Tim Chiasson

Halifax • Canada • 33 Years Old • Male

Shark Talk: Jersey Teasers, Travel and Drug Testing

The Sharks released two video clips on Instagram account, one yesterday and one today, of the new jersey for the 2013/14 season. The black armor jersey will remain the same, with only the home/away jerseys getting minor changes. Here are the still frame shots of the clips.





I’ll let you figure out what’s different.

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Dirk Hoag of www.ontheforecheck.com has been tracking miles travelled by NHL teams over the last few seasons. This year, the Sharks have been rewarded with the most miles for the season.

Here’s the top 5 teams that will travel the most for 2013/14:

1. San Jose Sharks – 57,612 miles
2. Phoenix Coyotes – 52,633 miles
3. Colorado Avalanche – 49,007 miles
4. Calgary Flames – 48,970 miles
5. Anaheim Ducks – 48,568 miles

Here are the 5 teams with the least amount of miles for 2013/14:

1. New York Rangers – 28,839 miles
2. New York Islanders – 29,933 miles
3. New Jersey Devils – 33,151 miles
4. Buffalo Sabres – 34,812 miles
5. Ottawa Senators - 34,850 miles

I’m not big on the conspiracy theory that travel affects play significantly. It’s more of an annoyance in my mind. The way I see it, if you can’t get up in the morning and be ready to play a game of hockey for millions of dollars, I don’t want you on my team.

You can see the full list of travel miles here:

http://www.ontheforecheck...-miles-back-to-back-games

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The NHL’s new drug testing policy will be in full effect for the upcoming season. While it’s not as profound as some of the other major sports, the NHL has avoided bad press over the use of PED’s thus far.

Jonathan Toews, in an interview with Sportsnet, had this to say about PED’s in the NHL.

"I think it would be naive to say that there's no one in the NHL that is trying to get the edge in that fashion," the Chicago Blackhawks centre said on Sportsnet The Fan 590 Wednesday. "But at the end of the day, whether you get caught now or not, down the road at some point those sort of things come out as we've seen in Major League Baseball and cycling.”

The two-time Stanley Cup winner also added his thoughts on more testing.

"I think guys that apologize and plead that they didn't know what they were doing, I think they know exactly what they're doing. So the more tests the better. It protects the guys that are being fair and are putting good things into their body. So I have no problem with [more testing]."

Everyone wants to believe their sport is clean. To date, there is no evidence to suggest otherwise in the NHL, but like Toews said, it’s naïve to think that some players don’t dabble in some form of PED’s. The NHL’s drug testing isn’t exactly comprehensive and, although it has been upped from the last CBA to this one, it isn’t going to make people jump to a round of applause.

Here’s a section of the CBA that feature’s the NHL’s drug testing policy:

190
ARTICLE 47 47.6-47.6
47.6 Testing Procedures.
(a)
Training Camp/Regular Season/Playoffs
.
Every Player who has participated
in an orientation session pursuant to Section 47.5 will be subject to testing as follows:
(i) Each Club will be subject to team-wide no-notice testing once during Training Camp (commencing with the start of the 2013-14 League Year);
(ii) Each Club will be selected at random for team-wide no-notice testing once during the Regular Season; and
(iii) Individual Players will be randomly selected for no-notice testing during the Regular Season and Playoffs.
(iv) All tests in subsections (i)-(iii) will be conducted at work on the day of a scheduled practice or meeting but not on game days.

I’m with Toews. The NHL needs more frequent testing to rid the league of liars, cheaters and thieves before it ever gets to the point of Major League Baseball’s irreversible damage in the public eye.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading.

Stay icy, Sharks fans.

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