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SCF Game 2 Wrap: Hey, Where Were You?

June 5, 2011 By

Again, I was a third period game watcher, so I can only talk about that, but here are some of the tweets from the first two periods that I liked and kept me going:

Just said this in the Puck Daddy chat (come join us), and I RARELY say this, but.... Boston needs a fight. I hate saying that, but it's true
June 4, 2011 7:22 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@jtbourne
Justin
ELIAS: Recchi is the oldest player to score a goal in Stanley Cup Final history at 43 years, 123 days. The previous oldest was Igor Larionov
June 4, 2011 7:59 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite
@Buccigross
John Buccigross
How to get a penalty, by Aaron Rome: throw a hit, miss your target, sit in the box.
June 4, 2011 7:49 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite
@ryanclassic
Ryan Classic

Good stuff, good stuff.

Silverbacks miss an opportunity then go two down. Sigh.
June 4, 2011 6:50 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@gsdgsd
Greg D

Hey, what?  HEY!!! There’s hockey going on! What the hell!!!

 

Some other thoughts:

- Manny Malholta looks awful.  And I only mean his eye.  But wow, WHAT A MAN!  It doesn’t matter what he did on the ice, he is the story of the season.  I know they liked him in Columbus, they liked him in San Jose, but they LOVE him in Vancouver.

- The goaltending is often great, but Luongo and Thomas are showing what the advantages and disadvantages of playing deep in your net and away form your net are, respectively.  You could make an instructional video out of this.

- That second goal against the Bruins was ugly.  Just mind-bendingly bad.  There wasn’t a single Bruins player who was happy where they were on the ice.  They should have to watch video on that goal like they were Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange.

- I see a lot of new Canucks jerseys in Toronto.  No wear and tear, no fading, no fraying.  Just saying.

- Dog of the night?  Either Andrew Ference or Zendo Chara.  I’d like to see them fight for the title.  Hell, they should have to fight for it.  It would be the most battle either one of them showed.

 

OK, it’s time to talk about the last goal.  There were about four things wrong with that goal.

- You win the face-off, and immediately try to punch it forward through traffic?  The one thing you see in the NHL versus any other league is the willingness to keep possession of the puck by skating into your own zone to buy time.  The Canucks were great at taking the passing lanes away and putting pressure on the Bruins had the puck in their own zone.  Still, bad choice.

- Tim Thomas chased the puck.  How do you chase that puck?   This was a flash of the Winter Classic, when Thomas went for the check against Scott Hartnell when Danny Syvret was shooting the puck.


Find the missing Thomas.

- Chara. Chara, Chara, Chara.  You were beat. You were right there.  No one wants to take a penalty in overtime, but if there ever was a good penalty to take, that was it. Clutch, grab, whatever it takes.  That’s not the play you want to make.

- Why were Chara and Ference on the ice together?  Do you think that will ever happen again in this series?  Has that EVER HAPPENED?

Guess who isn't smiling now
Guess who isn’t smiling now?

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Claude Julien in his post game presser (I didn’t DVR this, and can’t go back easily, so consider the ‘quotes’ paraphrased):

‘I don’t know if it’s about them taking over in the third period’   …… Um, we do.  They took over.  No, your team handed it over.

‘I don’t think we’ve played like we can.’  I agree.  Boston is better than this.  The stats for Boston weren’t bad for a regular season game, but not good enough against the Canucks in the Finals, who are playing up to their abilities.  They might even have another gear.  They are playing like the team that they are, while the Bruins are playing like they are waiting for the break to end.

‘Zdeno didn’t loose the game tonight.’  I think he split the honors 70/30 with Thomas. But I’m starting to wonder if Chara is injured.  He was floating on the second goal against, and turning the wrong way over and over.  I wonder if he’s injured.  Leg or knee injury, what’s the over under?

 

By the way: Marty Turco , looks great as a broadcaster, but does the job like he tended goal.  #boom.

 

Final thought of the night:  Tim Thomas is good at bouncing back from bad games.  This time, we will have to see.  As much as he has been hung out to dry, he has made plenty of mistakes, and he probably knows it.

