Fighting Is Integral To Hockey?

Fighting is “integral to the way the game is played,” according to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman,

“nobody has a divine right” to a second franchise in the Toronto market.”

“We’re not going to encourage or allow teams to play games,” Bettman said.

You know, credibility is a hard thing to earn, and even harder to maintain. These three comments by the Commissioner are ludicrous. Let’s look at them one by one:

To say fighting is an integral part of hockey is, in my opinion nuts especially given his previous stances on the matter. I want to be there when the first player dies in a hockey fight and the they call the count up to the stand, as the league is being sued and he tries to say out outraged he is and appalled at the actions of the player who threw the killer punch when the defense attorney gets up and asks him to read this direct quote. Let me make this clear. I am not anti-fighting. I don’t think it should be banned. However this “integral part of the game” stuff is nuts. Skating, passing, body contact- all are integral. How is something that is punishable integral? If you can get kicked out of a game for doing it, how do you define it as an integral part? From my perspective, fighting is a necessary evil(again, I like watching the odd tussle, don’t get wrong). The threat of getting your butt kicked in a fight keeps people honest. There is a difference between a good fight and a dumb one. The majority I have seen this year (not scene) have been the dumb kind, but that more a product of whom the Leafs “tough” guy is….. Call a spade a spade. I think calling fighting integral to hockey is insulting.

The second line is a direct shot at RIM head hauncho Jim Balsille. Again, ENOUGH already. This is just getting plain old stupid. You have a very wealthy owner who wants into the club. For the most part (present charges excluded) he isn’t a crook. Or at least he hasn’t been charged with a crime in which incarceration is the penalty. Compared to the other clowns that Bettman’s crack due diligence team has allowed into the club this guy is a saint. He has cash, he loves the game, oh and he heads a tech company that could change the way fans interact with the players/game. Having the head of a major tech company like RIM own a team would be a great thing. Look at the Caps and all that they do because their owner is deeply involved in technology. Give it up, already. Find a way for this guy to get a team. As for the Toronto part, why would you want a 2nd team in a market that can support it? That would be stupid! I mean why not have more teams in markets where $17 tickets (complete with gas cards, parking and food) aren’t enough to fill the building? Time to get progressive and move on.

The last one is the best. We aren’t allowing people to play games??? Oh, you mean like current owners who are part of your executive team loaning money to other owners so in fact they are principal owners of more then one team at a time? Those aren’t the games you are playing?? Allowing teams to spend the absolute minimum so they can steal money from other teams via revenue sharing, those games? Allowing owners to personally buy tickets to guarantee their teams hit those minimums? Papering the house isn’t a game right Count Bettman?

These comments are insulting. Try speaking the truth next time, you will get much higher approval ratings…

Quotes of the Day

“Check the accompanying sidebar, which combines the won-lost percentages for the current season of the 15 cities with both NHL and NBA teams. Yep, there is Team Tanenbaum, right down there in 15th place.” Dave Perkins…
“To be getting dressed in the Canadiens room is something I always wanted to see,” he said in French.” Vincent Lecavalier
“When I walked through those doors and saw the hundreds of people there for autographs and waiting for the players arrive — my hair was all over the place, and I really didn’t expect to have it,” he said Friday. “I don’t think anybody expected to have a welcome like that.” Vincent Lecavalier
“”For someone being born here, to play here, obviously people add a little bit of pressure,” said Lecavalier. “But I think a good pressure.” Vincent Lecavalier

Sure sounds like Vinny has Montreal on the mind, and no it doesn’t sound like it’s not his kind of town….

