The Bettman Saga Silently Rolls On...

Ed Willies, from the Province, wasn’t impressed with Gary Bettman’s latest trip to Vancouver. Last night Gary casually put down any speculation that he could be asked to step down by the league’s BOG. The arrogance drips for his quotes as he mentions that even he isn’t sure how many years he has left on his contract… four maybe five. Rest assure, it runs through the end of his latest and greatest CBA. Maybe the owners will strategically re-up him after he oversees the next work stoppage and another CBA… we might as well make this a cyclical process. Bettman again spun answers like a yoyo, saying that the NHL’s deal with Versus was a good one and they were willing to trade viewership for better coverage. His criteria for that, of course, is that Versus covers hockey in between periods and not other sports. Forget the .02s for regular games and a disastrous .7 for the All-Star game (a 76% drop from 2004). Forget that the All-Star game placed 18th on the Neilson in Dallas, the host city. Bettman lied to NHL fans, saying that all major polls show that only 25% of fans disagree with the current schedule. While not major, one from my site says that 65% of fans WANT a balanced schedule (248 votes). While not surprising, Bettman’s deal, should it have been voted on recently by owners is disgraceful. It essentially displays that owners are content with the state of the NHL; that they do not care what fans think. Do you ever wonder why Gary doesn’t make too many public appearances? Because he is ridiculed by fans everywhere he goes. And forget speaking at on-ice ceremonies. The great NHL Commish was booed mercilessly at Wayne Gretzky’s jersey retirement when he was handed the mic.

A couple of quotes from Willies’ article that will make you want to lose you cookies:

Bettman remains impervious to any criticism of his administration or the game's direction, as the commissioner again demonstrated during a 40-minute presser in which he said absolutely nothing of interest.

He will tell you the Versus deal is good for the game. He will tell you it's part of a master plan that will launch the NHL into a golden era. He will tell you the new conomic order has positioned the NHL for a prolonged period of prosperity.

And, it doesn't bother him one iota that others would look at the league and draw a far different conclusion about its prospects.

"I do it at the will of the owners," Bettman said.

Bettman, for his part, understands what's good for the owners is good for him. He's presided over two work stoppages, hasn't been able to deliver a national TV contract and his mere presence is a divisive point among NHL fans.

Al Strachan Rips the Instigator

What is interesting in this article is that apparently the NHLPA approaches the Board of Governors annually asking them remove/modify the instigator rule. So essentially, the PLAYERS do not want the instigator in place… they would rather police themselves. Combine this with published research that fighting is a better correlate of fan attendance than scoring is, that all major fan polls say that fans enjoy and want fighting in the game, and the overwhelming anecdotal evidence, and you have to ask… what in hecht is the NHL waiting for?

A Picture Tells a Thousand (actually 2,545) Stories...

Forget the article... we have seen the spin-zone a thousand times. Check out the poll on the right side. Actually, here is my first attempt at uploading a picture to a blog:


Hey... pretty easy. I love capturing these special moments! What a popular guy...

Chuck Benson says bring back old-time hockey!

Chuck Benson says bring back old-time hockey! While I can’t agree with some of his individual statements, and new NHL apologists will handpick at this article like a bad scab, I can’t disagree with his overall message. The new NHL needs more grit, emotion, and intensity. It simply isn’t appealing in its current state.

A Short List of New Commissioners...

Mike Heika says its time for a new Commissioner. But he disagrees with the recent Gossage talk… instead, and rightfully so, he says its time for a “hockey guy” to take over the reigns. Here are a few of his suggestions:

Brian Burke
Anaheim GM
Former right-hand man to Gary Bettman, he has strong opinions.

Wayne Gretzky
Phoenix coach
This is the position that he was born for. Coaching is just a stopgap.

Bob Gainey
Montreal GM
Not sure he could take the bureaucracy, but he has a beautiful mind.

Ken Dryden
Hall of Fame goalie
Maybe too cerebral to lead, but he understands hockey and how to make it better.

Daryl Reaugh
Stars broadcaster
Laugh if you like, but he would make it one fun league.

These Nights are TOO few and far between!

Bruins-Caps – Jeremy Reich earns his first NHL scrap taking on a willing Ben Clymer. Not exactly Reich’s status, but I give him the checkmark for sticking up for a teammate after a big Clymer hit on Primeau. Both were willing and Reich got the better of this one.

