Brown's head shot to Hudler

In last night's game Anaheim Duck Mike Brown crushed Red Wing Jiri Hudler.

For his actions Brown was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
It's a fairly polarizing hit. The Ducks are claiming it was a clean hit. The Red Wings are saying it was dirty and vicious.
Frankly watching it at game speed I thought it looked clean too. To me it was no worse than a Scott Stevens hit. If those were clean, then Brown's was clean.
I was wrong though. Look at the video from CBC.



Here's more proof.

Brown's forearm is level with Hudler's head.




The end of Brown's stick and his hand are in Hudler's face.


And Brown's follow through, that shows intent to injure.




Many are comparing this hit to Donald Brashear's hit on Blair Betts in the first round. They're similar, Brashear's was a tad later, but not quite the same. Brasher received a six-game suspension his actions, and yet Brown won't receive any more punishment for his.

Also, many people say a player should keep his head up. I understand that. Yet the player doing the hitting should be responsible too. Brown could've delivered a hip check .

Ratings up, attendance up

Today I read more reports about NHL playoff attendance increases and TV ratings increase.

Kevin McGran at the Toronto Star:
The NHL may not be able to hide its delight with first-round playoff attendance numbers.
Many believed the post-season would be a casualty of the recession, but average attendance for the opening round increased and all but four of the games were sellouts.

Greg "I hate the NHL, and I wish I wasn't blogging about it" Wyshynski at Yahoo! Sports was critical.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Star writes an "all is well" NHL playoff attendance article without mentioning how attendance is counted or reported publicly.

Gotcha Mr. Negative. Name a sports league - NBA, MLB or NFL - that reports attendance differently than the NHL? They all do it by tickets sold. Anyway, I watched plenty of games on TV, and with the exception of Detroit, the arenas all looked damn near capacity to me.

Bill Beacon of the Canadian Press:
With fans flocking back to see good teams with star players in Chicago and Boston, the NHL says its rinks were full to 100.9 per cent capacity through the 44 first-round games, its highest figure in 16 years.
Only four games — two in Carolina and two in Anaheim — failed to sell out.
It also reports a 22 per cent increase in viewers on the Versus network in the U.S., which averaged a 0.44 cable rating, or 333,163 households and 442,301 viewers.

Also there was this tidbit.
It was a game between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on NBC on April 19 that did best — a 1.3 rating, or 1,542,710 households and 2,223,151 viewers. The league called it the most-watched NHL conference quarter-final game on "over-the-air" TV since 2001, up 63 per cent from a comparable NBC game last year.

NBC bested the the Mickey Mouse networks?! Wow, that's hard for me to believe that the synergy between NBC and Versus beat the synergy between ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio, etc., when they had games in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Very hard to believe NBC surpassed the "sports leader." Maybe it's because the Mickey Mouse networks weren't giving it their all.

Finally, Jeff Z. Klein at The New York Times:
Tuesday’s two Game 7’s did not end well for metropolitan-area fans, but there were a lot of them watching.
The relatively high ratings for the Rangers and Devils came even though their decisive games were telecast simultaneously on MSG’s two networks.
The average ratings for both eventful series showed significant increases over last year’s numbers, with the Rangers averaging a 2.50 (185,846 households) on MSG, compared with a 2.13 in 2008. The Devils averaged 1.36 (101,100 households) on MSG Plus — way up over last year’s 0.59.

NHL.com failure, again

So OK I didn't see all of the games tonight. I wanted to but didn't, sorry.
Anyway I just got home, and I wanted to see who scored the first two goals in the Capitals - Rangers game.
Bypassing all other sites I went directly to the source - nhl.com.
This is what I got.



Another nhl.com malfunction.
:(

2009 playoffs review, ratings

So far, so good for reviews and ratings.

Ross McKeon of Yahoo! Sports:
While this can sometimes be a convenient time to complain about what’s wrong with the NHL and the Stanley Cup playoffs, we’re here to tell you there’s a whole lot right about the postseason, especially this season’s version.
Yes, it may still be early, but there are a number of positive trends that can’t be ignored, and several annoying habits that have not surfaced this playoff season.

He goes on to explain how there are plenty of top 20 scorers in the playoffs, big market teams, less whining about officiating, less diving, exciting games, etc. It's worth reading the whole article in my opinion.

Also two journalists reported higher TV ratings this season.

Craig Custance of Sporting News:
The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is winding down, and if the ratings are any indication, fans have enjoyed the matchups.
While in Columbus to be a part of the first Blue Jackets playoff game, commissioner Gary Bettman got ratings updates straight from the networks on his Blackberry.
He shook his head while leaning over to show a reporter the numbers. They were impressive.
Versus reported ratings increases of nearly 50 percent. According to the New York Times, the MSG Network reported its highest ratings for hockey in 12 years. The Times also reported that hockey viewership in Washington is up 121 percent over last year.
The oft-criticized television deal between Versus and the NHL is gaining serious traction this postseason.
"Our willingness to do things differently with NBC or particularly now with Versus, in some respects, it makes us a trailblazer,"Bettman told Sporting News.

Jeff Z. Klein of The New York Times:
The N.H.L. post-season is still young, but initial ratings reports show a big increase in TV viewership in the United States.
According to figures released by Versus, the network’s first 10 games of 2009 playoff coverage drew an average of 434,382 viewers per telecast, up some 50 percent over last year’s figure, 290,551.
Meanwhile on the MSG Network, the telecasts of Games 3 and 4 of the Rangers-Capitals series on Monday and Wednesday nights drew the highest ratings for hockey on the network in almost 12 years.

Additionally a Detroit Red Wings blog reported higher ratings too.
Per FSDetroit -- Tuesday night’s Game 3 of the Red Wings-Columbus series on FOX Sports Detroit averaged a 12.0 household rating in metro Detroit (approx. 231,240 households), according to Nielsen Media Research data. That’s the highest rated Red Wings telecast onFSD since the 2004 playoffs. The rating for Tuesday’s game peaked at 13.4 from 8:30-8:45 (258,218 households).
The first three games of the Red Wings-Columbus series are averaging a 10.4 rating. Last year’s playoff coverage on FSD (5 games in rounds 1 & 2) averaged a 9.1 rating.
1 ratings point equals approximately 19,270 households in metro Detroit.


It's great to read all this good news isn't it? I also really enjoyed reading this from the NYT article.
The Versus playoff spike comes after a regular season in which N.H.L. games on the network showed an increase of 21 percent in average viewership over last season (329,794 vs. 272,417).
“It’s been exciting,” said Jamie Davis, president of Versus, in a phone conversation with this blog on Wednesday. “We really worked hard in the regular season, working with the league. We started with opening night early in October, that game was our highest-rated regular-season game ever.”
Now in the playoffs, hockey viewership on Versus is really taking off, according to Davis. In Washington, viewership is up 121 percent over last year, he said, and up 20 percent in New York.
“We want to be able to say that at this time of year, we are providing the hockey fan and sports fan with in-depth coverage of hockey like they can find nowhere else. Some nights we’ll have double- and even tripleheaders.”

Davis is right. Nowhere else on TV.

Fighting for hockey

Because I fight for hockey where ever I go, I saw this.

The story.

So I walked into a Buffalo Wild Wings Friday night to watch the Capitals - Rangers game. It wasn't already on. I knew it was about halfway through though. The bar wasn't extremely full, and only a few patrons were watching a game - a couple of baseball games and the basketball game. A few more were playing online trivia or poker. So I picked the least likely place to sit so as to not disrupt the statusquo.

