The New NHL
While the players associations call the shots in the other major leagues, often to the detriment of the games played, Alexander Mogilny and Dan McGillis are dealing with perform or perish hockey with grace and class.
Phil Janack
Minor League News
Welcome to the new NHL, where the bottom line is hockey. It does not matter how long you’ve skated or how much you make. Unlike the current generation of underperformers in other sports who are shuffled from one major club to another until their hefty contracts are absorbed, hockey players are returning to old school major league sports: Play or perish.
Alexander Mogilny and Dan McGillis are millionaires, but they are hockey players first.
Both well-traveled veterans have traveled South a skill level, to the AAA American Hockey League (AHL) Albany River Rats. They were sent to the farm exactly two weeks apart by the parent New Jersey Devils.
To their credit, both Mogilny and McGillis don’t want to be either a novelty or a distraction to their new teammates.
"It's easy to be negative in life about a lot of things," McGillis, a defenseman, said about joining the River Rats. “Any locker room is a great atmosphere to be in... I'm coming with a positive attitude, and I think that's all you can do… Hopefully, I can help some of the younger guys."
Play Up or Go Down
McGillis, 33, best illustrates the kind of shift that’s happening in major league hockey. He had played 634 NHL games for the Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey had signed him to a two-year, $4.4. million contract prior to the season.
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