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Thin Air: Whatevs

March 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Some hockey thoughts –

- Whenever someone is hurt in the eye area, the visor debate rages again. And what I find funny is how outraged that people get, not over the visor issue, but that the issue comes up when there is an injury. Of course it does, that’s just how people work. Relax.

- OK, so visors. I said it before, I will say it again. If the NHL and NHLPA don’t mandate visors, insurance companies will make it happen. Otherwise, premiums will go up, payouts for eye injuries won’t happen, and you can bet someone is going to be angry. So visors, it’s going to happen, like it or not. The only questions are when, and who is going to push it though, the league or outside forces.

- I think visors should be mandatory, and you can grandfather them in for all I care. BUT, you have to remove the extra two minutes for instigating with a visor on. It’s a mixed message, even if it’s just one more punishment for an instigator. The two things shouldn’t be tied together.

- Mike Milbury: Why do you people pay attention to what he says? Actually, it’s a simple answer: he has a voice, and he uses it. I don’t mean voice as in vocal chords. I mean voice as in he has something to say, says it with conviction, is consistent, etc. Every time he says something stupid or controversial, which is by design, you get all outraged and point out how his opinion doesn’t matter because of what a bad GM he was. But if the audience gets all butthurt about him, he is going to keep going because he is getting ratings for NBC. If you are talking about Milbury, Milbury keeps talking. Simple equation. Let the man go, already. He’s wrong, we know it, move on.

- Voice, or a lack thereof, is why people DON’T pay attention to hockey blog number 728. Without voice, what is the point of writing? Without voice, you’re just typing. There’s enough typing as it is.

- The Chicago Blackhawks…. Damn… Marion Hossa was out of the lineup on Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. Then Patrick Sharp went down. So who scores the overtime winner? Dan Carcillo. That isn’t just a good team, that’s a team that believes in themselves. Teams with that kind of confidence don’t quit. It’s exciting to watch.

- Last night was probably the best game the Avs have had in a while, but the defense was still shown as weak and porous. If the Avalanche had defensemen as quality as their forwards, they could be a decent team. And they only have two good lines of forwards, and two serviceable lines behind that. Ryan O’Reilly is rusty, and I think he will be a shadow of his former self all season long. He’s just that far behind. The team is going to struggle this season, no matter what.

- The worst job in hockey? Being a ref for my rec league game on Sunday. My god, did we give them the business. How easy it is to forget that refs love the game just as much as the players. To suffer the abuse they get and still go out there game after game, it can’t be easy. And the abuse trickles down from the NHL. If the players didn’t chirp every call, it wouldn’t happen nearly as much at the lower levels. You don’t see it tolerated nearly as much in any other sport. I would like to see more unsportsmanlike calls for abusing the refs. It wouldn’t take long for things to change.

- That said (and maybe this post should just be called “That Said”), considering the news that a player in Switzerland is now paralyzed from the neck down because of a check from behind, I would almost rather be a ref. No, check that, as soon as I heard the news, I said to myself, I would rather be a ref.

You can only control yourself on the ice. I’ve been shoved from behind a little close to the boards before. It was less scary in the moment, but afterwards, I knew what happened, and what could have happened. I know people who have been called for shoving a guy from behind two feet off the boards and were mad they got called because, according to them, they guy had the puck. It was plainly boarding or roughing or whatever you want to call it. It was dangerous, and to them, it was justified. Like I say, you can only control yourself.

I’m not interested in being that guy. From Jack Jablonski to Travis Roy, there is no way I want to be in that position. Those two people are fine character people. I can’t say anything bad about them. But I would not want to be in their position, over a hockey game. I’m sure some jackass would think that’s a lack of commitment or some stupid BS, because people are stupid. So yeah, if the game gets any more dangerous, I’ll pick up a whistle. Gladly.

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Thin Air: Oh Captain, You’re Captain

February 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Hockey thoughts. And yes, I did mean the ‘you’re” in the title.  Freaky, I know.

