That amazing wrist shot from the circle? It was actually his dad, Bobby Hull’s, idea. Which is shocking, since Bobby Hull is synonymous with the slapshot. But the elder Hull said the quicker NHL game required a quicker shot.

It’s funny how we’ve come full circle. You rarely see anyone scoring off the rush from the circles. And as great as Brett Hull was, I don’t think he’d have nearly as many of those kinds of goals if he played his prime in the modern NHL. Goalies are simply too big and there’s too much traffic in front of the net to score with any kind of regularity from that far out.

In fact, if I was going to tell a young player to develop any particular shot, I think I’d suggest they work on a slapshot — something that can get through to the net. Not that it would lead to many goals, but the ability to rocket the puck in from the blueline can certainly set up other people for goals.

And that’s really one the neat things about hockey. The game evolves (and sometimes devolves) over time. What works for one generation doesn’t work for another. The ability to evolve is what separates the good players from the great players. Brett Hull developed his wrist shot because it worked. But I have no doubt if he had played in the current era, he would have developed a mammoth slapshot that would have scared the padding out of opposing goalies.

Also, my latest column on how coaches tend to put too much faith in the impact of speed is up.

Related posts:

1. Hull Reaches 700
2. Brett Hull Not Following in Father’s Footsteps
3. A Hull of a Speech

According to Dater, a lot of fans reported ticket prices weren’t the only factor keeping them away from the Pepsi Center. Some fans reported problems with the Avs ticket office — strange ticketing policies and newer season ticket purchasers getting treated better than older ones. Apparently the music played in the Pepsi Center is pretty bad, too, and geared more toward teens than the older fans who probably make up a significant portion of the Avalanche fan base.

And this, to me, is the challenge of sports for the next few years. The NFL treats its fans like garbage, gouging them until there’s nothing left, operating with impunity, because if some fans get tired of the exploitation, there are usually plenty more ready for the opportunity (in most NFL markets, that is). But eventually sports run out of fans to gouge. In the NFL, you’re seeing it in Detroit and Jacksonville. In baseball, even the Yankees wound up dropping regular-season ticket prices when fans wouldn’t pay exorbitant prices for the good seats.

The challenge of sports, for the NHL in particular, is not just accommodating current ticket-buyers, which is huge, but also creating an environment inviting to non-ticket holders. It’s not enough to have your core audience taken care of. Successful teams will think about ways to get new fans into seats, too. Even if it means lowering ticket prices, so people who might not normally attend a game get the chance to experience the sport as a live event.

If teams don’t take care of current fans while simultaneously cultivating new fans, you have what happened Wednesday night in Denver: a first-place team playing in front of 11,012 fans, or a three-quarters full arena, in a previously hockey-mad city.

Keeping fans happy and finding new fans isn’t easy, but it’s crucial to the survival of teams. It takes just a few years for people to fall out of the habit of live hockey; for people to find some place else to take their families and to find another fun way to spend whatever extra cash they have.

Finally, the saddest part in all of this is that this is probably one of the largest crowds Phoenix has seen in a while.

Also, totally unrelated, but in case you somehow missed it, Puck Daddy interviewed Kevin Dallman about life in the KHL, and it’s a really great conversation. If you wonder about life in the KHL, and sadly, I do, this gives you a great sense of what life is like in the league.

Related posts:

1. Gaborik: ‘I Think All the Games Should Be Free’
2. Correction
3. Great Players

New Jersey beat the Capitals 3-2 at home, where the Devils have been pretty awful.

The Devils had a lot of comments relating to how the Capitals seem bummed about playing without their star.

About the only downside to Ovechkin’s durability (he missed just four games in the previous four seasons) is that the team never had to learn to play without him. The crazy thing is, even though he’s week-to-week, he apparently was still in the mix to play last night. So Ovechkin might not even miss more than handful of games.

And the Caps will never have to learn to play without Ovechkin.