"What'll have?" asked the bartender.

"I'll have a Diet Coke if you can change one of these TV's to the hockey game."

"We can probably do that."

"Great, I'lll take a Diet Coke then."

Get my drink, but no hockey is on. This doesn't bode well. B-dubs is busy. I got it. I make sure nobody next to me is watching the Cubs - Cardinals game. They're not. They're fully engrossed in their online games.

It takes a bit longer, but finally the hockey game is on. A plasma TV and the projection screen. That didn't set well with the Cubs or the Cards fans in the rest of the bar, nor the two guys who came in after me and sit a few seats down. They howl in protest

So then it's back to baseball, including the plasma TV in front of me. The hockey game is on a TV at the other end of the bar - too far for me to see. I complain.

"I'm not ordering anything else until hockey is on one of these TVs." There were about five of them, so it was in the realm of the possible. "As a matter of fact I'm getting ready to leave. I mean Icould've gone anywhere to eat, but I came here to see a hockey game too."

The bartender didn't hear it all I'm sure as she turned on her heels to change the station. She changed it or had it changed, but I hadn't looked up. I was still fuming.

She came back prepared to write my order.

"I said I'm not ordering ... oh you changed it." So I order my food.

About that time Alexander Ovechkin scored his highlight reel goal.

It was like my own little reward for influencing B-dubs to change the station. Did anybody else see it live? Did it make the four-letter's top 10 plays of the day?

Really I don't really care if anybody else saw it. I know in my heart that it was the number one play that day, and it was probably better than anyLeBron James alley-oop or baseball home run or catch.

Columbus scores with NHL hockey

Hello playoffs and goodbye playoffs. Looks like that's what the Columbus Blue Jackets are saying as the Detroit Red Wings are one win away from advancing.
I'm glad the Jackets made it to the playoffs though. They deserve it, and so do their fans. From all accounts the first game, aside from the final score, seems to be a resounding success.

Craig Custance - Sporting News:
A crowd of 19,219 came to be a part of history in Columbus, and while there wasn't much to cheer on the ice during Detroit's 4-1 win, the night marked a significant moment off it for the Blue Jackets.
Before this season, Columbus was suffering from steadily declining attendance and, worse yet, the Blue Jackets were threatening to become irrelevant in a town better known for its college football.
But with their playoff debut Tuesday night, and the buzz filling the area leading up to it, the city made it clear it has embraced the Blue Jackets. And playoff hockey.
"I think we're turning a corner here as a franchise. . . . The buzz in this city is that we matter a little more now, we're more in the fabric," Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We have our time of the season like OSU has their time. We matter right now. That's huge."

That's great to read in my opinion. Take note snobbish, traditional-market NHL fans. Even a Canadian-based journalist is hopping on the bandwagon.

Rory Boylen - The Hockey News:
COLUMBUS – I have to say, driving into the city Monday evening I was a little skeptical of what the atmosphere surrounding the Jackets would be; a team in the post-season for the first time in franchise history.
On the first evening I counted more baseball and college logos around the town than Blue Jackets memorabilia. So, despite being a Blue Jackets booster all season long – and letting Adam Proteau know he was going to have to live up to his early-season bet day in and day out – I thought we might find ourselves in the middle of a stereotype. That being, small market American franchises have non-existent fan bases and I might find myself coming out of the experience with, reluctantly, more ammo supporting a migration of these fickle, unsupported franchises to the Great White North.
But then game day came.
The city remained quiet in the morning and the drizzly weather discouraged me even further as to how many rambunctious, zealous fans would be out showing their support and gaining momentum for their team. But then – and all of a sudden – about an hour before the gates opened the streets were flooded with people wearing Jackets jerseys, sporting war-era mutton chops and Union caps; the city had come alive.

That's just it: too many fans and journalists stereotype newer, small-market and non-traditional hockey markets without ever setting foot in the city. In March James Mirtle found out that he was mistaken about Nashville. Now Boylen sees the light too.
I've known. I've been attending games in Columbus and Nashville since 2000. Wake up! And stop drinking the Kool-Aid coming from northern journalists and fans. Hockey can survive in a variety of places - not just the north, and it can make converts of skeptics - even a four-letter network employee.


Kevin Allen - USAToday:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit says his 2-year-old son Chase walks around his Columbus-area home carrying a small hockey stick and chanting, "Let's go Jackets. Let's go Jackets."
"I didn't know anything about the NHL in 2000 and I can't tell you what a Blue Jackets fan I've become," Herbstreit said. "My family ... we are completely addicted."
The Herbstreits won't be alone in their zealous support Tuesday night when the Columbus Blue Jackets play the Detroit Red Wings in the first home playoff game in the franchise's eight-season history.
"There's been a lot of buzz and it's rekindling the spirit of the inaugural season," said Scott Bagenstose, a season ticketholder since the team debuted in 2000.

I hope Herbstriet isn't fired for his unabashed love of hockey.
Anyway, Nationwide Arena is a great venue for hockey, and Columbus can support a team. There's plenty to do, and plenty of places to stay within walking distance of the arena. Also, I'd rather attend a game there than some other NHL arenas, like United Center in Original 6 town Chicago.
Oh and like I posted in March, I heard more hockey talk in Columbus than I have in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Buffalo.
Good luck to the Jackets ... except when playing the Wings.

NHL.com failure

Once again nhl.com fails.
As usual when I listen to a game online I like to keep track of the stats of the game as they happen. I couldn't tonight.
Thanks nhl.com. Thanks for once again letting down a diehard fan.
I tried three different browsers too, and I can't get the link to work. In fact it's not just this game but every game since the playoffs started.
It's no wonder I haven't visited the site much this season. In 10 years, including the lockout year, this year is the least amount of time I've spent at that site.

Previous nhl.com disappointments:
http://auxlepli.blogspot.com/2009/02/nhl-and-media-part-3.html
http://auxlepli.blogspot.com/2009/02/nhl-and-media-part-1.html
http://auxlepli.blogspot.com/2008/11/two-nights.html
http://auxlepli.blogspot.com/2008/10/still-looking-northward.html
http://auxlepli.blogspot.com/2008/10/nhl-fan-connect-updates.html

And it was going so well nearly a year ago.
http://auxlepli.blogspot.com/2008/04/nhlcom-getting-better.html

NHL.com use to be one of the best sports sites out there. No longer is that true - for many reasons I've blogged about before, and for many others I haven't even scratched the surface of yet.

Oh, and one more thing, what's the deal with "The Portal?" Anybody understand what that's all about? I don't notice any significant difference since before that launch.

Success, a small victory

It pays to persevere.
Tonight I found another downtown Indianapolis bar that carries CenterIce. I almost stayed there, but I felt some loyalty to another bar I frequent.
So while the one bar was showing the Frozen Four and also promised to show the Red Wings - Predators game, I headed to what I call Indy's hockey oasis.
No hockey on when I got there. Yet, almost immediately after I entered the establishment I got the Frozen Four on, even though the four-letter broadcasted the games. Also, as soon as I walked in the bartender said, "I already got the Wings game lined up for ya."
That's what I'm talking about! That's the way to do it!!
It helps that I'm decked out in Wings gear, the bartender is a hockey fan and that the manager is from Detroit.
After a golf tournament is over, the bartender changes all the TVs to a hockey game - the Rangers game, the Islanders game and the Sabres game.
"Is the Masters on?" one patron asks. "Nope, it's over," says the bartender.
I'm thinking ... you're thinking about golf when hockey is on!? Idiot!
Anyway, all downstairs TVs except one, which shows music videos, has a hockey game on it.
Fifteen TVs and 14 showing hockey!!
That's what I'm talking about! That's the way to do it!!
And while I was depressed while reading some hockey columns yesterday, I'm not tonight.
Tonight I have hope.
There's nothing sweeter in any sport than when your hockey team scores - when you see the team you're rooting for put the puck into the back of the net.
Nothing.

