NHL
National Hockey League
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Building Tampa’s Championship Roster
John over at boltsmag.com takes a good look at how the Tampa Bay Lightning built their championship team last season. It’s a great timeline of how it all came together, give it a read when you have a few moments.
Monday, April 04, 2005
ESPN Doesn’t Ask About Hockey
ESPN.com has a poll on the front page of their site that asks: Which sporting event would you most like to attend?
The choices:
Game 7 of NBA Finals
Game 7 of World Series
NCAA basketball title game
Super Bowl
Masters Tournament
You notice the absence of the Stanley Cup Finals as a choice.
It’s not too big a slam against hockey, with no NHL this season, even the fans the NHL has are bitter right now, and it’d most likely come in dead last. The Super Bowl is easily leading the way right now with 43.6% of respondants choosing the big NFL game to attend above all others. The World Series has a cushy second place spot at 27.1% and the NCAA final game is in third with 15%. I have little doubt if this poll was conducted in August, and not the same day as the NCAA final game, fewer would have chosen tonight’s game.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Changes? What Changes?
You know you’ve heard it: when the NHL returns - the game will be different. The AHL has made all sorts of changes this year: moving the nets back a couple of feet, implementing different offsides and icing rules, having wider blue lines, tinkering with the colors of the ice surface, limiting goaltender movement, having a shootout - all to see if this will increase offense and flow in the game.
Now there are talks of possibly making the nets bigger along with all those other changes.
Well, wait a second, Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press reports that these changes haven’t worked, even shootouts aren’t what were expected:
“There was a shootout last game,” Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said in Houston, where he watched the minor league Aeros. “They made three out of 10, one goal on one side, two on the other. Maybe five out of 10 wouldn’t be too bad. But three out of 10?
“The goalies are bigger. The equipment is bigger. It’s just harder to score.”
And those other changes?
In fact, the changes might have had an adverse effect on the game as defenders have compensated by clutching and grabbing more than ever.
“I’ve seen some games, I’m telling you, they just hold and grab,” Lemaire said, sounding offended by the whole approach.
“Play has deteriorated,” said [Wild GM Doug] Risebrough, who has been following the Aeros. “The skill players are trying to perform, but there is so much obstruction. I was disappointed by the level of officiating. With all the holding, it doesn’t matter what you do to the ice surface.”
Risebrough said the obstruction surely will carry over to the NHL whenever play resumes. The more changes are made to boost offense, the more defenders will grab and hold. And unless the referees put a stop to it, which hasn’t happened yet, it’s only going to get worse.
One thing is for sure, the NHL is looking to improve the game. Changes made for the sake of change aren’t going to work though.
I’ll fall back on what I’ve been saying for some time. I think it all comes down to one thing more than anything else: coaching. Coaches coach to win, and nothing else. There’s no “entertainment” in the job description, nor is there much security nowadays.
Coaches need guaranteed contracts. Give a coach a three-year guaranteed contract and say “win and entertain”. A coach with a guaranteed contract isn’t paranoid about every non-converted breakaway and giveaway made by his team (or her team, as we’re progressive here at TIB). This sort of coach doesn’t exist anymore though. What you have now is a system where everyone has to win today or they’re gone tomorrow. It forces coaches to ream players who take risks. We don’t see many defensemen who move up to join the rush because of systems, not because of a lack of talent. Move up and possibly turnover the puck and give the opponent and odd-man rush? No way, you can be benched the next game for that.
Clutching and grabbing doesn’t exist just because players decided to do it more, it’s because it’s practically taught into the game. Taught one day, whined about the next. You simply can’t let anyone get by you for a scoring opportunity, and don’t you dare move into a risky position, even if it can lead to your own scoring chance. Boring, mistake-free hockey.
Develop a player? Are you nuts? Players have to produce now or they’re out of town faster than you can say Olli Jokinen (That’s OH-lee YOKE-ih-nehn. Ok, so you have a little time, but don’t push it). Why would any coach give a developing player ice time for the future coach to get credit for his play? Why risk losing today for the coach of tomorrow? What it comes down to is you just can’t. You have to win now, or you’re gone and the product on the ice is going to reflect that.
This isn’t to say coaches need to coach throughout their entire contacts. If it’s not working out for a coach, he should be able to be re-assigned within the organization for some percentage of his coaching salary. Also, at that time he should be free to talk with other teams, and if a move is made the current contract is ended. Simply said: there’s a bit of a cushion. You can’t lose everything, and you have more room to take risks.
In the end, you have to look at what’s working and what isn’t, and many of the proposed changes simply aren’t working. There’s no reason to implement rules that do nothing to improve the game, and there’s certainly no reason to give fans false hope. Let’s try and start hitting this thing at the root. No more band-aids, let’s give the game some real medicine. Influencing coaching can change style of play more than anything else, and hopefully more people with more ideas to influence coaching changes will surface before play begins in the NHL again.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Lawyer Suing St. Pete Times Forum
Here’s the newest frivolous lawsuit: a Tampa lawyer is suing the St. Pete Times Forum saying he got a headache when a fellow spectator threw a hard plastic cup that hit him in the head.
The lawsuit against Tampa Bay Area Ltd. alleges that during the May 10 Lightning-Philadelphia Flyers playoff game, Mark Rodriguez got clocked by a fan “incited by the repetitive replay of a fight that occurred on the ice.”
There were two fights that game: Danil Markov - Darryl Sydor and Donald Brashear - Chris Dingman. Neither were barnburners, not that it matters in a case like this.
