Hard work, honesty, and accountability. It’s all we ask for as fans and it’s traits like that that have made someone like Mike Ricci probably the most beloved player in San Jose Sharks history despite having guys who’ve put up way more points and shown much more skill. They work hard, they remain humble, and they keep things in context.

Now I understand that players can demand to be traded. It happens, and sometimes it’s best for both parties to move on. Just like I have the freedom to quit a job or not renew a client, players have the freedom to ask to be traded—but it comes with a price. In this economy, no one’s going to quit a job—just like in today’s recession-hit salary cap world, players have to understand that when they ask to be traded, their options will be limited.

There’s a process and there are logistics to trade requests. Respect the two, and things will be work themselves out. Lash out against it and expect a backlash, from the media, the fans, and from other teams. Which brings us to the case of one Dany Heatley.

Continue reading "“He would just like this to all go away.”"

For a more appropriate version of that, you can put Carrie Milbank on the NHL Awards Show but it’s still the NHL Awards Show.

The very strange thing about this year’s Las Vegas not-so-spectacular is that I found the run-up to it to be fairly entertaining. From the outdoor skating with Alexander Ovechkin to the pretty amusing red carpet interviews with the lovely Carrie Milbank, it seemed like just about all of the players were in a relaxed, goofy mood and willing to joke around. One of the best things I heard out of Vegas was Patrick Kane and Kris Versteeg on the NHL Hour, where Kane told the story of how he wasn’t allowed near the gambling tables because of his age.

Then came the actual Awards Show. 

Continue reading "You Can Take The Awards Show Out Of Toronto…"

On the other hand, should the Penguins beat the odds and win, everyone’s handing the Conn Smythe over to Evgeni Malkin.

Now hold on a second. While Malkin was, to use a Pierre McGuire term, a monster during the Carolina series and has been very strong against the Red Wings, am I the only one who remembers that it took about two series for him to really get going?

Continue reading "Picking Conn Smythe"

There was a time after the lockout when it wasn’t like this. If you’ll recall the 2006 Final with Carolina and Edmonton, the level of officiating wasn’t at the regular season level, but fairly close.

Instead, this has gotten to a point where the refs (and their overseer, Stephen Walkom) have established a precedant and now they can’t seem to go back on it. Interference, hooking, cross-checking, all of it goes uncalled by both teams except for either really blatant fouls or random “statement” calls.

Obviously, you’re going to get officiating complaints from fans involved with any playoff series. Maybe the magic powers of the internet have made them all the more vocal, but I get the sense that people are more disgruntled with officiating than in previous years. And I know I’ve seen more mainstream articles calling out the officiating in previous years. The fact that ref complaints are so loud and so numerous, not only in the typical fan situation but as observations from general hockey media, seemingly points to a desire for the standard to be upheld. In other words, as much as there’s support for the notion of “let the boys play,” ultimately, most people want the rules to be called.

I’ll say that again in hopes that Walkom is somehow paying attention: ultimately, most people want the rules to be called.

Continue reading "Something We Can (Hopefully) All Agree On"

Earlier, the boss pointed out that Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star was liveblogging the court hearing regarding the neverending Balsillie v. NHL battle. Now for us hockey fans, waiting until the puck drop for a game where Lord Stanley might be handed out is bad enough as it is. Now try imagining that wait while sitting through a court session where lawyers make petty arguments against each other.

What’s happened so far? Um...not a lot. In fact, between 1:30 PM and 2:45 PM (Arizona time), McGran had a total of five updates: one indicating he made a post on the Toronto Star’s website, one talking about the endless lawyer debates, one on his need to eat and relieve himself, and two—count them, two—on actual court happenings.

Perhaps the judge himself summed it up best: “If this is an endurance contest, I’ll concede.” Hang in there, Kevin; your diligence is much appreciated.

Presenting Phoenix Legal, a new dramatic interpretation of the real-life courtroom battle unfolding in front of us starring Patrick Stewart, Bruce Campbell, William Shatner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the dudes from Office Space. It’s kind of like when E! had actors re-enact the Michael Jackson trial in semi-real time, except with movie clips.

