Blood on the Ice

The KHL gets under way: A Month in Eurasia

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:54:00 +0000

With the NHL slowly whirring back into action after a colorful but entirely hockey free Summer it’s easy to forget that across the Atlantic hockey is in competitive full swing. Indeed as the NHL dusts off the cogs and goes through the oft tedious motions of pre season conditioning, the dropping of the puck at HV71’s Kinnarps Arena signaled the beginning of the Swedish Elitserien and the last major European league to get under way.

With numerous big name players opting to return to Europe in the face of the NHL’s renewed contract business model, European hockey is experiencing a new era of competitiveness and media world focus. In response Europe’s major leagues have demonstrated increased presentation efforts and accessibility as it embraces the liability of elite hockey standards and big business finance in what promises to be a highlight season for European hockey fans.

A considerable amount of responsibility for the limelight can be laid squarely at the feet of the upstart KHL. Replacing the old Russian Super League, the Kontinental Hockey League has devoured top clubs from satellite regions of Eurasia into an American formatted, oligarch financed elite league that has helped bolster awareness of European hockey through the acquisition of superstar NHLers such as Jagr, Emery and Radulov. Whilst the players may be veteran, trouble or wantaway in another tongue, the KHL’s ambitions to live up to its NHL rivaling hype has been nothing if not entertaining and the overshadowed element of hockey has been strong and exciting as well.

Now three weeks down the line from the inaugurating faceoff that saw eight of the KHL’s 24 teams get under way, the balance of power is beginning to immerge from the fanfare. Split into four divisions named for the greats of Russian hockey royalty the (Alexander)Kharlamov, (Vsevolod)Bobrov, (Anatoli)Tarasov and (Arkady)Chernyshev, the league has been structured to the NHL model with the top four seeds earning the top four births with the next best twelve, in lieu of conferences, being ranked 5 through 16. Early pace setters have proven to be Atlant Mytischi of the Bobrov Division. Backstopped by troubled ex-NHLer Ray Emery, the former Senator has been outshone in the early part of the season by bit part former Av’s netminder Vitaly Koleshnik. Aided by the goals of 2002 Blue Jackets draftee and 2008 RSL scoring leader Sergei Mozyakin and one year NHL wonder Esa Pirnes as well as the excellent defensive production of Magnus Johansson who played D for both Florida and Chicago last year, Atlant have made a noted improvement from last season’s fourth place in the RSL under their decade old moniker Khimik Moscow Oblast.

Currently proving Atlant’s stiffest competition is fellow Bobrov division side and reigning RSL champions Salavat Yulaev Ufa helped in no small part by leading scorer Alexander Radulov. Despite his tempestuous exit from the NHL and now reported desire to return, Radulov currently lies twelfth in the KHL scoring race having clicked with the leagues third leading goal getter Alexander Perezhogin. Ufa also boast arguably the best goaltending in the leagues early stages with Alexander Yeremenko showing the school of ex-NHL back stoppers such as Moss, Emery, Chiodo, Dubielewicz and Esche how its done.

Outside the Bobrov Division, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, with the aide of Finnish head coach Kari Heikkilä, are leading the best of the rest from the Kharlamov. Demonstrating excellent scoring depth across the top three lines, experienced ex-NHLer Josef Vašiček is currently leading by example whilst former Ottawa draftee Vitaly Anikeyenko boasts one of the leagues top plus/minus ratings.

Fourth placed Mettalurg Novokuznetsk has proven to be the surprise package of the early weeks. Foregoing the big money acquisitions of former NHLers and top European players preferred elsewhere, Novokuznetsk are little altered from the team that finished seventeenth of twenty in the final year of the RSL yet lead out all teams in goals scored in the KHL. Playing out of the same division as Atlant and Salavat, the Bobrov boasts four teams in the early top ten with Spartak Moscow sitting ninth.

In the Tarasov division, Traktor Chelyabinsk has also proved something of a surprise. Poor starts from expected frontrunners Metallurg Magnitogorsk and wealthy CSKA Moscow have let last seasons fourteenth placed finishers Traktor pull out an early divisional lead whilst utilizing the leagues top power play. Coached by former NHL enforcer Andrei Nazarov, Traktor are the third worst team for PIM’s but boast veteran NHLer Andrei Nikolishin amongst their ranks.

You have to look down to sixth to find the leaders of the Chernyshev Division. Perennial nearly men AK Bars Kazan currently lead out in what could be a season long battle with Dinamo Moscow for the divisional seeding. Despite bolstering the team heavily in the last two years, its come down to AK Bars’ longest serving player Danis Zaripov to lead out the team and the KHL in scoring with team mate and long-time Penguin Aleksey Morosov keeping pace for early honors.

Elsewhere around the KHL it has been slow start for Jaromir Jagr’s Avangard Omsk. Having won only two of their first six games, head coach Sergei Gersonsky was relieved of his position. Since Avangard have improved winning two of their next three games and winning their other in overtime, Jagr currently leads team scoring with eight points (five goals and three assists) in nine games.

Marcel Hossa is another noted ex-NHLer now plying his trade in Russia, currently sitting fifth in league scoring, Hossa’s Latvian side Dinamo Riga have made a good start playing some exciting passing hockey and lying second in the Kharlamov division. Riga is currently dominating the other two sides brought from outside Russia with Belarus’s Dynamo Minsk struggling in twenty first and Kazakhstan’s Barys Astrana improving only slightly to sixteenth.

Each team in the KHL will play out a 56 game regular season schedule set to close out on the 26^th of February. Keep an eye out for updates on the NHL’s new WHAesque competitor as I provide season long coverage.

Is the Salary Cap Working?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:23:00 +0000

It seems with all the excitement surrounding the trade merry-go round and the day by day shocks and surprises that sprung up around the free agency period, that this offseason has almost been as exciting as the on ice season that preceded it. Perhaps one of the most interested stories to emanate from the dizzying array of rumors and dollars fluttering around the hockey world in the recent months was how the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to cope with the salary cap. Built up from seasons of solid and often spectacular drafting, much of the young talent that drove the once stale Pens’ all the way to the finals were entering varying degrees of free agency including some at the end of their entry level contracts. This left many to ponder how the Pens’ would handle their roster with high end wage demands sure to follow their cup run and youth hype.
As it happens the Pens’ had little to be concerned about merely dropping out a couple of grinders in the form of Laraque and Ruutu, one young star in the shape of Ryan Malone and big money journeyman in Marian Hossa whilst finding reasonably priced replacements for all in the shape of Matt Cooke, Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko. Sure these replacements may not be like for like, but the Penguins roster has hardly taken the bashing many thought it would considering the other big loss was Gary Roberts at 41 years old.
No, the Penguins have been the benefactors of a spiraling wage cap and league wide financial ethic that is showing worrying similarities to the seasons running up to the infamous labour disputes that brought about the season long lockout. In fact heading into just the fourth season of post-lockout hockey, the NHL salary cap roof has reached $56.7 million with the floor now pitched at $40.7 million. Put into perspective, the cap floor is now higher than the cap ceiling of 2005-‘06. The result is simple, bigger market franchises still posses the clout to buy into success with such an astronomic cap whilst small market teams struggle to stay in the black with such a high minimum floor. Subsequently fans can expect to see increasing ticket costs whilst small market teams have to juggle their prospects and stars with financial security.
What we now have is increased levels of disparity running its effects throughout the entire league structure with niche market teams feeling the pinch in much the same way as the slew of near bankrupt teams did in 2004. This of course can be traced back to the inception of the CBA, the child that spawned the euphemistic “New NHL.” With negotiations stalling on the concept of salary cap, the NHLPA wanted no such thing whilst the NHL wanted a hard salary cap unbound to league wide revenue, the natural convergence was on a salary cap tied to league revenues. The idea was that franchises not turning over profit would be supported by the high earners, the likes of Detroit, New York Rangers and Toronto. However with the strengthening of the Canadian dollar and the increase in ticket costs and league revenues as a whole, the NHL was able to announce profits in excess of $2.6 billion for 2007-’08. Subsequently players were entitled to 56.3%, up from 55.5% owing to the $2.5 billion excess bracket. Adding on the NHLPA sweetening 5% inflation bump and we reach a salary cap limit that will see average player wages reach $2 million for 2008-‘09, $200K more than before the league breaking lockout.
This would not be a problem if there was not such vast differences in the kinds of numbers the thirty organizations were pulling in, but to look at it from a microcosmic standpoint, the bottom fifteen teams featured in a leaked NHL league table regarding ticket revenues constituted just 35% of the leagues ticket returns, whilst the six Canadian franchises who make up 20% of the league, total 31% of all ticket receipts. Taking in the unchartered variables that surround NHL organizations such as local media deals, arena management and parking costs and the success of the traditional hockey franchises has seen hockey related revenues exceed 11% growth. In a nutshell, the success of the bigger teams has pushed the salary floor above the means of many small market franchises, allowing bigger money deals for the big clubs and the likelihood of continued HRR increases in the upcoming seasons. The revenue linked salary cap merely makes compensation to reach the salary floor and only in seasons where the player’s escrows, an overflow related to payroll midpoint, is available; in short, financial support is scant for small town franchises.
This naturally affects the NHL for the fan, aside from the mere inconvenience of overpriced tickets. With increased disparity, the league will slip into the cycles of predictable big franchise success we saw throughout the decade leading to lockout and in turn this will affect the marketability of the game in the US, where its more popular big “3” are less influenced competitively by fiscal mismanagement. This will mean a sport with comparatively minor support, coverage and sponsorship will be looking at a wage bracket over that of the NFL, the very same situation that brought the games biggest league to its knees less than half a decade ago.
So where do we go from here? With Hockey Related Revenues expected to continue rising for the foreseeable future and the NHLPA having the option to re-open contractual negotiations at the end of the upcoming season, the CBA could come under question very soon. For the majority of owners, 2008-‘09 will see them break even on the losses incurred by the lockout with all subsequent revenue becoming net gain. Although it’s unlikely that the NHLPA will exercise the right to re-negotiate, the latest the current CBA can be re-assessed is 2011-12 by which point, assuming HRR remains at a steady 11%, the cap floor will be $58 million, $1.3 million more than the upcoming seasons cap roof. However just three seasons down the road, most of the small town hockey franchises could be facing bankruptcy whilst the high rollers are free to sign in the highest cost talent. The league will be more lopsided than it ever has been
This will make for some interesting discussions whenever the CBA is next reviewed. The squabbles surrounding the lockout in 2004 was that player’s wages were taking such a significant cut from the organizations turnover that the financial structure had to be rearranged. At the time players were earning around 75%, according to the leagues dicey Levitt Report, or more likely 66% as apportioned by Forbes magazines own investigation of total league revenues. In the aftermath of the new CBA, players saw their portion reduced to 56% in years when profit exceeded the $2.5 billion bumper. However with the continuous rise of hockey related revenues, the players 56% cut is all-but-equal to the financial sum of 66% in pre-lockout money. In the meantime the 34% of the owners share has increased to 44% which sees them making a clear $260 million profit over the terms they found themselves in prior to the new CBA.
With so much of the disproportionate wealth being manufactured by the games elite franchises, there is the very real possibility that when the leagues various bodies come to reassess the CBA within the next three years, the discussions that had been so widely seen as player versus owner in 2004 will become owner versus owner. In the likelihood of many of the NHL’s less profitable organizations facing such desperate financial uncertainty, the bottom end of the microcosmic NHL ticket revenues league table may start squeezing the high turnover franchises for greater financial support. Subsequently the next battle may well be linked to the terms of the revenue sharing policy rather than player wage entitlement.
In the meantime the current CBA is beginning to feel like the dinosaur of the previous iteration. It’s obvious that well maintained franchises such as the Detroit Red Wings will remain successful no matter the financial state of the league, but for the majority it’s becoming the same old game we saw a decade ago, slowly slipping into absurd deals made by careless owners looking to push the big buck whilst smaller franchises fail to create bottom dollar turnover. Is the salary cap working? All signs point to no.

Goodbye 68, Hello Russia

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:03:00 +0000

Last week Jaromir Jagr confirmed he would be leaving the NHL to join Avangard Omsk of the Continental Hockey League, now 36 and with his heart set on an eventually return to his native Czech Republic and HC Kladno, the news all but certainly signals the end of Jagr’s oft brilliant, oft controversial NHL career after 17 years.

For anybody who grew up in the hockey world of the early 90’s Jagr was one of those young starlets who developed into a league and world megastar, coming to identify the sport and the NHL in much the same way as fellow Penguin alumni Sidney Crosby does today. With Jagr on his way to Russia, Selanne possibly on the way to Finland or retirement, Kariya and Tkachuk spent forces in St. Louis and Eric Lindros long retired by injury, few of the youngsters who became NHL institutions in the offensive golden age of the 1990’s remain in the modern game. Jagr’s leaving signals nothing if not the end of an era for a large portion of today’s fans.

Drafted 5th overall in 1990, Jagr’s ascent into a powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins within his first year of eligibility was an astounding feat, that he was also the first Czechoslovakian to play in the NHL without having to defect from behind the iron curtain made it all the more notable and allowed him a privilege many had never been given.

Often dwarfed by the shadow of Mario Lemieux in his early years, upon his mentors first retirement, Jagr went on to secure four consecutive Art Ross Trophy’s between 1997 and 2001, a feat only equaled by greats such as Howe, Esposito and Gretzky. Regarded as the leagues finest skater in the late 90’s, the young Czech developed in skill and confidence from the gangly European who tended to pass the puck into one of the games greatest right wingers, winning two cups in his freshman and sophomore seasons before achieving what he regarded as his finest accomplishment, guiding his beloved Czech Republic to Olympic gold in 1998.
Despite being marred by gambling problems and a tendency to fall out with taskmaster coaches Jagr’s career will forever leave a mark on the NHL.
To end the story there would pay some testimony to a great player and character, but his choice of destination following the NHL is both a perplexing one and a considerable reason for concern in the annals of the NHL.

Often quoting Ronald Reagan as one of his childhood heroes, Jagr boasted that he carried a picture of the former US president in his wallet, an act of immense insubordination in the former communist state of his birth. Now going out to pasture in a country still greatly blemished by the era of communism and too many commentator, still ruled by an old school elite, Jagr’s choice seems at odds with his childhood beliefs.

Naturally the move is fuelled by something else, something more fundamental to hockey itself. Jagr had said that if an NHL team was willing to put up a reasonable contract, he would have stayed in the NHL, yet whilst teams had offered a considerable amount more than Avangard Omsk, the restrictions of the Collective Bargaining agreement tied organizations to one year deals for a potentially injury prone veteran. Jagr was not willing to be wrung through the Free Agency mill again. In the meanwhile Omsk were happy to put up a three year deal for the services of a player still vaunted by North American fans, after all Jagr was not only going to be a superstar for Omsk, but the face of a rival European league.

The Continental Hockey League or KHL is due to commence its inaugural season in September 2008. Having swallowed up the Russian Super League, the KHL has also taken the cream of the crop from the rest of Eurasia including top teams from Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan. Funded largely by the new Russian business class of oligarch’s whom came to prominence after the collapse of communism and the subsequent market liberalization, and backed by Russian hockey great Igor Larionov, the KHL is the closest thing to a European super league and with the touted expansion from twenty four to thirty teams in 2009-10, many expect the league to encompass more countries in the next few years. Indeed invitations for expansion have been proffered to Swedish superpowers Frolunda HC and Farjestads BK with teams from the Ukraine expected to bolster the league roster alongside the recent Finnish champions Karpat.

All this makes for a potentially threatening outlook for the NHL, which draws a considerable deal of its fan base from Europeans blighted by a lack of glitz and glamour associated with the world’s major league in their own backyard. Furthermore for a league gearing its rules to a more European game, the lack of traditionally lopsided trade agreements for much of Europe and non existent pacts with Russia has left the NHL open to the potential loss of its European player base who could be easily tempted to the deep pocketed KHL. All of this had been so much smoke in the breeze, a pipedream of primary backer and deputy chief executive of Gazprom, Alex Medvedev who envisioned a great new league born out of Russia. Having only previously tempted minor leaguers, juniors and lesser NHL veterans like Jamie Heward and David Nemirovsky, the signing of Jaromir Jagr, an NHL legend, will provide a real boon for the fledgling KHL.

Avangard Omsk Oblast, to give Jagr’s new home its complete title, is entering into its 58th year of existence with renewed hope. With only one European Championship and one Russian Championship to its name since it’s formation in 1950, the team has undergone a considerable overhaul in recent years thanks to the financing of Omsk Oblast tax payers and it’s part funding by Russia’s fifth largest oil provider Sibneft, now known as Gazprom Neft after it’s merger with Gazprom. Another sparkling example of Russian newfound and selective wealth in an open and oft corrupt market, Avangard Omsk are on of the forerunners for the KHL’s first title to be decided in April 2009 boasting a roster which includes two North American goaltenders in the shape of Fred Brathwaite and John Grahame.

With the recent disquiet that surrounded Nikita Filatov, a top 3 lock to many that ended up being taken on a “gamble” 6th by Columbus in the 2008 Entry Draft, many an NHL analyst will have one eye on the development of the KHL which is benefited by a wealth, interest, population and geographical distance that the World Hockey Association could never muster. Whilst the glamour and too an extent the money still lies in the NHL, the trade boundaries and potential loss of crowd pulling talent could open the door to the KHL if it can broaden it’s European remit into other hockey hotbed countries.

For Jagr, a chance to become a poster boy for a new age in hockey will perhaps allow him to relive the glory days nigh on a decade ago. With the troubles that North America often burdened him now in his past, Jagr can now leave hockey on a new high, in a new place and admired by the worlds second most hockey mad nation. Already given the “A” for the upcoming season, Jagr can build upon the legacy he created as opposed to vanishing into obscurity.