Hockey and hotels

Filled out a survey of a hotel chain. I stayed there while traveling back to Indiana from New Jersey.
Below is what I wrote when asked.

Also, I almost didn't stay here because when I called and asked if this hotel had Versus one of the hotel staff said no. That's a non-starter with me. I'm a huge hockey fan, and NHL games are on Versus. I wanted to see the game that night, and my choice of hotels is dependent on whether the hotel carries Versus or other hockey broadcasting networks.


That's the way to do it!

The game was the Red Wings and Philadelphia game on March 18.

Hockey opinions March 26, 2009

Alexander's Ovechkin after scoring his 50th goal
That is a non-issue. Sure his demonstration is a little excessive, especially by hockey standards, but I thought it was amusing. It's definitely not as bad as many of the NFL touchdown celebrations. That said, I usually prefer the more low-key approach. Act like you've been there before. On the other hand it's good to see the exuberance and enthusiasm of some who score.

The four-letter's coverage of the NHL
It still sucks ... hard!
Last night after attending the Indiana Pacers' game I walked to a local sports bar, and ESPN was on two TVs. I watched intermittently, and for like an hour that the sports highlight show was on, only highlights for one NHL game. Six games and only one game's highlights were shown. ONE. That's not a network where I want the NHL.
It's been more than a year since I started my Mike & Mike boycott, and I'm better for it. I can't remember the last time I logged onto the ESPN.com, and I'm better for it. Except for that Mickey Mouse network ubiquitousness I wouldn't bother with it at all either, and I'm better for it.

Red Wings, Yankees, Patriots, Bulls & Spurs
Everybody gets it wrong. The Detroit Red Wings are not the New York Yankees of hockey, the Yankees are the Detroit Red Wings of baseball, and the New England Patriots are the Red Wings of American football.
In the last 20 years, no other North American professional sports franchise has been as successful as the Red Wings have been. The Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs might be the exceptions.
This year the Red Wings will make their eighteenth consecutive trip to the post-season. They have won four Stanley Cups, and six President Trophies in the same time frame.
The Bulls won six championships in the 1990’s, but they haven’t sustained that success. The Spurs have won four championships as well, but I don’t know how many consecutive years they’ve made it to the post-season.
The Red Wings organization is one not just other NHL organizations should emulate, but all sport franchises.

Driving from Indiana to New Jersey and back
Surfed my non-satellite radio for hockey coverage while traveling.
In Columbus I found an hour-long hockey show on a local station there. That's better than my experience when I visited Buffalo, Detroit and Chicago. It also better than what I found traveling through Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on this trip.
I really hope the Columbus Blue Jackets make it to the playoffs this year.

NHL and the media, part 5

Today while I was driving I heard on the radio Dan Moriarty and Lincoln Kennedy talking hockey.
Great!
Kennedy was talking about how he's becoming a hockey fan. How watching today's game of the week, Capitals versus Penguins, was part of his professional development, and because it featured Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin.
Then Moriarty says he grew up playing hockey, so he's a fan. Kennedy said something like, "What else could I watch? I'm sports fan, there was really nothing else to watch."
So the banter continued like that. Hey this is great I'm thinking. There was hardly anything derogatory like one finds with most sports talking heads, like over at the four-letter.
So then they segued into basketball and said something like, "Now we're going to break down some college games."
Then I realized what was missing. While Moriarty and Kennedy talked about hockey, it's relevance, that Kennedy had watched the game, what they didn't do is break down that game. Heck, they didn't even mention the score of that game!
Hockey has a long way to go.

NHL and the media, part 4

When I first started this NHL and the media series I expected it to be a two-part series. Obviously it's grown.
A comment I had about one of the blog entries is essentially, "What's the point?"
Good question.
It's to highlight the lack of impact the NHL makes. Or more correctly to highlight how little the sports media thinks of hockey. See for all the fans' passion, for all the derision laid at GaryBettman's feet, the real problem is changing perception. It's my opinion that hockey fans need to change that, speak up. Not to other hockey fans, but to the radio and TV shows, to their sponsors, and to the networks and websites.

So on that note, another snapshot. This time, more sites but just one day - this morning.

CBS - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


ESPN - one video link, one link for same game


Fox - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


NBC - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


Sporting News - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


Sports Illustrated - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


Versus - only a banner for a future NHL game


Five NHL games last night, and only one site mentioned one game. Surprisingly enough it was ESPN; the sports leader's website that lived up to its nickname. The NHL's U.S. broadcast partners, Versus and NBC, failed. That is just nothing but badness. Below is my reasoning why the sites and editors are able to get away with such scant hockey coverage.

When I answered the above question I remembered another blog I read awhile back, Greg Wyshynski's Why your local newspaper chooses not to cover the NHL.

"Economy bodychecks NHL coverage" was the headline on William Houston's story in the Globe & Mail today, in which he discusses how newspaper sports departments are scaling back coverage for hockey.
As I read it, I wondered if he used his story "Newspaper coverage is way down in Canada, U.S." from back in May, took out all the references to Canadian newspapers that chose not to cover an all-U.S. Stanley Cup final, and then added in some extra doom and gloom for hockey in America.

OK, so the article he mentions, from the hockey-loving country of Canada, is doom and gloom. Hmmm.
Wyshynski continues.

You'll notice these examples come from warm-weather NHL cities, which was no doubt blood in the water for Canadian fans who would like to see every team from St. Louis down to the equator relocated to the Yukon. The story doesn't mention the Columbus Dispatch, which has two beat writers, a columnist, two blogs and a podcast dedicated to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Then again, the paper owns a piece of the team; if only the Palm Beach Post had a stake in the Panthers.
Houston's story has a lot of doom and gloom. The reactions to it have been equally grim. But I think it's always darkest before the dawn.

I'm glad Wyshynski is seeing a positive, many in Canada and the northern states don't.
See it's this kind of doom and gloom tactics, the anti-Bettman bias, the anti-Sun Belt bias that's just infesting fans. So much negativity, so much bile and so much hatred. When hockey loving fans and the hockey loving media complain it is ammunition for mainstream U.S. media outlets, ones who aren't all about hockey, to pile on, and they do. See the examples above. Looking at them, I can hardly tell it's hockey season. Why should they cover something when the fans who supposedly love hockey so much, hate everything about it?

NHL and the media, part 3

Catching up with my RSS feeds I found some older articles from mlive.com's George James Malik about WXYT and the Detroit Red Wings.

In WXYT boldly delves into Wings talk Malik praises two of the stations DJ for chatting about the Wings.

WXYT's Terry Foster and Mike Valenti officially talked about the Detroit Red Wings in earnest for the first time on Wednesday, ...

Wow the first time this season and roughly 50 games into the season. For Hockeytown that's sad and depressing.
My response there:
Whenever I've been to Detroit I've never, NEVER, been impressed with the sports talk stations there. As with most every other city in the states it's way, way too much American football. If not that sport then some other celebrity tangent or other non-sport topic. No hockey, no basketball, no baseball and I've been there enough times when those sports overlapped hockey season.
Other than the Red Wings broadcasts, there are only two positives for WXYT: the FM feed is on iTunes and the Jeff Riger post-game Wings shows.