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For your Stanley Cup Finals Dead Blog Challenge bonus material today, check out Copyblogger.com’s 7 Tips for Falling in Love with Your Blog All Over Again.  If you haven’t been tending to your blog like you should, and feel guilty about it (like I did), you will like this.

Filed Under: NHL Tagged With: , , ,

A Lesson From The Rocket

June 4, 2011 By

Rocket Richard TrophyI was just rereading a draft of a blog post that never made it to the site, and I realized there was something I hadn’t seen in the NHL in the last month or so.  Something that you could expect on a game by game basis from some teams, something that seemed to characterize the post-lockout NHL more than the Gary Bettman definition of parity:

Apathy.

I don’t think we have seen the kind of I-don’t-give-a-damn apathy on the ice since the Washington Capitals were eliminated from the playoffs.  And that isn’t to pick on the Caps unduly. They didn’t give a damn come the second round, except in spurts.  But throughout the regular season, you saw it all the time, all over the league.  Teams would quit before they even started.  One or two players would skate their asses off while they rest of the team was coasting.

There is an overwhelming sense of apathy from the players on the ice these days.  Teams who don’t buy into systems, won’t listen to coaches, and flat-out stop trying.  The effort level on a one goal game can confound the fan.  You even hear it from the announcers, and read it in the papers.  You hear it from the players after the game, if they are being honest.

And yet, time and again, games get tied up or won in the last-minute of play.  Teams get edged out by one goal.  An offside determines a game.  Teams miss the playoffs by one point.  One lousy shootout, or one dump in.  One guy in front of the net. Will beating skill.  And yet, you hear about the lack of effort.  Only playing two periods.  Not ready to skate.  Not ready to play.

I want to blame the salary cap, and guaranteed contracts (even though I think both of these things are needed in the NHL).  I want to blame the long season.  I want to blame no trade and no movement clauses.  I want to blame injuries.  I think it’s all those things, and more.

But then you get to the Finals.  You watch two teams play who genuinely have a shot at raising the Cup.  Both teams are good enough.  They’re within spitting distance of victory.  Four wins.  They’ve done that before, and they can do it again.  They play together, and they play for each other.  They buy into the system.  They work hard for sixty minutes, and then they work harder.  Apathy?  What’s that?  It doesn’t exist now.  That is for teams that aren’t in the Finals.  They never had a shot.

Take a look at that pretty trophy.  It’s the Rocket Richard Trophy, at the Hockey Hall of Fame.  If you’ve never seen it, let me tell you that you are missing out.  It is beautiful, and I could have spent as much time with it as I did the Stanley Cup.  On the side panels is an inscription.  Can you make out what it says?

Never Give Up

“never give up”

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In the spirit of “never give up,” I want you to look at this post from Mike Mitchell, an artist.  If you want something bad enough, never give up.  Keep plugging away.  That’s part of why I’m doing this challenge.

Also, this is the very first post I’ve ever done with text wrapped around an image.  See?  Something new under the sun.  You can teach an old dog new tricks.

Filed Under: NHL Tagged With: ,

Social Media, the Avalanche, and What They Need More Of

June 3, 2011 By

My buddy and co-host of the Avs Hockey Podcast, Jay Vean, put up a post the other day asking the Colorado Avalanche to be more active online with it’s fans.  He points out that the Avalanche have over 20,000 followers on their twitter feed, and over 250,000 following or liking their official Facebook page.  Can you imagine having those kinds of numbers yourself?  But what do the Avalanche do with it?

Nothing.

They have picked up steam on twitter over the last day or so, following one more account (bringing the grand total to 23), and tweeting 3 times in the last day.  And trust me, for them, that’s picking up steam.  Jay rightly points out that if he unfollowed, unliked, and uninterestated them (that is not a word), he wouldn’t miss much.  There just isn’t anything happening that is critical, or interesting.   And really, you should go read his post, especially for the comparisons with other Denver sports teams and the social media use by the Avalanche’s Conference rivals.  It’s good stuff.

So the Avalanche have the tools, and they have a following ready to devour up what they push out.  They have had it for a while.  This is easy pickings for them.  Can you imagine having a radio station with thousands of listeners tuned in, ready for you to broadcast whatever you have to say, and all that comes out is dead air?  Because that’s pretty much what’s happening here.  The tools are there, the fans are there, and all the Avalanche have to do is start using them to connect with the fans, and maybe even bring them back into the Pepsi Center.  Maybe sell some tickets.  Maybe help the relationship that have become strained with the fans over the years rekindle.