The Leafs Free Agency Ram Raid

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:41:00 +0000

If the 2008 NHL Entry Draft was going to be the linchpin onto which the Maple Leafs commenced its rebuild, then the July 1st free agency free-for-all was going to be a barometer with which to measure the organizations immediate ambitions.
Going into the first days of free agency, the Leafs had two options. The first was too play it frosty, pick up some low key, low cap hitters who could provide some depth in the roster whilst giving the team some substantial future cap space, or follow the traditional MLSE route and stack up several big, usually veteran, signings, putting of a true rebuild for instantaneous mediocrity and awkward ego clashes.
Thankfully the Leaf’s erred on the side of caution and picked up a couple of roster guys and a decent offensive presence nailing just 7.2 million on the cap limit and maintaining over 11 million in contingency.
Opening the days proceedings the Maple Leafs announced the return of Curtis Joseph, as much a memento of nostalgia, as a useful stop gap solution between Raycroft’s inevitable exit and Justin Pogge’s arrested development.
Having left Toronto in 2002, his previous incarnation for the Leafs, a three year stint between 98-99’ and 01-02’ saw three consecutive playoff appearances and two conference finals. Now 41, Joseph provided an adequate backup to Mikka Kiprusoff in Calgary where he posted 3 wins and 2 losses and a .906 save percentage last year and whilst little used, is known to be an excellent veteran presence in a young dressing room. Conventional wisdom suggests that 08-09’ will probably be Joseph’s final season and a return to Toronto as a career wrap up had always been in the mind for the Keswick, Ontario native for some time. Playing in front of a more defensively geared team, Joseph will provide good support to Toskala at a decent price so long as a prolonged period of usage is not required.
Three and a half hours later, the Leafs announced their second signing of the day and this one came as something of a surprise. Jeff Finger was welcomed as another defensive pick up but with a 3.5 million a year contract, a considerably number of eyebrows were raised in Toronto.
Entering only his third NHL season, Finger who is now 29, may be something of an unknown quantity outside of Denver, but as a team leader in hits, the overtly physical blueliner has come on leaps and bounds to tighten his positional play around his bodychecking tendencies and posted a +12 rating in a defensively lax team. Brought in, on rumour, as a potential replacement for Pavel Kubina who was being courted by the thread bare Blue Jackets, Finger is seen as a shutdown stay-at-home defensemen that could work well in a system awaiting Luke Schenn.
Nevertheless, considered a borderline 4th or 5th D-man in Colorado, Finger’s ability to be extremely solid and dependable does little to justify the 3.5 million cap hit Toronto have taken on him and the transaction has been a hotpoint of discussion around Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher since Tuesday. Fletcher was quick to point out that Finger was one of the few truly developing players available as a UFA on July 1st whilst waxing lyrical about his work ethic; meanwhile critics in Colorado were quick to scapegoat the rookie for a Minnesota goal in game 3 of the 2008 playoffs which effectively ended his time with the Avs’.
Either way a relatively immobile, low stamina, poor puck handling defenseman with a heart of gold, grinding ethic and decent cannon shot, he will be a dependable D in the vein of former Leaf great Ken Klee or a lesser Brooks Orpik, just a lot more expensive. One of the leagues dubious free agency deals.
From the Leafs most questionable acquisition to the most frugal, three hours after the ongoing debarcle surrounding the Jeff Finger deal, the Maple Leafs tied up former Dallas Star Niklas Hagman to a four year deal for a full half million less than the aforementioned, maligned D-Man.
Coming off the back of a career year in Texas, the unassuming Finnish left winger was something of a snap for the Leafs when nobody else came looking. Fletcher was wooed by the 28 year olds speed and offensive awareness having tallied 27 goals and 41 points in a full 82 game season last term. A consummate second or third liner for the Stars, Hagman’s goal finding flare will likely see him playing on the Toronto second, if not top line, whilst he also doubles as a useful second string penalty killer with a panache for shorthanders owing to his breakaway acceleration. Finishing the season with a total of eight game winning goals, a league wide tying 6th Hagman has proven to show up big late in games with a temperament and consistency much vaunted in an increasingly makeshift lineup. A long time friend of Leafs goalie and fellow Finnish international Vesa Toskala, Hagman is an accomplished pro and competitor and rounded out the first day signings in astute style.
Two days after the Leafs tied up Hagman and all but ceased their interest in the major free agency movements, the collective eye was on a trade falling under the radar. Swapping either side of the great Canadian rivalry, Toronto acquired Mikhail Grabovski from the Montreal Canadiens for the rights of 2008 draftee Greg Pateryn and Toronto’s second round 2010 draft selection.
An irksome return to newly drafted ship outs and draft selections all too common in Leafs history, Belarusian centerman Grabovski comes off the back of a good World Championships and successful stints in the AHL posting 20 points in 12 games and with the Canadiens where he posted 9 points in 24 games. Only 24, Grabovski has real potential stunted last term by a 25 game lay off. Nonetheless a injury shortened season into his NHL career, Grabovski is recognized as a speedy skater with an excellent offensive touch, albeit against AHL goaltenders. Particularly unphysical in his approach, Grabovski offers a lot of heart having been a popular franchise man for the Hamilton Bulldogs where he was a familiar and friendly face to staff, a nice touch for a highly paid athlete. Probably a third liner with second string power play potential, Grabovski has prospective talent that the Leafs will need.
Naturally the flip side saw a few players leave in the touted cleanout, but off the back of three poor seasons and a notorious inability to develop prospects, many of the depth players have had few NHL suitors. In fact, outside of the free agency period, much of the revolver door action occurred before July 1st as the Leafs cut loose the driftwood in buyouts and waivers. Raycroft, Tucker and Wellwood predictably exited whilst one of McCabe or Kubina look Ohio bound, but the biggest story in the free agency period remains the will he won’t he saga of Mats Sundin.
Long time captain on a terminally uncompetitive team, at least in the last few years, with a prolonged period of rebuilding in the woodworks, it would seem an apt time for the Swede to leave. However, with the Canadiens apparently chucking money at the 37 year old in a vein attempt to right the wrongs of the mid season trade deadline fiasco, questions still remain over the future of the Leafs poster boy. With the trade deadline three days deep and the interest of the Canucks apparently ceased, Sundin’s outlook appears to be a three horse race, the Leafs, Canadiens or the golf course.
With 11 million dollars worth of cap space, it’s unclear if the Leafs are planning for Sundin’s return, or preparing for his retirement. Whichever side the coin lands, the Leafs are going to be a very different beast in 08-09.’ Clearly not playoff contenders from the very start, with Wilson molding the team around his defense orientated strategy the Leafs seem to be stacking their roster intelligently with one eye on the future. Sure the Finger deal may be financially bad, but many in Denver prized the underdogs defensive presence and the Hagman transaction was one of the deals of the day.
It’s refreshing to finally see the organization start to put some genuine thought into the trade and drafting process with a mind on the roles incoming players will fill, Fletcher and the MLSE look like they are slowly getting their act together and hopefully, in time, the boys in blue and white might start doing the same on the ice.

The 84 Game Question

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:30:00 +0000

During the November 2007 Board of Governors meeting, the decision was made to return to the pre-lockout scheduling matrix ensuring every team sees each other at least once a year whilst cutting down potential periods of intercity activity from 3 years to 2. A considerable victory for the fans, at least that was how the NHL was selling it, the piecemeal offering to supporters also placated TV companies bored with repetitive league scheduling. However for many the measures did not go far enough and a new debate sparked when a suggested 84 game season was tabled for further discussion by the Detroit Red Wings.
Within the newly suggested 84 game matrix the permutations are varied but general consensus usually circulates about six games (three home, three away) against divisional rivals totaling 24 games, three games (a mix of one home or two home) to the other ten conference rivals totaling 30 games and two games home and away against all 15 teams in the opposing conference totaling 30 games. The subsequent extension of the regular season would be offset by a reduction of meaningless pre season exhibitions whilst ensuring every fan could see every team in the NHL every season.
Merely a suggestion doing the rounds following the great scheduling debate of last years post season, the 84 game concept has its fair share of supporters and detractors whilst underlining a variety of issues concerning the leagues size, product viability and sustainability.
Off course the biggest argument was that fans wanted to see the big stars in their building at least once every season, creating a need for home and away fixtures against opposing conference franchises. Fans only getting to see the likes of Crosby and Ovechkin once every three years was not a palatable concept and was particularly galling for teams in divisions such as the Southeast which struggled to muster enthusiasm for “rivalries” borne out of eight yearly games against the likes of, say, the Florida Panthers. Furthermore, established rivalries between the likes of Toronto and Montreal were bemoaned by opposing fans due to “overkill” on the part of the eight game interdivisional scheduling with the sense of occasion lost; familiarity not so much breeding contempt as tedium.
Whilst Gary Bettman was quick to point out that the league had seen average attendances rise three years on the run with interdivisional matches the most well received, he was not so rapid as to highlight the particular divisional matchups providing sizeable attendance data.
Detroit fans would be less than prompt in buying up tickets for a four game run in the Joe against the perennial crowd diminishing Columbus Blue Jackets, whilst many in the motor city are clamoring for a return to the original six matchups, traditional divisional names and alignments; a degree of feeling widespread amongst an increasing brand of die hard supporters.
Whilst a real return to core values such as the Patrick, Adams, Norris and Smythe may be pie in the sky, the decided and thankful retraction of the divisional schedule was the first recognition that the NHL is not working in its current makeup and size. Whilst some organizations continued to profit during the post lockout scheduling, the thread bare spread of talent and patchy nonexistent rivalry were, and to some extent, still are strangling the NHL and stunting its ability to market the game to US TV companies hungry for week in week out superstar billings.
A big burden the NHL faces is creating genuine enmity when the regular season ends, when Ottawa and Anaheim faced off for the 2007 Stanley Cup Final series they had not met on NHL ice since 2005. Additionally, the repetitive divisional matchups may have made for big games in the playoff run-in but were also believed to be creating lopsided conference standings, especially for teams in poorly stocked divisions. Naturally the decided change makes a lot of sense on so many levels but the 84 game debate signals the want for more; more exposure and more marketability.
There is however a notable sticking point in pushing forward an increasingly diverse fixture list. When the votes were tallied for the reintroduction of the pre-lockout schedule, the result came in 26-4, a sizeable victory with a noted opposition. The four dissenters in the verdict were believed to be Anaheim, New Jersey, Boston and the New York Islanders. Where the latter three were profiting from limited travelling in the geographically tight Atlantic and Northeast divisions, Anaheim were one of a number of Western Conference teams voicing concern over the extreme travelling distances cross-continental match ups would create. Where Anaheim was the only organization to oppose the return to a conference centric matrix, there would almost certainly be greater opposition in an 84 game debate.
This however controverts the NHLPA’s stance concerning travelling, with players believed to be in support of an 84 game schedule and increased balance if it saw a reduction of pre season exhibitions.
When the debate was originally tabled in November, the information from the NHLPA had not been received but the debate will almost certainly be tabled latter this year.
Whilst detractors are quick to concern themselves will the potential ruinous effect two extra games could have on the record books, my personal belief is that the NHL should be looking to shorten the schedule, to concentrate the matchups and to maintain sustainable interest in struggling markets. Perhaps employ a 74 game season with the three inter-conference games reduced to an even one home, one away make up, reducing games per week, allowing for an adequate spread of TV coverage as to avoid the usual canonizing of six teams to the detriment of the leagues other 24 and reducing league wide injuries. A shorter schedule would allow for more journey time and would see many teams spending considerably less on travel in a balanced schedule. It would of course see the NHL glean less revenue and shoot the idea dead in the water.
Personal digress aside, all eyes could be back on the great scheduling debate come the next GM’s meeting as players and organizations clash over how best to balance the leagues marketability and short term viability. Balancing the schedule further would be an undeniable victory of fans, more so in marginal markets as well as making the league a more versatile brand. With a decided increase in league revenue and players support the 84 game schedule is a shoe in if dissent from the West can be quelled.

Breakin' What Don't Need Fixin': Scoring in the Boring NHL

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:04:00 +0000

There seems to be a belief amongst NHL fans that the game is in a state of disrepair and far be it from me to disagree in some respects. There are far too many power play opportunities in the “new” NHL with much too little constituting a holding or hooking obstruction whilst the leagues marketing department has all the longevity of a kamikaze pilot on payday, but that isn’t what most have been preoccupied with this season.
No, the picture perfect execution of trap driven puck possession hockey demonstrated with such aplomb by the Stanley Cup winning Detroit Red Wings has got a considerable number of onlookers in a flap over the success of defensive hockey and the subsequent knock-on-effect in the high scoring game treasured, in generalist terms, as a staple of North American pro sports. Of course I don’t want to attest to a narrow predilection in differing sporting cultures, I mean after all the comparatively low scoring sport of soccer is eating into hockey markets all over the US whilst dominating the two sports in TV coverage. So how can we mend the “boring” NHL?
I’ve seen a number of suggestions pop up on a variety of hockey forums, chat rooms and blog spots and they go from the often touted to the plain ridiculous. We have people prescribing to the reduction of goaltender equipment, the increase in goal size, the expansion of the ice surface to Olympic specifications and the banning of the trap, or left wing lock.
Naturally the goaltenders will get it in the neck with fans baying for 10-14 score lines. The discussion over goaltending equipment is as much a shoe in at every GM meeting as Nicklas Lidstrom is on a Red Wings team sheet and of the suggestions it would seem to be the most manageable on a level playing field.
Coming out of the winter GM get-together where the subject of goalie equipment was familiarly tabled, former hotshot Brett Hull was spitting blood at the NHLPA after making a lengthy presentation on behalf of the Dallas Stars. Hull’s dissatisfaction was aimed at NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly who brushed the discussion aside noting that some changes would be made but would not be pushed for anything definitive. The result was the suggested creation of a committee chaired by the NHLPA and NHL encompassing GMs and goaltenders both past and present. Naturally the important word is “suggested” as the whole subject is swept under the carpet for the next meeting.
The whole monotonous debate stems less out of the size of equipment as opposed to the ways in which goaltenders are circumnavigating NHL rules to gain an advantage.
Clearly the best way to negate such unsportsmanlike conduct would be to eject goaltenders abusing the rulings, I can’t imagine after a few months of having to continually ice backups any organization would be stubborn enough to support repeat offenders rather than correct any equipment issues.
Off course goalies will point to personal protection as a sticking point and at this level it’s the leagues duty to create a detailed scale of pant and chest shield sizes that encompass all possible measurements within reason. Such a measurement table could be applied as the letter of the law with regular checks insuring that no player is breaking the ruling, meting out sizeable fines and bans to goalies that choose to infringe the measures. As a means of creating more scoring, tightening up equipment rules is clearly the most favorable when compared with the alternatives.
Speaking at the aforementioned GM’s February meeting, a decidedly fed up Ken Holland, who had previously quoted his disdain for the goaltender equipment debate, suggested that if the problem wasn’t corrected then goals would have to be increased in size to make the game more exciting. Later talk began of a two inch increase both horizontally and vertically that had been discussed by the NHL as far back as the early millennia. Now does anybody else see the fault in this idea? The goalies abusing equipment size rulings will still garner an advantage even if you make the goals soccer sized. Furthermore where the new NHL has killed of larger obstruction/goon style players on the ice, in the net, increased goal sizes will finish any goaltender under six foot tall. Meanwhile the game won’t be more exciting as there will be more goals but less scoring with the use of the trap mushrooming to nullify scoring opportunities as the punishment for teams displaying an attacking mentality will be greatly increased.
Moving away from goaltenders, one suggestion tabled over a decade ago seems to have come back in vogue as an answer to the neutral zone trap, what many see as the true bane in NHL excitement. Recently tapped at an IOC meeting in concerns with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the decision was made to maintain NHL sized rinks in opposition to the huge costs required in refitting General Motors Place. For many, this was a missed opportunity to test run Olympic sized rinks in the NHL’s backyard.
A full 15 feet wider and a descendant of European rinks, Olympic dimensions are seen as a solution to open up the NHL thus negating defensive strategies. Falling short of ludicrous calls to ban the trap, those calling for Olympic sized rinks are lured by the superlative width measurements as opposed to the reality of the European game that spurned the need for larger ice surfaces in the first place.
Where much of the NHL’s draw comes from physical board play, dump and chase and aggressive zonal defense, the European game is characterized by low physicality, high open ice possession and man to man coverage. The realities of more ice surface may, on one hand spread a neutral zone trap, but the style of play will have to gear towards finesse as opposed to checking. Subsequently dangerous open ice hits will increase and the quality of puck retention will be greatly decreased at first as NHL franchises clamor for four lines of silky European puck handlers signaling a death knell for grinders, a role little used in corner less Euro Hockey. Not only will the game completely change but many of the staples of NHL hockey will be lost.
You know, I was told the NHL was boring and yet I didn’t notice. Strategic evolution, like Jacques Lemaire’s sleep inducing neutral zone trap, is part of a continually developing sport and one that people should learn to appreciate. Hockey is a comparatively young sport in an organized form and there may be an attacking minded coach who will provide the antithesis of Lemaire.
Whatever is trying to fix hockey just drags us further from the days of Gretzky and the free scoring Oilers of the early 80’s. Putting in little boundaries here and there is just sticking an old semi-adhesive band aid over the game, mothering it whilst mocking what made the game great in the first place, admitting that the traditions of the game were based on an incorrect footing whilst toadying to the sole concept of entertainment in the face of competition.
People are determined to solve the NHL, and yet the ideas brought forward are just knee jerk and short sighted. Increasing the goal count does not make the game more exciting, only in increasing scoring chances can that be achieved and it requires brave coaches to challenge those determined to employ the trap, to develop and nurture an offensive forechecking gameplan. I hate seeing lopsided score lines and yet creating larger nets or minimizing goalie equipment beyond a fair point will create 4+ goal advantages day in day out whilst reducing the competitiveness within the league exponentially.
Sure stop goaltenders from cheating and tighten up equipment rulings. But stop treading on the game and strategic evolution, all you achieve is stunting the growth of the sport like a pre-teen smoker.