“Bettman and his bosses used a hammer to try to fix something that wasn’t necessarily broken in the first place — and what was really broken, they couldn’t acknowledge, let alone fix.” Stephen Brunt on the NHLPA declining to re-open the CBA

“The problem was — and the problem is — there is a wider disparity in NHL markets than in any other sport when it comes to how much people actually care about the product. Hockey is front of mind everywhere in Canada and in a handful of U.S. cities (now, for the first time in years, including Boston and Chicago). There people will pay large amounts of money for a seat, and produce big television audiences that are attractive to advertisers. it didn’t do a thing for the Phoenix Coyotes or Atlanta Thrashers or Nashville Predators or Florida Panthers. If anything, those clubs are in worse shape now than they were before the lockout, their decline accelerated by the credit crunch and ensuing recession, coupled with shaky ownership. If they’re still in business come 2011 — and who would like to bet their life on that right now? — the next labour war won’t cure what’s wrong with them, either.” Stephen Brunt

“Each and every player, NHL Players Association boss Paul Kelly said today, should expect a 13.5 per cent pay cut this season because of declining league revenues. The cut takes the form of escrow payments, monies withheld from players to make sure the union collectively does not make more than its share of the money the league takes in. the league’s revenue growth has dropped to about two per cent from 12 per cent a year ago..”The players aren’t happy about it,” said Kelly. “But they understand it.” Kelly admitted that in this case, the escrow will have the effect of being a salary rollback the same as that the players were forced to accept after the 2004-05 lockout.” Damien Cox-

Who would have guessed that the PA would elect to extend the deal that all the majority of pundits called a loser (not looser) for the players. Perhaps, just perhaps the players have gotten a tad bit smarter this time around….

The best quote of the day however was from PA slappy Glen Healy on the NHL suspension of those players who aren’t in Montreal for the All Star festivities:

” ”

Somewhere, Healy must be a caged dog. Just wait till he gets a few pops in him on St. Catherine tonight… Kelly may have the duct tape on his mouth for now…it won’t last, and when it ends, get ready for quotes like you can’t believe.

The Morning Wasn’t Better

You know I need a life when I am listening to the morning show on the Fan, and all I can think is, what would Mike S say? Did anyone catch Kypreos on the fan this am? Man was that segment BRUTAL…. I am not surprised it isn’t on the website. I am telling you, this wicked winter is taking its toll on everyone..

Kypreos made one good point. Toskala has been the disappointment of the season. He was the one guy who should have been strong and Burke is probably questioning what to do with him big time. I think Nick got caught up in his packing for Montreal when he said the one good thing about Toskala is that he is locked up with a long term contract (and no, there wasn’t any sarcasm)

Landry’s big contribution to the segment was an impression of big Nick- that was ok, certainly not funny.

Stellick asked Kypreos a great question which Nick did everything but answer. The question was, looking at Michael Ryder from the Bruins last night, who had a rough go of it in Montreal last year, makes you think that Ron Wilson and Brian Burke are scouring other rosters looking for guys who are having a tough time with a current coach/team thinking that they can turn a guy around, who, Nick would be a good example of those types of guys for Leaf fans to look out for? Wow, what a great question right? One that a guy like Kypreos should be able to answer. He didn’t come anywhere near answering it. All he did was restate the fact that the Michael Ryder had a rough time in Montreal last year and that being reunited with Claude Julien has been very good for him. Thanks for coming out Nick.

Then he was asked if Grabovsky needs to play a little bigger (in fairness this was Landry’s question) in that he appears to get pushed off the puck pretty easily. Good question that I have heard a few times. Again instead of answering it, Nick explained that Grabovsky hasn’t earned his ice time, that he should be relegated to 4th line duty until he has earned 1st or 2nd line status let alone time on the power play. I think that is a very far sighted answer to a near sighted problem, but it is IRRELEVANT. Kypreos would make an awesome politician. His answers are all about his agenda, and not in any way related to the question(at least this morning)

Then, the topic became the all star game. Stellick said to Kypreos, you (Nick) blame Bettman for everything, now the all star game is coming, revenues from the game are split between the league and the players and the marquee players are choosing not to go (not those who are injured). Kypreos, again ignored the question and went on to rip the event. He said it should go back to the way it used to be and not have fans vote. When he was asked about players not going, he said they shouldn’t go. When Stellick said that he admired a guy for being honest (and I don’t remember who the player was) in saying, I am not going because I don’t want to go as opposed to lying and saying I am “injured” Big Nick ripped Stellick for admiring a guy for being honest. Big Nick then contradicted himself about 4 different ways about what the game should be before essentially saying the game is a total joke and not worth watching, let alone attending. When the guys reminded him that he was going for Sportsnet he said “Oh yeah riveting TV”…Now, if I am David Akande and I am paying for Nick to go to Montreal, I haul his ass back and say, you know what, stay home. Kypreos wants players to just say, I am not going and not give a reason. He should do the same thing. If you have to go, just say nothing to denigrate the product. I just can’t imagine his bosses are overly enamored with him telling people to not bother watching their coverage. Can you imagine if you are the head of marketing for one of Sportsnet’s clients (all-star or otherwise) and you heard this guy telling people not to bother watching? If it were me, I would call Akande and say, pull my ads, your guy says your coverage of the event isn’t worth watching….