The next question is, what should they do with these tools?  There are two words in social media, but the first one carries all the importance.  The tools are the media, the second part.  Those are everywhere, and they’re easy part of the equation.  What you do with them is the first part, the social part.  And the Avalanche, they aren’t very social.  News is slow to get out, fan interactions are limited, information is slow, and anything personal is going to happen through their television network, Altitude.  The Avs don’t like to rock the boat, or change things up.  They want to give you a coupon for discount Lasik surgery, or a flimsy pop-pop in the playoffs, that you are going to throw away or kick to the corner.

Companies tend to think they are going to get a twitter account and immediately that makes them like Zappos.com.  Instead, Zappos sat down and talked about what they wanted to do, and more importantly, what they stood for, and who they were.  They developed a policy for how they wanted to interact with their customers, both good and bad.  And they rolled out those ideals and policies through their social media interactions.

What you don’t see from the Avalanche is interaction with the fans.  You don’t see any sort of forthcomingness, or anything that targets the fans heads and hearts, rather than making a B-line for their wallets.  You will hear of a ticket family four-pack before you will hear word one from the coach.  You will hear about how Altitude Sports and Entertainment is your home for the fan, and then wonder why fans would want to make a home there.

I think the reason we don’t see this is that the Avalanche do not seem to have any sort of policy towards the fans.  They don’t seem to stand for anything these days.  And as Seth Godin will tell you (and he’s right), all marketing is stories.  And if you don’t stand for anything, you don’t have a story.  Winning is not standing for something, excellence is not standing for something.  Wanting to win a Stanley Cup isn’t a story, but the Chicago Blackhawks ‘One Goal’ was a story.  Tim Thomas is a story.

And I’ll give you another one.

Mission 16W

You remember that, right?  It was going to take 16 wins to get Ray Bourque his Stanley Cup.  When Bourque told the team in the dressing room that this was probably his last shot at a Cup.  How the team rallied around him.  Bourque was practically shoved on the ice to be out there when the final horn sounded.  And when Joe Sakic handed the Cup to Ray Bourque without lifting it himself…  I still get goosebumps thinking about it, and I still tear up a little when I see it on TV.  I mean, I get dust in my eye, or something like that.

That’s a story.  And it’s one that the team rode for a long time.  And the fans rode it for a long time.  It’s a story that still works, and still has some weight to it.  And it wasn’t just about the Cup, and it wasn’t about tradition, or excellence, or perseverance.  Those are attributes, but they aren’t stories.  Joe Sakic created a story by handing Bourque the Cup.  The team created tradition, but it was built from the experience.

It’s an experience the fans are hungry for again.  And again, that experience isn’t winning.  Winning helps, but it isn’t everything.  If the fans in Atlanta had been treated better by Atlanta Spirit, there would have been more of them at the rink, and the Thrashers might still be there.  Look at how the fans were treated at the end.  That wasn’t about winning, excellence, or any sort of motivational poster.  It was about how the owners chose to treat the fans.  They treated them as a situation, rather than their greatest asset.

I want the Avalanche to start using the tools they have.  Twitter and facebook are ways to interact with people, but it’s the way you use it that makes the difference.  The Avalanche need to decide how they want to use it.

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As I was typing this, the perfect post came from Merlin Mann on his tumblog.  And it reminds me of what the Avs tend to do:

Ansel Adams Copyright

They protect their brand so much, that they aren’t leaving much behind to appreciate.   Is this the message?  Is this the story?  What is the value of a brand no one is allowed to appreciate?

UPDATE: And right after I published this, an interesting post from the Public Radio Program Directors Assn. blog came thought my feedreader, about social media.

Edison Research and Arbitron have released a new study of American social media use including Facebook, Twitter, mobile social behavior and location-based apps and services.