- Let’s say that Ryan O’Reilly really is butt hurt about not having the captaincy of the Avalanche.  Let’s just say that he really does factor that into his contract demands (negotiations is too nice a word for what he and the team have been engaged in).  If you are the Avalanche, do you want to sign a guy who is jealous of his line mate, and make for a bad situation?  For five years locked in?  Would you want to pay a guy that much money with a chip on his shoulder about not being captain?  Perhaps O’Reilly was looking for a way out of Denver before his UFA years came due.  Maybe not.  I doubt we will ever know the story.

- That said, if O’Reilly really was butt hurt about not being named captain, after hearing about it in the media, don’t you think he would find the whole thing silly?  It sounds silly.  You love this team so much, you’re mad you didn’t get the captain’s C, and now you don’t want to play there.  At some point, you listen to the words you are saying, you listen to what is being said about you, and you make a choice as to whether you want to stay on that path.  Guess he does.

- I feel really out of touch with the Eastern Conference.  Maybe there are too many hockey games in a day to keep track of, and this is my way of filtering.  I truly don’t know how people like the writers at Puck Daddy, NBC PHT, and some of the other  ”cover the entire NHL” blogs do it.  It seems like a… what’s that word I’m looking for… job.  Yeah, a job.  …. Oh….

- But seriously, if you try to keep track of all 30 teams and all the games, how do you do it?  Do you have a pattern?  Do you mostly track highlights?  Bounce from game to game?  The comments are open, and your insights would be appreciated.

- I feel a little weird saying this, but the best thing that could happen to Vancouver and San Jose is to miss the playoffs completely.  San Jose especially.  They are both teams that have trudged on being almost good enough for a long time.  Vancouver is a strange one, considering how close they came to winning a Cup a few years back, but when the expectation is Cup or bust, there is a lot of room to be disappointed.  I feel like if there are two teams that could use a perspective slap to the face, it’s these two.

- I get to the rink a few times a week for some stick and puck time, just to work on skills, but mostly to fart around with a puck.  I work, but come on, I don’t do drills.  I sweat, I work, but I don’t kill myself.  I have a job, you know?  But there is this kid I see most times I go, mornings at nine AM.  So you know, home schooled, obviously.  And the other day, his dad is in there helping him get suited up, and they are running a little behind, and his dad is on him a bit about it.  Nothing bad, just your usual “come on, we have to hurry up, let’s go” kind of thing.  Normal parent stuff.  Then his day says something about how this isn’t how a first overall pick acts.  Whoa.  This kid is probably 11 or 12 years old, and that might be generous.  I’ve seen this kid and his dad plenty of times before, and I knew the pressure was on this kid, but I didn’t know it was that bad.

I’ve been around plenty of stage parents.  I’ve seen the good and the bad, and I’ve seen how the well-adjusted kids line up with well-adjusted parents, and visa versa.  I’ve also met parents who expect their kids to have careers that sustain the parent’s lifestyle, and parents who have come out and said that the kids were their financial investments.  As in, the kids are working so mom and dad don’t have to.  And it made me sick.

So what happens when this kid isn’t a first overall pick?  What does his life look like?  What if he winds up hating hockey?  What if he already does?  And what do you say to one of those parents, who are setting their expectations so high, they are ruining things for their kid when they fail?  I don’t have any answers.  Perhaps that kid responds well to that sort of motivation.  But not from what I saw.

And maybe I’m wrong about it all.  I sure hope I am.

- Hey, lighter note.  I went back and watched the end of the 24/7 Rangers / Flyers series, because reasons.  So here it is for you as well, because hockey should be epic sometimes.

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Thin Air: Short and Sweet

February 19, 2013 By 3 Comments

- I believe it won’t be too long until the Blue Jackets are no longer mired in the stink of the past.  I think they will turn it around in a few seasons.  Of course, I thought that a few years ago, when they had a decent roster of players and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.  The problem was that the roster never gelled as a team.  They looked like a lot of names on the back, not logo on the front.  It’s cliche, but it’s cliche for a reason.