Malik also found the AP article on USAToday about the Detroit Pistons moving to WXYT, which is something I blogged Monday. I doubt the veracity of Malik's headline, Pistons' deal with WXYT won't take precedence over Wings games, and first statement.

The Associated Press notes that the Detroit Pistons, who will move up the dial to WXYT next season, won't supersede the Red Wings in "The Ticket's" pecking order:

My response:
I don't believe the headline of this (Malik's) article.
When non-Lions, American football games take precedence over a Red Wings game then something is wrong, which in this case is the Wings' flagship station, WXYT.

My previous problems with WXYT:
Two Nights
Listening Live

Want proof that Detroit isn't Hockeytown anymore. Right now 19:26 Thursday Dec. 13, 2007, I'm streaming the Wings' flagship radio station, WXYT, using iTunes. The talking heads there are talking about American football. There should be a pre-game show for the Wings too. Now the game has started, about a minute in, and they're still chatting about the Lions. Wings just scored. Still the iTunes stream is American football. Thankfully I can listen to the game on nhl.com. There's this beeping noise that's very annoying. I can't win tonight. Thankfully the Wings are out to an early start. Just messaged the studio. This is what I wrote. "I like streaming your feed using iTunes. How come I'm hearing American football chatter instead of the Red Wings game? This is very disappointing to me. Please e-mail me back at (e-mail address) with the answer. Thank you for your time." I'll let you know if I receive a response. This is depressing. I mean I had my hopes that if I moved to a hockey loving area everything would be perfect. I guess I'll need to move to Canada now. Finally at nearly 8PM they join the game in progress. Damn that just sucks. That's very poor judgment in my opinion. I'd feel the same way if they were talking hockey and joined an American football game in progress. The live event takes top priority and preferably with a pre-game show. Sheesh. Well it's on iTunes now so I'm happy now, but still poor judgment on WXYT's part. Damn the Oilers just scored. Well the game just ended and still no word from WXYT. I seriously doubt I'll receive a response. Typical.

NHL and the media, part 2

Last week I took screenshots of my two favorite sports sites', CBS and Sporting News, main page from Monday through Friday and in the morning - the first thing a sports fans see when they open the site. After my survey of sorts I'm glad I have the NHL page at each bookmarked. Because as the results below show, the NHL is lost in the shuffle.
The NHL was not featured in the primary location with a big photo on the left hand side of the page on either site last week. Only the Sporting News featured the NHL in its secondary location, above the links on the right hand side, and that was just one day. Most upsetting is Friday's showing, seven games the night before and neither site had a link to even one of the games.


Monday, Feb. 9, 2009 at about 5:16 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Datsyuk, Hossa lead Red Wings past Penguins - one link
NBA - Featured, plus one link
MLB - three links
NASCAR - one link
NFL - two links
NCAA BB - two links
Golf - one link
CBS - Wings 3, Pens 0 - one link
NCAA BB - Featured, plus four links
NBA - one link
MLB - two links
NFL - two links
NASCAR - one link
Golf - two links
NCAA W BB - one link
The night before: Three NHL games


Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 at about 6:30 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Devils top Rangers, Banning Fighting - two links
MLB - Featured, plus two links
NCAA BB - Featured, plus one link
NFL - one link
NCAA Football - two linkds
NBA - two links
CBS - Devils 3, Rangers 0 - one link
MLB - Featured, plus two links
NBA - three links
NCABB - two links
NBA - one link
NFL - two links
NCAA Hockey - one link
NCAA Football - one link
The night before: Two NHL games


Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 at about 7:45 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Thornton, Sharks vs. Bruins game, Wings win 5th in a row; Avery to Ranger affiliate and Jagr to Oilers? - Featured, plus one link
NCAA BB - Featured, plust one link
NBA - two links
MLB - three links
Misc. - one link
Motorsports - one link
Dog show - one link
CBS - Sharks win marquee bout - one link
NBA - Featured, plus four links
MLB - four links
NASCAR - one link
NCAA BB - one link
Misc. - one link
Boxing - one link
Olympics - one link
Dog show - one link
The night before: Seven NHL games


Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009 at about 8:15 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Nothing
NFL - Featured
NCAA BB - Featured, plus one link
MLB - four links
NBA - four links
NCAA Football - one link
CBS - Rangers 5, Caps 4
NCAA BB - Featured, plus two links
NFL - three links
Olympics - one link
MLB - three links
NBA - three links
NCAA Football - one link
The night before: Nine NHL games


Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 at about 8 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Nothing
NFL - Featured, plus one link
NBA - Featured, plus one link
MLB - two links
NCAA BB - two links
NASCAR - one link
Golf - one link
CBS - Nothing
MLB - Featured, plus two links
Golf - one link
NASCAR - two links
NCAA BB - four links
NFL - two links
NBA - one link
NCAA Football - one link
The night before: Seven NHL games

NHL and the media, part 1

Nearly two weeks ago on Feb. 5, the Detroit Free Press reported that WXYT 97.1 will broadcast Detroit Pistons games next year.

Starting next fall, Detroit will have something rare in America — one radio home for all four of its major professional sports teams.
The Pistons signed a five-year deal Thursday to join the Tigers, Red Wings and Lions on CBS-owned WXYT-FM (97.1) next season. It’s likely the first time all four teams have joined the same station.

This can't be good news for me. I already have enough trouble with Detroit Red Wings games conflicting with American football games.
It'd be nice if NHL.com was a viable alternative to listening to 97.1 on iTunes like it had been for years. But the League's website has greatly deteriorated this year as pointed out in this nearly month old article at mlive.com, Critiquing the NHL's digital revolution.

The NHL's website is so overloaded with Flash programming and nesting of stories that's lost its tactile "feel," courtesy of the elimination of the "right click."
1. You can't right-click on images to save them, "Frozen Moments" included;
2. The "headline" image usually links readers to two or three (and sometimes four) stories, and you can't right-click to open all three stories in browser "tabs" (nor are the stories usually linked to each other via cross-referencing links in each story);
3. When you play a video embedded in its front page stories, you cannot "share" the video (no menu to "share" or "embed" the video exists on the front page), and if you attempt to do so, the website refers you to NHL.TV's main page, which usually requires you to search for two or three minutes to find the video;
4. And the league's features and headlines are not archived in a, "view past columns/features" format. You have to scroll through oodles of headlines on a day-by-day basis, knowing that feature X appears on day Y if you want to find the previous column written by a particular author or a previous "notebook" or feature from the previous week.

My post there:
I've read many complaints about the new ESPN site. It doesn't bother me. Some have even complained about load speed, again doesn't bother me.
The new NHL site bothers me. It's load speed is ridiculously slow compared to ESPN's. Believe me I wish it was the other way around.
NHL's GameCenter is a joke in my opinion. Again slow. Very, very slow. I've tried at work and on my home computer using various browsers and various ways in which to connect to the Internet.
The fan connect site is horribly designed from an end user point view. It's so bad I've stopped visiting and blogging there, and as a passionate fan I wanted to connect with other NHL fans. Sadly I don't anymore because it's just too cumbersome from a navigation point of view and a blogging point of view.
Many a time I've tried to just wanted to listen to games, and I can't. For whatever reason the audio doesn't work. When the NHL showed games live, the feed is choppy. It's just not worth watching. There's no way I'd pay for Center Ice Online. No way!
I've submitted my complaints and bugs a few times. Nothing is done and no personal response, just automated ones. Though I did receive a response about the fan connect site.
Before this season I visited the NHL site daily, multiple times daily. Now I only typically visit on Red Wings game days so I can view the game summary. Now I get most of my hockey news from other sources. Last season I religiously watched the highlights online. Now I don't. It's depressing to me as an NHL fan how far that site has dropped in my opinion. It was one of the best, now it's one of the worst.