After Rodriguez sues the Forum, he might want to go out and sue whatever television station the cup-thrower watched the night before, for inspiring him to go to the game, and maybe find out if cup-thrower has any video game consoles, because we know video games cause us to do bad things too.
Oh, wait a second, what was in that cup pre-throw?
The suit says the Forum was “having an all-you-can-drink night that caused spectators to become intoxicated.”
Oh. I see. So replaying a fight to a drunken hockey crowd (what? hockey fans drink?), made this man - who may or may not have actually been drunk - throw a cup. Well, I do understand, with all the cup-throwing that goes on in those fights, that he’d see the link there. After all, I was at a hockey game with a few drunk fans and they were showing replays of hard hits, which caused someone to randomly take their shirt off, and a great goal reel, which caused two people to break their chairs, and then have to stand in front of others the rest of the game. Direct links, all of them.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Baseball Players to Hockey Players: We Missed You
The Associated Press is running a story about a handful of baseball players (and an umpire) missing the hockey season. It’s fluff, some will enjoy it, some not, you probably know which side you fall on before even reading it. My favorite tidbit: Mike Piazza met his wife through Sheldon Souray and his wife.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Euro Swinging
Jes G?lbez reported the Euro leagues were getting violent compared to the games played in the regular season on Tuesday. Two days later he commented on IIHF president René Fasel going off about it. Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer brings up the situation again.
Jes sums up my own opinion well in two statements:
I take this statement [from René Fasel] to be a jab at the large amount of North American players taking up spots on European rosters these days… Methinks Rene should also cool down just a little.
Seriously. This is European hockey, stick-swinging incidents are nothing new, and as Tim Panaccio of the Inquirer points out there’s an ironic twist here: there’s a decline in fights during NHL playoff hockey, not an increase like these European leagues are seeing.
Here’s the roster for the game that set the new record for penalty minutes in a game in the Russian Superleague:
Lokomotiv
G-Lamothe
D-Ryazantsev, Karpovsky, Rakhunek, Murphy, Zhukov, Vasiliev, Krasotkin
F-Mikhnov, But, Nepryaev, Shafigulin, Schastlivy, Tkachenko, Shvidky, Korolev, Galimov, Vlasenkov, Yashin, Antropov, KryukovAvangard
G-Maracle
D-Gusev, Nikitin N., Koltsov, Guskov, Panov, Nikitin I., Bondarev, Tverdovsky
F-Zatonsky, Perezhogin, Kuriyanov, Popov, Bednar, Khatsey, Prokopiev, Subbotin, Nazarov, Jagr, Kalyuzhny
Probably not the names you were expecting to see.
Some more Russian hockey coverage over here in NA:
Bladed messenger - from the Toronto Star
Between August and December of 2004, Dave Bidini travelled (sic) with a film crew 4,000 kilometres, West to East, across Russia looking for the story of hockey. The results of his trip are The Hockey Nomad Goes to Russia, airing Monday at 9 p.m. on CBC, and the following piece, which relates some of the highlights.
Missing home in the homeland - From the St. Petersburg Times about Nikolai Khabibulin’s return to Russia.
Rough translation - From the St. Petersburg Times
Tampa Bay Lightning star Vinny Lecavalier returns home this week after four months of playing hockey in Russia, exiled because of the NHL lockout. This month, Times staff writer Tom Jones and photographer Dirk Shadd traveled 26 hours over three days to Kazan, 412 miles east/southeast of Moscow, to chronicle what Lecavalier described as the experience of a lifetime.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
History Lessons
A couple of good articles today for those who want to reminisce, or for those looking to learn some hockey history:
From the Montreal Gazette:
The only living member of famous Punch Line
Elmer Lach teamed with Rocket Richard and Toe Blake to form one of NHL’s great trios
From the Vancouver Sun:
A cup for the ages: Ninety years ago today the Vancouver Millionaires completed a sweep of the Ottawa Senators
Caps Considering Hershey as New Affiliate
The Colorado Avalanche haven’t chosen a new affiliate yet, but they have said goodbye to the Hershey Bears.
The Washington Capitals, currently affiliated with the Portland Pirates, are believed to be interested in having Hershey as an affiliate. The Caps were affiliated with Hershey from 1977-78 to 1983-84.
Distance was a major factor in Colorado’s decision. The Avs are said to be considering a team closer in locale as an affiliate, although this season few players were actually under Colorado contract, and Hershey was not happy with the arrangement either.
If the Capitals were to choose Hershey as their new AHL affiliate over Portland, the drive would be reduced from ten hours to two. Air travel was possible from Portland, but the Times notes weather is always a concern.
Many NHL teams have chosen AHL affiliates that are closer in location over the past decade, or even have the team move into the same NHL city. Some of the latest moves include the Edmonton Oilers’ affiliate moved from Toronto to Edmonton in time for the 2004-05 season and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ affiliate in St. John’s will move to Toronto next season.
NHL Files Complaint Against Union
From TSN:
TSN has learned the NHL has formally filed an “unfair labor practice” complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in the United States over the NHLPA’s apparent policy that any NHLPA member who were to become a replacement player next season would have to re-pay the lockout “stipend” he is currently receiving from the union.
Via Jes G?lbez
The NHL will likely take action against any NHLPA policy that makes it harder for current/former NHLers to become replacement players. One other possible move by the NHLPA to prevent union members from becoming replacement players would be the NHLPA decertifying agents who represent replacement players, which would also be likely to bring on a lawsuit from the NHL.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Troy Crowder Interview
I just posted: Q & A: Troy Crowder on hockeyfights.com.
The videos page has some clips, with a few extras in the forums thread.