The fan had a huge night last night. I hope it can continue later. After this am, I am not hopeful.

By the way, did anyone catch Rick Dudley in between the 2nd and 3rd periods on 640’s broadcast of the game? Great interview (bias). It was so good that the fan had him again on their after hours show (where he is a frequent guest). I am a huge Dudley fan. I am not sure there is anyone better out there who can speak about the game, those in it and how to spot and evaluate talent.

Draft Schmaft?

If you only read one article today (besides this one of course) check out the hockey news story by Ryan Dixon. It’s another story on how securing a top draft pick is not the only way to build a winner:

Consider if you will:

” the more you look around the league, the more you realize the folly of this sentiment. High picks are to NHL GMs what miracle diets are to the lumpy couch potato; sure, they can give you an immediate jolt, but if you want sustainable results, you have to hit the gym. In the case of NHL GMs, you need your scouts to scour gyms, arenas and any other place you’d expect to find a burgeoning hockey player who has yet to be spotted or has, at the very least, been underrated. That way, your ability to select impact players isn’t restricted to the 20 minutes immediately following the chorus of boos Gary Bettman receives right after saying, “Welcome to the NHL draft.”

There is no question about this. It’s never about 1 guy, it’s a team game and you will win and lose by your roster.

“Want three examples of why you don’t need famine in order to feast in the NHL? Start with Detroit, San Jose and Boston, also known as the three best teams in the league. The highest any of those clubs have chosen since 2000 is No. 5, which is where the Bruins got Phil Kessel in 2006. Boston has selected in the top 10 on two other occasions over that time frame, while San Jose has three top-10 picks, the highest coming at No. 6 (Milan Michalek). Detroit, as you’d expect, has none.All of those teams got to the top – and can expect to stay there – because they’ve done an exceptional job of drafting in the mid-to-late first round and beyond.”

Keep in mind folks this is in the new NHL era. It is the one reason I have hope. The old days of building teams are over, the need for an influx of new minds is every present.

“Once upon a time, the Sens were among the NHL’s best at unearthing draft gems. In 1997, they nabbed Marian Hossa with the 12th overall pick. Two years later, with the 26th selection, they grabbed Martin Havlat. But Ottawa’s depth has been undermined by its inability to continue finding players of that quality. In the virtually idiot-proof first round of 2003, Ottawa drafted Patrick Eaves 29th overall. Boston took Patrice Bergeron with the 45th pick and Nashville hit a home run with Shea Weber four slots later at No. 49.
The year before that, in 2002, Ottawa took Jakub Klepis No. 16 overall. Oops.”

Again, stories of pre salary cap NHL aren’t overly relevant. Teams operated completely differently back then (look at our leafs). The Sens much like the leafs (but to a different degree) haven’t adapted to the post war era. Their GM is still stuck in the old mindset. He has over priced talent that he can’t move and remains steadfast in their value despite their lack of production. Detroit isn’t a fair comparison. They were SO bad for so long that when they started to get it right they had built a system that was for lack of a better word recession proof. The machine was built pre Cap and still works post Cap. Let’s see what they do next season and the season after. The pressure will be higher because expectations are high AND the cap isn’t supposed to increase, rather it’s supposed to go down. The pressure to draft properly especially from the bottom of the rounds will go way up.