Sharks-Ducks – The Ducks add to their fighting major total last night (51 now) with Parros taking on the once dominate, Scott “The Sheriff” Parker. After a good square off, not much lands in this one. I take that back… they threw their gloves at each other after the fight and Parker landed Parros’ glove in the stands. Nice to see some true emotion out of two top enforcers.

Panthers-Avs – Montador and Lapperiere have a go in this one. I haven’t seen a description for it, but will note that Lappy has all of his team’s fighting majors save ONE. How sad is that if you are Avs fan? Good for Lappy for being so willing. The Panthers, on the other hand, are about as weak as they come in the team toughness category.

Canes-Habs – Eric Staal bumps the goalie and in comes Rivet to protect the netminder. Ladd takes exception and sticks up for his teammate. He eats a big right to the kisser, yet keeps on going. Nice win for Rivet and huge props to Ladd for having a head of steel.

Kings-Lightning – Roy gives Ivanans the nudge and these two big heavies have a go. Both go with rights with each landing a few, Roy more early and Ivanans more late.

Blackhawks-Flames – Phaneuf puts a nice hit on Seabrook and latches on. Seabrook doesn’t like the attention and sheds the mits. BOTH lose the lids (good for them!) and have a go. They throw a couple while spinning, each landing one or two and Phaneuf lands one on the way down. Dion “the Canadian” Phaneuf can play on my team any day.

Preds-Pens – Talbot and Hordichuk have a running feud. The tussled last year and they wasted no time in this one. Another Hordichuk hit starts this one and Talbot comes over to say hello and they both drop the gloves. Talbot doesn’t last long however against the highly skilled enforcer and goes down immediately, eating a few rights for his troubles. Talbot gets points for being willing to go against a solid scrapper in Darcy.

Yotes-Jackets – A big scrum ensues after a whistle along the boards and Boynton is throwing punches at Shelley around the linesman. Something must have landed because Shelley had a nice mouse on his eye and was spitting blood. He was noticeably upset and was yapping at Laraque while being pushed over the Yotes bench. It would have been nice to have seen what would have happened should the linesman not have been there. Might have been a different story. As these two are going to the box, Konopka and Nolan get free and start firing away. Each exchange a couple of spirited rights before Konopka sends Nolan down and feeds him a few when he tries to get back up. Surprised this game didn’t have more tough stuff after this, especially being played at 3-0 for quite some time.