2008: A Draft Odyssey

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:21:00 +0000

If there is one time of year when the NHL becomes a platform for stories of profound personal interest, the Entry Draft is that time. From the inspirational, brave and underdog style champion of the world tales to the heart warming and outright tragic, the Entry Draft is a narrative that runs a full gamut of emotions. Yet beyond the glitz of those first five or ten picks, many of these stories fall from the limelight to be caught in a small hold web of local interest articles and small time city newspapers.
Last weekend 211 young kids’ dreams became, at least a partial reality, 211 stories of their ascent through the sport we love and 211 talents still with much work to tap their vast potential. But at least for the next few weeks, for those that do make it and more so for those that don’t, now is a time to revel in the stories that saw their names go up on the draft board on Friday and Saturday. Here are five short stories of kids making the NHL draft.

Daultan Leveille
When Daultan Leveille’s name was slotted in at 29 next to the logo of the Atlanta Thrashers, many an onlooker would have been forgiven for missing the significance. However, the drafting of Daultan Leveille signaled a historic day, not only for the young French-Canadian, but for the Junior B league from which he hailed.
For the entirety of its 33 year existence, the Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League never saw one of its luminaries make a draft day board. Sure Nathan Horton spent a single season in the GHJHL as a fifteen year old before stepping up to major junior in the OHL and Krzysztof Oliwa spent his draft year in the GHJHL, but neither player was a product of the Ontario Junior B.
Conceived in 1974, the league serviced small town junior hockey teams situated in both the inner and outer “Golden Horseshoe,” Canada’s most densely populated urban agglomerate that horseshoes around the west side of Lake Ontario. The St. Catharines Falcons were the only team to play every season from 1974-75 through 2006-07 winning 15 titles on the way including 4 on the bounce between 1975 and 1979. Despite this the scouts never came, at best Junior B was an outsiders chance and the league, the Falcons and its players went unheeded, a minor miracle when you consider the breadth of scouting in the tight hockey world.
When the 2006-07 season concluded, the Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League had ran its course as a sovereign entity. With disputes raging over the quality of hockey in Southern Ontario’s junior B leagues in comparison to the tier II junior A’s of the Greater Toronto Area and the subsequent player raiding that would happen with junior B leagues losing their players minus any compensation. The decision was made at a meeting of all the Ontario Junior B general managers to merge the Western Ontario Hockey League, Mid-Western Junior Hockey League and the Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League into one amalgam to provide a united front against player pilfering. The subsequent product was the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, complete with three divisions that outlined the original three leagues. The consensus was to run an interlocking league season with the divisions and scheduling running in a similar vein to the NHL, technically this would signal the end of the Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey League as anything more significant than a conference.
However with Daultan Leveille suiting up for his sophomore year at the historic Junior B Falcons in the Golden Horeshoe division and the league ready to get under way, the separate management of the Mid-Western division, a relic of the original three league system, resigned. With no effective management it was deemed that the Mid-Western division could not run an interlocking schedule, thus branding each division a separate league playing, as they had done previously, for the Sutherland Cup. The GHJHL had earned a stay of execution.
Leveille, a rookie out straight out of high school, would undoubtedly have been good enough for Junior A, if not Major Junior, but the native of St. Catharines never wanted to leave home and the people he grew up with. Level headed and realistic, Leveille, who jumped from 89th to 47th in the North American skater ratings, had put his education and friends ahead of his career, opting to continue to Michigan State University, rather than go into Major Junior, and graduate with the school and the people it all began with.
Leveille himself admitted that at the start of the season he didn’t even think about the NHL, but when Central Scouting released their mid term rankings Leveille was shocked to see his name at 89. Aware that scouts had somehow found him and taken an interest, Leveille pushed on and worked to finish the season with 29 goals and 27 assists for 56 points. Not hugely remarkable numbers in junior B, what set Leveille out from the pack was his skating ability and not only his ability but his speed, one scout was quoted as saying:

“Very fast skater, perhaps the fastest in the 2008 draft class”

Topped of with excellent offensive awareness and instinct, Leveille took his game to a new level to chase his dream in the playoffs scoring 14 goals and 16 assists for 30 points in just 16 games.
Despite this, Leveille still found he ranked a mere 47th in the final rankings, partly owing to the level of the play, partly owing to his svelte 5’11” and 163 pound frame.
Nevertheless with his place at Michigan State confirmed few expected to see his name out on Friday night. Few others that is than Leveille who attended the first round more in hope than expectation. But when his name was called out by the Atlanta Thrashers, Leveille realized a lifelong dream and broke the Golden Horseshoe Junior Hockey Leagues NHL draft duck in its final true year.
Headed to the NCAA for an excellent program with the Spartans, Leveille has a long way to go before he can become the third GHJHL alumni and first genuine draftee to play in the NHL. First he has to prove he can play at a greater level than Junior B, a prospect Leveille takes in his quietly confident demeanor, then he has to work on his size. To be picked out in the first round is just the start, but with skating speed surpassing all others, Leveille is perhaps just 25 pounds short of NHL ready.

Justin Azevedo
The OHL was the toast of the Draft 2008 in terms of a feeder league for juniors. With 47 players selected overall including 11 in the first round, the OHL ousted its nearest rival in draft steaks, the WHL, by a full 9 selections.
There is little wonder when you look at the pedigree coming out of the league, Stamkos, Doughty, Bogosian and Pietrangelo went 1-4 in the overall selections and with Tavares expected to top the draft next year the future looks bright for the Ontario Hockey League.
Indeed Stamkos posted a more than handy 58 goals and 47 assists for 105 points in 61 appearances last year with the Sarnia Sting, whilst the underling, Tavares, who missed out on this years draft by a mere 5 days of birth, tallied 40 goals and 78 assists for 118 points for the Oshawa Generals. Undoubtedly exceptional numbers and yet both were eclipsed, at least in the overall points column, by one man.
Justin Azevedo was the second oldest draftee from the OHL ranks, passed up twice for drafting having become eligible in 2006, Azevedo headed into the 2008 draft completely unranked by Central Scouting outside of the top 210 North American Skaters. Uninspiring you would think for a player who finished up his junior career with 43 goals and 81 assists for 124 points in 67 games with the Kitchener Rangers.
Paired alongside Nick Spaling and Matt Halischuk, both younger and both drafted in 2007, the Kitchener Rangers top line were unstoppable in the regular season winning the Hamilton Spectator Trophy, before dominating in the playoffs and winning the J. Ross Robertson going all the way to the Memorial Cup Final, but the success was predominated by a single figure, Azevedo.
Collecting the Red Tilson Trophy for the OHL’s most outstanding player, he added the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the OHL’s scoring leader, the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as the Memorial Cup top scorer, the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award for the most outstanding player in the OHL playoffs as well as the CHL Player of the Year and CHL Top Scorer Award. With a single season hardware collection like that how was it that Azevedo had been passed up twice, only to be finally selected in 2008 153rd overall by the Los Angeles Kings?
For Central Scouting and GM’s alike there is one word “size,” listed anywhere between five foot six and five foot eight. When the NHL completed their draft Azevedo went down listed slap bang in the middle, five foot seven, the shortest player drafted and a factor that has underpinned his entire career and overshadowed the numbers and accolades the West Lorne, Ontario native has put up in recent years.
In fact Azevedo’s whole hockey makeup is something of a quandary; described as “small” and “knock-kneed,” he is generally seen as a fairly slow, poor skater with a weak shot, hardly the attributes of a five foot seven CHL player of the Year. However aside from his two noted strengths, superb acceleration and puck handling, Azevedo is distinguished by a tremendous work ethic, intelligence and heart that has helped him become a modest team leader and overcome his physical disadvantages.
When asked about his prospects coming into his final year of eligibility, Azevedo answered:

“I think you've got to prove yourself no matter where you go. I am a
smaller guy and I've been trying to prove to everybody that I can play at a
higher level my whole life growing up. It's nothing new to me”

Azevedo is clearly blessed with a maturity beyond his years and a raw offensive awareness that his small stocky frame belies. Unfazed by the constant questions over his size and his draft status, Azevedo lists five foot nine and undrafted Martin St.Louis as the hockey player he most looks up too.
Still the naysayers believe that Azevedo does not possess the physicality, albeit a 183 pound frame, to take the punishment of the NHL, a belief fuelled by Justin Azevedo’s time at the Atlanta Thrashers Prospect Camp in 2007 that he described as “disappointing.” Some point to his high draft stock linemates as the secret to his success or the strength of the Kitchener Rangers as a whole, yet Azevedo continued producing when his star teammates succumbed to long term injuries and was the most consistent offensive leader on an fantastic team. The small Hispanic hockey player has been defying the odds his entire career, too finally see an NHL team take a chance with him must have felt like a great payoff for the season he had and provided a clear goal and target for a young man who has made a career out of reaching his goals, a potential surprise from the Kings draft school of 2008? Azevedo recognizes there is work to be done on his skating and shooting along with his two way play but his foot is well and truly on the NHL ladder.

Jason Missiaen
From the shortest player in the draft, too the tallest and you would be forgiven for thinking that would be 6’7” 12th overall selection Tyler Myers. But you would be wrong. Look down into the depths of the fourth round and a relatively unknown name has quite an extraordinary attribute. 6’8” and 193 pounds, Jason Missiaen is one of those players that sneak up on you, albeit in this case, metaphorically. A backup goaltender for the Peterborough Petes, Missiaen is a super massive talent and just 18 years old.
With his knees on the ice, Missiaen’s shoulders reach the height of the crossbar and subsequently trying to go high on him is a matter of impossibility designed for an age of NHL goal/goalie tinkering. Despite this, Missiaen never set out to play in goal.

“I started playing hockey when I was eight years old, but the problem was
that
my mom insisted that I wear the most protection possible and that’s how
I became
a goalie.”

Whilst hardly the stuff of legends, the Chatham, Ontario native’s fantastic growth in stature was timed astutely with his rise through the ranks of junior hockey. But in recent years his development stalled when he jumped to Major Junior with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL, a team already ‘minded by Colorado Avalanche prospect and 2007 draftee Trevor Cann in a lineup exuding mediocrity.
In two years Missiaen played just 30 games, winning nine, losing fifteen and playing in one tied decision. His continued ranking in the Central Scouting evaluations seemed as much to do with his height as his propensity to face rubber. Whilst his save percentage rose from a rather meager .879 in his rookie year (1-7-0) to .911 (8-8-1) in 2007-08,’ Missiaen’s lack of game time was highlighting his drop in the top prospects charts, culminating in his name featuring as one of three top fallers in the OHL prospects come March 08.’As part of Missiaen’s summary, the write up concluded that he went to the ice too quickly negating his size whilst struggling to find pucks in and around his feet, meanwhile his large gait made him ungainly and awkward around the net with the sum total being sporadic inconsistency.
Missiaen saw his draft stock fall to 23rd in North American Goaltenders with a strong likelihood that less than 23 goalies would be called from North America and Europe combined. Considering skipping the draft altogether in light of his ranking, Missiaen was taken 116th overall by the Montreal Canadiens, the 12th goaltender of the draft, the 10th from North America and the first goalie drafted by Montreal since Carey Price in 2005. His selection came just two picks after his friend and fellow Chatham native T.J. Brodie was taken by Calgary and the Chatham party was still celebrating Brodie’s selection when Missiaen’s name was called out.
Although it later immerged that Montreal had shown some prior interest at the combine, they clearly hadn’t grasped the size of Missiaen, who upon reaching the stage was handed a Canadiens jersey that barely reached his belt buckle.
Missiaen’s draft seemed to follow in a trend of big, lanky goaltenders; whilst short goalies in the vein of Pang and Brathwiate appear to be a dying breed with size foregoing agility. Playing a hybrid style, Missiaen is no slouch with his legs and feet but with an inclination to hit the ice you would hope so. Expected to challenge Cann for the number one slot next year, Missiaen may see out his full junior eligibility before moving up too the Hamilton Bulldogs, Montreal’s AHL affiliate. It’s always a long game for goaltending prospects with so few big league jobs going, but you get the feeling Missiaen has been brought into the organization with a view to utilizing his size, subsequently if he can work on his all round game he has a very real shot at the NHL.

Jesper Samuelsson
Where would any article on draft oddities be without a feature on the last draftee, the perennial pub quiz trivia man.
The strange thing is in recent years there has been a fantastic amount of interest in the bottom picks partly owing to our morbid curiosity on a destined “dud.”Whilst not the real headline act, everybody wants to know the story of the final pick as if going into the draft there were only 211 17-20 year olds in the world playing hockey.
Bottom-line, Jesper Samuelsson has achieved something that most of us could never even conceive of dreaming about, being drafted into the NHL, by the championship team and furthermore a team with a storied history of drafting Europeans late in the day and finding proverbial “diamonds in the rough.”
Where would the Red Wings be without Russian, Pavel Datsyuk selected in the sixth round 171st overall or Swedes Tomas Holmstrom (10th round 257th overall) and Henrik Zetterberg taken in the 7th round, 210th overall.
Owning a place on the draft board, a space down from where H. Zetterberg appeared in 1999, Jesper Samuelsson has more than just his Swedish heritage in common with Hank. Born in the Swedish capital Stockholm, Samuelsson is a product of the Timra IK club and their junior setup, the same setup in which Henrik Zetterberg matured. Furthermore at 5’11” and 178 pounds, Samuelsson shares the same build as Zetterberg when he was first drafted into the organization, small, stringy and fairly weak looking.
Such a summary of the twice passed up 20 year old would be missing the point, Samuelsson’s selection was born from the advice of arguably hockey’s greatest scout Hakan Andersson, Detroit’s head of European scouting and the finder of nearly all Detroit’s European obscurities.
A team leader in scoring at Christmas, Samuelsson was blighted by the arrival of a new coach who failed to utilize the talents of the playmaking center causing his late year production to drop. Andersson, having seen the youngster in the early half of the season, noted that his numbers were despite his line mates rather than helped by them, his fast passing hands often duping his slower paced colleagues.

“There were times he'd (Samuelsson) make plays and his winger wasn't even close
to being ready for the puck. He'd be looking somewhere else with his stick up in
the air and there was the puck, in front of him, and the net was wide open.”

The head scout was of the opinion that Jesper Samuelsson was gifted with great hockey intelligence and a telepathic ability to find open players, perhaps a good winger short of thirty more points in division 1. Still an extraordinarily raw talent, with good hands and reasonable skating, Samuelsson is keyed in at a low level of competition for a draftee. Worse still, with a stature hardly suited to an NHL center man prospect, Samuelsson was recently diagnosed with gluten intolerance. Having fought with intense training regimes, the Swede was finding he would put on muscle and bulk for a little while, then his stomach would go bad causing him to lose weight and ice time. Nevertheless with a good prognosis and the future guidance of a Detroit Red Wings dietitian at Prospect camp, Samuelsson will be well on his way to recovering his peak fitness which will be a boon having finished his final year with the Timra juniors.
Heading up to the Swedish elite division, the Eliteserien, will be the biggest jump in Samuelsson’s career, as many perceive the quality gulf amongst the largest in European systems. Zetterberg managed to post 46 points in 47 games in his first year in the Timra pro team and it will be interesting to see how Samuelsson fairs when paired with more competent teammates.
At this point it would be worth remembering that Zetterberg served 2 full seasons in Timra never averaging more than a point a game. In fact his production dropped in his second season before being brought into the Red Wings lineup.
Andersson summarizes Samuelsson potential as a little more than a solid player who has the intelligence to take him to another level, to compete with the tempo and strength of the Eliteserien and beyond.
A complete unknown to this point, Samuelsson would not be the first Red Wing to jump from curiosity to star on the advice of Hakan Andersson.

David Carle
Perhaps the most emotive story to immerge from the draft was the seemingly innocuous selection of David Carle, selected in round 7, 203rd overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning, however too many it was the finest moment in Ottawa last weekend.
The younger brother of San Jose’s Matt Carle, David was expected to go before the end of the third round in the weeks leading up to draft day having been touted by his brother as the better player and ranked in the top 60 skaters by Central Scouting. A defenseman like Matt, David was short on the accolades of the Hobey Baker winning older sibling, but still noted as a compact and solid defender with a fine mix of speed, presence and size.
Alaskan born Carle was invited to the draft combine having already excepted a sports scholarship to the University of Denver where Matt played. The notoriously grueling event for the top 75 ranked North American players is designed to test the junior prospects physicality, strength, endurance and general athleticism alongside their ability to play hockey whilst networking with GM’s, coaches and scouts in attendance.
With 98% of all players who attend the combine being drafted, David Carle arrived at the event having missed his graduation with the hockey world at his skates, but whilst receiving a mandatory EKG an abnormality was found in the electrical activity of his heart under sustained physical stress. Subsequently referred to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota for further testing, Carle was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle which can cause sudden, fatal, cardiac arrest attributed to “Sudden Death Syndrome” in young athletes.
In an instant a promising career was ended and on receiving the news Carle said:

“I just lost it and had a good cry. ... The doctor came in, and I was pretty
shell-shocked at first. After a few hours passed, you can step back and evaluate
it, and move forward. I'm really quite fortunate they were able to find it. I've
still got a long life ahead of me. I have a lot to look forward to and a lot of
opportunities ahead of me”

Amazingly mature for the former Shattuck-Saint Mary’s blueliner, an 18 year old just deprived of his life’s dream. But such a write up would be glib, Carle retains the hope of future opportunities and was later informed that the University of Denver would honor his scholarship allowing the youngster to move on from his NHL disappointment and work towards new goals supported by a top class education. Denver coach George Gwozdecky, a friend of the Carle’s from his time working with Matt, has even extended the scholarship to allow David too work with the Pioneers hockey team in some capacity.
With that act of good faith at a desperate time in a youngster’s life, the story could end on a little high; however David Carle’s story doesn’t end there.
The day prior to the draft, David Carle had to take the rending step of informing all 30 NHL organizations that he would not be available, removing his name from draft consideration and retiring from hockey. After all the work he had put in to get this far, Carle was sure never to get the recognition and as pick 202 rolled by and the draft winded down, the Tampa Bay Lightning stepped up to make their final selection.
Carle had come to the event in support of his Shattuck teammates David Toews and Derek Stepan who were shoe-ins for the draft and had long been selected when D.Carle slid up onto the board and Tampa announced they would be taking the young man as their final draftee at the behest of owner Oren Kroules, whose son attends Shattuck-Saint Mary’s.
After the event Kroules phoned the taken aback draftee.