“I completely understand why bottom-feeders like the Islanders, Atlanta, St. Louis and Toronto are drooling at the prospect of drafting a John Tavares or Victor Hedman. Those teams are, to some degree, devoid of talent and need a new cornerstone around which to build. But being bad and picking very high for a number of years does have its perils. First of all, the boom only comes after a bust and who knows how many fans a prolonged down cycle alienates if you’re not in a market where hockey is the undisputed No. 1 sport.”

Thankfully that isn’t a Toronto problem. At least not right now. We have suffered so long without a marquee name (an elite, best of the league type) for, well almost ever! ( i know certain Sundin lovers will throw shit at me for that, but the truth hurts).

“Secondly, at some point you’re going to be paying out a huge amount of salary to a small portion of your team. For example, the Chicago Blackhawks will have to pony up for both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews after next season when their entry-level deals both expire.”

Having two young studs is a problem I can live with. Dixon brings up the Pens with this problem too. I have a difficult blaming the fact that they have 2 guys who are going to make big bucks as the problem. It’s a problem when you don’t have a GM who knows how to put the right pieces around them. I mean no disrespect to Detroit’s grind line, but they are the type of team that they are because their muckers and grinders- Plumbers as Burke calls them are better then anyone elses. That’s where the good teams make the big difference. Great players are great. It’s the guys who get dirty where you need to seperate yourself from the pack.

“Fans of struggling teams can cry for a complete rebuild if they want, but a steady diet of top picks can leave you with nothing more than a bloated salary cap if you’re not supplementing it with a nice dose of hidden gems.”

Or some great plumbers!

you can read the story here…

Al-Strachan Needs Help

Another useless article by Big Al. You don’t even have to read it to predict what is in it. Lets see, those who predicted attacking the league for a cap, you are correct. I mean the guy is sooooo smart he writes for who again? Oh yeah, no one. He is picked up by fox sports. The CBC is so desperate they continue to put him on the hotstove. One has to wonder what he pays the CBC to appear. His most recent article is yet another in the long series of the CAP is bad for fans…yadda yadda yadda. We know, AL move along…

Why raise it? Well Al speculates that the Cap will drop down to 45m in 2010-2011. He then tries to explain which teams are going to be in deep trouble for fact that they have too much money tied up in too few players;

“To the right is a list of some of the teams in precarious positions. The figures represent the amount of money, to the nearest million, that is already committed. The player number shows how many players are under contract for that year. Each team needs to have at least 23 players on its roster.”

Only one problem…the chart only contains 2 columns, the Team and the amount of money committed.

Missing Info?

So when Al says : “A team like the Rangers, therefore, will have about $9 million at its disposal to pay 16 players. Similarly, Philadelphia will have $3 million to pay 13 players.” It isn’t backed by ummmmm anything. At least he tried to do some homework.

Brooks is Freezing; Simmons Aint Buying; Sundin’s Poker Face

A happy Sunday afternoon to all. Anyone else noticing that the city seems to have already started the winter break? People aren’t calling back, traffic is down, certainly seems like people are away pretty early.

In NY, NHL hater (and i can’t for the life of me understand why someone so biter covers the NHL as Brooks does) Larry Brooks wants the Count to initiate a league wide price freeze on single, season and playoff tickets. Not a bad suggestion, but what about the UNION Bob Brooks? I mean Larry Goodenow? How, pres tel can the UNION allow this? I mean what about the PARTNERSHIP, the MISTRUST, the HATRED you spew every week in your columns. Certainly the league can’t do this without the UNION’S permission. Funny how you don’t mention that one little peace in your article this week. This would have a direct impact on hockey revenue which would have an effect on the UNION. Had the league done this before Larry Goodenow, I mean Bob Brooks suggested it, we all know he would have been hopping up and down about the UNION…..

A rather dull week for Steve Simmons’s again. One part worth noting, Simmons is bang on when he asks just who is going to be buying Blue Jays tickets this year when the manager has given up the season already. Trade Doc, and announce a year to rebuild and I will buy tickets. Keep trying to be half pregnant and count me out. What JP and Rogers are selling, I am not buying.

