For some, "balanced reporting" and "The New York Times" are mutually exclusive terms. Last weekend's notebook item titled "Enthusiasm Cools for Hockey's Foray Into the South" did little to dispel that notion; here was a doom and gloom report on the NHL in non-traditional markets -- an indictment of Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Nashville, Atlanta, Washington, Florida and Carolina -- that contained not a single interview with any of the defamed. Instead we have two financial consultants, a crackpot Marcel Dionne and NHLPA president Paul Kelly, keeping that Canadian wet dream of the NHL's return to Winnipeg alive.
There are some basic misconceptions and ingrained hypocrisy throughout the piece. Let's explore them together, shall we?
The case for NBC renewal is to maintain a relationship with the NHL and keep hockey on the network as a lead-up to coverage of the Winter Olympics hockey tournament in 2010.
The argument against includes low ratings. NBC's numbers at this point last season weren't good. After two games, the average was 1.1 (percentage of the potential household tuned in). After two games this season, not counting the Buffalo outdoor game, the average has dropped to a remarkably poor 0.8. NBC isn't losing money in its profit-sharing deal with the NHL, but it could be earning more by airing something else on Sunday afternoons.
Houston theorizes that NBC's withdrawal from hockey could hasten the League's return to ESPN, but Versus will have more to say about that decision than anyone else since it has U.S. cable exclusivity for the NHL. I'm still thinking one of Houston's previous reports that had all three networks sharing coverage will come to pass; because I believe a return to ESPN is basically a foregone conclusion, and because Bettman and the League understand the prestige and symbolic value of a broadcast network deal -- as poor as the ratings have been.
Hockey Nerd Tuesday examines those who spend an uncomfortable amount of time putting the "fan" in fanatic. Have a hockey nerd you'd like to see featured? E-mail Greg Wyshynski with the details.
Scott Stratten seems like a happy and successful guy, serving as the president for Un-Marketing, a Canadian marketing firm. But the truth is that he's been in a long-term abusive relationship ... with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The following (rather hilarious) video features the bitter end of his love affair with the Boys in the Blue Pajamas. Among his reasons: "Forty-one years without going all the way is way too long of a dry spell"; "I yearn for Bester and Wregget between the pipes"; "I need to leave this retirement home for decrepit NHL players and move somewhere else."
As he mentions at the end of the video, he's willing to be wooed by another team, and can be reached by e-mail at noleafsno@un-marketing.com. But for now: "Please just go Leafs ... go."
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
I have to imagine life for a Nashville Predators fan can be correctly described as surreal at times. Coming within an inch of Jim Balsillie's ego from moving to Hamilton, and remaining in the relocation whispers of naysayers even as new ownership takes hold. The "here today, gone 22 games later" of Peter Forsberg. Those third jerseys (yikes). So when the team beats an opponent called the Hurricanes, and fans have to then remain in the arena while deadly tornadoes blow by Nashville, I suppose it's just in keeping with the Predatory weirdness.
But it even gets more surreal: This Nashville team, despite all the adversity, is four points away from the four seed in the Western Conference after its national television Versus victory over Carolina last night. And the three reasons why the Preds were finally able to put one past a red-hot Cam Ward in the 1-0 victory just happen to also be the best line in hockey right now: JP Dumont, Jason Arnott and Alexander Radulov.
(Coming Up Next: Last Night's Losers, The Leafs Hit Rock Bottom, Why The Southeast Division Doesn't Deserve a Playoff Spot, Devils Fans Dating Rangers Fans Are Fan-tastic, Tonight's Must-See Games and Pimping Out Ovechkin's Garage.)
What does this say? It says that the Avs, once the toughest ticket in this town, are getting desperate to fill the building again, by any means necessary. We're almost into February, and the Avs are having to off-load tickets at bargain rates against an Original Six team. The Avs are not alone in their troubles, of course. I've been shocked at how poorly the Nuggets have drawn, a first-place team with two of the biggest stars in the league.
Last month,Sports Illustrated's Michael Farber identified St. Paul, Minn. as the city with the credentials to call itself "Hockeytown, U.S.A." As for previous H-town Detroit, Farber kicked some sand in its face when he said the Hockeytown moniker for the Red Wings' base of operations "seems as appropriate as, well, dipping a beef taco in a glass of milk."