Edison’s website says, “Highlights of the study included the following:

  • Social media now reaches the majority of Americans 12 years old and older, with 52% having a profile on one or more social networks.
  • This figure is driven largely by Facebook, which is now used by over half (51%) of Americans 12+.
  • Twitter is as familiar to Americans as Facebook (with 92% and 93% familiarity, respectively); however, Twitter usage stands at 8% of Americans 12+.
  • Approximately 46 million Americans 12+ now check their social media sites and services several times every day.

How much more proof do teams need that they have an open and direct connection to fans, and potential fans, than this?  That’s a lot of people, and you can reach them.  Why not start now?

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Day 3 of the SCF Dead Blog Challenge in the bag!  I can feel the momentum.  Can you?

Today, Seth Godin tells us where ideas come from.  And damn is he isn’t right.

Filed Under: Avalanche, NHL Tagged With: , ,

SCF Game 1: Ladies

June 2, 2011 By

I have stated that I am firmly in the bag for Boston.  I want them to win, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.  Does that make me biased?  Sure, why not.  We’re all biased in one way or another.  But what a game for both teams.  You don’t get that kind of performance out of two crappy teams.

The problem with working a theater job is that you are often working when people want to be entertained.  That’s happens to be the same time that hockey games usually are played.  So tonight, while at work, I was keeping an eye on the NHL GameCenter app my iPad for game updates.  This is how I watched the first two periods.

IPad Ice

Not exactly the most insightful, so I thank all of you who updated on twitter as well.  It allowed for more detail that the above graphic.  I did get to watch the third period live, so here is what I saw.

- The battles along the boards were great.  I felt like this defined the third period more than the play along the center.

- The Bruins were running around at times, in a way that  looked like the San Jose Sharks.  I do not mean that as a compliment.  The Bruins were able to settle down after a bit, but if there’s a dangerous time for the Bruins, it’s when they start running around, chasing the play.

- That said, the Bruins also had a few moments where they looked more like the Red Wings, making short, quick passes that spread out the Canucks forwards when they were in their own zone.  That didn’t seem the be the plan when they were in the neutral zone, but that could also be that the Canucks had better coverage.  I saw the Canucks collapse around the Bruins forward crossing the blue line with the puck.  Hit the line with a few more forwards, and let’s see what happens.

- After all the penalties in the first two periods, a no-hitter in the 3rd isn’t that unusual.  But boy is it frustrating sometimes.

- The game winning goal:

Raffi Torres made the expected play, and did it well.  Hanson made a good pass that Chara couldn’t cut off (and if he had, we would have seen overtime).  But Ryan Kesler made that goal happen.  If you watch Versus, you don’t get to see how important the secondary assist can be.  But as Kesler skated into the zone, he could have been offside.  If your skate is above the blue line when you skate into the zone, and not on the ice making physical contact with the blue line, you’re offside.  Kesler was smart, keeping his skate down.  Not what you want to do when you possible have a groin injury, but that’s how you win a hockey game.  Being smart.

I did get to watch highlights on the NHL Network, so….:

- Alain Vigneault said Hamhuis’s injury is a mid-body injury, after being challenged for an answer he wasn’t going to give.  Yes, he said it with a tongue firmly planted in his cheek.  It was pretty funny.

- Claude Julien called the biting of Patrice Bergeron a “classless” move.  Classless gets thrown around a lot in hockey, probably too much.  It’s not a shocking statement these days, and usually ends up being nothing more than spilled ink on newsprint.  It’s becoming a term that doesn’t hold much weight anymore.  That said, you don’t bite people.

Look, I've bitten someone in my past, but she kind of liked it. #ladies #Canucks #Bruins
June 1, 2011 10:06 pm via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@Tapeleg
Tapeleg

- Someone behind the NHL Network desk in Vancouver has a cutout of Oprah Winfrey with a Canucks jersey on.  I think that’s supposed to get someone’s blood boiling.  Whoever would get mad at something like that, stay away from me.

- Nice hair, Turco.

OK, that’s it for me for now.  This isn’t going to be as easy a series as everyone thinks.  If there is an underrated team here, it’s the Bruins.  Don’t count them out.  After all the celebrating, I don’t think Canucks fans will be.

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This is day two of the Stanley Cup Finals Dead Blog Challenge.  It’s not too late to join in.  Just start writing.  Details are here.