- How much longer will the Coyotes be owned by the league?  I remember doing a “special edition” of The Rink with the news that the team owner was going into bankruptcy court, and that was a long time ago (heh, remember The Rink? No? Damn).  The league may want to keep the team in Glendale, but I just can’t see it happening.  The great hockey fans in Arizona aren’t numerous enough to justify keeping the team there, and they are only part of the equation.  The biggest part is arena management.  That’s how Florida remains in business, and plenty of other teams that are hurting at the turnstiles.  Don’t be fooled: the prevailing attitude may be that the NHL is a gate receipt driven business, but that is only part of it.  The larger part is arena management and arena deals.  That Taylor Swift concert is as much a concern as the thousands of fans at the game.  The harder Glendale makes it for a prospective owner to get to those dollars, the harder it will be to find a new owner willing to keep the team in place.

- Or think of it this way: if the NHL were the owner of the team for the next five years and knew that were the case, would they keep the team in Arizona?  Would they subsidize the team with the money from 29 other owner’s pockets, or would they move the team to a place they didn’t have to dip into the coffers as often?  Business wise, what would you do? I’d send them packing.

- Fact: I could read Roy MacGregor writing about shopping for canned goods.  I swear, he could find a way to make it interesting.  If you don’t know his work, find it.

- A 7-0 curb stomping of the Islanders is not going to fix the Flyers, but it’s something to build on.

- I call them jerseys, not sweaters.  You can call them what you want, but for me, they haven’t been sweaters for a long time.  They certainly stopped being sweaters when Reebok came out with the EDGE jersey.  Before that, you could go either way and be fine.  Jerseys. Book it.

- No one cares about your flag football team.  Kickball?  Softball?  No one cares one damn bit.  Your rec league hockey team?  Hey, that’s hockey.  That’s different.  Tell me more.

- Matt Duchene was so far offside, you have to wonder if the ref knew whose team he was playing for.

Pure linesman fail.  But what I was more interested in was what Barry Trotz was upset about on the next goal.

 

Maybe it was the line change?  At the game, we couldn’t tell, but the coaching staff kept holding up three fingers on one hand and two on the other, and waiving them back and forth.  Oh well, but yeah, that Duchene goal should have never happened.  Mind you, Mason was letting everything in, so I’m sure Duchene would have gotten around to it.

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Thin Air Sunday: Where’s Hejda?

February 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Some Sunday morning hockey thoughts - 

- I got home from work last night in time to see the Colorado Avalanche melt down in the third period, to the fans in Edmonton’s delight.  The worst, for me, came from Jan Hejda on the Oilers game winning goal.  I would embed the video of it here form NHL.com, but I can’t find the embed code. Help here?

(stick tap to Jay Vean of The Avs Hockey Podcast for the embed location)

 

Oilers break out and it’s 3 on 3.  Ryan Smyth has the puck.  You know, old, slow, tired Ryan Smyth.  The one everyone seems to be beating up for having the audacity to age.  That guy.  And Jan Hejda has Smyth.  You know, free agent acquisition with three more years on his contract (including this one) Jan Hejda.  And as Smyth centers the puck, Hejda chases said puck.  That puts two guys on Eric Belanger in the center and no one on Smyth.  Belanger taps the puck back to Smyth, who puts it across the front of the crease to Magnus Paajarvi who taps it in.  Tap, tap, tap.  If Hejda had stayed on his man, the pass from Belanger to Smyth would never have been an option.  

It highlight’s an issue the Avalanche defense seem to have.  They have no chemistry, they have no trust, and they don’t know where each other are going to be.  When you watch Eric Johnson, who sometimes outthinks his own feet, he has a keen eye for the play.  He directs traffic well, he knows where he should be and where his teammates should be.  But he is out with an injury, and the rest of the Avalanche D needs that direction.  They don’t know where to go.  And it’s painful to watch.

- Homer announcers are one thing.  But right now, the corporate line from the Avalanche is way beyond homerism.  The message is that things are not the team’s fault, that it’s bad bounces and bad luck that lose the games for them.  Over the course of a game, or a period, that may be true.  Luck and bounces can factor in, but when you have control of a game, or a period, or even a shift, you have the opportunity to make or change your own luck.  You can move forward.  If the message is to be believed, the Oilers last night skated the puck so well, it wasn’t the Avalanche’s fault they lost, were out played in the third period, and gave up five straight goals (the last one being an empty netter).  The only one to actually call the Avs out so far has been studio analyst Mark Rycroft.  A former (and more recent than color commentator Peter McNab) player, Rycroft knows what he is talking about, and doesn’t mind saying what the thinks, which is a rarity in today’s controlled media world.  (with apologies to radio announcer Marc Moser, who I don’t hear often enough, so I can’t speak for his performance in this respect)

I think I may have more to say about this later.  But the fans aren’t fooled.  We know a bad team when we see one. 