Continue reading "Phoenix Coyotes: The Movie"

Think of it this way. When the Ottawa Senators were in financial trouble back in 2002, scuttlebutt had Balsillie ready to catch the proverbial ball if Eugene Melnyk’s group dropped it. If this whole thing was about Balsillie trying to “make it seven,” wouldn’t he bypass the opportunity to purchase a Canadian franchise and stick with trying to relocate an American one? When I asked Balsillie’s team about this very notion, they didn’t answer the question. Instead, they just said that they didn’t want to talk about the past and they wanted to focus on the current venture.

Fair enough. But by avoiding that issue, Balsillie’s team failed to really refute that argument and, in a way, cement their nationalistic argument. Sidestepping it pulls the curtain back on the Wizard of Blackberry.

And really, his true intentions are nothing to be terribly ashamed about. He simply wants to own a team from his favorite sport in his backyard. He’s a billionaire, so he’s got every right to do that. It’s his execution that’s flawed, arrogant, and screams more of an attention-getting brat than a clever businessman.

Continue reading "“Make It Seven” Is PR Spin, Not Nationalism"

But the Sabres are always in a very precarious financial position, given Buffalo’s shrinking size and awful economy. The Sabres (company name Niagara Frontier Hockey, L.P.) depend on the roughly 15 percent of their business that comes from the Niagara Peninsula, all the way up the Golden Horseshoe to Hamilton. Never mind that after almost 40 years most of the Canadians who attend Sabres games do not root for Buffalo; the main thing is that they’re helping to fill the HSBC Arena.

It would take an enormous indemnification payment to the Sabres to make them give up as much as 15 percent of their annual business — an amount that Balsillie is trying to get out of paying by trying to strike down the N.H.L. territory rules in a Phoenix court. Unless the Sabres — who were themselves being operated by the league and at risk of folding before Golisano bought them in 2003 — get that kind of big money, they will never approve a Coyotes move to Hamilton that could easily drive them out of business.

Anyone interested in the situation—or if you’re a fan of the Buffalo Sabres—should read the entire thing here.

This is where the Cowboy moniker was earned by OK Hockey. And it showed up on Monday night during the Q and A forum when Oren Koules declared to the world that Jay Feaster had never had the nerve to say he wouldn’t trade Vincent Lecavalier:

“Feaster probably said that after he was fired. He didn’t have the guts to say it before.”

Um...Oren? You might want to pull out your Saw DVDs and pop in the Lightning’s championship DVD where—on film, digitally encoded, preserved until the end of freakin’ time—Jay Feaster says that he didn’t want to be remembered as the guy who traded Vincent Lecavalier. Yes, he said it, and yes, he said it in public. He also said it in print and the story’s been around for years. And here’s a first-hand recount of the tale courtesy of Feaster’s blog at The Hockey News.

What’s sad about this whole thing is that Tampa Bay built up a pretty solid fan base since the start of the decade and OK Hockey’s arrogance and foot-in-mouth syndrome are killing any confidence the public has about the team’s management. Here’s hoping that Jacques Lemaire does end up in Tampa Bay as rumored so an old-school hockey guy can hopefully beat some humility into the team’s upper management.

This got me to thinking: what if Bill Wirtz was still running this team? Since his death hasn’t really changed the on-ice product (GM Dale Tallon has acquired all of Chicago’s key pieces through drafting, trades, and signings), so it’s really about off-ice perception. The one area where that might be different is with Brian Campbell; while Tallon knew Campbell was a talented puck-moving defenseman, he basically acknowledged overpaying him as a means to keep market momentum going.

So let’s say that theoretically, the Hawks reproduce this on-ice success but have done it under the black cloud of Bill Wirtz. That means no local TV of home games, no bringing back legendary players, no Blackhawks Convention, and probably no Winter Classic. Last season, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews probably would raised an eyebrow for the Chicago sports public but nothing more—after all, the non-playoff Hawks probably would have been viewed as the same old, same old.

Continue reading "What Would Bill Wirtz Think?"

Continue reading "Balsillie’s Team Answers"

The B’s can talk all they want about execution. But their problem in losing the last two games was that the relatively no-name Hurricanes looked like a team that wanted to win more.

Forgive me if I’m taking this out of context, but I’m constantly confounded at the lack of respect the Hurricanes have received this playoff. Did any of the Canes’ critics watch Carolina down the stretch? For a while, they were the hottest team in the league, and Cam Ward was one of the hottest goalies in the league.

Let’s look at this “relatively no-name” squad, shall we?

Continue reading "“No-Name” Hurricanes?"