I noticed the problems listening to games earlier this year, Two Nights, and last year, Listening Live.
I've been listening to Red Wing games online since 1999. While I love the NHL broadcasts these games for free, like no other league that I'm aware, if fans can't listen to them for whatever reason, what's the point?

Also there have been times where I can't even log into NHL Connect.

I'm so done with that site. The log in info should be in the upper left hand corner, but it's not! This isn't a one-time occurrence; that happened several times to me.

As a side note, I had the unfortunate experience of viewing ESPN's SportsCenter today for 45 minutes. Not one NHL highlight. NOT ONE!
Seven games and not one highlight. People who think ESPN is objective are delusional. People who think that things would change if the League went back to the four-letter network are delusional. It won't happen because the Disney networks don't want the NHL. They had a chance to get the League back immediately following the lockout, but didn't. Nothing I've seen has changed.

NHL seeks new U.S. TV contract

According to the same Ken Campbell article as posted in my previous blog entry, the NHL is seeking a new TV contract in the states.

MONTREAL – The free lunch for NBC is over. That’s the message the NHL will give to the network when it begins negotiating a new national television contract to replace the one that expires after this season.
Since the lockout, the league has had a deal with NBC that essentially gave the network its NHL property for free. In a deal similar to the one that the Arena Football League had, NBC doesn’t pay the NHL any money, but guarantees that it will cover production costs. Any money made by the broadcasts first goes to covering those costs and if any profits are left over after that, 80 percent go to the league and 20 percent go to NBC.
But that arrangement for NBC is about to end, according to those who are familiar with the league’s television contract. With paying customers in the form of TSN and CBC in Canada and Versus in the United States, the league feels it has the leverage to begin charging a national broadcaster for its product.

That's good news. The bad news is the economy.

A new deal likely wouldn’t be a financial bonanza for the league, but it would provide some revenues and, more importantly, place some tangible value on the television product. Even though all facets of the business are bound to be hurt by the economic downturn, the NHL sees its television presence as an area of potential growth, particularly with the upcoming 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
It’s doubtful that CBS or NBC would be interested in the product, but there are indications that Fox might want the NHL back. Obviously the league would need more than one network bidding for its product in order to have any leverage and as long as Fox doesn’t want to reintroduce its glowing puck, the league would welcome its interest in the game.

The leverage might come from the recent ratings increase as reported by the Sports Business Journal.

National and local TV ratings also improved compared with the midway mark in 2007-08. U.S. broadcaster Versus saw total viewers increase to an average of 310,732 through 31 games, compared to 265,314 over the same period in 2007-08. NBC benefited from the tune-in of more than 4.4 million for the 2009 Winter Classic, making it the most-viewed NHL regular-season game in 34 years and drawing a 2.5 rating and 5 share.
Ratings also increased in Canada where the CBC averaged 868,000 viewers a game through 34 telecasts. That number is up from 850,000 viewers a game in 2007-08 but down from 1 million viewers in 2006-07.TSN averaged 483,000 viewers, a 7.2 percent increase, and RDS averaged 648,000 viewers, a 31 percent increase.

If Fox gets the new contract, no glowing puck please. That was annoying.
I also hope the League stays away from the Disney-owned networks. They still haven't shown me, not that I watch them much, that they would treat the NHL with respect and dignity. More importantly, I seriously doubt they would give the League the coverage it needs.

Praise for the shootout

Back when the shootout was first proposed, I was skeptical. Then I read Brendan Shanahan favored the idea. So then I became more accepting of it. Seeing it a couple of few times, seeing the fans enjoyment of it, I'm all for it now. To me it's no more ridiculous than four-on-four hockey. In fact I'd be wiling to go straight to shootout after regulation for regular season games.
The postseason should remain as is.
A few weeks ago I read the below quote at The Hockey News.

(Jean) Beliveau spoke about the quality of play in the NHL since the lockout and he likes what he sees.
“When the NHL came back, the only thing I had concerns about was the shootout,” Beliveau said. “I didn’t think that was a good idea. But when I saw the enthusiasm from the fans for it, I changed my mind. I think it’s a great part of the game, but I’m glad they don’t do it in the playoffs.”

That's awesome. When a hockey great of Beliveau's stature comes out in support of it, then it's time for everybody to jump on the bandwagon.
Drink the Kool-Aid; it's good!

Poor play, poor team

The Red Wings flew high Saturday and weren't mired in Oil with a resounding 8-3 win.

DETROIT (AP) — The Red Wings scored three times in the first six minutes and Brian Rafalski, Marian Hossa and Pavel Datsyuk each had a goal and an assist to lift Detroit to an 8-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

So is the poor play of the Wings over or did they just play a poor team? No disrespect to the Oilers but the Wings seem to match up well with Edmonton this year. Wings won 4-0 and 4-3 in two November games.
Is this finally the start of the Wings playing like a team ready to repeat or just an aberration?
Although the Wings won Monday and Wednesday they didn't look particularly strong doing so, and they certainly didn't look like a team wanting to repeat as Cup champions.

Lidstrom's late goal gives Wings 5-4 win
"It's not the way we want to win but we're still able to win games," (Nicklas) Lidstrom said. "We're still working at details in our game that could be better."

Yep.
Anyway, Sunday's game at Pittsburgh, as the second half of a back-to-back, might be a better indicator for the Wings, not that the Penguins are playing particularly well, but they should be more rested than the Wings. It will be an interesting game.

Hackel hammers it home

New York Times' Stu Hackel nails it, again.

Toronto Papers vs. Bettman, the Feud Continues
The Toronto print news media was all over Gary Bettman Wednesday morning for the commissioner’s continuing optimistic outlook on N.H.L. economics and franchise well being.

He explains with plenty of examples that the Toronto media are very anti- Gary Bettman. Judging by the examples, they are. In fact many fans are, some players are, bloggers are, etc.
I'm tired of all the hatred toward Bettman; really, really tired of it.
The NHL commissioner has done plenty to make me mad - the knee-jerk reaction in installing the safety nets, banning Al Sobotka from twirling octopuses, the new jerseys, the knee-jerk reaction in suspending Sean Avery, etc. But I've said my piece; it's out there. It's time for fans and media to move on, get over it.
The state of League probably isn't as good as Bettman says, but it's also probably not as bad as the media claim.
As Hackel points out though there are reasons for Bettman to be so positive.

But what seems to be lost in all this is that Bettman’s primary mission in these “all is well” proclamations is less to deny reality to reporters than to paint a picture of a successful business that will attract future investors — the men and women who might be interested in buying struggling teams like Phoenix, perhaps someone sitting right there in the Century Club. He’s thecommish, but he’s also part salesman, repping for his bosses, the 30 owners of the N.H.L. teams who in good times want their franchise values to increase, and in bad ones want to keep their investments from tanking. Salesmen don’t sell their product by dissing it.

Hockey media and fans are weird, or maybe it's just my warped, too-much-hockey perception. But I don't read about all the negativity toward commissioners in other leagues as I do in the NHL. I don't read from other sports fans as much negativity as I do from NHL fans. Others have noticed it too. Below is what Shawn Cane wrote to Ray Slover at The Sporting News.