Along with the challenge, I’m posting things to help or inspire you to write.  Because I sure need it sometimes, and I know other people do as well.  Today, it’s a short but powerful tip from Justin Tadlock.  Click to find out what it is.  Part two is also worth your time.  The link to that is under the first tip.  Make with the clicky.

(quick grammar note: “Hamhuis’s” looks pretty weird up there, eh? But according to Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, that’s what it’s supposed to look like. I’m going with it)

Filed Under: NHL Tagged With: , , ,

SCF Game 1 is Coming: Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife

June 1, 2011 By

Game one of the Stanley Cup Finals is tonight (Final? Finals? Who cares?), and I’m still steeling myself for it.  The previous rounds have been intense, and there is no reason for this round to be any different.  Colorado have been firmly out of the playoffs this year since 2009 or so (it seems like it, anyways), and I’ve been cherry-picking who I want to win each round.  A little Sharks love here, pulling for the Kings a bit there, maybe even some Capitals when things looked bleak.  I will even admit I wanted the Coyotes to win a round, but only one or two.   But one team has held firm in my heart this post season: the Boston Bruins.

Last season, the first game of the season to be broadcast nationally was the Bruins vs. the Capitals.  At the time, I said I liked the balance of the Bruins, while I liked the forwards on the Caps.  And take a look at what happened this year:

  • The Capitals got more defensive, which solved a few of their problems, but not all.
  • The Bruins performed some surgery, cutting out what wasn’t working, and retaining what did work.

A huge factor for the Bruins this year was goaltender Tim Thomas, who is my odds on favorite for winning the Vezina this year.  If he doesn’t win, something is rotten in Denmark.  He’s one of those players that is hard to dislike, unless you were playing against him this season.  Last season was a different story, as he struggled in the latter half of the season, and Tuukka Rask easily claimed the starting job.  I think I said it before, but I was in Boston for four weeks last season, and Bruins fans were worried.  They thought Thomas was washed up, and that GM Peter Chiarelli had made a terrible mistake in signing him to a long term deal.  I told those fans to wait and see what next season brought.  You didn’t go from winning a Vezina to choking out of the league like that.  A little off-season hip surgery, and Timmy is back.  And I couldn’t be happier.

(as an aside, I told those fans cautiously to wait, because in the back of my mind, I was thinking about Dave Anderchuk and that he wasn’t picked up by anyone after the lockout.  That wouldn’t be that weird, had he not been the first guy to lift the Stanley Cup the last time it had been handed out.  In other words, there are no guarantees.)

I mean, I really, REALLY like Tim Thomas.  Just look at his play:

 

I’ve written about my love for Thomas before, and make no apologies for it.  I wish he had stayed in the Quebec Nordiques system (they drafted him in 1994, in the 9th round (217th overall)), if only so he could possibly be an Avalanche goalie today, but it’s been better for him that he is where he is, obviously.  The way the Avalanche have gone through goalies since the lockout, they are looking to only draft netminders with the last Kleenex.

But Houston, We Have a Problem:

And yet, the Vancouver Canucks are the favorite team in this year’s finals.  And I can understand why.  They have flash and shine, they are playing like a very complete team, and they look unstoppable.  They’ve faltered in the past in these playoffs, but that all looks behind them.  The Canucks look like a really good hockey team, which is a problem for me:

I do not like the Vancouver Canucks.

Hey, I’m a Colorado Avalanche fan.  It still boggles my mind when people are shocked to find this out.  But as an Avs fan, I am contractually obligated to not be a fan of the Canucks.  They don’t inspire the kind of loathing in me that the Detroit Red Wings do, but they are still there in my top three most disliked teams.  The Steve Moore incident has something to do with it, but even though Todd Bertuzzi has moved on to the Wings (thanks you, Todd), there are other factors.  Although Roberto Luongo is a bit underrated sometimes in my opinion, I feel like he earns the label with his on ice dramatics.  The Sedins are good players, yet I get sick of them being treated like they are possible clones of Sidney Crosby.  Raffi Torres is closer to Dion Phaneuf than anyone else, and boy, am I sick to death of the entitlement that seems to follow this team around.