- No coach firings yet.  Huh.  

- This was the first time I’ve had any time away from work for Hockey Day in America.  I didn’t do anything hockey related, unless you consider last night’s cringe-inducing third period of the Avs game.  Why?  Because I’m busy, damn it.  I had things to do.  I also didn’t know of anything going on in my neck of the woods.  And while this may not be Avalanche country as much as it used to be, we still have a ton of hockey, like Denver University, Colorado College, the Denver Cutthroats and Air Force, not to mention the USA Hockey headquarters in Colorado Springs, and plenty of great rinks all over the state.  Does it say how ignorable hockey can be when a hockey fan doesn’t know what’s going on in his neck of the woods?  

- I haven’t heard much about the Dallas Stars lately.  Other than Jagr and Kari Lehtonen, where’s the stories?  What is going on in Texas?

- We are only 15 games into the short season, but there is only one southern conference team in a playoff position, with Tampa knocking on the door.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  

- 33: Difference between the goal differentials of Chicago and Columbus.  15: Points difference between Chicago and Columbus.  6: Number of teams in the Western Conference with a positive goal differential (as of Sunday morning).  Where are those goals going? Chicago.  

- I read somewhere that New York Islanders head coach Jack Capuano could be on the hot seat if the team doesn’t turn things around.  For the life of me, I can’t figure out why.  When you acquire a goalie exclusively for a free cap hit to get to the salary cap floor, rather than actually spending that cap money on an actual player that could help your team, where does winning factor into the plan?  The Islanders are in a holding pattern that makes the Phoenix Coyotes search for ownership look like a blitzkrieg.  They are just waiting to move to Brooklyn, and then we will see if anything happens.  And if reports that Charles Wang is looking to sell the team are correct, they can expect to hold for a while longer.  

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Thin Air: Commitment to Winning-ish

February 15, 2013 By 2 Comments

- Interesting article from Mark Masters of TSN (which I found via Kukla’s Korner) about Alex Semin. The basics are that Semin isn’t acting like the stoic coach-killer enigma he was widely reported to be. He’s contributing and seems to be… happy. Is that possible? Sure it is. Could it be that, considering the steady decline of Alex Ovechkin, that the real problem wasn’t Semin at all? It could.

- Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy wrote that he feels refs should be called publicly on the carpet for the mistakes they make in the game, that any discipline they receive should be made public. I couldn’t disagree more. I can’t see any good reason for this, other than for fans to feel some sort of retribution to a ref and to shame the ref into calling the game “better.” I have news for you, and this might not be news if you have been in a work situation where shame was used to try to motivate or change a person into working differently: it doesn’t work. Much like the way that discipline is already handed out, knowing the outcome won’t make the fans as a whole any happier. They will only complain that a certain punishment was too much or too little.

- I am an unapologetic ref apologist. Sue me, I don’t care. I have read the USA Hockey officiating guides, taken the course, gotten my officiating card (once), and learned a lot more about what refs do. Have you? I’ve put the challenge out there to read up on the subject, and I don’t know a single person to have taken it up. I can’t imagine what people are afraid of. They will read the worst online dreck day after day, but not something that would make them better and more educated hockey fans? Trust me, it will change how you see the game and how you see refs. There is nothing wrong with that.

- You know who I feel bad for? Matt Cooke. No, really. Anything the guy is near that turns out bad is suspect in the eyes of the fans. If he walked near a puppy, people would be surprised he didn’t kick it. If a man in Boca Raton falls off a boat, Matt Cooke must have, all the way from Pittsburgh, found a way to push him. So when Cooke’s skate comes down on the back of Erik Karlsson’s leg, the initial thought from Johnny Fan was he must have done it on purpose. I would guess Johnny Fan doesn’t skate. But it’s carried over to the owner of the Senators, who wants Cooke run out of the league. It’s probably emotions getting the best of him, but Eugene Melnyk will hopefully think better of what he said. He hasn’t exactly stopped the paychecks of some of the less savory players he has employed over the years. Chris Neil ring any bells? I’ve been working with a few performers lately who are trying to move on from the past they have been pigeon-holed in. Matt Cooke seems to be trying to do the same thing. No one else wants to let him.