Game of the Night – Oilers-Nucks… I will leave this one up to “ILB” at hockey-fights.com:
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This was easily one of the most entertaining games, if not THE most entertaining game of hockey that I have watched thus far this season. It had everything - Amazing hits, fights, lots of roughing after the whistle, and some pretty goals. Here's what I saw... Early in the game, in the first couple of minutes, Zack Stortini absolutely crunches Lucas Krajichek (sp?) with a massive body check. Stortini really caught him in the trolley tracks behind the net, but it was a clean hit. Stortini figured that someone would be coming for him after that hit so he quickly turned and looked for the first guy coming and Rory Fitzpatrick happened to be in the vicinity. They both dropped the gloves but Stortini simply fell on Fitzpatrick and there were no punches thrown - but this set the tone for the rest of the game. Krajichek had to helped off the ice and was gone for the game. Fitzpatrick and Stortini got roughing minors but it started off an extremely intense first period. Then Jeff Cowan off the Canucks nailed one of the Oilers from behind into the boards - It was a big-time hit and probably should have been called for boarding. I can't remember which Oiler it was who got nailed, but it was very hard. Anyway Jeff Greene of the Oilers immediately dropped the gloves and went after Cowan who dropped his gloves as well... Zebras get in there before the fight can really get going and once again two guys with the gloves off are given roughing minors. Excellent officiating for a change! Of course these two big hits set up a lot of animosity and as soon as the coincidental minors are served, there is a whistle in the Canucks' end and we have Zach Stortini vs Jeff Cowan: Stortini lines up facing three Vancouver Canucks players and there is some trash talking going on... One of those Canucks player's is Jeff Cowan and off the draw, they hardly look at the puck and while Stortini is chirping, Cowan drops the gloves. Stortini is one second behind and away they go! Both fighters get in tight and start grappling a little bit, jockeying for position, each guy wary of letting the other get loose. Both guys start throwing with the lefts in tight with Stortini landing about 3-5 shots and Cowan landing 2-4, hard to say without the benefit of a replay. It looked like Stortini's had a little more pop behind them though... Nothing was doing much damage though as they were in pretty close and it was starting to look like a Brashear-esque scrap - but Stortini tried to gain some separation and it became obvious that Stortini wanted to get loose while Cowan was content to keep in close. Stortini switches to the right and throws about two or three shots, one which might have landed solidly, which causes them to separate and gives him more space to throw. Than Stortini throws an absolute bomb of a right hand which might have partially caught Cowan but it was difficult to tell - definitely didn't catch him flush though. Stortini than wrestles Cowan down to the ground and the zebras are there to break things up. Give the win to Stortini - he didn't land much but he controlled the fight and landed more/better. Later in the period Ladislav Smid tried to go after Matt Cooke after Cooke caught somebody with a very hard hit. Cooke of course didn't fight... The chippy play wasn't over though as later on in the period Matt Cooke caught Ales Hemsky with a very hard hit. Hemsky went back after Cooke and got him with a cross-check, and this brought in Raffi Torres and Steve Staios after Cooke. Also at another point Hemsky gave Luongo a partial shot as he went for a rebound and this brought in Canucks d-man Willie Mitchell after Hemsky. Oilers captain Jason Smith didn't like this and he skated in from the point and manhandled Mitchell out of the pile, threw him up against the glass and looked like he wanted to fight him but the linesmen came in quickly. No penalties were issued on the play but it was a VERY intense game. There were several "almost" fights, and it felt like there was a potential for a line brawl on a couple of occasions. These two teams clearly don't like each other. Also Zach Stortini was a force last night - He threw about 3-4 huge hits, the hit on Krajichek being one of the best I've seen yet this season which put Krajichek out for the game, he scored a beautiful goal which was his first NHL goal, had several quality scoring chances and was clearly Edmonton's best player. Great game by Stortini - Lowe and MacTavish couldn't send this guy down if he wanted to after this game. The fans absolutely LOVE him and were chanting his name. Perhaps the best NHL game that I've watched in past two seasons.
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By my count, TEN fights last night. If the NHL had nights like this a bit more often, you would see a hell of a lot more fans in the stands. There were emotion-filled fights, glove throwing, spitting blood, teammates sticking up for one another. It was hockey played with intensity, emotion, and grit.

The most boring game had to have been the Devils-Rangers game… Gary Bettman was in attendance for this one. You make your own comments about this.

The NHL Needs 29 More Brian Burkes

Eric Stephens of the LA Times writes that the Ducks rely on the fighting game… even if the NHL trend moves away from that. Let's just say that the Ducks GM, Brian Burke, is a breathe of fresh air. I would venture to say that if we had 29 other teams out there that had similar compositions, we'd have one exciting NHL to watch.

A couple of interesting quotes here:

The deal for Parros, however, raised some eyebrows around the league because the Ducks' executive gave the Avalanche a second-round pick — something that has become valued currency in a new salary-cap landscape.

The message was clear: Fighting still matters.

Parros isn't alone in his willingness to drop the gloves. Ducks rookie Shane O'Brien has had 11 fights — the same as Parros — while wingers Shawn Thornton and Travis Moen have nine and eight respectively on their cards.

"That's why Corey Perry doesn't get roughed up after whistles," Burke said. "That's why Ryan Getzlaf doesn't get punched in the head after he takes a shot at the net. We have a team that makes people accountable. That's never going to change as long as I'm here."

"I try to make sure our young players see that they don't get abused," Burke said. "The longtime season-ticket holders like the kind of team we have. They've seen Paul Kariya face-washed after a faceoff. I believe in having an enforcer on your
roster at all times."

Phoenix Coyotes forward Georges Laraque, whom many consider to be the league's top fighter, said there was an orchestrated movement by the NHL to get rid of the enforcer.

"It's not behind the scenes," Laraque said. "Everybody sees it. And it's too bad. I'm lucky because I've been in it long enough to make a career out of it."

But Laraque said even if the league wants to eradicate the sport's "goon" image, it can't deny fighting's fan appeal.