The Devils, meanwhile, don’t know what it’s like to play with durability or a consistent line-up. Rob Niedermayer left the Caps game in the third with some kind of upper-body injury. If I’m not mistaken, the New Jersey Devils now consist of goalie Martin Brodeur and a bunch of fans wearing red. Everyone else is hurt.

Speaking of injuries, Colby Armstrong of the Thrashers is a fan of gluing cuts, as opposed to sewing them shut with a needle. Both options sound horrible to me. I don’t think I’d last very long in the NHL.

Related posts:

1. Ovechkin Passes
2. Caps and Penguins: ‘Six Incredible Games Were Enough’
3. Ovechkin Forces Game Seven

Jeff Gordon says he’s already hearing trade chatter from certain NHL GMs, with many already thinking about giving up their season and trying to dump salary.

What separates NHL GMs from most other sports, is that NHL GMs only seem to think about salary implications after a contract is signed.

Vinny Lecavalier, under attack in Tampa, has to be one of those names being whispered about (despite a strong game last night and despite a no-trade clause). People are surprised by Lecavalier’s struggle; I was surprised by his success.

Carolina will also probably be a fire sale, although the Hurricanes seem to alternate strong/awful seasons with a relatively static line-up.

The fact that there are GMs who have already given up on their season is pretty sad, though. Did no one in management see St. Louis’ miracle run last season?

On the flip side of dumping salary, if the play of the Avs continues to be strong, they’ll probably be buyers before the trade deadline. Terry Frei didn’t realize how good the Avs were until he went to Canada and saw the attention the Avalanche were garnering.

Related posts:

1. Roy a Glutton For Punishment?
2. Isles and Leafs Place Offense Before Winning
3. Brathwaite Blues

He’s got long 70s hair and a love of 80s music.

Coach Ken Hitchcock says Voracek is on the verge of becoming an elite player, although when Hitchcock says that, I kind of wonder if he means Voracek is some kind of amazing back-checker.

The Blue Jackets held-on to beat the Caps in overtime last night. It was a crazy game that even featured a goalie switch designed to give Columbus players a little bit of a rest.

Finally, speaking of Columbus, former Blue Jacket and Ohio native Dan Fritsche is one of the many veteran players trying to play his way back into the NHL. Only Fritsche is just 24. Fritsche made $875,000 last season on an NHL contract. His AHL deal pays $100,000, which I know isn’t as much, but still sounds pretty good. I thought AHL guys made a lot less than that.

It’s pretty crazy how more and more, NHL third and fourth lines are getting to be like LOGAN’S RUN.

Related posts:

1. Columbus Discovers Brathwaite
2. Columbus Discovers an Announcer, Too
3. Columbus Discovers Irbe

Maybe.

Even though he finished last season relatively strong, Steve Stamkos was written off as a bust, or at least as someone with the potential to be a huge bust. Now, 10 games into Tampa’s season, Stamkos has nine goals and five assists and looks like a real NHL presence. In fact, Stamkos leads Tampa in goals so far this season.

Vinny Lecavalier says the Lightning are average now, but are close to becoming much better.

There are certainly a lot of nice pieces to work with. It makes you wonder just how much damage Barry Melrose did in his short tenure as coach, if the team is just snapping out of its malaise now.

Maybe the Lightning should see if Alexandre Daigle is available. I wonder if Tampa coach Rick Tocchet could get him going.

Speaking of coaches, Marc Crawford coached his 1,000th game last night. Interestingly, none of Crawford’s 1,000 games has included his starting an NHL-quality goaltender. Look it up.

Over on Bleacher Report, I wrote about how some NHL teams are so deep, no injury seems to be able to stop them.

Related posts:

1. Sad Stamkos
2. The Stamkos Diaries
3. Draft Busts

It’s still a little early to say it’s not working out, but Sykora was a healthy scratch against Nashville last night. That came after getting less than 10 minutes against Chicago Monday night.

Sykora has just one goal in six games this season.