- Speaking of refs and skates, how about the overtime loss for the Colorado Avalanche against the Phoenix Coyotes? What a loss that was. Greg Zanon tries to hard around the puck from behind his own net, the puck bounces off the skate of the ref in the corner straight to Kyle Chipchura who passes the puck to an uncovered Shane Doan, and the rest is history. The initial reaction from fans was to kill the ref, but not I. No, like I said, I’m a ref apologist. So I can see that he was in the right position, and as he doesn’t have the powers of levitation, he couldn’t raise both skates from the ice at the same time. The ref, it turns out, is part of the playing surface. So yes, these things happen, and the ref probably was embarrassed by the whole thing. But as skaters know, floating is never an option.

- Speaking of Greg Zanon, he should shave off that beard until he is useful again. I’m not impressed with his play. And speaking of unimpressive defensemen, he was paired with Matt Hunwick in the Avalanche’s 4-3 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild. Both were -2 on the game. I hope they have eyes in the backs of their heads, because that was the only way they could see the play at times (you see, they were facing the wrong way and… oh, nevermind). Think that pairing will happen again?

- Doesn’t it suck to be a first overall pick in the NHL? No, really. You are expected to turn around a franchise on your own (and that’s often the expectation of the fans), or you are going to be mired in suck for a long time. Rick Nash is out of that situation finally, and how long until we see John Tavares leave the Islanders for the same reason? Does he have a no-trade? Because I would be waiving that as soon as possible. When your team brings in a Stanley Cup winning goaltender with the hope that he never plays so they don’t have to pay him but get the cap hit, you should be questioning the team and management’s commitment to winning. Is this the kind of team you would ever want to trade Rick DiPietro from? I doubt it.

- It looks like I will be breaking my rule of not going to the Pepsi Center this Monday afternoon. I wouldn’t be going if the ticket weren’t free, and I wouldn’t be sitting with my podcast partner Jay Vean. I expect to hate every minute of it. :-)

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O’Reilly and Waivers?

January 31, 2013 By 2 Comments

I was just reading Elliotte Friedman’s as-usual excellent 30 Thoughts column, and ran across this:

14. Another ESPN slave, Craig Custance, reported some teams had interest in Brent Sopel, playing for Metallurg Novokuznetsk. Teams are definitely looking for defencemen. Problem with Sopel is that, according to the NHL, any player who dressed for a game in another league after Jan. 19 must clear waivers. The KHL’s website indicates he played on Jan. 26.

Which sent of some bells and whistles in my head. When was the last game Ryan O’Reilly suited up for a KHL game?

Because I must be inept, I can’t seem to figure out the KHL website, and Jared Clinton did the heavy lifting and sent me the info. From this gamesheet, it looks like the last game was January 23rd.

So the question is, does Ryan O’Reilly have to clear waivers if the Avs sign him? Anyone know? Because that could be a severe hinderance to the process, eh?

My initial assumption is that this doesn’t apply, or the numbers are wrong, otherwise we would have heard much more about it before. Can someone let me know? Comments are open.

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Thin Air: Panic in Panictown

January 31, 2013 By 2 Comments

Thin Air is just a collection of hockey thoughts. Short, to the point, and out there. Comments are open for discussion.

- The Colorado Avalanche are terrible right now, losing to San Jose, Edmonton and Vancouver with a combined total of one goal for and eleven goals against. The penalty kill is awful, the power play is ineffective, and their five on five play is a wreck. I don’t think this is a team that has any chemistry, and it’s a top down problem. I hate to agree with Adrian Dater, but in a blog post that was as populist as pro-air rally, he is correct that the shiny happy attitude of the organization is not helping matters. The team is burying it’s head in the sand, and keeps it’s one sterling example of hope locked away in a closet: Joe Sakic. They are more interested in presenting a good corporate image than actually being honest with the fans.