"The owner called me and just kind of explained to me why they did it. He just
told me that I worked too hard, that I worked my entire life to be drafted, and
he didn't really see why I shouldn't be. (He said) that I deserved it, and he
wanted that to always be by my name."

Kroules, who has made a name for himself as one of the leagues off-the-wall owners, said he wanted the organization to be seen as making the right decisions and that Carle’s selection was a mutual agreement amongst the organization. Nevertheless with the money and business that surrounds the NHL; to surrender a prospect to honor the work and effort of a youngster and allow him to partly accomplish his goals is a beautiful and savvy gesture which is bound to sway the neutral.
An undeniably classy move that will in some small way soften the tremendous blow Carle has taken so calmly, he can now move on assured that his name will forever be in NHL record books.

Toronto Maple Leafs Entry Draft Review 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:17:00 +0000

For Toronto fans, the Entry Draft 08’ signaled a new age. With the much vaunted clear out in the upcoming months, the draft had all the makings of a cornerstone with which the franchise could rebuild in the next few years.
Despite having 10 picks at their disposal, even after the eyebrow raising trade for Jamal Mayers, the Blue Nation was hoping that Toronto could buck their propensity to throw picks around like veteran bait on draft day. Whilst Mayers offers a lot of grit and toughness, characteristics sorely missing from this seasons Leaf lineup, some onlookers were quick to dub the trade another typical back step whilst others pointed to the comparable efforts of Gary Roberts nursing a young roster in Pittsburgh. Whatever side of the fence Leafs supporters were standing on over the Mayers trade, the coin flip debate sent a shiver through those hoping for a blue youth movement at the Air Canada.
However in Ottawa, interim GM Cliff Fletcher was quick to dispel the fears of naysayers. With rumors abound, Toronto were clearly in the hunt for an NHL ready defenseman to sure up what looks to be a thread bare roster for 08-09,’ desperately short of blue line talent. Word was Toronto wanted Luke Schenn, having spoken to the young Kelowna Rocket at the draft combine, and the Leafs management were quick to jump the gun on a day filled with draft trade movement to secure their man, shifting their 7th overall pick along with 2nd and 3rd round conditional picks for the Islanders 5th overall selection.
The move paid off as the highly rated, stay at home D-Man became Toronto’s earliest draftee since Wendel Clark went first in 1985.
Getting his first taste of the Ontario rivalry, Schenn made his way to the stage under a hail of hometown boos.
For Fletcher, the Schenn deal was pretty much job done picking up a potential great defenseman in a first round dominated by defense and trades whilst showing the Leafs management were finally looking towards the future.
A neat underrated Right Winger in Jimmy Hayes supported a cast of useful second day draftees into Toronto with big being the theme of the day, bucking the small and flighty brigade whilst the Leafs drafted into all positions. In total three blueliners were selected in a deep draft, as well as two centers a left winger and a goalie made up with a nice mix of projects, characters and prospects.

Luke Schenn
Selected: 1st Round, 5th Overall
Position: Defense
Junior Team: Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
Born: November 2nd 1989 Birthplace: Saskatoon, SK
Height: 6’2” Weight: 216lbs

Only selected 20th overall by the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL Bantam draft, Schenn went from a mildly successful freshman year in the WHL, to top line D in Kelowna in his sophomore season, second in the team for assists (27 in 72 games). Despite the Rockets abysmal season in 06-07’ Schenn was selected for the Junior Team Canada for both the Canada-Russia Super Series and the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in 07-08’ in which Canada came away with the gold medal, Schenn posting a team leading +5. Kelowna also saw a better season helped in part by a mobile D led by Schenn, fellow 08’ draftee Tyler Myers and the underrated Tyson Barrie.
At the 2008 Top Prospects game, Schenn scored the first goal while running an aggressive defense clinic. Despite missing out at the arena for honors, a poll later run by The Pipeline Show on the Hockey Future website for the best performer of the day saw Schenn walk away with the fans vote by 59%.
Often compared to Ed Jovanovski and Adam Foote, Schenn is regarded as an NHL ready player with an ultra solid, stay at home ethos. A good hitter, Schenn is built physically strong and big and plays a tough shut down game suited to the new NHL. When caught out of position he recovers quickly and despite his reputation will pinch up if required. Sometimes noted for bad decision making, especially in his aggressive play, Schenn has worked to improve his skating and mobility and is touted as a potential team leader in the future after earning the assistant captain role at Kelowna.
Almost certain to see some big league service in 08-09’ Schenn could be the best traditional blueliner to come out of an excellent 2008 defensive crop and will be a fine foundation from which the Maple Leafs can build.

Jimmy Hayes
Selected: 2nd Round, 60th Overall
Position: Right Wing
Junior Team: Lincoln Stars (USHL)
Born: November 21st 1989 Birthplace: Boston, MA
Height: 6’5” Weight: 210lbs

At one point ranked in the Central Scouting’s top 20 prospects for 2008 and touted as a potential top 10 draftee after the US National Junior Evaluation Camp in 2007 despite failing to make the team, Hayes 07-08’ campaign saw him splitting time between USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program and the Lincoln Stars, subsequently his draft stock sunk to 64th. A late addition to the 2007 camp brought in after an injury to Peter Mueller, Hayes had had previous junior international experience having played for the US National U-17 in the 2005 four nations tournament in Russia and the 2006 U-17 select side that played in the U-18 Ivan Hlinka memorial tournament in the Czech Republic whilst participating in school hockey for Noble and Greenough.
Later going on to play US National Team Development Program U-18, Hayes played for the silver medal winning team USA at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships.
Continuing as the first ever overage player in the US National Team Development Program U-18 team, Hayes was released to play in the USHL having had his rights traded from the Jr. Blue Jackets, who had drafted him first overall in 2006, to the Lincoln Stars, Hayes had previously been drafted in the 7th round of the QMJHL bantam draft by the Moncton Wildcats.
Compared by himself to Keith Tkachuk, Hayes is a big, long reaching power forward, noted for his long looping, fast stride and multitude of skills. Despite his size, Hayes has been criticized for his inability to finish checks and put his body about; nevertheless his payoff is a surprising level of agility and willing to work extraordinarily hard up and down the wings with a great team working mentality.
Due to start his stint in the NCAA with defending champions Boston College under the tutelage of Jerry York; Hayes has the potential to make the NHL if he applies his physicality more. If he can avoid the trap that college hockey has proved in the past Hayes could see the big league in within the next few years.

Mikhail Stefanovich
Selected: 4th Round 98th Overall
Position: Center
Junior Team: Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
Born: November 27th 1989 Birthplace: Minsk, Belarus
Height: 6’2” Weight: 202lbs

The only Belarusian drafted in 2008 and one of surprisingly few members of the QMJHL, Stefanovich was considered one of the highest tier Imports in the CHL imports draft taken by Quebec with their first selection. Having played for the Belarus U-18 team in the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in both 06’ and 07’ Stefanovich impressed at the CHL prospects game and was quickly touted as one of the highest ranked prospects from the QMJHL.
Blessed with a naturally big physique, Stefanovich is noted for his excellent mix of size, speed, strength and stick handling. Despite this blend, Stefanovich is heavily marked by a lack of consistency, interest and work ethic. Although he is willing to grind in front of the net and battle with a long striding skating style, he rarely utilizes his size to any kind of advantage and his output is overtly unsteady. Despite this, he finished 07-08’ as the top scoring rookie in the QMJHL and received the Mike Bossy Award for the best professional prospect in an upcoming draft, aided by a wicked shot that made him a useful component for the Remparts powerplay as a point man.
Stefanovich has all the marks of a potentially flashy European underdog. Given a year or two to work on his physicality and work rate, Stefanovich could have all the attributes to make him a useful future NHLer as a power forward. A potentially astute pick by the Leafs albeit boom or bust.

Greg Pateryn
Selected: 5th Round 128th Overall
Position: Defense
Junior Team: Ohio Junior Blue Jackets (USHL)
Born: June 20th 1990 Birthplace: Sterling Heights, MI
Height: 6’2” Weight: 212lbs

Toronto’s youngest draftee in 2008 and the first of the Leafs 5th round triumvirate, Pateryn is known as a big, strong and physical D-Man.
Playing his high school hockey for the Birmingham Brother Rice Warriors, Pateryn earned an honorable mention for Michigan all-state as the Warriors captain in 06-07,’ before being selected in the 3rd round of the USHL entry draft by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and subsequently traded to the Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets.
In 07-08’ Pateryn was dubbed a B grade prospect for the NHL 08’ entry draft whilst also featuring for the Eastern Division team in the USHL All-Star/Prospects game.
Noted as a sizeable defensive presence, Pateryn is held in high regard by the University of Michigan who enrolled him for 08-09’ owing to his offensive play and passing ability that would work well in a fast transitional puck possession team. Pateryn also worked on the powerplay for Ohio where he is expected to remain in 08-09’ before joining Michigan in 09-10.’
Its hard to measure how these NCAA bound players will turn out, his transitional defensive play sounds impressive and his 24 assists in 60 games in the USHL is useful for a D-Man straight out of high school. However with his hockey tied up for at least two or three years, only time will tell if Pateryn can step up to College hockey and then pro level.

Joel Champagne
Selected: 5th Round 129th Overall
Position: Centre
Junior Team: Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL)
Born: January 24th 1990 Birthplace: Chateauguay, QC
Height: 6’4” Weight: 210lbs

The tenth overall selection in the 2006 QMJHL midget draft, Champagne was expected to top the scouts ranking charts often featuring in the QMJHL top prospects. However Champagne has failed to live up to his lofty potential and has been dubbed a slow developer.
Used sporadically in his rookie year in Chicoutimi and as a second line center man in his sophomore season, Champagne’s numbers increased from 6 goals and 16 assists in 06-07’ to 18 goals and 22 assists in 07-08’. A notable increase attributed to his improved use of his size, Champagne managed to make both the CHL top prospects game and a junior Canada team that played in the ADT Canada/Russia Challenge where he was considered an impressive physical forward, topping the team statistics for hits and even more notably won 20 of 28 faceoffs taken to match his 58% success rate in the QMJHL.
In spite of this pedigree, Champagne saw his draft stock fall dramatically in 2008, with scouts airing concerns over the consistency of his physical application, puck handling, agility and his weak skating. Whilst he possesses good anticipation, two way play and a willing to cause trouble in front of the net, Champagne has been branded a project just scratching the surface of his potential.
Champagne has all the marks of a useful fourth liner, with a good physique that he should learn to utilize more often as he develops, he could become a useful defensively minded forward whose talents in the faceoff circle could be tapped late in games in the same way Chicoutimi utilized him.
Definitely a long term investment, it could be a few seasons before Champagne becomes an NHL ready player.

Jerome Flaake
Selected: 5th Round 130th Overall
Position: Left Wing

Junior Team: Koln Sharks (DEL)
Born: March 2nd 1990 Birthplace: Guben, Germany
Height: 6’2” Weight: 187lbs

As Stefanovich was the only Belarusian drafted in 2008, Flaake was the only German, an unusually low number for a country that had supplied five juniors in the previous two years.
Obviously topping the chart as Germany’s leading prospect for 2008, Flaake came to prominence after his superb 07-08’ campaign in the top German junior division the DNL. Playing for the Koln Sharks development team, Flake posted 35 goals and 45 assists for 80 points in a mere 36 games. So impressed were the pro team that Flaake had the daunting honor of dressing in 30 games for the DEL Koln Sharks in 07-08’, although his extremely restricted use saw him post a single assist in his pro-stint.
Further cluttering his calendar, Flaake was selected to play for the German U-18’s at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships Top Division where he tallied 3 points in 6 games, having already played for the German U-20’s at the corresponding IIHF world event where he scored 6 points in 5 games, albeit in a division lower.
Flaake, a quintessential European junior, is considerably smaller than his fellow Leaf draftees at only 187lbs; however he makes up for his size with excellent speed, agility and offensive awareness. A noted leader in his junior team, Flaake’s prominent goal scoring in the DNL came from his superb stick handling, accurate shooting and skating speed around the net. Whilst he still needs to gain some weight and work on increasing his strength, Flaake is expected to at least spend another season in Germany, with Koln keen on him making the professional team full time in 08-09’ where he can condition himself in a pro league similar in playing style to the NHL.
Flaake could be a real 5th round find for the Leafs. Although the DEL is far from a typical route to the NHL, its fast, physical play in a professional sports environment could be the perfect surroundings for a youth if given ample play time and encouragement. Expect him to spend a year in Germany before being brought to North America where he could easily be AHL ready by 2009.

Grant Rollheiser
Selected: 6th Round 158th Overall
Position: Goaltender
Junior Team: Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL)
Born: July 24th 1989 Birthplace: Chilliwack, BC
Height: 6’4” Weight: 195lbs

Where some might be disappointed with a sixth round draft, Grant Rollheiser would certainly not be one of them. From not making the Chilliwack midgets team to NHL draftee, Rollheiser is trawling through his hockey career like the perennial underdog.
A tall, gangly goalie in the vein of Ryan Miller or Martin Biron, Rollheiser is noted as a positional goaltender with excellent poise and consistency at Junior A level who late in the season was being touted as the BCHL’s top goaltender having only risen from Junior B in 07-08.’
A late developer, Rollheiser went from abject obscurity to having a pick of NCAA schools at the close of last season, eventually committing to Boston University where he is expected to challenge for the starters role at an NCAA division 1 level in 08-09.’
Undoubtedly a project for the Leafs, Rollheiser’s work ethic throughout his junior career has been phenomenal. Posting a 91.07% save percentage and 3.19 GAA in 07-08,’ many see the likeable youngster as a goaltender blessed with great potential who the Leafs had shown some interest in prior to the draft.
With fellow late bloomer Justin Pogge currently working his way through the system, Rollheiser has the chance to make strides as the next best prospect; James Reimer is considered hit or miss in the Leafs system. Paving his way, like many other Canadian Junior A players to the NCAA, Rollheiser has had the fortune to land himself a scholarship with a division 1 team with many seeing him as a starter.
It’s clearly a long game for a goaltending prospect, but with a story like Rollheiser’s it would be great to see him make it, whether or not he can remains to be seen.

Andrew MacWilliam
Selected: 7th Round 188th Overall
Position: Defense
Junior Team: Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL)
Born: March 25th 1990 Birthplace: Calgary, AB
Height: 6’2” Weight: 214lbs

The Leafs final draftee in 2008, Andrew MacWilliam happens to be the teammate of 16th overall Joe Colborne who was taken by the Bruins in the 1st round.
MacWilliam a large, strong, stay at home defenseman has already built an impressive Junior A resume having featured in the CJAHL prospects game, the AJHL south division all star team, Team Canada West who won a gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge in 2007 and a surprise call up to Team Alberta in the 2007 Canada Winter Games.
Although abundant with strength, MacWilliam is a long shot for the NHL owing to his slow skate speed and minimal agility. However despite this MacWilliam is headed to North Dakota University following the traditional Junior A path and is noted as a dedicated shot blocker who will almost certainly work out the next four years with the Fighting Sioux.

Why Fighting belongs in the NHL

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:40:00 +0000

Fighting in the NHL remains one of the most staunchly debated subjects in the world of the hockey and yet the argument barely divides supporters down the middle. Far from a modern topic, the recent incident with Patrick Roy’s son Jonathon has quickly risen fighting back to its usual grandstanded place. Now I’m not here to endorse stupidity like Roy’s kid or fighting for the sake of fighting but I am here to support fighting as the part of the game it always was and the integral part at that.

Last season 38.46% of regular season games saw a fighting major called with 143 games seeing multiple fights, up from 31.22% of games and 87 multiples the season before. Where the statistics spiked were less than 3% down on the season before the lockout and the “new” family friendly NHL. The big project of castigating the enforcers on the ice whilst remaining cryptic off it has begun to backfire on the league and there is a stonewall reason behind the increase that defies the concepts of entertainment and goonery.

Post-lockout the NHL was looking to rebrand itself, the pre-lockout game was getting bogged down with obstruction plays and slowing the sport that marketed itself as the fastest game in the world. The remit was to tighten holding, hooking and interference calls and open out the game, showcase the talent and make the sport a more family friendly spectacle. There is this perception that if they took the hard stuff out of the game the fans will suddenly flock; of course this could be dubbed as more league chicanery in the face of next-to-zero TV coverage. After all, how are you going to promote the friendlier NHL when nobody gets to see it and furthermore why oxymoronically support the divisional schedules with phrases like “familiarity breeds contempt” and then complain if it becomes violent? But I digress.

With the post-lockout game opening up the ice the game certainly became faster and players such as Peter Worrell, Gordie Dwyer, Chris Dingham or any enforcer who possessed little to no skating ability, puck handling consistency or offensive flair were rendered extinct either in the first year or after the instigator penalty was brought in and that was not entirely a bad thing, after all even Bob Probert or Tiger Williams could post nigh on 30 goal seasons. What the death of the barely-skating-fists brought in however was an entirely new type of enforcer designed for an entirely new NHL.

With the prototypical goons rendered obsolete by the rule changes and antsy officiating calling chincy penalties left right and centre, the NHL has become blighted by the agitator. Generally smaller players who won’t think twice about drilling players head first into boards or laying stupid charging hits in vulnerable positions, with the emphasis on stupid and not “a hit.” Players who to name and shame include Hollweg, Janssen, Tootoo, Avery and Cooke have become cheap shot merchants with free reign.

Now the agitator isn’t a new breed, but time was their job to draw penalties could be negated by the threat of a hulking player like Worrell or Dingman offering them a beat down for their insolence. Now there is a lack of respect and the hitting is getting out of hand, the fact that an instigator penalty can give the cheap shots a power play is drawing significantly closer to a bad injury and not one brought about by fists.