It’s not just Sykora who’s not producing, though. The Wild have only scored 25 goals so far this season, putting them in the bottom third of NHL teams. Only two players have more than two goals. No one on the team seems to be going.

Over in Philadelphia, Simon Gagne is on long-term injury with a hernia injury. Interestingly, the team is calling up Randy Jones, who’ll have to pass through re-entry waivers and plan to have Blair Betts back this weekend. Apparently, the team has no interest in Brendan Shanahan. And the fact that the Flyers now see Jones and Betts as comparables to Gagne and Shanahan tells you just how far the fortunes of both Gagne and Shanahan have fallen.

Speaking of older players, Mike Modano is still interested in playing for the U.S. Olympic team. Step one would be playing in the NHL: Modano’s been out with with a rib injury since the first game of the season. Still, it’s hard to think of USA hockey without thinking of Modano. And I’m not sure it would be horrible to have a more defense-oriented, veteran forward on the team. Just as long as the whole U.S. hockey team isn’t throwback. I don’t need to see Jeremy Roenick trying to launch some kind of comeback on the world stage.

Finally, here is my look at if NHL coaches have an obligation to let their talented, offensive players score as frequently as possible.

Related posts:

1. Sykora Showing Value of Veterans
2. Wild, Wild Win; Flyers Grounded
3. Crazy Scoring for Sabres and Wild

Who knew goaltending was such an important position? Jonas Gustavsson earned his first NHL win with his second solid NHL start.

But credit Anaheim, too, for playing a very dull game. It’s almost like they wanted to give the Leafs their first win of the season.

Now, with the one win under their belt, it’s not like the Leafs are ready to take the NHL by storm. They’re still a weak team with a lot of issues. But with the one win completed, they should be in a position to earn a win more often than every nine games.

Turning to other struggling NHL teams, the Islanders continue a rather impressive streak of going to overtime, only to lose. While the Islanders aren’t in great shape, standings-wise, imagine how bad it would be without the charity point.

Finally, the Wild are 0-8 on the road to start this season. The good news is they’re undefeated at home, so there seems to be a decent chance the team can still finish at .500. It’s very strange how the team has been unable to put together a solid 60-minute game on the road.

Even with some teams like these obviously suffering in a big way, the NHL’s U.S. TV ratings are up, seemingly driven by the power of the game in HD.

I don’t think anyone should have to watch Toronto in HD, though. That seems inhumane to all parties involved.

Related posts:

1. Isles and Leafs Place Offense Before Winning
2. Isles Love Starting a Backup
3. Wild, Wild Win; Flyers Grounded

But their most pressing problem might be goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s groin.

Giguere is making $6 million this season and $7 million next season, even as the Ducks have a much stronger, cheaper goaltending option in Jonas Hiller.

It’s been fairly obvious that Anaheim wants to trade Giguere and has been giving him starts to keep him sharp and to showcase him. And Giguere is a solid, proven goalie who would have attracted some interest.

Would have. Until he left Saturday’s loss to the Blue Jackets with a sore groin.

Teams won’t take a chance on an expensive goalie like Giguere if there are concerns about groin issues. And if Giguere doesn’t come off of the Anaheim cap, they can’t get in some secondary scoring and a shut-down defenseman, both of which the team needs.

Giguere’s health is the key to Anaheim’s immediate future. Not because they need him to play for them, but because they need him to play his way onto another team.

Also, here’s something I wrote about the current New York Rangers trying to re-create the 2001-02 Wings. Because if the Rangers love one thing, it’s old players.

Related posts:

1. Turco Wants Giguere Money
2. Groin Talk
3. Wings Duck Ducks

• The latest episode of the RinkSideRants podcast is available for your listening pleasure. Tim and I talked struggling teams: Leafs, Bruins, and Isles.
• I’ve got something up on BleacherReport about the rise of the scoring defenseman — specifically in Phoenix.

Related posts:

1. Shanahan Can’t Be Cut; He Quits!
2. Stars Stick to Goalie Plan; Sabres Try to Stay Hot
3. Plugs