If the Avalanche were to say that they have been in a rebuilding mode, it would probably have the opposite effect from the mass exodus of fans that has been happening in recent years. It would give the fans hope that something was going to happen. It would tell the fans that there is a reason to stick around. The head-buried-in-the-sand approach has been played out. The same message over and over, year after year – that these hard working boys are victims of circumstance – only reveals itself to be less true as those words are presented every game, much like the in arena presentation that hasn’t changed since Jose Theodore stole back his starting goalie position. Folks, that’s been a while. If there was a single phrase that Avalanche fans are tired of, it has to be “good hard work down low,” the Peter McNab-ism that finds its way into every broadcast. Spare me. Hard work isn’t everything. You have to point that work in the right direction, in the right way. And the fans see that it isn’t happening.

- You may notice that I linked to Dater’s blog post. It feel a little dirty. I don’t think I should have to link to a site that routinely leaves out source links and plays games with attribution. But you have to do the right thing, even if the big boys don’t. Give credit and links. It only makes the internet better.

- At what point, in a 48 game season, do you push the panic button? Where is the line? We are only 6-8 games into the season, and it feels like there should already be coaches fired, players traded, and Brian Burke denying anything and everything (kind of miss that, to be honest). If you fail in a 48 game season, does it matter? It certainly matters if you succeed. Just ask the New Jersey Devils. Their Cup win in 1995 was the start of something big for them. What kind of sacrifices do you make in a season that almost halves your gate revenue potential?

- O’Reilly: Trade him or sign him. This is tantamount to when the Avs started the season without a Captain. It’s more important to the fans that he is there, especially as the Avs continue to lose games. The quiet determination of management to be in absolute control, to make offers that aren’t negotiable, and to treat the salary cap era as though it were the pre-NHLPA, pre-Alan Eagleson era is ridiculous. Times are changing, so change with the times, you can’t move forward if you’re looking behind. ( < ---- Possibly misquoted Warlock Pinchers lyric)

- If you read the name Alan Eagleson, and you don’t know who that is, look him up. It’s fascinating.

- In fact, if you want to see the how the current NHL business model and it’s silly dealing with money (which seems to be a drug that turns the league into a bunch of meth addicts) haven’t changed much over the years, I recommend reading Road Games by Roy MacGregor and Game Misconduct: Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey by Russ Conway. These are interesting reads in light of the recent lockout, and the disfunction of the NHL and NHLPA that led to it. All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again (correctly quoted Battlestar Galactica reference).

- So the Blackhawks finally lost a game. In the ultimate game-of-inches allegory, Patrick Sharp hit the crossbar as the last shooter in the shootout, which could have kept their hope alive for perfection. An inch or two lower, that’s all it would have taken. That said, perfection in hockey, and in life, is overrated. It leads to disappointment when it inevitably falls short. So the Blackhawks are human. Imagine that. Now they can go back to being hockey players.

- Don’t get me wrong. Winning hockey games is awesome. I love winning hockey games as much as the next person. But if a major winning streak is so important, tell me who, since the Canadiens of yore, has that made a major difference to in the regular season? If the last Stanley Cup winner was an eight seed in the West, anything can happen.

- Have you been to an NHL game this season? How did you feel about it? Did you feel like you got your money’s worth? Comments are open.

- The Avalanche broadcast team was talking about how the media was all over Alain Vigneault about whether or not Roberto Luongo was his number one goalie or not. AV was not going to say yes or no, and he is right to do so. The media wants a nice tidy story, but a nice tidy story isn’t going to win you hockey games. Every other coach in the league gets to pick his starters based on what wins hockey games, or potentially wins them. Not AV. Not that I have any real sympathy for his position. It might even be his fault that Luongo wants to leave the Canucks, but that isn’t the point. That he has to manage a team, and the expectations of the media can’t make things any easier. It’s time for the media to drop it. If he isn’t biting, they should stop fishing.