Mats Sundin is in NYC to meet with the Rangers and of course play poker. The Sens are out of the race, and word is so FINALLY are the Leafs. The other team that is out is Chicago. For my money I would love to Sundin in black and red. As I wrote earlier this summer, the only team Sundin actually contemplated waiving his NTC for last season was the Rangers. I am moving my chips to the team Bob Brooks, I mean Larry Goodenow covers. Which is good so I can hear EYE and LT chear while a few others boo.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I really missed the Leafs last night. Felt like i lost an old friend….

Larry Goodenow, I mean Bob Brooks can be found here…

Saturday/Sunday Blah’s

Ahhhhh yes, the dog days of sum, I mean winter. Let’s review Brian Burke becomes GM, team goes out west, plays pretty poorly in the final 2 games, during the second of which a veteran defenceman gets benched for the entire period before going -3. The team gets back and hires a new head of hockey operations, looses a close game to the Washington Capitals, and at the same time the stud defenceman gets injured (likely for 2 weeks) and one it’s better forwards (Hagman) to injury too. I think that sums up the leafs no? The Raptors fire their coach, who only a couple of seasons ago won coach of the year honors. The new coach is a canuck(first time that has ever happened) and has gone 0 for 2 since. Collectively those two teams have had a change in their ownership structure. Over in Blue Jay land, the GM meetings are now here and the owner just died and the word is the payroll is being dramatically cut. Elsewhere in Toronto, the Buffalo Bills played my (no, I don’t own them) Miami Dolphins in the first ever regular seas game to be played in Canada or Toronto.

Elsewhere, Sundin appears to be on the verge of deciding to make a decision whether or not play this season and then maybe where too. Sean Avery has been suspended for 6 games and ordered to be assessed for the need for anger management therapy. He has apparently asked the PA not to appeal or file a grievance on his behalf (giving Glen Why Can’t I Be Maple Leaf GM ulcers). The Canes fired their coach and replaced him Paul Maurice. Tampa Bay fired it’s coach too this season and may actually be worse under Rick “The Bet” Tocchet. The economy is in the crapper (and going to get worse) and the NHL board of Governors are going to discuss that (and hopefully litany of teams who are allegedly in various stages of financial disarray. ) The Detroit Lions improved to 0-13 (improved is the right word right???) In US college football, Oklahoma and Florida finished 1-2 in the BCS and will play for the BCS national championship on Jan. 8 in Miami. In US college hoops the Michigan Wolverines stunned the Duke Blue Devils who were ranked #4 prior to that tilt…

Forgive me if I left anything out… Why the review? Well, in my usual tour of the papers, tv stations, websites today I can honestly say I didn’t find one single article worth reading or writing about. No joke. With the exception of the blurb on Simmon’s piece which I wrote mainly for Eye….and to bash Howie, again, there was nothing, zip, zero, nadda, zilch to even consider discussing. With all of the above going on, and more I am sure, I was stunned at how little was written or spoken that actually peaked my interest, had me on my blackberry to ping someone, or get my blood boiling. Did you read Larry Brooks today? Don’t bother, there was nothing there. Seriously, even his take on the Avery story was a complete bore.

So, perhaps this is a week in review, or the after effects of another phenomenal festivus last night but here is hoping that it isn’t a sign of things to come. I used to really like Sunday’s for sports media purposes…. Today I felt cheated.

Healy on the Wilson and Avery…These are times of war right?

Thanks to The Meatriarchy for pointing this out to me, Glen Healy was on the fan morning show yesterday am and had lots to say…

when asked how he would feel if he had to practice at 8am as the leafs had to yesterday am..

“What are these children? At some point the act is going to wear thin. I have never had that in my entire career. I had some great coaches, Al Arbor probably the best coach I had in my entire life, a wonderful man and not once did he pull something like that. Mike Keenan, as evil as he was…. never had the kindergarten approach where you had to be in school before 8am…. The boys will go through the practice and they will bad mouth him the rest of the day and nothing will get accomplished. The teams problems are the teams problems…it’s not a lack of work ethic, it’s just the team.”

He was asked about Kaberle, what was he learning while watching the entire first period from the bench?