"When there's a fight, everybody is out of their seats," said Laraque, who played for Edmonton last season. "And it's tough that the NHL is trying to take us out of it."

Now That's a Chunk of Change!

Did you know that Ted Saskin makes $2.13 million a year? Forget Ken Campbell’s report that a Chris Chelios led group has hired an investigator to look into Saskin’s dealing in his short stint as the NHLPA Director. This guy makes $2.8 million a year! If that is not shady, I don’t know what is. So let’s see, the NFLPA Directors makes $3 million; the NBAPA Director makes $1.8 million; the MLBPA Director makes $1 million. How does Saskin, new to this job, make $2.13 million? I’m dumbfounded. According to Campbell’s report…

There are also questions surrounding Saskin’s salary negotiation. In an email to Linden dated July 17, 2005, a copy of which was obtained by The Hockey News, Saskin used other union leaders salaries as points of comparison. In it, he said “I understand” NFL Players’ Association executive director Gene Upshaw made $3 million per year and NBA Players’ Association head Billy Hunter made $2.8 million. Hunter’s salary is reportedly closer to $1.8 million, while baseball union leader Donald Fehr reportedly makes $1 million with a pension guarantee of $150,000 per year.Saskin’s deal runs through 2009-10 and pays him an average of $2.13 million per year.One player said Saskin’s attempts to receive a salary similar to Goodenow’s – Saskin originally pitched an average salary of $2.4 million compared to Goodenow’s $2.8 million – has irked a number of members.“That’s like a rookie coming in and saying he wants to be paid the same as Nicklas Lidstrom,” the player said. “ “Sorry kid, that’s not how it works. You have to earn it.’ ”

The middle of the end for Gary… and Saskin Now?

I’ll read what Adam Proteau has to say and give you the main points:

First, Oilers chairman Cal Nicholls fired a shot across Gary Bettman’s bow at the last Board of Governors meeting, when he quite correctly derided the commissioner’s laissez-faire leadership during the heated debate over the NHL’s nonsensical schedule.

Then, this week comes rumours the league has made overtures to Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, regarding his willingness to replace Bettman when the latter’s contract expires after the 2007-08 season.

Meanwhile, as THN Senior Writer Ken Campbell and others are reporting, the NHLPA is a mess of near-Mesopotamian proportions. One faction of the union wants nothing less than Ted Saskin’s resignation, while the other wants nothing more than some peace and quiet for at least 10 minutes.

At this point, it’s impossible to say the stories and people undermining Bettman and Saskin have a large degree of credence behind them. But everybody understands these types of tales rarely surface when collective expectations are being met.Two divergent sets of natives are growing increasingly restless, and no amount of Pollyanna press releases can mask that fact.

Let's all face it... Gary's in until 08. After that, it is all up to what the BOG wants... more money for their pockets? Or a better NHL for everyone?

Ray Ferraro Lays Into Matt Cooke

Apparently Cooke was doing some running around against the Oilers and Ray had these kind words to say about him (second hand quote BTW):

“See its players like this guy why we need to get rid of the instigator rule. He's never going to fight, his gloves are sewed on. You'll never get him to drop the gloves. He hides behind the instigator; him and guys like Ruutu from Pittsburgh and Tyson Nash. Those guys are all the same, and they are why we should get rid of the instigator. I would suggest that if they played 15 years ago they would have had their chicklets handed to them.”

Cmon Ray… lighten up. This is the New NHL. The Code is non-existent. Tough guys are neutered. If you want to help your team you dive and lay out cheapies. Haven’t you figured that out yet?

Bam Bam to Retire? Let's Hope So...

According to Bucky Gleason, Matthew Barnaby may have played his final game. If this turns out to be true, the NHL has lost one of its best character players. Barnaby was absolutely fearless, fighting the likes of Donald Brashear, Zdeno Chara (multiple times), Tie Domi (twice in one game), Peter Worrell, Eric Cairns, Sandy McCarthy, Stu Grimson, Craig Berube, and yes, even Rob Ray. Barnaby certainly lost more than he won, but he was more than entertaining. He constantly waived off the linesman to prolong fights. He wrote messages on his front teeth. He was the thorn in your side, the hair in your delicious bowl of oatmeal. If Barnaby retires, he will certainly be missed. Kris Barch has certainly made a quick name for himself in Dallas… while he can’t replace a guy like Barnaby, I think he is following in his foot steps when it comes to being fearless. And even though I am fan of the rough stuff, it pains me to agree that it is time for Bam Bam to retire. Not being able to see for a few minutes after a fight is one thing. Knowing that it is getting worse with each fight is another. Barnaby has a long life to live in front of him. Let’s hope he listens very closely to what his family is telling him…

Ticket Sales Aren't Everything Now...