In fighting there is a code and honor, but hammering players head first into boards is downright dangerous. One of the anti-fighting schools of thought is that eventually a fight is going to end in tragedy, and of course as a Toronto fan, I and the rest of the league held our collective breath when Kris Newbury hit the ice head first after a series of haymakers from Ronald Petrovicky in 2007. The fact that Newbury, a competent scrapper, came out of hospital amidst the moralizing and said “I think it [fighting] belongs in the game, it's just a freak accident that happens every once in a while." Seemed to have been lost in the moral panic, meanwhile think back to Hollweg’s head high cross check on Sergei Kostitsyn or Cam Janssen’s frankly pathetic über late jumping hit on Tomas Kaberle and its hardly surprising that a new talented breed of enforcers are making their way back into the game.

Of course the whole deal became a lot smoother for the contemporary goon after Anaheim’s cup winning triumphs atop the record of most fighting majors by a team, a fete fronted by fan favorite George Parros. Not only popular with the fake moustache wearing crowd, Anaheim showed that fighting could still be used as an integral part of a winning formula be it as a momentum breaker/builder, keeping dirty players in check or bringing the crowd into the game whilst mocking the ambiguity of the instigator rule. What Anaheim did was set the wheels moving towards intense offensive hockey, supported by a heavy core of players who could be called upon to intimidate if needed, basically hockey where it was prior to the lockout.
Of course a return to fighting would clearly result in fans marching out of the arenas in utter disgust, but low and behold the NHL saw a 2% increase league wide in attendances in 07-08’. To note this simply to the increased proliferation of gloves on the ice would be trite, but to say the trend, which started early in the season, was damaging to the game would be plain wrong. As Mr. Hockey himself, a.k.a. Gordie Howe once said:

“I have always believed that far more people come to games to see the fights
than stay away.”

And in this sentiment belies the paradox that stereotypes the act. Hockey is not solely about fighting and those reputed fans that come to see the fighting alone, if such a fan base exists, are not fans of the game, but there are almost certainly more of them out there than this phantom crowd that are put of by the “nature and barbarity of the game.” The nature being the important phrase and not one implicit to the act of fighting alone but owing to the history, traditions and stereotypes of the game, draw from its necessity. Basically if you don’t like fighting and physicality, chances are hockey is never going to be your cup of tea.

Perhaps it’s easy to wax lyrical in the face of naysayers about the good ol’ days, the Broad Street Bullies and the Big Bad Boston Bruins, but the fact of the matter is that fighting is still an important part of the game, both in play and also in the marketing of it. Whilst I don’t believe in pandering to a crowd of fight hungry meatheads, many would argue that the NHL’s inability to pull a major US TV deal lies in the decreased marketability of the game sans fighting in the American market. The fact the league uses this as a springboard to usurp much of the physicality in the game for endless power plays shows how out of touch the league is in marketing itself to even the most fervent followers.

If you were to take an example, one particular to my argument, say the Columbus Blue Jackets. Their season was all but over with a couple of months to spare, in the face of a miracle. The fact they had the league leader in fights, the small but ultra willing Jared Boll provided some pull for crowds in a quiet market. Pair that up with the fact that Boll and fellow fighter Jody Shelley are amongst the fan favorites after Rick Nash and that after Nash are two of the most enthusiastic players to skate in the Jackets teams and its hard to see how these power players can’t be a pull of a mainstay demographic.

Subsequently fighting is a part of a multi faceted sport and that is what makes hockey the spectacle it is. The various roles of the players, the strategy, the scoring and the physicality, its all part and parcel of what makes hockey the greatest game in the world and the NHL the greatest league. A wise man would market fighting for what it is, a part of the game and stop placing it on a pedestal of evil as if the debate were more prevalent than the sport itself. A great fight, especially if it were for the right reasons, can be part of a spectrum of experiences that can occur in hockey from the nasty to the sublime and we should stop striving to remove the various layers of the game as if to leave it bare and bleak.

For me I don’t find a place for marketing in the debate of hockey fighting. Hockey fights happen for a variety of reasons, some good and noble, some bad and pointless they are never there to be a circus sideshow attraction and the guys dropping their gloves are not performing monkeys. It happens down to emotion and protecting your team mates and god forbid if those elements are ever removed from the game.

Shall we call it Toronto's "interim" season?

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:27:00 +0000

Interim is the word at Toronto
With the recent announcement that interim GM Cliff Fletcher will be kept on by Richard Peddie for next season; Leafs fans around the globe can be assured that the franchise isn’t turning tack, no, with a new coach in place, now seems to be the perfect time to hang stalwartly on for, as everybody knows, Brian Burke, furthered more so today by Toronto’s cheeky acquisition of Al Coates as player personnel director, Burkes number two in Anaheim.

Clearly another year of tedium is stretching out into the horizon before we can endure the long death crawl of rebuilding that the Los Angeles Kings have become such fine poster boys for. It’s good to see that that Peedie and Kirke’s top candidate list turned into the predictable dud we all knew it would be.

Now, I can understand the MLSE’s reluctance, heck it’s been eyeing up Burke for some time now, being constantly shooed away like a horny dog by the Anaheim upper echelons with the position being dubbed as nothing short of salvation for the Leaf Nation. But with draft day coming and the free agency free for all upon us, it’s an unusual time to opt for an “interim GM” that was chased out of Toronto in 1997 after a series of inept and desperate trades saw the Leafs derail after four straight playoff years only to be brought back to cut trades that Ferguson Jr. could never cut, and make no trade moves whatsoever. Sure he didn’t want to make trades for trade’s sake, but a little bit of mixing up couldn’t hurt in a lame duck season. Instead it was a case of once bitten twice shy for Toronto’s former trigger happy now trigger-less GM, whose past seems to have given him something of an identity crisis. In the meanwhile Peddie has been lamenting the bleakness of Toronto’s immediate future to anybody who will listen, no surprise owing the Leafs recent propensity to trade away prospects in dumb, knee jerk deals.

Subsequently the hiring of Ron Wilson came as a refreshing change in tempo; the Leafs actually got out there and nailed their candidate, if not the right candidate. Hopefully he may be able to breathe an ethos of accountability through the roster and kill of the comfort zone many of the Maple Leafs have been playing in for the past couple of years. Still there is a sharp edge and stubbornness to Wilson that he could do well to learn from his past mistakes, i.e. Patrick Marleau. Constant public flagellation will not go down well with players used to Maurice’s soft handed approach. Furthermore Wilson’s ego has been known to clash with superstars, whilst he will not be faced with that kind of superlative in a talent starved Leaf team, the media induced fish bowl could prove Ron Wilson to be his own undoing if the team fails to perform and with an interim GM at the helm, failure to perform could become a mantra under Ron, a coach who will have to temper his famed manic highs and lows, if he is to endure a rebuild.

Nevertheless, the opportunity to steel a team and a system from his own vision maybe the kind of task that would see the arrogance of Wilson shine through into the fine, stable coach he has always threatened to be. Whatever you surmise, he will have to wait a year to begin building anything as his first task will be to dismantle, an act in itself made more difficult with an interim GM with trade impotence. After all, Wilson is going to be looking for some younger, sportier models to shape into his roster; preferably good puck possession players, as the driftwood is offloaded, but questions arise over Fletchers ability to shape such deals (such as the Sundin/Kaberle deal that was supposed to bring Phillies’ Carter, Montreal’s Higgins and a bunch of draft picks to Toronto but failed to materialize).

Buyouts and free agency seem to be the theme of the day then in the clear out. Tucker is an outstanding favorite to be bought out and will almost certainly be gone in the next few days if his no trade clause can be negotiated and Raycroft will more than likely join him unless management sees fit to send him down to the minors for his final contract year. Blake had been mentioned, but with four years remaining on his contract (albeit minus an NTC), buyout maybe too expensive to be worth pursuing and somewhat tactless in the face of his leukemia battle whilst Mark Bell was quickly herded out in San Jose by Wilson after a hit and run DUI accident and after a series of personal issues, including possible imprisonment, Bell’s future remains uncertain. In the meanwhile, the blue line faces potential change with a chance that one of Kubina or McCabe will be shipped to free up some cap space.

On the free agency front, odds are that fringe players such as John Pohl, who had a poor last couple of years, will be left unsigned alongside number three goaltender Scott Clemmensen and the final transaction in John Ferguson jr’s. reign, Dominic Moore. It would also take a brave man to resign Wozniewski who had become something of a pariah in the Air Canada owing to his occasional defensive ”spasms”.

The big dice in the Toronto UFA lineup remains captain Mats Sundin, after years of loyal service his treatment in and around the trade deadline in February was shabby, but the Swede seems to show little drive to move elsewhere despite motioning that he may test the FA waters or retire. Conventional wisdom suggests that he will return to Toronto, although with a rebuild in the pipeline and his trade weight down significantly owing to his age, a lot of people wonder why Toronto’s management are dangling a “No Trade Clause” under his nose when they were so keen for him to waive his current “NTC” this year, although it’s probably because they know he is now worth nothing.

Perhaps a useful veteran to build a fresh team around, he will never win the big one in his time in the blue and white, but many believe he lacks the ambition anyway.

Of the restricted free agents the Leafs are in talks with Mitchell, Stajan and Wellwood whilst most expect the franchise to persevere with Foster and Ondrus. Stajan’s resigning is of the utmost importance as well as John Mitchell who has been impressive for the Marlies and could prove to be an excellent player in a period of rebuilding, but question marks still hang over Wellwood who had a disappointing season of the back of several injuries leading many to suggest he isn’t built for the NHL. Whilst he is a prime candidate to ship out, some would question the likelihood that any team would be willing to give up a third round draft pick for him, or if the Leafs would do better to just low ball him into a small cap hit contract.

Whatever the turnout in the next couple of weeks, the current lack of a full time GM means that the Leafs growth will be stunted. Sure a lot of players will go before next season, most for absolutely nothing, begging the question what exactly is Wilson going to have to play with when the free agency is all said and done? Perhaps if the Leafs can resist the temptation to throw prospects out like confetti, sign Brooks Orpik on the FA, stop putting No Trade Clauses in every contract and pull off a couple of good drafts on the back of what is likely to be some dreadful on ice seasons, the Leafs can start to build on the Pittsburgh model. But were a long way from there yet.

How to Measure a Goalie: The not-so All Star

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:01:00 +0000

Night in night out Ilya Bryzgalov and Tomas Vokoun faced a barrage of shots on teams that were never going to make the playoffs and what thanks did they get at the end of the season?

I don’t think the league was wrong to give the Vezina award to Martin Brodeur, posting a save percentage of 92%, he had the highest save percentage of any goaltender who played in more than 60 games, appearing in 77.What I do find mistifying is that Evgeni Nabokov was voted into 2007-08’ NHL all star first team.Posting a 91% save percentage, Nabokov finished the season with 46 wins, 2 more than Brodeur, but was rarely called upon to pull a game out of the fire in front of an experienced blueline, when compared to the youth of New Jersey.What is even more amazing is that neither Tomas Vokoun (Florida) or Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix) earned a single vote from the GM’s in the Vezina 1st 2nd 3rd voting system, whilst Vokoun posted a 91.9% save percentage and Bryzgalov 92%, facing a ludicrous amount of rubber for consistantly poor teams.Sure there is no accounting for the types of shot faced, whilst Vokoun only managed 30 wins and Bryzgalov 28, but they wore their heart on their sleeves for deadend franchises without a single vote of recognition. What made things even worse is that one GM gave Kiprusoff a first place vote when he struggled all season to remain above .900.Surely there should be an award that denotes save percentage, for me a much clearer indication of how a goaltender is doing as opposed to the team unit, in the case of Goals Against Average and wins, but then again there is no insurance that you are playing for the “right” team or getting the kind of coverage your league wide colleagues are. Basically if your team isn’t winning and your playing out in the NHL sticks it is clear you are being forgotten, anybody remember Di Pietro?

Relocating the Predators: The NHL an era of Expansion or Relocation

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Try as it might the Nashville Predators haven’t quite imploded, no sooner is the first financial threat to the franchise quelled by a deal with a Nashville based business consortium fronted by David Freeman, then the second majority shareholder under the new consortium, William Del Biaggio, files for bankruptcy. Of course anybody who has been following this story will be aware that Del Biaggio had previously lobbied to bring an NHL franchise to Kansas City and the AEG group owned Sprint Centre for whom he was in agreement with; but ceased his Kansas City intentions upon entering into business with the Nashville Consortium.

Nevertheless with his 27 percent interest (worth around $60 million) in the Predators up for grabs after Del Biaggio’s assets were placed in the hands of a trustee, one name refuses to go quietly into the night.

Jim Balsillie had been in the frame to buy the franchise in May 2007, making a bid in the region of $220 million when the Nashville Predators were first put up for sale by then owner Craig Leipold. The deal went hand in hand with Balsillie’s inaugurated company, Golden Horseshoe Sports & Entertainment, securing exclusive rights to bring an NHL team to Hamilton, Ontario’s Copps Coliseum alongside reported intentions that Balsillie would spend a further $140 million bringing the Southern Ontario arena up to NHL standards.

Having previously been snubbed by the NHL when he tried buying up and relocating the Pittsburgh Penguins in December 2006 when he was told that the NHL would restrict his control of the franchise, Jim Balsillie did little to improve his relations with the NHL board of Governors this time when he started accepting season ticket deposits for the “Hamilton Predators” season 08-09’ through the Canadian branch of Ticketmaster. Conceived as a PR stunt to show the league that hockey in Hamilton was more viable than Nashville, sales were extremely healthy; deposits totaled all 80 luxury boxes under support of Hamilton based businesses as well as selling a further 13,000 seat deposits, far surpassing the Nashville Predators 06-07’ 9,000 season ticket uptake. However this strong arming was seen in contradiction to the leagues policy of “Good Faith” for potential buyers who are expected to make some effort to keep the franchise in its initial location whilst angering NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman who has been a keen supporter of NHL franchises in unconventional American markets.

Despite support from Phoenix minority owner and hockey great Wayne Gretzky who sits on the NHL board of Governors and Ontario Premier Dalton McQuinty who suggested that the provincial government would consider offering financial support if the team relocated, Balsillie’s interest in relocating to Hamilton was further muddied by the Canadian Competition Bureau who informed the NHL over its relocation policies in regards to territorial infringement in light of Balsillie seeking legal opinions in fighting the current rulings which would have forced Golden Horseshoe Sports & Entertainment to offer compensation to both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres if a team began operating within 50 miles of these existing markets.

With the league leaning on Leipold and Leipold himself indicating that extra time would be granted to seek a Nashville based financier, the Balsillie deal soured at the same time Leipold denied dealing exclusively with Del Biaggio’s Kansas City consortium bringing a Nashville investors group into the picture as a third party. Del Biaggio later became involved with the Nashville investors through Leipold who then signed a letter of intent to sell the franchise to the Freeman headed; Del Biaggio backed 36 Venture Capital LLC upon receipt of a $10 million deposit for the full $193 million purchase price being tabled. After protracted negotiations with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and the NHL Board of Governors, the sale of the Predators was approved in November 2007 seemingly securing the teams future in Nashville.

However the recent bankruptcy of Del Biaggio, who currently owes Craig Leipold $10 million, has left the franchises financial position in a questionable state. Whilst the league and owners group has brushed aside the immediate turmoil, branding Del Biaggio a minority investor, his $52 million stake alongside partner Warren Woo’s $10 million leaves a sizeable hole in the 36 Venture Capital LLC purchase. With Del Biaggio’s creditors scrambling to reclaim as much as possible from the fiscal debacle and a vacuum forming in the deal, the league alongside the remaining Nashville investors, may not be able to hold of a renewed effort by Balsillie in the current credit crunch climate who it immerged was approached by Del Biaggio in the weeks leading up to his bankruptcy filling leading to a verbal agreement that was, once again, refused by the NHL. Furthermore, the Predators have got to exceed an average of 14,000 fans a game for the next two seasons otherwise their current lease agreement in the city and with the Sommet Centre could be terminated.

What does this all mean? The blue touch-light paper has been lit for another NHL rumor mill abound by relocation and expansion talk.

Of course the above story negates the probability of expansion with the league trying to secure its current struggling franchises whilst the fiscal credit crunch would be an inopportune backdrop for seeking investors for new arenas. Whilst expansion talks have reputedly been tabled at recent Board of Governors meetings, Bettman has remained coy about broaching the subject in a public domain on one hand and flat out denying any further expansion plans on the other. Still conventional wisdom dictates that in the long run Bettman is a proponent of two 16 team conferences totaling 32 franchises, bolstered, of course, by exorbitant expansion fees in a time of poor television revenue.
Cities that are regularly cited are Las Vegas and Kansas City with parties also interested in Winnipeg and Seattle. Contrary to constant black balling, Balsillie clearly has the money to float a team in Hamilton whilst Oklahoma City has bust a gut on two previous occasions offering tax incentives. Houston has made a move on the previous two NHL expansions also but now look to be outsiders with Indianapolis and Milwaukee who are floated more by talk than any real corporate interest. If Seattle were to fall out of the picture a popular support is building behind any potential Portland bid whilst Quebec City remains a nostalgic candidate.

Whilst expansion maybe a while away, the possibility of franchises relocating is clearly greater in a time of financial difficulty. A recent leak of franchise ticket revenues for 07-08’ obtained by CBC, underscored some of the lame duck teams operating from under Bettman’s contrived American footprint. Whilst Canadian teams, who make up 20% of the league, are currently responsible for 31% of all league ticket revenues with all six teams featuring in the top seven, (the only American team to break into the top seven earners are the New York Rangers in fifth) the bottom fifteen franchises in the ticket revenue league, or 50% of the league, account for just 35% of league ticket revenues, the bottom of the pile being Phoenix ($0.45m), Florida ($0.5m), Chicago ($0.5m), New York Islanders ($0.55m) Atlanta ($0.55m), Washington ($0.55m) and Nashville ($0.6m). Whilst Chicago’s poor finances can be put down to a prolonged period of chronically poor team management, the other six teams are in genuine trouble with four of them representing Bettman’s push for unlikely American hockey markets in the 90’s.