I LOVED your article about keeping fighting in the NHL. Thank you VERY much for writing this much needed article. I am tired of people, especially the NHL media, forcritizing its own game. No other sports media condemns its own game as much as the NHL media does to hockey. It is VERY uplifting to write your argument. I praise you. Keep up the good work. I am off to email your article to friends and to spread the word to my pro-fight companions at www.hockey-fights.com
Thank you,
Shawn Cane

Here's some praise for a commissioner.
Celebrate a quarter-century of Stern? Not with so much work to do
We'll never know if God created anyone better for this job than (David) Stern, but for now we'll have to assume not. And I don't think it's a stretch to say that without Stern, the NBA would be on the same level with equestrian or water polo. Or worse ... the NHL.

What does Ken Burger the writer of the article above know? Who knows, but he's praising the NBA commissioner, and makes a dig at the NHL too. In my opinion he's able to ridicule the NHL because so many NHL fans and media do.

In my opinion it's a great time to be an NHL fan, and hockey is still the best game I can name.

Hockey happenings Feb. 1, 2009

Tidbits from what I've been reading and watching. It's a bit random, some old and some new.

The Sporting News' Ray Slover came out in defense of fighting in the NHL.

If hockey really wants to clean up the game, it should crack down on stick fouls.

So pay no attention to the recent poll that said a majority of Canadians interviewed said fighting should be abolished. Listen, instead, to the people whose lives are spent in hockey. A poll is only as good as the people who participate in it.

That's fine. Again I can take fighting or leave it. My only concern is if it is banned, stick work and other nastiness will increase.

Detroit Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg signs a 12-year deal.

The Detroit Red Wings signed Henrik Zetterberg to the longest contract in team history, a 12-year, $73 million deal that will keep the star forward in Hockeytown until 2021.

Zetterberg, 28, will be paid $7.4 million next season, $7.75 million from 2010-11 through 2012-13, $7.5 million from 2013-14 through 2016-17, $3.35 million in 2017-18, and a $1 million in the each of the contract's final two years.

Cool, but I'm a bit concerned about the length of the contract.

Kevin Allen of USAToday thinks if Marion Hossa and Johan Franzen take a hometown discount, Ken Holland, the Red Wings General Manager, will be able to re-sign them both. I hope they do, and he does.

Suspensive

Some journalists, like Bob Wojnowski at the Detroit News, posted that the Niklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk suspension could be critical later in the season.

It's not a gigantic controversy but it's the principle, really. I understand the NHL's reasoning, and so do the players. The truth is, because they're injured -- Lidstrom has taken several cortisone shots this season -- more rest shouldn't hurt. But what if the Wings lose tonight and eventually finish two points shy of home-ice advantage?

Good point. Yet just like a bad call in a game, overcome it, but please stop whining.

I also understand the hypocrisy surrounding this ruling and letting Steve Mason skate free. Yet the agreement was about the All-Star Game not the Young Stars Game. Oh well, suck it up and drive on. Get the rule changed to include the Young Stars Game too.

Alexander Ovechkin torched the Wings Saturday for two goals, the game-winner and the insurance.

Still high on that win and not filing lethargic at all it seems, he scored another three Sunday.

All aboard the Ovechkin bandwagon ... he's an amazing player! He plays with physicality and grace. It bears repeating: Saturday's game with the Wings, defending Cup champions, and Ovechkin, a dynamic player, should've been broadcast nationally.

Also worth noting, Ville Leino's goal on Saturday. It seems many are ga-ga for it. Yet I bet it didn't even make ESPN's highlight reel for the day.

Wow!

Stop looking backwards

This is a message to the Detroit Red Wings and their fans.
Stop looking backwards, this isn't last year. Doing so is well, backwards.
The Wings current losing streak is at five. Many fans seem to take solace that last year they lost six in a row at one point. "So don't worry about it," they say.
Yet this isn't last season. The time is now. Last season the Wings were in first. Now, they're nine points behind the League-leading Boston Bruins, eight behind Western Conference-leading San Jose Sharks, and catching up to the Wings are the New Jersey Devils who are just two points shy of the Wings pace.
One of the Detroit papers published an article at the break or half-way point that the Wings were at the same pace last year.
This isn't last year; this is this year!
Things aren't dire, and the Wings are missing players. Got it. Yet their defense is still lax, and that must change if they're to do well in the post-season.
This isn't last year, and the Wings shouldn't rest on their laurels.

Olympic coach named

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are a little more than a year away, and the U.S. women's hockey team named its coach. Mark Johnson.

"He comes to this assignment with some extremely unique credentials, which gave him a bit of an advantage," said USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean. "He has played in the games and he knows what the ultimate pressure is about of competing for a gold medal as an athlete."

Probably his best known claim to fame is as a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, aka the Miracle on Ice. In the Soviet game alone he had two game-tying goals as explained and shown in this YouTube clip.

Also read what USAToday's Kevin Allen thinks of his influence on that game and Olympics.
Johnson already has proven he has magic touch at Olympics
Because Mike Eruzione scored the game-winning goal against the Soviets, that American team has always been cast as a rag-tag bunch of college players that was able to slay the bear when the bear seemed invincible. But the truth is history showed that the Americans were a very talented team, and Johnson, then 22, was the American's leading scorer against the Soviets and in the tournament.

If that wasn't enough, he also won an NCAA championship in 1977 at the University of Wisconsin, and that team was coached by his father, Bob Johnson. In 1991 he led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup Championship.

"If there is any competition for who the first family in hockey is in the United States the last name is either Johnson or Granato," Ogrean said. "And they both have a big Badger connection."

Following in his father's coaching skates, Johnson has coached the University of Wisconsin's women's team since 2002. He led the Badgers to back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2006 and 2007.
Hopefully Johnson can continue his winning ways in the 2010 Olympics, just 378 days away.

Shameless admission and plug:
My love of hockey starts with the Miracle on Ice. Listening and watching the clip linked above gave my cold chills and brought a tear to my eye.
Anyway, in my opinion all U.S. hockey fans should watch the documentary, Do You Believe in Miracles? and the movie, Miracle. Fans should also read the book, The Boys of Winter.
"It's a great day for hockey." - Bob Johnson.

Fighting in the NHL

Well according to stories written recently Canadians are now against fighting in the NHL. This is absolutely shocking to me.

Fighting not sacred in NHLPA ranks
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jim_kelley/01/29/players.fighting/
The latest report from a public opinion poll in Canada, the guardian state of hockey, is that by the slimmest of margins the public would prefer its hockey without fighting.

Public wants NHL to knock out fighting
http://www.thestar.com/article/578326
A new public opinion poll by Harris-Decima finds that while the vast majority of hockey fans – 68 per cent – still want fighting in the game, Canadians, overall, do not.
A survey of more than 1,000 people across the country conducted during the NHL all-star weekend in Montreal found 54 per cent want fighting tossed from the league. That's up slightly from 2007.
Only 40 per cent want to keep it. The remaining 6 per cent either didn't answer or had no opinion.

Why this change? Is it because the the other day NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, much derided by many hockey fans and some hockey journalists, said he nor the League is willing to ban fighting?

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman: No appetite to abolish fighting
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?p=4271275
"We're not going to have any immediate knee-jerk reactions," he said. "We're going to have to study things before we make changes, if we decide to make changes. I don't think that there's any appetite to abolish fighting from the game, and there are lots of reasons for that, including the fact that it's been a part of the game."