No other division rival comes close to the way I dislike the Canucks.  The Flames were a lot worse with Dion Phaneuf, but they still earn some dislike.  The Oilers are the Oilers, and hard to really hate.  And the Minnesota Wild are like the Earth in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: mostly harmless.  Oh, one of your players scored the last goal on Patrick Roy?  Yeah, we’ll take him off your hands for a few years.

The only real conundrum here is that I have friends that are pulling for the Canucks with all their soul.  I can’t get behind them on this, but I want them to be happy as well.  Something has to give.

I have to get right with the idea that the Vancouver Canucks will probably, one day, win a Stanley Cup.  The Red Wings won the Cup a few years ago, and the world didn’t end (even though I was prepared).  Considering some of the other goofy teams that have won one, a team as committed as the Canucks are will win it one day.  It’s going to happen, and the sooner I accept that, the better off I will be.

I just hope it isn’t this year.

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This post is the first in my Stanley Cup Finals Dead Blog Challenge, designed to kickstart myself, and hopefully you as well, into writing more on your blog.  If you’ve been lagging behind on your posting, and want to do something about it, check out the challenge here.

As part of the challenge, I will also provide something to help you with your writing, in one way or another.  Today’s is from Merlin Mann, who I will refer to and link to a lot in these.  Go watch his talk, How to Blog.  It’s a little long, and you have to get around some of Mr. Mann’s quirks, but there are some real gems in there.  As a blogger, you are doing yourself a disservice by not watching it.  And hey, it’s quicker than reading a book on blogging, eh?

Filed Under: NHL Tagged With: , , , ,

A tweet

May 10, 2011 By
Heatley = No heart. Thornton = No brains. Marleau = No courage. Niemi = Dorothy, keepin' it real. #SJS
May 10, 2011 9:33 pm via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@Tapeleg
Tapeleg

Come on, Sharks.

Filed Under: NHL Tagged With: ,

No Goal Isn’t Enough For Fans

January 25, 2011 By

“Upon video review of the play, the play on the ice stands. No goal.”

That was the word from referee Dan O’Rourke last night in Carolina after the Leafs J.S. Giguere pushed the puck out of his own net after the whistle.


(You can see the entire thing here, starting at 2:22, which includes the call by O’Rourke)

The question, of course, is why? For the fans in attendance, the answer would be elusive. It still is. That was all the explanation we had before the puck was dropped.

Tom Benjamin’s post from yesterday, well before the Hurricanes game, got me thinking about the problem. Faith from the faithful when the war room in Toronto is used to determine a call on the ice.

From Tom (who quotes Elliotte Friedman):

I also think Elliotte Friedman has a good idea to deal with the perceptions of bias:

I’m not a conspiracy theorist (although there is no way Oswald acted alone), but if the league really wants to gain trust, there is a solution. All replay reviews could be carried live into the television network(s) broadcasting the games. That means a camera/microphones in the war room, only to be used when something is being looked at. You can’t argue with that transparency.

Why not?

Why not indeed? Or for that matter, how about some brief explanation of the reason a puck that was in the net isn’t a goal?

While this isn’t on the same level of tin-foil-hat fans from just about every team, there is more the league could do to remove the view of bias. Transparency could be their biggest weapon in the fight for the fan’s trust (and right now, it is a fight). If the war room and hockey operations people are truly doing everything they can to make sure the games are carried out in a fair way, there shouldn’t be as much of a barrier between the fans and the process.

The flip side is that the closer to the action the fans get, the more work it is for those who have to wrangle them. Look at all the effort spent defusing bombs thrown by fans on twitter. How much more time would the TSN guys have to do their real jobs if they didn’t have to answer every kid who thinks they have it right, and the TV guy has it wrong? Do we really want the fans banging on the proverbial glass of the war room while they are trying to do their job?

The truth is, O’Rourke was in a position that wasn’t conducive to seeing the puck go in the net. And yet, he was in the right position (good angle for most goals, out of the way of the play). And barring having 4 refs and two linesmen, there isn’t much else to be done about the on ice situation. Therefor the issue should be solved in the procedure, and the transparency of process. Maybe even with the flexibility in what it takes to change the ruling on the ice, based on the reason for a stoppage. In this case, if O’Rourke stopped play because he couldn’t see the puck, but the puck was in the net before the whistle, then there isn’t a compelling reason to stick with the call on the ice.