Hockey is clearly proving a hard sell in the desert and Gretzky, a part owner of the Coyotes, has often waxed lyrical about a return to Canada in future league expansion. Florida is hitting an even greater wall as the sport fails to grasp even the slightest foothold in the sunshine state whilst the Islanders are facing increased pressure in the leagues highest density geographical market. Whilst Atlanta and Washington are under no immediate threat, Nashville, as mentioned above, clearly are and the basement of the leagues revenues are not the only financial danger spots. Season’s of on ice rebuilding saw Los Angeles ticket revenues fall by 7.1% between 06-07’ to 07-08’, one of only six teams to post such losses, another being the Columbus Blue Jackets whose sales were down by 5.9%. Further towards the top San Jose finished 13th in the revenue table ($0.95m) but announced that ticket prices would rise for 08-09’ campaign due to hockey operations costing the franchise a purported $5 million in losses in each of the last two seasons.

Paul Kelly head of the NHLPA has been quick to jump on the figures suggesting that looking north would clearly be the way to push the league forward citing the 30 team setup to be ideal. Of course this hints to relocation over expansion and Kelly has been a supporter of Balsillie, if not by name, recently stating:

“I think it would be a huge error not to relocate one of the existing franchises
to Hamilton or Winnipeg"

When speaking to the Toronto Star in early June.
On the contrary, the end of last season was abuzz with swirling reports that Expansion plans were to be set in stone, whilst these announcement proved to be unfounded expansion remained at the forefront of rumor mill agendas with the two most likely expansion franchises continuing to be cited as Las Vegas, fronted by multi millionaire film producer and avid hockey fan Jerry Bruckheimer and Kansas City, still backed by AEG and bolstered by the presence of the NHL ready Sprint Centre. This of course would continue in Bettman’vein to force feed hockey into unsustainable markets at a time when the league is becoming increasingly
bloated by such franchises.
Potential NHL Locations:
Las Vegas and Kansas City

Whilst Bruckheimer toyed with purchasing the Penguins in October 06’ Bruckheimer seems to be more interested in expansion than relocation and is in cahoots with AEG President and CEO Tim Leiweke, the man behind the Kansas City bid and Sprint Centre, to build an NHL ready arena. Whether a possible partnership to build such a venue in Las Vegas along the Strip would muddy both cities getting a team is too be seen but the Del Biaggio saga has done little to strengthen confidence in the Kansas market whilst analysts are quick to point out the failings of the 1974-76 Kansas City Scouts who up’d sticks after two years and moved to Colorado as the Rockies. Of course Kansas City supporters would quickly retort that the Rockies failed but the later relocation of the Quebec Nordiques to Colorado as the Avalanche has been a relative success proving that market re-entry can be viable whilst a scheduled pre-season exhibition game between the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings at the Sprint Centre is being touted as the NHL testing waters in the Missouri market. Nevertheless what would quickly become an AEG duo would do little for the supporters of the NHL’s confidence in Bettman nor would blindsiding a desperate northern market yet again.

Seattle and Portland

So if the unlikely were to happen and the NHL did expand in alternative cities to Las Vegas and Kansas many would taut Seattle as a front runner. Remaining in America, Seattle would not be as unpopular in the eyes of traditionalists owing to the cities history in the sport, after all the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association were the last winners of the Stanley Cup in 1917 before the foundation of the NHL and were losing finalists in 1920 before the NHL assumed total control over the cup. The city can also boast a profound history in major junior hockey, playing in the Western Hockey League since 1977 as first the Breakers and then the Thunderbirds under which moniker they were losing finalists in 1997. Seattle would also provide a plug in the NHL geographical map and give the Vancouver Canucks a much needed rival (although questions remain over the fiscal loss or gain by obtaining a close geographic rival). Nevertheless Seattle are a candidate without an venue, the Key Arena where the Thunderbirds played until this season has a capacity of 15,177 for ice hockey but the over subscribed venue has forced the Thunderbirds to seek a new home in Kent, Washington for next season. Questions are also raised about the cities cosmopolitan demographic for what is seen as a blue collar sport and the subsequent manhandling of the NBA Seattle Sonics franchise.

With this uncertainty and a perceived Pacific Northwest audience, Portland has been banded around as a potential home for the NHL owing to its further geographical positioning to Vancouver and its excellent Rose Garden Arena, home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and WHL’s Portland Winter Hawks. With an ice hockey capacity of 18,280 and a state of the art facility, “The Gardens” multi-billionaire owner Paul Allen has researched interest for a second winter sport, but the perception is that Portland is too smaller market and the Trail Blazers too big a financial burden with a history of fiscal disasters in the wake of the NBA franchise and arena.

Winnipeg and Quebec

It would be frivolous to reiterate the position of Hamilton, Ontario and the Copps Coliseum but as Paul Kelly underlined, Canada is a market which could easily sustain another one or two franchises in the current NHL market, subsequently whenever the subject of expansion or relocation arises people can’t help but look back with a hint of bitterness to two Canadian cities who had their franchises ripped from them.
Off course, Winnipeg stands out for potential investment due to the previous popularity of the Winnipeg Jets and the recently built MTS centre which hosted a sell out pre season exhibition game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Phoenix Coyotes (the contemporaries of the Jets franchise) in September 2006, however with a seating capacity of just 15,015 for hockey, the arena would require a sizeable expansion. Furthermore, whilst there has been league wide support from such luminaries as Wayne Gretzky, Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk and Gary Bettman himself, Winnipeg audiences have proved resistant to the perceived top dollar costs of modern day NHL tickets. Nevertheless the comparably poor currency exchange between the Canadian and US dollars of the mid 90’s, that was in part the downfall of both the Jets and the Nordiques, has improved notably in the franchises 13 year absence and now looks a better time than any for a return to the great white north especially with the leagues new collective bargaining agreement and salary cap.

For Quebec, corporate support and league wide backing has been somewhat more subdued and in the modern climate of the NHL, a lack of corporate backing both putting up an offer and buying up luxury boxes alongside a lack of an NHL capable facility, scuppers any realistic chances for a prompt return to the big league and the general feeling is one of financial apathy. Furthermore, both teams would face the potential wrath of the Canadian Competition Bureau which could provide a legal maelstrom that Bettman’s southern outlook would keenly avoid whilst a there is an awareness towards the cyclical nature of the Canadian dollar and the struggles some of the Canadian franchises were facing prior to the lockout.

Oklahoma City

The overlooked outsider, Oklahoma City, is yearning for a high level pro league sports team to house in its impressive Ford Centre Arena. Already trying to relocate the Seattle Sonics, the city government has shown in the past its willingness to offer tax incentives to draw the big leagues. Indeed it was a major part of their 1997 attempts to bring the NHL to Oklahoma and now it has an arena to go with its aspirations and a hockey fan base borne out of the Oklahoma City Blazers who play in the Central Hockey League and have housed hockey teams on and off since the original Blazers were founded in 1965. Whether Oklahoma has a sufficient fan base for the NHL as well as an NBA franchise; or anybody will come forward to tender a bid awaits the day the NHL needs new buyers. It seems likely that Oklahoma will remain an unlikely site for the NHL in the near future.

In my opinion the league needs to stick to 30 teams and concentrate on marketing the game and increasing television revenues and interest. A watering down of the NHL’s current talent pool is the last thing the league needs when its revenues are still small fries to the big three of the MLB, NBA and NFL with the upstart MLS providing real competition in a number of American markets.
Still I am not opposed to a realignment of the league and relocation of some of Bettman’s struggling brainchildren. Hockey was never going to be a good fit for Florida and Arizona whilst Nashville could be as good as buried if Balsillie can surpass hockey politics and become a big money minority investor. Sure an increased number of Canadian teams will partially dilute some existing markets and Hockey Night in Canada income, but in the current financial climate, a mid pack Canadian team, in terms of revenues, will do better than bleed money hand over fist like the Coyotes and the Panthers. There is a hunger for the sport in the North that Bettman’s purported plans for Las Vegas and Kansas City continues to ignore in the face of stone wall facts, sure the initial $300 million will boost league coffers, but the heritage and strength of the game should have some part in Bettman’s long term plan.

In my ideal world I would relocate the Panthers, Coyotes and Predators, putting two in Canada, be it Winnipeg, Quebec, Hamilton or less likely Halifax and one in Seattle or Portland, it would make sense and it would renew the NHL, both in terms of the sport and the business. Many think that Bettman’s reign has been money orientated; if that were the case surely the time is right for a return to Canada and a new franchise in the Pacific Northwest.

Everybody Hates the Kid: Crosby the Pariah

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:51:00 +0000

Not only did the Stanley Cup finals offer a chance for Sidney Crosby to truly leave his mark on the game, but it gave all his detractors the chance to really whale in the face of “Crosby Mania” and to let “The Kid” feel the full force of the NHL’s superstar marketing backlash.

When Wayne Gretzky came to eminence it had been as if God himself had fated it for Canada. From the tender age of 10, national Canadian media had begun to track the most prominent of all hockeying talents after scoring 378 goals and 120 assists in just 85 games for his pee wee team, the Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers. From then on it was just a case of if the kid could make it through the pitfalls; the third overall selection in the OMJHL midget draft, the escapades of an under 20 in the World Hockey Association and the game of cards proposal that saw a private jet wing an 18 year old into Edmonton. To prove his critics wrong and become a star in the big boys league in front of Canada, the NHL and the rest of the world.

In his first year he won the Hart, tied the scoring lead with fewer goals and by rights should have won the Calder but was ineligible due to his time in the WHA. When he finally broke the 200 point barrier in 1982, Gretzky was just 21 and had come to epitomize the game and by all accounts save it.

The NHL was small time in the late 70’s barely able to get a foothold in America with falling attendances and struggling TV contracts. A backwards entity, The league couldn’t market the best of players and iconic figures were few and far between; Trottier, Lafleur and Dionne were the standouts, Bobby Orr’s career had all but come to an end by 1975 and Phil Esposito was getting the wrong side of thirty five. Whilst a Canadian audience was all but assured, the league desperately needed a figurehead, a star and an ambassador, to make the game viable across all North America and secure its future; the fact Gretzky’s immergence came at just about the same time as “Miracle on Ice” didn’t hurt either.
To say Gretzky saved the NHL would be trite, but his influence on the game pushed hockey from the brink of obscurity back into the major four professional sports. His multi-national-migrant appeal, his stats and his skill made him popular outside of Canada and renewed the sport of ice hockey worldwide. For a nation like Canada, whose own national institutions, for many, include the sport of hockey, to see the game once again flourishing, if not more so than ever before, was a boon and the subsequent proliferation of books and movies that sprung up around the 80’s and 90’s were a testament to the newfound popularity of the game. To expand upon the legacy and importance of Gretzky, his trade to Los Angeles was the catalyst for many, if not all, of the sunbelt expansion.

However the descent into lockout was a worrying period of stagnation for the NHL, where rule changes and a lack of personalities were again threatening the much expanded leagues revenues and attraction. With Gretzky retiring in 1999 and Lemieux’s much vaunted return blighted by injury, it fell on a new crop led by the likes of Eric Lindros to reinvigorate the league, but try as they might, there were no descent young superstars that could fill that fresh faced void and combination of charisma and world beating talent the league and Canada so desperately wanted.
Enter stage right Sidney Crosby a young Canadian with good looks and glittering junior career in tow. A first overall draftee in the QMJHL, in many regards Crosby’s junior numbers were even more impressive than Gretzky’s and the Canadian media weren’t slow in building the hype with the youngster appearing on Hockey Night in Canada at just 14. Gretzky himself heaped praise on the Nova Scotian. When asked if anybody could break his records, The Great One replied he believed Crosby could.

Unlike Gretzky who entered through the WHA backdoor in almost quaint obscurity to his pee wee fame, Crosby’s ascent into the league was supported by the elaboration of the modern draft and all the multi media that supported and promoted “The Kid” through the weeks leading up to and after the event. Crosby was certainly of a different hockey age and we were all made sure we were aware of him, what perhaps surprised many, was like Gretzky, he defied the odds and secured the Hart trophy in his first season becoming the youngest ever player to record 100 points in a season then added an Art Ross the season after, the first teenage scoring leader since “The Great One”. It seemed as if maybe prophecies could be fulfilled.

Regardless of his successes, Crosby’s play was different and peppered with the positive and negative sides of contemporary hockey. A ripple was passing through the NHL’s fan base of which true superstars rarely have to face, “Crosby Mania” was very much a Penguins and Nova Scotian delight, “The Kid” was not liked when he headed off home turf. First came the “sell-out” Reebok adverts before his first full season then the teenage alternate captaincy debacle that registered outcry from many including hockey god Don Cherry. More noted came the diving and chirping which could also be leveled to a younger Gretzky, whilst in recent times fans of any team other than Pittsburgh have been quick to call out Crosby’s unphysical presence and ice position around the net, leading many to brand the NHL as protectorate over its prodigal son’s “wuss hockey”.
Clamoring to his defense, people refer to his tremendous skill and youth, his excellent leadership for somebody so young and the recent success of a franchise, under Crosby, that at one point looked dead in the water. What is undeniably clear is the pastures under which the grass grew green for Gretzky have become a hardened rocky path for any contenders to his crown. In this mass-media-age Crosby is fair game and locked in the sights of many a hockey commentator; which is just about anybody with a blog or a social networking page.

Off course other factors haven’t helped, the expectation with which Crosby entered the league under the questionable draft lottery, and the subsequent mantle of “media darling” have made him instantly dislikeable to the average fan-bystander, whilst the arrival of Alex Ovechkin the season before Crosby has split opinion down a bitterly divided line. Many look at the all-hands-to-the-pump back checking and physical playing ethos of the Russian as the true pinnacle of the sport when married with his stick handling finesse and cannon shot. It’s similar to the Lemieux or Gretzky debates of the late 80’s and early 90’s, only in today’s game there is a prevailing thought that there is only space for one megastar in the game and fans on either side have a ferocious passion partly owing to Crosby’s unsportsmanlike rookie nature and partly owing to the peculiar American and European affinity with Ovechkin.

When you break it down, Crosby isn’t the devil he is made out to be. He is the unfortunate product of the NHL’s desperate marketing scheme propelled furthermore by the Canadian media’s desperation for a new Gretzky. To top it all off his prominence to the highest tier of the sport has coincided with a massive corporate partnership with Reebok to whom many a player “sold-out” and to whom the new starlet was almost doomed to comply, a unprecedented lockout that predetermined the necessity of the draft lottery and the emergence of a truly respected youngster in Ovechkin, whose life and hockey nurturing has been in contrast to that of Crosby’s.

The NHL has been particularly cynical in the way it tries to promote the game with young names; Bettman’s era has seen the same ham-fisted marketing strategy that the league owes its historically varied levels of popularity too. Crosby was just another name to hype and throw around in promoting the league and the Canadian media jumped like a fish to a hook creating this idea that Crosby is some media hungry prima donna more owing to sports like soccer or basketball, a boy in the trappings of a multi-million dollar contract. Ovechkin by contrast, minus a Canadian passport, never received the kind of coverage many believe he deserves and with a modern greater American fan base who have ironically taken to the Russian this has caused a North American divide.

For Canada, Crosby is a renewed hope to promote their game internationally and return to the household name branding that Wayne Gretzky provided so stoically throughout the 80’s and 90’s. The reason people worldwide associate Canada with hockey was in a large part down too Gretzky and the media explosion that came out of his and the NHL’s golden age of marketable viability.
On top of all this, “The Next One” as he has been so glibly dubbed, has had to endure the constant pressure of a sportingly desperate public and the endless comparisons to Gretzky. Crosby is Crosby, he has a physical advantage over Gretzky who negated this issue with ultra fine stick work, on that note alone Gretzky is above and beyond even the most intense expectations. More importantly the game has moved on, defensive strategy is better realized and goaltending more pandered, the trap is truly developed and worked and the simple porosity of the league is no longer so profound. The year Gretzky recorded his first 200 point season; his Edmonton Oilers slotted the opposition for 417 goals, last seasons scoring leaders, the Ottawa Senators, scored just 262 goals, it would take a miracle for any player be it Crosby, Ovechkin or Ken Klee to record 200 points in the modern game.

What has to be remembered is just like Gretzky or any other Canadian, American or European hockey player who has or has not made it to the NHL; Crosby was a kid who grew up dreaming of playing hockey in the big time. Some may question the way he plays but in that respect he is simply a product of the modern game, he has never and never will be Gretzky or Lemieux, he just wants to reach his own goals and leave his own mark on the game. He will grow up and his game will develop and he will hopefully move away from the unsportsmanlike elements in his game to become a true contemporary ambassador for the sport alongside Ovechkin, in the meantime we should criticize any player who chooses to dive or argue with the officials; but not pretend that guys in our own shirts don’t do the same thing, or for that matter sell the shirt of his own back at the first chance.

Logos: Battle of the NHL Rebrands

noreply@blogger.com (Richard-Steven Williams) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:48:00 +0000

The Reebok hockey revolution has, for many, been another disappointing foray into the homogenization of rebranding. Gone are the days of smaller specialist manufacturers like Koho, CCM or Bauer adorning shirts, now just one text-speak abbreviation of an multi national conglomerate, encapsulating all that has been wrong with the leagues marketing plan in the last two decades, sits on the new "streamlined" and characterless game day and replica jerseys.
It’s true to say the theme of modernization has once again swept through North America's most rebranded professional sport. Kick started by the NHL's post millennium push for increased television revenues and game attendances, many franchises felt that "2K" would be a time to revamp their teams facade for a new age. Forget tradition; logos, arenas and jersey designs were all for the chop as teams looked for a savvier, sophisticated and "re-modified" image. But to what end and with what level of success?

Logos are by far and a way the most recognizable image and trademark with which every team is identified. It's on the jerseys, the centre ice, the dancing scoreboard displays, the commemorative pucks and zambonis, the corporate letterheads and little plastic cups from which you drink your beverages at the arena. It's how you recognize in an instant which team you will be playing as when you let your XBOX randomize the matchup and it does all this whilst transcending and identifying the heritage and traditions of a franchise and a city. On those terms rebranding should not be a simple boardroom decision followed by cake. Nevertheless, this is the NHL and tradition is a bygone word cast back to the nostalgia of the original six. With the big money contracts and sponsorship deals, the TV licensing and the "new fan" attract-ability scale; the last decade has not been shy to re-imagining and other such suit and tie terms. Yes RBK's foray into destroying the games traditions is a glaring light in recent times but the shift to the "new" NHL is not the product of one sponsorship contract but a rapid ascent from small time tradition to big time multi-media entertainment.
So who wins out in the modern NHL in the logo stakes? Seven franchises have rebranded their logos and jerseys considerably in the past decade whilst San Jose, Tampa, St. Louis and Calgary have modernized old designs. Furthermore five teams have been using a second or alternative logo with confusing frequency, are any of these superior to the traditional designs?