Many NHL fans seem to line-up against Bettman, just to do so. Maybe the ones stating they're against fighting are just being contrary?

Admittedly I came late to liking NHL hockey, about 15 years after the Miracle on Ice. I shunned NHL hockey because of my anti-fighting stance in the sport. I thought fighting stupid. There are various reasons why I changed my mind.
Still, fighting doesn't interest me much, even though I understand it's part of the game. Many fans rhetorically ask, "How many people leave when there's a fight?" I'm like, "Me! I do." It's a chance to get another beer without missing the real action. I'd rather watch tape-to-tape passes, odd-man rushes, board crashing or open-ice checks, and beautiful goals. I can't persuade others to accept fighting, but I can deal with it, and I agree with Jarome Iginla.

Hockey fighting is back in the ring
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=510651
MONTREAL (AP) -- Jarome Iginla didn't pull any punches when the topic of fighting came up. The Calgary Flames captain said the one-on-one on-ice combat is a necessary part of hockey, and eliminating it would cause more dangerous situations.
"It's a very physical and a very intense game. There would be more stickwork, absolutely," Iginla said Saturday after an All-Star practice. "I think it does help police (the game). You're a lot more responsible for what you're doing out there as far as dirty hits and stickwork and stuff.
"If you know that fighting is there, that there is that threat of it, you have to back up what you're doing."

No All-Star show, non-issue

Well the suspension of Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk for one game, to be served against the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday, because they failed to appear at the All-Star festivities is a non-issue.
At least it is in my opinion.
Opinions of the suspension seem mostly divided. Detroit area writers and Red Wings fans are against it. The anti- Gary Bettman people are also against it, but to me that's just to disagree with the commissioner. All the others seem to agree with the suspension. Though they are probably in the minority. As a Red Wings fan who agrees with the suspension I'm probably a minority of one.
Two Detroit area writers who disagree with the suspension are George James Malik and Drew Sharp.
One national writer who also disagrees with the suspension is Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated, Bettman makes bad call with Wings.

If anyone deserved a pass, it is Lidstrom, the six-time Norris Trophy winner who is a wonderful ambassador for hockey. While the All-Star Game should be part of his responsibility, he truly has served his time.

Datsyuk didn't play for most of the third period of the Coyotes game; so his injury must be pretty serious. Couldn't he just take off the first two periods of the upcoming game? That would then be a whole game.
One who agrees with the suspension is the New York Post's Larry Brooks, Showing up here's least they could do.

MONTREAL - You can't have it both ways. You can't ridicule the NHL All-Star Game for featuring rosters that include players of modest renown and then turn around and ridicule Gary Bettman for insisting that those stars chosen to play in the game actually, you know, show up.
The commissioner couldn't be on firmer ground here in enforcing the policy he enunciated at last February's GM meetings that any selected player choosing to skip out on the event would be required to miss either the league game immediately prior or following All-Star weekend in order to verify claims of injury.

Regardless of why the rule is there, regardless of how much time a player has given to the League, the player should still follow the rules.
Lidstrom and Datsyuk are stand-up guys in my opinion. They probably won't complain because they are forthright and magnanimous players. I'd give them the pass, but the commissioner and the League aren't. That's fine with me; I can live with that.
It's better than the alternative - the game meaning something ala Major League Baseball. For that matter the suspension is better than any alternative proposed in Craig Custance's article, Ideas for saving the NHL All-Star Game.
There's already rumblings that the game is a farce, more from Farber in a different article, The All-Star thrill is gone.

But the ambivalence shown by some Detroit players, if not the organization, merely reinforces the idea that the All-Star Game is a played-out notion.
There are annual suggestions of how to make the game better -- "It's Groundhog Day again," Toronto GM Brian Burke said -- but all the gimcracks that have been promised for the skills competition on Saturday just skim the surface. Despite a weekend that will be an overwhelming success simply because it is taking place in a hockey-obsessed host city -- the fans here know that the All-Star Game isn't a game but a swell party -- there is an All-Star fatigue that permeates not merely hockey but every sport.
The core of the problem: the very premise for all of these games has been subverted in recent years. The stars of the sport might not all convene at the same place on the same day during the season, but they can be juxtaposed, compared and contrasted on innumerable highlight shows and Internet clips. Because there is inter-conference play in all sports, these one-off exhibitions cannot even be regarded as some sort of measuring stick.
As the competitive value fades, leagues have turned these games into corporate festivals, splashy ways to sell the brand. The NHL announced $10 million in sponsorships for the 2009 Game. Unlike the attendance figures at the bottom of the stats sheets, the number appears to be legitimate.
The various leagues have begun to address All-Star fatigue, tweaking as they go. The NFL has addressed it by moving the Pro Bowl, its annual no-hitter, to the week prior to the Super Bowl, starting in 2010. Major League Baseball's All-Star Game has added the ridiculous idea of home-field advantage for the World Series for the winning league -- if you want to give a tangible benefit to the winner, the game shouldn't be played like an exhibition -- in order to make the event more relevant. The NBA game might as well be held in a playground, but then that league seems to like it that way.
Of course, the NHL can't emulate basketball because hockey, like football, can turn farcical without intensity. So, Groundhog Day starts again.

So trying to make the All-Star Game relevant again, Bettman and the League are imposing these rules.
Again that's fine with me. It's better than any alternative I've read.

In defense of relocated, expansion teams

Much has been written about the economic troubles the Phoenix Coyotes are having. The best article in my opinion is Stu Hackel's of the New York Times.
The Morning Skate: How Did the Coyotes Mess Happen?

Many Canadian journalists and fans seem to abhor expansion and relocated NHL teams. The media and fans denigrate those teams at every turn, and they want those teams moved or contracted. It's refreshing to see the opposite opinion in Hackel's article.

After wonderfully encapsulating, decorating and amplifying (David) Shoats’s findings, (Stephen) Brunt writes that the Coyotes are merely “the first domino.” In Brunt’s view — and the view of many who bemoan the N.H.L.’s ambitious move to the Sun Belt of the last two decades — the missionary work that bum-rushed hockey out of traditional markets and into the American South in order to save it, has in fact, torpedoed the league.
“Historically, the Coyotes are a symptom, not the disease,” Brunt writes. “They exist in their current straits because of the N.H.L.’s rose-coloured aspirations to conquer America, aspirations that had been kicked around for decades but really took flight after Gretzky was sold to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988 and set off hockey mania in Southern California. The Phoenix franchise shifted from Winnipeg because the league had in theory outgrown that city and the market. The question of solid, grassroots hockey interest was beside the point; the sport packaged properly, the conceit was that the league could sell it to anyone.”
Well said. Except that’s not exactly the way it happened when it came to N.H.L. franchise relocation.
The Winnipeg Jets, like the Quebec Nordiques and the Hartford Whalers — and nearly the Pittsburgh Penguins — all relocated in the mid-’90s, but not entirely because of the league’s desire to expand its footprint in the warmer climes of the U.S. (although that was certainly a main plank of the early Bettman regime). These teams, well rooted as they were, didn’t outgrow their cities “in theory,” but in fact.
One fact forgotten by Brunt and others is that the business of hockey changed drastically when Alan Eagleson (whom Brunt skewers in his excellent book, “Searching for Bobby Orr”) was ousted as head of the N.H.L. Players Association — a move few of those who now rail against Sun Belt teams would condemn. But his ouster set off a Rube Goldberg-esque chain of events that changed the course of the league and set it southward.
When the Eagle was replaced by Bob Goodenow, the union’s accommodations to ownership were gone too. One brief strike later (in 1992), and salaries began to skyrocket. That was followed by one half-season lockout (in 1994), and the rocket’s booster kicked in. The N.H.L.’s trajectory completely changed.
To cover those escalating salaries, owners needed new revenue. Since hockey was an arena-based gate-receipts business — as it always has been and continues to be — the owners found that they needed more seats, more amenities, more luxury boxes and, yes, even better parking revenue. Many owners got those things. Not all did.

