down as an all-time great, but also a class act who made the conscious choice to stay with the same team throughout his career. Not to be overlooked, the Avalanche, who re-signed him three times in this post-lockout era, should be considered a model franchise for looking at the big picture and not the bottom line. The big picture of course showing that loyalty is still a virtue. It’s a picture that is unfortunately quickly changing in all of professional sports.