Major Rebrands
Buffalo Sabres
Technically the first image here was a 1996 rebrand from the Sabres’ original, popular, expansion logo that has made it's way back as an team alternative; the sabre's crossed beneath a buffalo. This quintessentially literal take on the team name was followed up by the considerably more ferocious buffalo head you see here. It's white, silver, red and black design was formed to fit in with the teams redefined jersey colors in their inaugural season in the Marine Midland Arena, a season that saw them win their first divisional title in 16 years and then the madness of Ted Nolan and Dominik Hasek in the playoffs. Nonetheless, having failed to make the playoffs the season before the rebrand, Buffalo went on to make five consecutive post seasons including a run to their second finals in 98-99 losing out to the Dallas Stars in 6.
However the Hasek anchored team began to fail following his trade to Detroit in 2001 and the side endured three poor playoff-free seasons as management struggled to lock up contracts. Following the lockout, Buffalo persevered with the "Goat Head," as it had become popularly known, for one final year, making the conference finals and losing in a narrow seven game series against Cam Wards’ eventual cup winning 'Canes. Generally derided and never fanatically adopted, the Sabres fans were led to believe that the return to the yellow and blue days would see a return to the traditional logo. However, if the "Goat-Head" was disliked, the new logo was going to underline awful branding.
Nicknamed the "Sluggalo" or the "Buffaslug," the new logo managed to overshadow the much-applauded return to blue and yellow with one of the most hideous re-imaging’s in NHL history. An online petition to ditch the leaping, gordy yellow buffalo was instantly underway; reaching numbers doubling a full capacity at the HSBC Arena. Despite this resistance, the new color scheme allowed the franchise to congratulate the new image coming top in the NHL merchandise league. In spite of the general brand discontent, the maiden season for the yellow buffalo saw the team claim their first Presidents trophy, the rebrand working the same as it had a decade previous. A failed regular season this term however will do little for the slugs appeal.

Conclusion
I personally liked the "Goat-Head," nicely drawn and detailed; it was modern but fierce years before the Nashville Predator came into being. Despite my reasoning the fans yearned for the old logo and never truly took to the “head”.
Unpopular as the “Goat-Head” was however, the "Slug," is down right abysmal and easily one of the leagues worst logos, an atrocity and a footnote to modern business' inability to listen to its customers: the fans. For me the "Goat-Head" wins out in this battle but the fans want the original logo back on their jerseys and with the increasing appearance of the crossed sabres as an alternative, you feel there is some stealth compromising occurring on the part of the Sabres franchise.

Columbus Blue Jackets
Perennial strugglers from their inception, there has been signs of life in recent times for the Blue Jackets, but with an up to now fairly incompetent general management and marketing department, progress has been slow visually on and off the ice.
Conceived with one of the dullest uniforms in NHL history, the original logo seemed to pose more questions than answers, especially given that the 13 stars adorned on the cheap looking "CB" was four short of those on the Ohio state flag, the situation was made worse by the amateur cartoon insect alternative that was adopted in the seasons leading up to the lockout. A continued lack of success thereafter was at least supported by the consignment of the "Blue Jacket bug" to the NHL history bin. With the team starting to look competitive in recent years, the RBK revolution was the turning point for the Jackets new look. Sponsored by Reebok, the team was rebranded and the new logos and jerseys were unveiled.
Well technically, the new logo was actually the replacement alternative for the bug, but nevertheless a much improved look brandishing a stylized rendition of the Ohio flag, albeit still three stars short; with a fairly indistinct C formed from the tail. Despite its shortcomings, the new design has proved considerably more popular with fans.

Conclusion
I hate to say it but Reebok and the Jackets got it right here, the original looked like a pee-wee teams badge owing to it’s amateur hour design and gordy fluorescent “stick J,” whilst the new logo is a neat example of simple-intricacy and style. The whole team image has been tightened and shows a renewed focus on making the team a success; given a year or two the sweeping flag may see more than 82 games and the new logo may herald a successful age for the fledgling franchise.

Los Angeles Kings
Perhaps indicative of Tinsel Town, the Kings have seen five distinctive logo overhauls in their forty one year history. From the classy yellow and purple originals that sat on the considerably less classy yellow, white and blue jerseys, to the ugly grey and black "Chevrolet" logo of the slightly improved uniform. However the contestants in the LA category for best rebrand consist of the two primary designs in the purple and black compromise-look era of Phillip Anschutz; the “Shield” and the “Purple Crown.”
Hockey mad billionaire Anschutz bought the Kings out of bankruptcy in 1995 and rebranded the team in 1998 in time for the Kings post-Gretzky rebuilding era and the teams’ Staples Centre relocation to downtown LA. Having lost the final in '93 five seasons after hockey’s most notorious blockbuster trade in '88; the arrival of Gretzky and the grey and black, LA had been in rapid decline with a talent pool of just two players. Keen to build from the ground up, Anschutz allowed an ageing Gretzky to be traded away to St. Louis before bringing in Dave Taylor as GM. Under Taylor the Kings continued to struggle as the side developed, however the season before the Black and Purple came in, the Kings finally snapped a four year playoff hiatus. Another season outside of the playoffs greeted the new Kings “Shield” before two consecutive appearances encompassing a memorable 2-0 series turn around against the Red Wings dropping them in 6. However this would prove to be the sole playoff victory for the “Shield” and after another first series defeat to the Avs' and another season outside of the playoffs the new “Crown” was adopted in 2002. Nevertheless the “Crown” has seen even less of the playoffs than the “Shield” managed, to be precise none, as the Kings seem to be in a terminal process of rebuilding with a trigger happy management ethos.
Many fans called for a return to the “Shield” or the older “Crowns” of the 60's and 70's in the new Reebok age, but like the stagnant performances on the ice, off it, LA have failed to heed the calls of the fans.

Conclusion
LA's badge is one of the more amateurish and dull the league has to offer. True, the old “Shield” featured a lion wearing sunglasses, but it was undoubtedly one of the more unique offerings and a considerable deal more successful than the new “Crown.” The loss of the colored stripe at the bottom of the new RBK jerseys has further diluted a once bold NHL brand and it can only be a matter of time before the team name is scrubbed off, not only is the hockey going down the plug hole but so is the teams flamboyant brand.

Ottawa Senators
It’s hard to believe that the Senators name in this form was only conceived in 1992. As natural a representation of the much storied Senators of 1883-1934 as can be managed in modern franchised professional sport, the contemporary Senators level of success has been modest in comparison to their namesake, but from an horrific first four years, the team has built to be one of the most consistently successful teams in the NHL. A claim supported by ten consecutive playoff berths, a finals appearance where they were beaten in 5 by the Ducks and the 2004 Presidents Trophy. Deciding upon a more literal approach to the term "Senators" than the single "O" bearing hooped jerseys of the "original" Sens’, the new team donned a simple yet classy centurion figure in profile, replete with team colors that served the Sens’ well throughout the years without any discontent from fans.
It was with some surprise that the Senators chose to jump on the RBK rebranding bandwagon and rework what had quickly become a modern classic in the field of NHL logos, what was worse; whilst many other teams had grown up and created more sophisticated renditions of their logos, the Senators had dumbed down the imagery and created a new more cartoony centurion in full 3D. Whilst the reintroduction of the traditional “O” as a shoulder patch has been well received, the new centurion has met with mixed opinion. The Senators had built a good reputation of their old logo and the newer version saw its maiden season go from excellent to awful. Nonetheless outcry has been kept to a minimum, a comparative success for the RBK age in that respect.

Conclusion
I liked the old profile logo; it was arguably one of the leagues most sophisticated images. To devolve into cartoony town seems a little contrived in the new NHL market whilst the jerseys have taken a trip towards tedium all too familiar with the Erbik (RBK) brand. It’s a shame that the Senators felt the need to rebrand the franchise off the back of successive successful years but that appears to be the NHL way these days.

Phoenix Coyotes
With the escalating costs of running a franchise mixed with the increasingly devalued Canadian Dollar, Winnipeg knew the game was up when the Quebec Nordiques up’ d sticks and moved south of the border. However, whilst Colorado seemed a perfect place to establish a hockey market, the arrival of the Coyotes in the middle of the desert was perhaps a little more surprising. Even more eye catching than the teams move from the cold Canadian climbs however, was the unusual marketing effort that followed.
Perhaps becoming the most unique looking team to ever skate on NHL ice, at least since the California Golden Seals, the Coyotes were awash with some fantastically original imagery. From the cubist-come-native art Coyote, to the busy Indian style bordered jerseys, the Coyotes were celebrated and derided with equal ferocity throughout the NHL. Nevertheless, on the ice the transition from Winnipeg to Phoenix saw a new age of consistency continuing on from the Jets swansong playoff performance. Being able to hold onto stars like Tkachuk, Doan, Tverdovsky and Khabibulin whilst adding Roenick and Tocchet to the mix; the Coyotes were reliable performers making four consecutive playoffs appearances with five in six seasons. However under the “native coyote,” Phoenix never progressed beyond a conference quarterfinal and worse was to follow.
With an increasingly unworkable lease with the owners of the America West Arena the Coyotes began bleeding finances and the team was sold to a consortium investment including Wayne Gretzky. Legend had it that Gretzky’s arrival in LA was aided by an agreement to renew the teams brand from the painful yellow, white and purple to grey and black and rumor speaks of a similar agreement regarding the Coyotes. On these terms it is worth noting that the original “native coyote” and Indian jerseys were dropped in 2003 in favor of the new, simplified “howling coyote” and minimalist rust colored uniform style just two seasons after the Ellman construction consortium, for whom Gretzky was a part, took financial control.
Conspiracy aside, the new brand was adopted for the sides opening season in the new Jobing.com Arena but the teams’ fortunes had been clipped by the financial dilemmas of the two previous seasons. Being forced to build from youth, waivers and free agents the Coyotes, coached from 2005 by Gretzky, made unspectacular progress, but with an increasingly talented crop of high end draftees, the new look Coyotes are beginning to look the business both on and off the ice.

Conclusion
I really wanted to hate the makeover the Coyotes received in 2003 because I was one of the few who loved their original logo and jerseys. However in this new age of bland, the Coyotes still stand out as one of the most sophisticatedly presented teams, with a thoughtful minimalist look and crafted logo. Despite this, the old logo still wins hands down as the best NHL logo of all time along with the finest shirts, at least in my maligned opinion.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh is a rarity in the modern millennia, a franchise that reverted to an original design at the behest of a die hard core of fans.
Returning to the second variant of the “skating penguin”, the first wore a scarf and looked a little tubby, the return of the post-expansion logo was borne out of Pens’ legend Mario Lemieux’ purchase of the team from a bankruptcy court.
Lemieux, a fan of the “skating penguin” as a cup winner under that logo, quickly sought to right the wrongs that the “Flying Pigeon” had installed in its 8 year tenure, albeit a tenure that wielded 8 playoff appearances and a Presidents Trophy in the “Pigeons” first year 1992-93.
The choice to rebrand in ’92 seemed a peculiar one in itself; having won two consecutive cups with the wonder team that contained Lemieux, Jagr, Recchi, Coffey and Stevens, Pittsburgh hoisted two “Skating Penguins” cup winning banners into the heavens at the Mellon in ‘91 and ’92, only to rebrand and wipe the heritage slate clean. Although the new image was more mature and concise, its design was one destined to date and struggle against the history of its skating counterpart. Furthermore, the reworked jerseys, whilst sophisticated, seemed in opposition to the teams previous on ice success.
The return of the “skating penguin” however was at a much decreased time of celebration for Pittsburgh, after it’s first season in the playoffs, the teams need to cut costs saw a period of rebuilding that would result in the Pens posting the third worst record in the NHL in 01-02 and then a continued slide into the lockout with failing attendances.
Nevertheless winning the draft lottery and the acquisition of Sidney Crosby of the back of the draw combined with other teams’ shedding of players to free agency under the new salary cap, meant the Pens’ were back in contention and secure in Pittsburgh with the new-old logo in tow. Despite one further season of rebuilding off the back of injury related retirements to Palffy and Lemieux, the next two seasons would see a renewed playoff push culminating in this season’s appearance in the finals.
With a talented crop of youngsters, the Pens look set to return to the winning ways under which the “Skating Penguin” exited and draw a line under one of the most poorly timed rebrands in professional sports history, so much so in fact, that under the RBK revolution, the “Flying Pigeon” emblem that had sat as a shoulder patch since it’s demotion from primary logo, was canned for good.

Conclusion
It is clear I am not in league with the Pens’ fans because I actually prefer the sophisticated look of the “Flying Pigeon” to the cartoony simplicity and anatomically incorrect look of the skating penguin, yet if I am going to harp on about heritage, history and tradition, I am technically bound to disliking the lukewarmly received “Flying” pen’. That said I am a hypocrite, ignoring my own instincts, the heritage free “Flying Pigeon” wins the bout of Pittsburgh for me especially in regards to the dull as dishwater RBK jersey that now bares the image.

Washington Capitals
Pittsburgh is not the only team to return to tradition in recent rebrands; Washington’s new logo is very much of the same ilk as the initial word mark logo that donned jerseys for the franchises first two decades. Unlike the Penguins however, Washington’s new logo was unveiled on the back of an entirely reworked franchise brand, returning not only to a redesigned original logo but a color scheme that was borne out of the teams’ formation. Subsequently the black, gold and blue was returned to a simple red and white design with blue trim and thankfully this meant a scrapping of the two logo system that had been technically in and out of effect from 1995, the Caps’ seemingly incapable of deciding between the “Capitol Dome” or the “Swooping Eagle.”
One of the worst expansion franchises in history with thanks to the World Hockey Association siphoning talent, it took 8 playoff missing seasons and that dreadful 8-67-5 maiden season for Washington to open their account as a credible NHL side. Having taken their bumps however, the Caps went on to record 14 consecutive playoff appearances without ever making it beyond the second round. In the final year of this run, the Caps completed their first rebrand bringing in the “swooping eagle” as their first logo and the “Capitol dome” as their alternative whilst changing the teams’ colors. Within a season of their new look, the Caps snapped their successful streak and missed the playoffs altogether.
However if the new logo was being branded as a bad omen it took only a year to dispel the curse. With the sophomore ”Eagle”, the Capitals posted the eighth best record in the NHL in 97-98 and drew the ninth best in the first round of the playoffs.
With three overtime victories the Caps bested the Bruins in a close six game series and then flattened Ottawa in five, outscoring the Sens’ 18-7. In round 3 the Caps found themselves up against the, also overachieving, Buffalo Sabres. It took another three overtime victories in another close six game series to make it to the finals where they faced third seed defending champions Detroit. Although squashed in a sweep, Washington looked a franchise ready to ride the crest of a successful playoff run, but success and consistency dwindled on the back of some disappointing trades and the new image was beginning to signify a team that had high wages, poor management and no substance.
Entering into a period of rebuilding, the two concurrent logos switched with the “Capitol Dome” becoming the primary logo and the “eagle” demoted to alternative.
Offloading of the high priced talent in 2003 resulted in three poor seasons either side of the lockout but also heralded the arrival of Alex Ovechkin in 2005 and last season, the RBK sponsored return to red and white saw the team make it to the Playoffs for the first time since 2003 as a renewed franchise.

Conclusion
Whilst the new uniforms and logo beget the concept of beauty in simplicity and provide a powerful brand image, I miss the bombastically over worked “Capitol Dome” that worked on the same levels as the Los Angeles “Shield,” especially when set upon the peculiarly angular blue, black and gold jerseys. I didn’t feel the same verve for the eagle however, as a good concept was fluffed in execution. I say the “Capitol Dome” wins this battle but the new look is a grower.

Alternative Logos
A more insidious form of marketing and rebranding was created when the NHL opened the floor to the third jersey “program.” Clearly another stab at rebranding and merchandising to rope obsessive fans into buying the alternative jerseys, a market already successfully tapped in sports such as soccer, the program was introduced in the 1995-96 season, four years after original six teams had adopted the vintage jersey drive. Where some remarketing schemes were minimalist or conservative, the alternative jerseys were a design template for the more off the wall, experimental or concept design work that in most cases would have been best kept in the landfill of history.
Often teams used the third jerseys as an opportunity to move away from hockey tradition and in the same vein create a new alternative logo or use existing trademarks that’s usage had been second to none. Nevertheless some of the alternative jerseys found new life when the NHL decided to can the third jersey drive in time for the streamlined RBK templates whilst others were shoehorned into the two jersey setup with differing home and away logos, a particular pet hate of mine. In this section I will look at some of the most memorable alternative logos and see which were the most successful and which were the more ill-advised.

Atlanta Thrashers
If there was an award for the most indecisive team when it comes to logos, well that would have to be Columbus, but talking jerseys, the Thrashers are the itchy marketing team of the NHL. Sure they have only had three jerseys, often running a three jersey set in the alternative jersey program, but the farcical way in which the franchise has interchanged colors, designs and logos is a true benchmark of the new NHL’s incapacity for tradition.
Presumably marked down to being a new entity, the Thrashers opened business with one logo for both home and away jerseys, but within a season had replaced the stick holding thrasher, for a “T shaped” overhead view on their road uniforms. At this point the home jerseys were white with navy blue and claret trim whilst the road jerseys were navy blue with claret and gold trim, however in 2003 the jerseys changed priority as the NHL moved away from predominantly white home uniforms and the Thrashers introduced their third baby blue and navy jersey. The logos remained with the hockey stick thrasher on the home and alternative whilst the “T” shaped thrasher sat on the now white road shirts whilst both logos served as secondary’s shoulder patches. To complete the confusion, the Thrashers canned the original navy road uniforms a season before RBK’s dull two set jersey templates in 2006, the same year the alternative jersey became the priority uniform and the “T” shaped logo, that had sat on the road jerseys from the teams inception in 1999, was serving its swansong, becoming just a shoulder patch on the now standardized home and away jerseys.