- Nail Yakupov is getting way too much scrutiny for having a personality and showing it. It doesn’t fit into the strict narratives the media and fans expect from their hockey players. Not only is Yakupov expected to fit the mold of the quiet humble hockey player, he is also breaking the stereotype of the cold Russian enigma. It’s asinine to expect every player to behave the way we want them to. It’s leading to a more dull NHL, and the last thing an over-coached, over-priced sport that’s trying to make itself less violent needs is spiral even further down the drain pipe of boring rhetoric. Players with personalities can save this league more than another lockout. You can’t make the fans care about a beige wall.

- Kari Lehtonen: who knew?

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Thin Air: Sunday Morning Hockey Thoughts

January 27, 2013 By 1 Comment

Some hockey thoughts for you on a Sunday morning:

- I don’t think I need to watch NHL Tonight with the sound on.  The highlights from the previous seasons on the NHL Network were simple: use the local broadcaster audio, and roll the tape back a bit more than your average ESPN highlight.  The best part was that we got not only the goal, but also what led to the goal, something hockey fans want to see.

Instead, we get short clips that the talking heads don’t have enough time to banter over, which they have to yell to be heard over the squealing guitars that every sports highlight producer seems to think enhance the sports highlight watching experience.  All in an effort to quickly get back to the talking heads.  And the talking heads are doing a decent job when they aren’t trying to get a word in over a highlight, but I don’t tune in for them.  I’m here for the hockey.

Were I able to take a screen shot of my TV, I would show you what GameCenter Live looks like on my Apple TV.  I get the games, but I also get about five minutes of game recap for every game.  Perfect for someone who isn’t making a living off being a hockey person, and has a job to attend to.  Local broadcasters, more than just the goals, and a little extra time to digest the action.  What more could I want?  So NHL Network, take it down a notch.  Until then, I’ll keep the mute on.

- Cam Fowler: I can’t decide if he is any good.  Opinions?

- The Brad Stuart hit on Gabriel Landeskog.  I didn’t like it.  His elbow came up to the head and he wound up leaving his feet.  Give Stuart a game or two and call it done.

- The Blackhawks are scary good.  Their creativity shines though night after night.  And to think Joel Quenneville was on the hot seat a week ago, whispers of a possible firing if the Blackhawks didn’t produce.  Are they ever producing.  This is what you get when good players are allowed to do what they do best in the offensive zone.  OK, the Blue Jackets goal waved off in their 3-2 defeat by the Blackhawks was a load of crap, but it was the creativity when Chicago skated to the net that made the real difference.  They have a lot of tools, and show no fear in using them.

- Alex Ovechkin has made a lot of threats.  He might stay in Russia, he will go to the Olympics no matter what the NHL decides it’s participation is going to be.  How about becoming a scoring threat again?  No goals and one assist on the season, his steady decline is remarkable.  You can’t blame three coaches in a row for this, it’s all on him.  There is no reason he should be this far behind at this point.  He played in Russia during the lockout, so his legs should be ready for this season.  I wonder what is holding him back.

- PK Subban and Ryan O’Reilly: sign a contract already.  Your stock is going down quickly.  How much more time are you going to miss out there?  I ask them directly because, of course, they read this blog. 

- Rec League hockey is going well, when I can get there.  I’ve missed a few games lately, thanks to work.  I hate missing games so much, it makes me see paisley.  That’s pretty mad.  I have one goal, one assist, and one penalty on the season, which is more points than Alex Ovechkin.  Just saying. 

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Avs Before Free Agency

July 1, 2012 By

We’re about five minutes away from another free agent frenzy, and I just wanted to pop in with a few quick thoughts on the Avalanche and what they might or might not do.

You will notice I used the word might, and not the word will. The reason is that no one really knows. The Avs are infamously tight lipped, and don’t tend to show their hand before they do anything. While the Leafs are the most obvious team in the league when it comes to telegraphing their moves, the Avs are always in stealth mode. Anyone who says they know what the Avs will do is just joshing. Anyone.

OK, so here are my thoughts.

- Parise and Suter: If the Avs even bother making an offer for either of these players, I would be surprised they tried at all. These guys want to win a Cup, especially after the playoff runs both experienced this postseason. The Avs don’t show the kind of opportunity other teams like the Penguins and Red Wings display year after year. Yes, the Avs have a lot of cap space, and they might even spend some of it, but that doesn’t mean a big time free agent is going to want to take it here. Both of these players are going to be paid handsomely wherever they go, or if they aren’t payed as much as they could command, it’s going to be for their own personal reasons. The Avs might not even bother.