Last night, telling the fans why would have made the rest of the game much better for those in attendance. Instead, trust was broken, and the all mighty war room had spoken. What we have here, as ever, is a failure to communicate.

Filed Under: NHL Tagged With: , ,

Nabokov and The Decision

January 23, 2011 By

Several months ago, LeBron James went on ESPN for an hour long special to reveal what team he was going to sign with in free agency. It was spectacle, wind up, spin, and just about everything wrong with the big business of sports. The verdict on LeBron James?

Douche.

Evgeni Nabokov was claimed off waivers by the New York Islanders after he signed with the Detroit Red Wings today. Within hours, word came from his agent that Nabokov would not be reporting to the Islanders organization. The verdict on Nabokov:

Douche.

Hang on a minute here.

————-

The rules on signing a player in the NHL who has played part of the season in a league overseas is that they must first pass though waivers. Any team can claim the player, with the team lowest in the standings getting first priority. If they can afford him, they can have him.

And what recourse does the player have? What can the player do if he doesn’t want to play for the team that claims him off waivers?

Nothing. Except not show up.

Can you imagine that happening to you? You get a job, but because you worked in another state, any other employer can take you away from your gig, and put you to work in their organization. First, you were going to be designing websites with a kick-ass startup, and the next day, you’re working the frialator at a McDonalds in Flint, MI. What would you do?

(and if you can’t get past the McDonalds bit, just insert whatever job that would suck in your field)

In the world of sports, players are treated as, and referred to, as property. In any other context, this would be illegal. But since this is sports, and the people involved are making a pile of cash, they should do what they are told, and put what they want to the side. It’s ridiculous.

So Nabokov should go to New York, and play as well as possible for a team he doesn’t want to be on, in a place he doesn’t want to be? No matter what the NHL waiver rules are, which seem designed entirely around punishing a player for going overseas, the guy is exercising the only real power he has left. In what is probably the twilight of his career, he probably wants to play for a contender. By not showing up, he is bucking the system, which looks mighty flawed at this point.

I bet the St. Louis Blues have a good argument against the waiver system right now, after loosing two players in a similar fashion this season. The only difference is that Marek Svatos and Kyle Wellwood won’t me making the impact that a goaltender of Nabokov’s skill can make (this isn’t to say he’s going to turn things on like Tim Thomas, but they guy can stop a puck).

We haven’t heard word one from Nabokov at this point, but it’s obvious that he doesn’t want to play for the Islanders. If he wanted to be on the island, he would have signed with them. And we have a problem with that?

UPDATE: Nabokov has spoken. Another post should be forthcoming.

Sometimes, this is how change happens. Someone says no, and the rules get looked at. Don’t be surprised if Nabokov, and certainly Nabokov’s agent, know exactly what is going on here, and have a perfectly good understanding of the waiver rules. Instead of going along with them, they are doing something different, which isn’t usually encouraged in big business, or sports.

TSN has a good roundup of what the Islanders can do next. My question is, what can Nabokov do next?

(thanks to @t_san for pointing me to that TSN column)

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Cap Trick

October 26, 2010 By

I threw something out on twitter last night that I didn’t want to get lost in the wash.

3 hockey games tonight. One ends in regulation, one in OT, and one in the shootout. It’s a Gary Bettman Hat Trick.

There you go.

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Where Were the Three Devils Players?

October 11, 2010 By

The Devils dressed only 15 skaters for today’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins (which resulted in a 3-1 loss, to the surprise of absolutely no one). But where were those players? AOL News has brings us the shocking (SHOCKING) truth:

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I’m sure the names were changed to protect the innocent. Because the Devils would never mismanage the salary cap, right?

Oh, and if Lou Lamoriello had gotten his way, and his original cap circumventing Kovalchuk contract had gone through, the Devils should have been able to dress 16 players for the game (right?).

Meg had the best line about the Devils today:

“Sure, the legs feed the wolf, but you have to have enough wolves to feed.”

Ah yes, the wolf pack of fifteen. Just a few more, but with less cutting of the hand, eh?

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