Conclusion
Opinions are very much split on the asymmetry and coloring of the new home jersey that was borne out of the alternative craze, I am personally not a fan. That said I do prefer the adoption of one logo for both jerseys and they clearly chose the better and always preferred image of the hockey stick holding thrasher to brand their franchise.

Boston Bruins
To risk tampering with the imagery related to an original six team would have been pure blasphemy in a sport often blighted by an extroverted identity crisis. For the Bruins the challenge was softened by seasons of mediocrity and a marketing department that understood the concept of subtlety. Subsequently when the opening of the alternative jersey program became available the Bruins pounced on the chance to use the brown bear or “bruin” that had served as its alternative shoulder patch logos in two separate guises from 1976 on jerseys that were just an design expansion on the theme of the teams primary colors.
Still the grand departure from their ultra traditional look was greeted with mixed applause. Whilst many Boston fans saw the new jerseys and logos as fun, the dubbing of the über cute bear as “Paddington” did little to support the franchises subdued efforts to rebrand a team that exuded history. Consequently whilst the bear survived as a primary logo on jerseys for eleven inconsistent seasons it was quietly culled in the RBK revolution in place of a reworked “original” logo on the shoulder patches.

Conclusion
The Boston Bruins uniforms are one of the few unmitigated success stories of the Reebok Edge templates, mostly due to the minimal deranging Reebok were seemingly allowed to make. The Bear that was introduced as a shoulder patch for two consecutive finals appearances in ‘77 and ’78 was never primary logo material and floundered against one of hockey’s most instantly recognizable trademarks. Nevertheless “Paddington,” on his swansong, had become the longest serving alternative jersey. Despite this it was clear that the minor levels of bantering embarrassment “Paddington” provided were to be quietly swept under the carpet at the first opportunity. This one is a no contest.

Calgary Flames
Calgary introduced their inaugural third jersey in 1998 but unlike most other teams that prioritized existing minor trademarks, Calgary came up with a whole new logo to market their third jerseys.
The “Flaming Horse” was something of a departure from the iconic flaming “C” that had proved enduringly popular, but the jerseys were distinguished as a best seller in third jersey terms with the bold logo and black coloring at times upstaging the then overly busy diagonal stripe jerseys that were the priorities in the Calgary set. So popular were the jerseys in fact, that following their sophomore season they were promoted above the old red jerseys as the primary Flames dark uniform with the “Flaming Horse” serving as a primary logo on the road and a secondary patch at home creating yet another “two logo” franchise.
The Flames persevered with this look until 2003, where the logo and jersey were relegated to an alternative for the cup finals year and then ditched altogether following the lockout with the “Flaming Horse” suffering a similar fate.
Nonetheless the third jerseys left an indelible imprint on the future Calgary design with the convex striping that would only be extinguished when RBK flattened the templates.

Conclusion
I would argue the black coloring was a suitable alternative opposed to the rather washed out red that became popular in the nineties; subsequently the after effects the divergence from tradition provided were tactfully adopted into the teams’ image. The “Flaming Horse” or dragon as it was often confused with met with lesser success, rather than produce a reaction, the imagery was a wash with apathy and mild banter that failed to serve the purpose of its bold design. Another alternative totally eradicated under Reebok, the “Flaming C” is a far timelier trademark that shows the power of simplicity over over-production.

Dallas Stars
As a franchise, the Stars are something of a unique entity. Unlike other franchises that were forced to relocate, the Dallas Stars, that started life as the Minnesota North Stars, chose to maintain the original brand identity keeping the North Stars colors and logo template. Perhaps this can be attributed to the high regard that the Minnesota franchise was held in by the NHL that would eventually be repaid with the foundation of the Wild. Whatever the reason, the founders of the Dallas Stars were reluctant to carve their own identity on the side.
Having subsequently adopted the old Minnesota images and traditions that preceded the Dallas Stars existence by 26 seasons, it was surprising that Dallas showed little interest in initially expanding into the alternative jersey market. However in 1997, the Stars would branch into a design template that would come to represent the Dallas brand uniquely as its own franchise for the next decade and become one of the most popular and identifiable jerseys in the leagues history.
The “star” jersey began life as the 97-98 Stars alternative, albeit replete with original logo, the tremendous sales success of the “star” design jersey, which was promptly promoted to the teams priority uniform set alongside a similarly star shaped road jersey, was an example of how the third jerseys were an excellent chance to road test new brand ideas.
However if the Stars first alternative was an unprecedented success in rebranding, Dallas second alternative jersey was an example of why most are best forgotten.
Where the original star jersey acted as a catalyst for the Stars own identity development, the new design was completely removed from all the Dallas Stars had worked to create in the six previous years. Built upon an entirely new logo in the same manor Calgary had done in 1998, The Dallas Stars second alternative was another meander from the traditions of the NHL and in that respect a usual suspect in the third jersey brigade. The new logo was a green bull formed from a constellation; busy, over worked and totally irrelevant, the new design earned the finest nickname of any new logo, “Mooterus,” owing to its similarities with a cow and a uterus. Universally derided with a general disregard for the navy and green combination of the jerseys, sales were abysmal, usage was minimal and after two season either side of the lockout both logo and jersey were dropped from existence.

Conclusion
Call it mad, but I liked “Mooterus,” it was unusual and I always liked NHL divergences from the norm, just look at my love for the early Phoenix brand. Still it was an undoubted example of how great remarketing can go wrong. On purely aesthetic terms, the general kitsch value of “Mooterus” cannot be underestimated in the face of Dallas’ classic logo however the truly irrelevant nature of the bull imagery means that “Mooterus” is edged out in this battle. For me a victory for tradition over the abnormal.

Edmonton Oilers
The Reebok hockey revolution has not been kind on the Edmonton Oilers, one of the NHL’s classic uniforms owing in part to its great cup pedigree of the early 80’s from which the designs barely diverged, the RBK Oilers jerseys were regarded as one of the poorest converts to the Edge system owing to the incredible blandness of the new template and the forced look of the piping. Sure the orange was converted to copper before Reebok got their hands on it, but this seasons jerseys have been one of the most instantly forgettable with the character of the signature horizontal bars removed from the final cut. What made things even worse for Edmonton fans was the NHL’s decision to put a stop to the alternative jersey market.
Where the dreaded third jerseys were often greeted with turned up noses, the Edmonton Oilers third jersey, introduced in 2001 complete with an original logo designed by Canadian comic book artist and Oilers co-owner Todd McFarlane, were regarded with the same kind of love dolled out to traditional jerseys and were especially surprising when taking into account the tremendous history of the franchise. Nevertheless few franchises can claim to have one of Canada’s most respected comic artists in their marketing branch and furthermore the clear role which was set out for the black jerseys made them all the more acceptable, after all there was never any doubt that the “Streaking Oil drop and sprocket” would ever vie for priority jersey against the classic white blue and orange (copper).
Upon release, the black “oil drop” jerseys became the NHL’s best sellers easily outstripping any other alternative jersey for sales with the new logo being roundly applauded by the non-traditionalists. For six seasons the jerseys were successful sellers and the “oil drop” was even promoted as a shoulder patch on the priority uniforms. However with the NHL deciding to end the almost universally, outside of Edmonton, disliked third jersey program, the black jersey and “oil drop” logo were ditched for 2007-08 with the “oil drop” being scrubbed form the patch-less shoulders to the dismay of some Oilers fans.
Still conventional wisdom suggests that a limited run of third jerseys may return in 08-09’ and many would favor a comeback for the black “oil drop,” at the very least expect to see the alternative logo return to the shoulder patches in the next few years.

Conclusion
A theme is becoming clear; any logo universally derided by fans stands out as a personal favorite of mine whilst any alternative that was actually well received is generally disliked. I hated the “oil drop,” I felt it was one of the ugliest logos in the NHL due to its angular design and unsympathetic, yet unthreatening appearance, not to mention the dull color scheme that it ushered in. Clearly leagues behind the simple iconoclastic Oilers badge, the old badge wins.

Nashville Predators
For some the Predators came into the league with one of the sharpest brands and finest jerseys. Stepping bravely away from tradition like the Coyotes did two seasons previous, the Nashville saber-tooth was perhaps the leagues best realized logo, at least out of the nineties expansion, whilst the jerseys were well formed and featured a superbly selected color palette that owed well to their surrounding. Nevertheless the untraditional approach to NHL branding was almost collectively hated by the rest of the leagues fan base who accused the Predator brand of being garish and flamboyant.
However if the Predators were trying to appease the leagues luddites when they adopted a third jersey in 2001 the remarketing scheme backfired. Creating a new logo that was supposed to be a simplified version of the rapidly dating Predator; the new logo was poorly designed and stood out as one of the one of the leagues ugliest, a reference that would be kind to the mustard color jerseys with which they were adjoined.
Whilst the mustard alternatives and childlike reworking of the original logo managed to plod on for five seasons before being canned at the NHL’s behest at the completion of the third jersey program, the other alternative logo shown above, has only ever served as a shoulder patch since 2002 and remains beyond the RBK revolution.
Now considered one of the most underused alternative logos in the league, the “skull saber-tooth” has been receiving increased calls to be promoted up to priority logo as the team endures tentative stability in the music city whilst the original logo is being increasingly described as “dated.”

Conclusion
I was not amongst the rabid NHL fan base that derided the original Preds’ brand; in fact the only game jersey I own is an original Predators navy and silver jersey as I felt it was a standout by a franchise that didn’t have to conform to tradition as a new entity. Whilst I thought the original logo was neat, the “skull” that came about in 2002 is increasingly earning kudos as a fine alternative logo. I feel it’s a matter of time before the skull precedes the old Predator logo to become the figure head for the company as the original is starting to feel “of its time” to be euphemistic. “Skull” wins out in a good battle of unusual logos.

New York Rangers
The Rangers could arguably be dubbed the showiest team of the original six, subsequently their sortie into the alternative jersey market was nigh on inevitable. What was surprising was that it was by far and away the most successful remarketing of a traditional North American sports team.
Derived from the goalie mask of US born and career Ranger Mike Richter, the New York Rangers unveiled their “lady liberty” jersey in 1996 and garnered an alien amount of league-wide praise for a third jersey. Maintaining the team colors of blue, red and white, the sheer simplicity of the design, in conjunction with one of the most relevant and perfect logos the league had ever seen, meant the Rangers used their alternatives with startling frequency incurring fine after fine from the NHL for overuse of an alternative jersey.
So popular proved the design that at times the real conundrum for the franchise was to stick with tradition or revamp the brand with their new unique logo. Where this would be sacrosanct for any other original six team, the Rangers genuinely toyed with the idea whilst continuing to be financially punished. Off course the high rolling Rangers were all to happy to absorb fines when the merchandising was running so smoothly and the “Liberty” shirts sold successfully for eleven season, including the 98-99 season when the Rangers tried to push for an second set (both home and away alternatives) in the Gretzky era, the league said no.
Nevertheless when the league forced their hand and capped the third jersey program, New York chose to stick with tradition and the rolling text frontage was finally assured.
Still, a reintroduction of alternatives will almost certainly see a return of the “Liberty” shirts and regular league fining for overuse.

Conclusion
It has to be a mark of respect for the “Lady Liberty” logo when many lifelong Rangers fans were calling for a rebrand away from 80 years of history. There is little doubting that the “liberty” design was the finest of the leagues alternative sweaters and in that same respect I felt the Rangers would change their logo and their jerseys in time for the RBK redesign. No doubting who wins this one, and for many it’s a surprise, but the “Liberty” design is the winner over tradition, its simple, it’s well realized and it is perfectly fitting for the franchise, too Bad the Rangers decided to stick with the shield.

Toronto Maple Leafs
A history of conservative design suggested the Leafs would not stray to far from tradition when they unveiled a third jersey and secondary logo in 1998. That it was an exact replica of an old logo was not a surprise and if were being honest, the choice of the 35 point blue leaf with classic font, wasn’t either.
First emblazoned on the Stanley Cup finalist’s team of 1939, the “veined leaf” remained a priority logo for 28 years encompassing ten cups, the last of which being the 1967 Stanley Cup, Toronto’s last Stanley Cup and the final year of the 35 point leaf.
Brought back with fanatical applause on and off from 1991 when Original six teams were allowed to don vintage uniforms for special occasions by the league, the traditionally designed jerseys (bar modern player name font) were the only vintage outfit with an old logo to be truly adopted as an alternative following the 95-96’ third jersey program. However it took three years before the Leafs jumped on the bandwagon, then the shirts lasted a season as if a special offer, only to return after a season hiatus by popular demand in 2000-01 through to the RBK adaption.
Enormously admired due to the intricate design that livens up a historically plain uniform as well as the tremendous heritage behind the logo, many Leafs fans believed the RBK edge age would see a forward to the past resurrection of the “veined leaf.” But as so often proved the case the RBK templates not only featured the plain “11 point leaf” introduced in 1982 but also scrubbed the 35 point leaf from the template altogether.
A shoe-in for any further league expansion into vintage uniforms, many Leafs fans still call for an overhaul of the franchises extremely bland image with the introduction of the classic logo.

Conclusion
The 35 Point Leaf was the seminal logo by which the franchise was defined; that the management stoically hold onto a much duller, less historical logo is a unique situation for any of the original six teams and an indication of the backwards thinking that permeates throughout the Toronto leadership. Constantly mishandled in recent years, the team cannot get its act together visually, let alone on the ice. With so many fans calling for a permanent, priority return for the classic leaf, surely someone will eventually address the situation, soon, seeing as they are not addressing the hockey. Classic “Veined Leaf” wins by a wide margin, one of the leagues seminal logos and brands.

Vancouver Canucks
Certainly no strangers to the third jersey program, Vancouver fashioned three separate designs all bearing differing current or classic logos whilst redefining the tacky fabric gradient trend that had been demonstrated so abysmally by Los Angeles original “burger king” jersey.
Initially the Canucks introduced the navy and orange alternative jersey that featured the, aforementioned fabric gradient in the horizontal bars, in 1996. With yellow numbers that were positioned over the orange fade to navy fabric; the jersey was a true alternative disaster that was branded with the black red and gold skate logo of the Canucks. This jersey lasted a single season before being canned by the franchise whilst the sixteen year old logo was also dropped as the franchise completely rebranded with new colors and new “orca whale” logo. However during the run of Vancouver’s second alternative, a read and navy “orca” logo fabric gradient jersey, worn between 2001 and 2006, Vancouver became the first team outside of the Original Six to be granted permission to wear a vintage uniform.
The return of the classic blue and green Canucks jerseys, worn between 1972 and 1978, were an unexpected blast from the past that proved popular with fans that had been dazzled by some of the leagues worst third jersey designs. Complete with original “hockey stick C” logo that branded the team from its foundation in 1970 through its first decade; fans voted with their wallets and extinguished the Canucks run on terrible fabric gradient alternatives with vintage jersey sales making the 1978 jersey the Canucks official third jersey of 2006-07.
Quickly becoming a best seller amongst fans, rumor had it that the Canucks were preparing to rebrand the whole side under the RBK revolution; colors, logos and all. However like so many rumors that sprung up around alternative jerseys in the final pre-Edge season, they proved unfounded, or at least half unfounded, as Canucks fans found the team had rebranded the colors under a return to the traditional royal blue and green but had deigned to keep the “Orca Whale” logo, albeit with white ice, providing an unusual contrast between dark logo and royal color.

Conclusion
The Canucks are one of those franchises with a penchant for bad taste, the peculiar choice to marry modern logo with old design is not one that works easily on the eye but then again neither did the original logo. Clearly as tepid as old hockey design came, the dull “hockey stick C” was devoid of the kind of charm a new franchise needs and like anything that was dated in the late 70’s, its resurrection in the new millennia is perhaps best left as a footnote. The “Orca whale” logo wins in a battle of the leagues ugly logos collection and would do to convert to more fitting colors in future renditions.

Overview
Naturally, when all is said and done, this is just for fun and my views often differ from fans of their own teams, I can only speak as a Leafs fan and fervent NHL follower. However there is a serious side to this matter. When we all invest so much time to this passion, we deserve a say in the identity of our teams, after all, the fans are as much the identity of the team as the brand itself. Sometimes it feels forgotten that the fans identify themselves by the logo on the front just the same as the company identifies itself with the image on the corporate letterhead; only more so and more significantly.
When franchises transcend from the fans and become their own entity it feels insulting, especially when something good is taken away in the place of something bad; just look at the dreadful remarketing of the Islanders between 1995 and 1997, many fans were humiliated and the Long Island team has struggled ever since with poor crowds.
The RBK Edge transition has been widely derided and rightly so, never in the history of NHL rebranding has one company had such a vastly disrespectful effect on the identity of every single team. Many of the logo changes above were the catalyst of some other event, be it a new dawn from financial difficulties, or simply the freshening of a brand, and not all have been universally detrimental by account of the fans. Conversely calls for a change in logo have often been left unheeded, just look at Toronto, Vancouver and Buffalo all yearning for a return to history and heritage.
Maybe the franchises will wake up from the anesthetic rebrand enforced by the Reebok uniform system and be allowed to show some individuality in future seasons, the touted return of the alternative jersey could prove a step forward or backward in equal measures, or perhaps it is time for the NHL to freeze teams continued change of logos and jerseys, to stop the disregard for their own heritage that so many franchises bounce about with a self harming reckless abandon.
Whose to say, as a matter of consistency the NHL’s shoot first ask questions latter rebranding is one of the reasons people are not always able to take it seriously.

This huge, time consuming blog was made possible by these superb websites:
Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.net (www.sportslogos.net)
NHL Tournament of Logos (http://nhllogos.blogspot.com/)
and
Hockey Widgets: Regarding Third Jerseys (http://www.hockeywidgets.com/newblog/2007/12/regarding-3rd-jerseys-part-1.html)