Fat contracts have been linked to loss of hunger

by Mike Heika for The Dallas Morning News, August 12, 2001, excerpted

I used to love to watch Kevin Hatcher play hockey.

When he was a young defenseman for the Washington Capitals, Hatcher was big, yet still skilled. He was slick, yet still mean. He had an edge, a look, a hunger.

But somewhere along the line, Hatcher started caring more about $100 polo shirts than he did winning hockey games; somewhere along the line, [Brendan] Shanahan started caring more about whom the coaches were blaming than he did winning hockey games; somewhere along the line, [Eric] Lindros started caring more about finding a happy place than he did winning hockey games. Somewhere along the line, they all lost their hunger.

And that's a tough thing for a hockey fan to deal with.

Now, there are many reasons why players care – and the greater majority of NHL stars show that just about every night. But there's also a certain amount of motivation that comes from being hungry, from chasing the next paycheck.

There is something wrong with a league in which the NHL Players Association is so worried about keeping everyone happy that it can't allow its players more than 48 hours to get ready for the Olympics at preseason training camps. Twenty years ago, players would have taken a week off from their summer jobs just for the opportunity to try out for the Olympics.

Y'know, I used to love to watch Guy Carbonneau play hockey until he lost his hunger for the game. Of course, that was the day he laid down his stick and walked away at age 40.

You start to wonder now if he was the last of his kind.