When owners didn't that's when the teams moved. Hackel goes on to explain the Winnipeg Jets owner and Winnipeg city government couldn't get a deal done. He cites Thin Ice written by Jim Silver.

“There were more pressing needs in Winnipeg to which public funds could be applied than building a new arena that differed from the old one primarily in having luxury suites which would be the exclusive and tax-deductible preserve of the corporate elite.”

Hackel also puts forth that each franchise is a unique case.

The real story of the current N.H.L. map and how it came to be, as we have seen, is not quite as simple as an American commissioner with little feel for the game’s roots manifesting his desires by forcibly transplanting teams to where he sees fit to grow U.S. TV ratings.

What I also found interesting were the readers replies, and Hackel's rebuttals to people who disagreed with him.

Puckster: Contraction is a disaster politically and economically for the league, the owners, and the players who will lose their NHL jobs. The only people who can potentially benefit by contraction are the fans in the remaining cities who will, at least in theory, see better hockey.

Rick: Relocation I can see as a solution but contraction would be damaging to all owners as it would surely lower the hypothetical “market value” of all franchises.

Hackel: I certainly can’t disagree that the NHL sought a larger Sunbelt presence after what appeared to be the Kings success during their Gretzky era. But first, Bettman really can’t take credit / be blamed for all those Sunbelt expansion teams. The Lightning, Ducks and Panthers all pre-date Bettman. Atlanta and Nashville both joined during his tenure, but the long range plans for expansion were set out by NHL ownership in the late 1980s. Markets were not specifically identified, as I recall, but certainly the desire to move into new areas existed prior to Bettman becoming commissioner in 1993. So to hang Sunbelt expansion on him is just historically inaccurate.
When it comes to franchise relocation, the Hartford situation was, like the Winnipeg situation, one where the club did not have the kind of revenue generating building at the Civic Center necessary to compete in the new era NHL. Hartford was the smallest market in the league at that time as well, so the chances of generating sufficient revenue even with a more modern building were questionable. If Mr. Bettman played a role in their departure to Carolina (they did not go to Raleigh immediately because the building was not completed; they played two seasons in Greensboro in front of many empty seats) it was only after efforts were made to keep the team in CT. and have them relocated in a new arena, which never came to fruition. Mr. Karmanos, who still owns the team, promised he’d stay in Hartford for four years after he bought the club, but only stayed for three. My recollection was there was a target number of season tickets that needed to be sold that was not reached, but there were no partial plans or any creative efforts made to meet the goal; it seemed half-hearted and Mr. Karmanos wanted to relocate to a more lucrative market. If Mr. Bettman did nothing to stop him, well that is part of his job as commissioner, to help owners maximize their franchise value. Tthe owners are his bosses, after all. He wasn’t going to ask one of his owners to continue to lose money.
Yes, Mr. Bettman intervened in the Predators to Hamilton fiasco, but I’m quite certain that was done at the behest of owners as well, especially Toronto and Buffalo who had the most to lose.
As for whether the former WPG and HFD are better able to support and NHL team today than Nashville, Southeast Florida or Phoenix, I don’t know that there is any compelling evidence to prove that. Give any of these cities a winning, contending hockey club and they might be OK. But that’s not the point. As a business, any team has to be in a market that can generate sufficient revenue to succeed and neither WPG or HFD have that arena at the moment.

Hackel: I certainly agree with you (puckster) on the downside of contraction. I don’t favor it as a solution for the league’s problems, but it doesn’t matter what I think. Regardless, losing a franchise is a very damaging thing for the game, as you point out. But each of the league’s troubled teams are highly complex and unique entities and I believe it’s really impossible to predict how any of them will be effected by the current economic problems going forward. Anyone talking contraction at this moment is speaking somewhat recklessly.

The siv: For the NHL to be successful, it needs millions of knowledgable fans that can appreciate the game. It also needs a TV deal, which cannot happen without the support of those fans. Moving the league back to hinterland cities will only exacerbate the problem. And yes, I count the likes of Kansas City and Portland in the same boat as Hamilton and Winnipeg.

Donny: I’m sick of people who blame all the league’s woes on 1) the sunbelt expansion, or 2) Gary Bettman. I may never regard Gary as highly as Paul Tagliabue, but as the article says, the success of an NHL team isn’t necessarily guaranteed in places with “strong roots”, and as business ventures I’ve never believed that NHL teams had some natural advantage by simply being in a Canadian market. It’s not all about winning, because it also requires solid ownership, marketing, television, and favorable economics.
The point is that deep roots don’t mean much without deep pockets, as much as many would like to wistfully believe otherwise.

And my retort to fans who agree with the anti-Sunbelt types.
Why is it fans in the cold weather climates get a pass when they don't support their teams? It's supposedly that they're smart fans who know better than to support a weak team or it's the economy as in Detroit's case. Yet when Sunbelt fans don't show up for maybe the same reasons it's immediately an incrimination that they don't support hockey. The double standard infuriates me.
Mike Illitch had to give away cars for Hockeytown fans to show up in the early 80s. Also, not many fans are showing up this year for Islanders games.
Just last year, http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?sort=home_pct&year=2008, Chicago and New Jersey were at an 82 percent clip. Above them last year, Phoenix and Atlanta, at about 85 percent.
Fan attendance goes in waves. Put a winning a team on the ice, fans will show up it's that simple. See Tampa Bay, Carolina and Anaheim.
Realistically contraction talk is a non-starter. People need jobs, it's not a time to get rid of them, and especially if ratings and attendance are up.
The League doesn't favor contraction, and the PA won't favor it either. Players won't vote to put themselves out of job. Then there's the management, support staff, etc. All those jobs lost. Contraction is unrealistic.

As for the moving southward and westward in the first place, the NHL followed the migration patterns. That's what The Falconer posted in his blog entry, Hockey Fans, Like Population, Move Southward.

One point that I think people often forget when discussing the history of NHL expansion into the south is that the US population has made a rather dramatic shift southward since World War II.

Some other salient points as he follows expansion and relocation.

By 1980 the NHL had effectively covered almost every frost belt metro area. Cleveland was the biggest exception and even that city had the failed Barons franchise for a few years.

The 2nd expansion of the NHL took place in the 1990s as the league expanded from 21 to 30 franchises most of which were located in non-traditional sunbelt markets. Several franchises were also relocated from the smaller Canadian metro areas to the US during this same time period. This resulted in a NHL covering the booming sunbelt cities where millions of Americans were moving to over time. By 2000 the NHL had covered every top 10 US market with the exception of Houston.

Conclusion: The United States population is in one of the great long term migrations (the other two being the westward frontier and the Great Migration of black people out of the south between 1870-1950.) This long running shift from the north to the southern part of the nation is unlikely to end and the NHL is adjusted to these population trends.

Many fans complain about the lack of NHL coverage. Had the League not followed the population trend, there would even be less coverage because it'd be missing a large portion of the U.S. population. The NHL needs those markets if it's to grow and flourish. Without them it's regional and a niche sport as many NHL critics espouse.