It’s been a couple of days since I posted. It’s nice to take a break every now and then though. It also gives me time to sit back and clear my mind about issues going on in the NHL. One that has really stuck with my however is attendance. At the beginning of February, the NHL Spin Cycle sent out yet another brow raising article touting a January monthly record for attendance. Strangely enough, this followed a weekend of hard line questions from reporters asking Gary B about attendance issues. Not strangely enough, he sidestepped those questions and maintained that the league’s attendance figures were healthy.

That certainly does bring me to questions… which is more important… ticket sales or actual attendance (who is IN seats)? I know what Gary B would say. But when I was reading a Ross Bernstein interview today, I couldn’t help but think just how much money the NHL is losing because fans aren’t showing up to games. And while NHL touts close to full capacity levels, they most certainly must mean ticket sales. Any one sporting a 10/10 vision would be hard pressed to agree that the average NHL arena is close to full capacity when it comes to fans in seats.

And how about that quote from one of my favorite authors:

“I think almost 70% of revenue from hockey comes from the fans,” Bernstein said. “It comes from tickets and beer and parking and jerseys. So, you have to take care of the fans that come. It's not like football where can you don't have to worry about the 75,000 fans in the stadium as long as you satisfy the 20 million watching at home. There aren't 20 million watching at home in hockey, that's just the nature of the beast. Particularly and especially in places like Carolina and Phoenix . So you have to make it a sellable product.”

So while ticket sales are indeed just that, the NHL is losing out on the things that actual, rear end in seat, attendance brings… parking money, concession (food, regular drink, alcohol) sales, and souvenier sales. When you take that into consideration with this abismal t.v. contract, the league has to be in trouble. Why else do you think articles are coming out about touting a new Commissioner… one that has marketing expertise?

If I were a hockey player...

If I Were a Hockey Player (this has been going around the blogs):

Team: Washington Capitals
Uniform Number: 24
Position: Left Wing
Nickname: Moose
Dream Line mates: Dale Hunter, Neil Sheehy
Rounding out the PP: Mark Tinordi, Rod Langway
Job: Mucker. Slam opponents into the corners. Tip in the occassional goal. Fight guys less than 5'8" and 180 lbs. I'd take it Martin St. Louis.
Signature Move: EA Sports move: Come in at an angle and quickly switch to a forehand. Either that or just pass the puck and go slam into someone.
Strengths: Big guy (6'4", 250 lbs); not afraid to be hit by the puck.
Weaknesses: Speed, aggression level is at 99%.
Injury Problems? Groin. Gary Bettman won't let me stretch it during t.v. timeouts. I asked him if he would stretch it after the game and he actually seemed interested. Scary.
Equipment: Extra large jersey (easy to get out of); no tie down; taped knuckles.
Nemesis: Eric "Big Sissy" Cole.
Scandal Involvement: Gravitate toward Commissioner's wives.

Who I'd face in the Stanley Cup Finals: Red Wings. I would pound them like red headed step children.
What I'd do with the Stanley Cup after our victory: Fill it with frothy beer and drink for a very long time.
Would the media love me or hate me? Love me... I'm entertaining. I'm unique. I'm big and sexy.

The New NHL is Not What We Want Petition

The New NHL is Not What We Want Petition

Sign it, email it (to EVERYONE), add it to your blog, write about it, print it out and mail a hard copy.

It Takes a Village to Put These Ratings in Perspective

It Takes a Village to Put These Ratings in Perspective
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: February 2, 2007
NY Times
Published: February 2, 2007

It was only one of 82 games for the Devils this season, on the road last Saturday night against the Florida Panthers. Not much will be recalled. The Panthers won, 4-2, in front of 18,136 fans at the BankAtlantic Center.

But something quite extraordinary occurred in the New York market: A hockey game broke out on MSG, but almost no one watched.

Only 736 households — a minuscule .01 rating — tuned in.