Ouch. Farber's article was still on the mind of NHL.com writer Roger Phillips when he identified what he believes is a passing of the torch between Hockeytowns old and new: Jan. 10, when Craig Leipold agreed to buy the Wild and Minnesota defeated the Red Wings, 6-5, in a shootout at Joe Louis Arena. He went on to cite Winter Classic ratings in the two cities (making sure to mention the obvious, which is that the Wolverines drained the Detroit numbers), Leipold's management style and the owner's mullet as evidence to the Wild's Hockeytown prestige.
If suffocating trap hockey and organizational arrogance equal the formula to capture "Hockeytown's" title, the boring Wild can keep it. The Wings just keep on winning instead.
After hearing a recording of the interview, I can tell you there was a major miscommunication between what was said and what was reported. So where would listeners get the impression that Oilers fans broke into Pronger's house and went Devil's Night on his baby bed? You can thank Jim Rome for that. Here are Pronger's comments, following Rome's question about Edmonton fans' feelings towards him: Sorry, No Photos
After last year's unmitigated disaster -- which moved at the pace of a beer league game -- the NHL has dramatically re-imagined its YoungStars All-Star Weekend event, making it less of a game than a puckhead version of Streetball (which matches well with the rumored "slam dunk competition" later in the evening, and should fuel those "Bettman is an NBA sleeper agent" conspiracy theories). According to NHL.com, the two YoungStars teams "will play two six-minute periods of running time. One faceoff will start each period. If the puck leaves the ice, another will get thrown on. If a team scores, the three players have to retreat to their defensive side of center ice before attacking again. For a team to be declared the victor, it will have to win each period."
Eh, whatever. Sounds fun, especially with Patrick Kane, Sam Gagner and Peter Mueller operating in the West and no big lumbering mope named Malkin in the East this time around. Mirtle correctly points out that most of these players might as well be rookies from the Martian League for the general populace of hockey fans in Atlanta, but I think this format works well to defuse that problem: A few dazzling goals by these players in a 3-on-3 format and the fans will come around. Where the League has made an enormous mistake is between the pipes. Eric Duhatschek reports that due to the lack of rookie talent in goal these days -- Carey Price, we hardly knew ye -- the regular all-star goalie will also play the rookie game.
Great. As a Devils fan, the last thing I want to see is an overworked Marty Brodeur stretching to stop Kane/Mueller 2-on-1's followed by a few Western Conference trick-shots later in the skills competitions. But more importantly: Who the hell wants to see quality defense in either the YoungStars game or the "slam dunk" competition? Forget the cream of the crop; the NHL should draft the four biggest slices of Swiss in the League at the break and punish them by turning them into All-Star skills competition prop sieves.
Finally, a reason to get Atlanta's Johan Hedberg (3.18 GAA, .899 save percentage), Tampa Bay's Johan Holmqvist (3.09, .886), Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson (3.12, .901) and Los Angeles King and television personality Jean-Sebastien Aubin (3.20, .889) into this year's all-star festivities.
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
So here's my question: What if the Leafs actually, you know, make the playoffs?
(Coming Up Next: Last Night's Losers, Sabres Fan-tastic, A Tribute to the NHL's All-Average Team, Tonight's Must-See Games and why the Leafs' GM is Fergalicious.)
Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.
The best thing about the NHL All-Star Game voting is that there aren't a bunch of media wonks and hyperactive pollsters over-analyzing and underestimating potential results. For 21 of yesterday's 24 hours, every talking head on cable television was telling me one candidate was so far ahead in the polls that he was already working on his first State of the Union address; in the last three hours, after this future king's opponent was victorious in New Hampshire, their best explanation was several variations of "Hey, wha' happened?"
The worst thing about the NHL All-Star Game voting is that, at best, it's a farce. Last year's Vote for Rory shenanigans had their valorous virtues, but exposed the process as a sham two steps up from a secondary school student council election, full of ballot box stuffing and silly popularity contest posturing that defies any reward a player should deserve for a dynamic first half of the season.
Now that we know the starters, let's take a look as some of the more interesting and baffling numbers in the 2008 All-Star balloting...
(Coming Up Next: Last Night's Losers, Mexican Wrestling Puckheads, Arrested Development vs. The Office in Hockey Terms, Tonight's Games You Should Be Watching, and Either the Most Loathesome of Wickedly Amusing All-Star Game Video You've Ever Seen.)
William Houston of the Globe & Mail reports Wednesday that 
Every day from Monday to Saturday, 
Last month, 
Last month,
There was a nasty bit of 
After last year's unmitigated disaster -- 
Every day from Monday to Saturday, 
Every day from Monday to Saturday, 