“The same thing as your fans are from this interview. He’s their best defenceman and an all star..he is brilliant, he thinks the game better then anybody, he has deficiencies, he isn’t Chris Pronger, he isn’t going to stomp anybody. He’s a player you have to win. I can’t see how doing that to a player like Kaberle I don’t see how it is going to help him. He is like Brian Leetch, if you benched Leetch you would not see positive effects the next shift. Some guys you bench and they really improve, others they don’t. Kaberle is one of those guys where it won’t have the effect you want. I am not behind the bench making the decisions, and he has to live with the results of his actions and hey look, it worked really well, they only lost by a field goal. ”

Landry pointed out by reading a quote from Burke that Wilson has the support of his new GM.

“Well it’s still early and pretty soon this ship is going to get righted, this might be your mulligan year, lots of chances to play you little games, but you are playing your gm 3 million bucks and you are going to expect results at some point. He has the respect and support now, at some point he won’t have it, and the players are going to say we’ve had enough of this clown and Brian’s going to have some difficult choices to make. At the end of the day, we are going to have to see some results.

He was asked about Avery:

“As the PA we are there to make sure things are fair, and Sean has rights as a player. He knows that he made a mistake and he used those 2 words in the wrong forum and in the wrong way, he knows it, he appologized, he is very humble, he’s made that mistake and he is going to move on. We are there to make sure that Gary isn’t going to be the judge and jury and jailer and eventually executioner and that is what can happen here. So, it’s more fairness here then anything. Try to defend Sean as best as possible, he is one of the 700 guys in our league, and off the ice he is a good kid and I mean he’s not a bad kid and so I look at it as he’s one of the marines, there is the few and the proud and he’s one of us and we have to make sure he knows he is wrong…”

Kudos to Don Landry for calling Healy out, “you just used the phrase clown and Sean Avery couldn’t be a bigger clown and you call him a good kid, it seems you are being rather partisan and a little too protective of a guy who, speaking of a hockey fan who has peeved me off time and time again and I am tired of it and sick of him.”

Healy: “And that is wonderful, I really appreciate your opinion Don, I think it is great to have that opinion about that player if that is what you truly believe. I mean my opinion about 8am skates and benching your best defenceman and when players get shots blocked on the foot and players ridicule them in practice in front of their teammates I have a different opinion of what happens when coaches do that and I have another opinion of what happens to players when they cross the line. I know Sean has crossed the line, I am not saying what he did was not right, or sorry, was not wrong, I have a different opinion of the 2 acts and we can’t mix them together. I appreciate your opinion though, you have the opinion that is the solid majority, and by solid I mean north of 90% so you are not in the wrong.”

Landry then said that he wasn’t sure about that, Landry has been surprised by how many people have said to him Avery said 2 words, big deal.

“Well, usually the 2 words players regret the most are I do. But 2 words used in the wrong forum and he knows it and he said them. He is going to pay the price. He knows it is not appropriate. Unfortunately for Sean, verbally he is quite quick, for other players they use violence in other ways. Today won’t be a great do for him. He is not getting a lot of support from fans, the league, his teammates nor his team.”

What if it is a 7 game suspension what is the reaction? Does everyone expect the PA will appeal it?

“That would be a legal question, I may be the only person in my office who isn’t a lawyer. I believe the appeal process goes to the board of governance so good luck with that. We want fairness, and that is the bottom line.”

I recommend you listen to this, and can do so here…

I will say this. The fact that he uses military terms to define his role and that of the PA is all you need to know about this guy and his union…. They act like combatants and as if everything is a war…

Radio Tonight

Tonight on PTS on the Fan590, JIM KELLEY, JEFF BLAIR, JOHN WELLS. MCCOWN OR ROB FAULDS WILL HOST

On 640 Toronto with WIlbur and Brady:

Bob McKenzie, TSN
Bruce Boudreau, head coach – Washington Capitals
Tim Hunter, Leafs Assistant Coach
Dreger & Morrison – Inside The NHL
re-run of Dreger/Watters/Bettman
Roger Cossack, ESPN legal analyst 630pm

Toronto Radio- All Bettman

Bettman will be on Hockeycentral at noon with the boys on the Fan590 and at 1245 with Darren Dreger over at 640 toronto. Hmmm you think he i going to talk about Kaberle or Sean Avery?