- Staying the course: Every signing this off season points to one thing: there is enough faith in the direction the Avalanche are taking that they want to stick with it for a few more years. I tend to agree, so long as needs start being addressed in a realistic way. I don’t think overspending on a single free agent is going to get those needs addressed. There are about four or five things the Avs need, and all of them should start with the word ‘mean’ or the word ‘tough.’ More than one decent 25 goal scorer wouldn’t hurt, either.

- The Hejda factor: Let’s be honest, would you want to take a big dip in the free agent waters if you had the kind of success the Avalanche have had the last few times they have ponied up? If Scott Hannan and Ryan Smyth aren’t cautionary tales, Jan Hejda certainly is. This doesn’t seem like an organization being blinded by the shiny stars. Free agency can be pretty on the outside, but nasty on the inside.

- Duchene’s deal: I didn’t think of this until a few days ago, but Duchene’s deal will run out when it’s time for Landeskog to get paid. Good timing, like when the Islander’s lease runs out about the same time the arena in Quebec should be ready to open.

- Wait it out: I think the needs of the Avs would be better addressed when the dust settles on the first few days of free agency. I would rather see them make a smart move then throw cash at a one dimensional solution that probably isn’t much of a solution in the first place. Signing a big free agent to a lot of long term cash isn’t going to put a lot more butts in the seats at the Pepsi Center. And in the free agency period before a new CBA could clamp down on the salary cap, there is not sense in spending everything you have available. It’s disappointing to the fans to see the first day of free agency go untouched, but that’s what I think the Avs should do.

But hey, that’s just me. I’ve been wrong many times before.

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Free Agency Afternoon Thoughts

July 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Just some general thoughts on day one of free agency:

Florida Panthers – Dale Talon has a lot of people scratching their heads today, but I’m not one of them.  Talon knows how to build a team, and the team he’s building looks a lot like the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.  They don’t have the younger draftees, and they don’t seem to have a rookie goalie in the wings to scoop the team up, but he looks like he could be a few years away from just that.  I don’t doubt the man, so long as he stays comforably away from the upper limit of the salary cap.  And considering he is in Florida, that shouldn’t be an issue.  Jose Theodore is the new Christibol Huet, Scotty Upshall is the new Dustin Byfuglien, and Brian Campbell is still Brian Campbell.  I don’t know where Jovanovski fits in yet.  The big difference here is that Florida got better.  That’s been a long time coming.

Vokoun – I don’t think we will hear much from Vokoun until later, but his options are waining.  It’s been suggested that the Panthers should have given him one more year, but I couldn’t imagine how that would help Vokoun.  His market value is as high as it’s going to get, even as his options for locations are shrinking.

Jagr – AH HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! But seriously, it’s probably Jagr’s last year in the NHL ever.  He needed to follow the money.  Heart has never been his strongest suit, but it was kind of a dick move for Ray Shero to try and tug at those heartstrings.  Manipulative? Maybe.  But Jagr made them pay.  Hockey hate in Pittsburgh is going to be at an all time high.

Christian Ehrhoff – What a joke of a contract.  Two signing bonuses? A signing bonus 4 times the amount of the salary for the year it’s handed out? Just a freaking joke.  Contracts like this give the owners more ammo for the next CBA.  This is the bastard child contract of Brian Campbell and Ilya Kovalchuk.

Colorado Avalanche – I’ll do more on the Avalanche later, but for now, the best I can say is that they got better.  They worked towards filling holes on the club with the available market.  I’ll go deeper later.

Carcillo to the Blackhawks – AH HAHAHAHAAH!!!!! Oh, how the Canucks are going to hate the Hawks twice as much next year.

Erik Cole – I would have liked to have seen him in an Avs jersey.  He’s quietly good, the kind of player the fans like here in Colorado.

 

Overall, lots of teams got better today.  I think the overall sentiment online has been, “why can’t I be a GM?”  In this market, there are more role players than difference makers.  If you had a hole to fill, this is the market to do it in.  If you need big stud, you have few options, and you will pay for them.

More later….

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