Tag Search Results for "Bettman"
bluez brother_38 writes...
Gary Bettman and why he SHOULD follow Stern's NBA this time
Posted Tuesday | Comments 0
Commissioner Gary Bettman takes a lot of flack for the way he has ran and continues to run the NHL. Some of it I've always felt is undeserved. Similarly to Bud Selig and the MLB, I believe that Bettman really does things that he feels in the best interests of the league and the sport. And it's hard for me to hate someone the way plenty of fans do when I know he's got good ...
The off-season is fast approaching, and while I don’t want to short cut the glory of the playoffs, we’re about to be subjected to another round of rumored expansion plans and rule change proposals to boost next year’s numbers. (Remember the “buffalo” nets?)
I don’t know if you were following the recent “big” news out of NASCAR, but it bears mention. (D...
Well, we had an exciting playoff game, heading to overtime. Good game featuring two skilled teams, that were very evenly matched. However, NBC also owns the TV rights to a horse race, so a brief graphic and one time announcement at the end of regulation sent NHL fans scrambling to Versus.
The problem is, Versus is not available throughout the US. In a brilliant move com...
After reading the passinate blog that TIm Panccio wrote about the hack job by NBC. Maybe TIm and other NHL writers start addressing the real problem in this league..
Gary Bettman
There is only two writers who openly goes after Bettman on his mistakes and that guy is Larry Brooks of New York Post and then Toronto Sun NHL Writer Al Strachan.
Al Strachan knew fr...
I actually don't have a problem with NBC bailing on the hockey coverage on the weekend. It was a business decision plain and simple. Hockey gets a 1.3 rating and the Preakness gets 6.3. I would have made the decision to switch as well. Maybe not right away given post time was over an hour away but at some point.
What I am upset about is how Bettman rolled over and just ...
Okay...the ball is in our court. Yesterday is over and there is nothing we can do about it. The Preds have been sold but it doesn't mean that they are leaving for sure. YOU can make a difference. Call the League Office at 212-789-2000 and log your complaint. I called this morning and let my voice be heard. They told me that each call will be logged and those calls will pas...
this was proved by sports blog Sports Media Watch
http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/
this tv rating going back to 1995. add this to bettman brilliant work as the Commish. did anyone notice the differnece one final game between two top market teams in 1997 vs. rest of the games of the following years?
[b]1995[/b]
3.2: New Jersey at Detroit, Game 1 (Saturday, Jun...
So last Friday I was checking out the weekend schedule and I thought, "Great, Saturday in May must mean playoff hockey on Saturday night".
Oops, no. The 2,000,000 or so perceived hockey fans in the US say the 20,000,000 fans in Canada had to watch hockey on Saturday afternoon. Ok, it's the third round, whatever. Good game, nice OT, Ottawa wins.
Oh, you missed that in...
Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste.
So now that we've got the Stones reference done with, here's the basics: I'm Kevin. I've played hockey for nigh on 15 years now, and have loved the game ever since I first strapped on skates and went around Kirkwood Ice Arena in the St Louis suburbs. I idolized Gretz, Jagr and Hull when I was a kid, and...
No surprise that the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman doesn't know his hockey history forgetting the beloved 1925 Stanley Cup Champs, Victoria Cougars when he proclaimed the Ducks the first Stanley Cup winners from the West Coast last night. I'm sure the press release apology is on its way.....
So I was watching Around the Horn earlier today (it was quite literally either that or Charmed at 4 central on a weekday, and...well, let's just say that there were commercials) when Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News brought up his "[url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/tcowlishaw/stories/060607dnspocowlishaw.2cb3128.html]great article[/url...
I would like to begin with saying congratulations to the Ducks of Anahiem, their players, organization, staff and their 20,000 fans. It was a heart wreching experience to see our old GM (Brian Burke) and our old minor league coach (Randy Carlyle) and our free agent gaff (Scott Niedermayer) and our old fan favourite (Brad May)...well you get the point...it was a heart wrenc...
Will all due reverence for Will Ferrell, truer words have never been spoken.
Expansion? Seriously? Did I wake up yesterday in an alternate reality where Spock has a bad ass goatee and the NHL has 30 healthy teams?
First off, who would pay $150M to get into the NHL? Even if you stand to possibly make money on franchise appreciation, what about the operating losses? Or...
The Anaheim Ducks changed hands for $80M two years ago. Balsille agrees to pay $220M+ less than 18 months later. Apparently NHL franchise prices are going up faster than Alberta real estate.
Even if the general business community agrees that Balsille overpaid, this significantly drives up the price of an NHL franchise. As well, if the NHL does pursue expansion, suddenly...
[b]Originally posted at PredNation.com[/b]
In 1997, the NHL awarded four new expansion franchises to begin play over the next several seasons. Nashville, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Columbus were awarded franchises that first hit the ice in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2000 respectively. This expansion was on the heels of two franchises, Colorado and Phoenix, moving from Canadia...
Jsaquella writes...
What If You Had An Awards Show And Nobody Could Watch
Posted Thursday | Comments 0
First of all congrats to all the NHL award winners, especially Hart Trophy winner Sidney Crosby.
So, Thursday night, after a rough day at work, I get home. I get my mail and I see my wonderful-if ill gotten-HockeyBuzz hat has arrived. Immediately the day is brighter. I am going to have some chicken enchiladas and watch the NHL awards show on Versus.
Well, I get my me...
The NHL Awards show has too strong a Canadian flavor to it. We, who grew up on the border appreciate it. But, if the NHL wants the game to appeal more to the casual fan in the states they have to make these events more cross cultural. If I'm someone who knows a little bit about the game, a show like the one last night would keep me following the more American sports like f...
Last night, I was pretty ticked off about not being able to watch the NHL awards show. I find the awards show, with it's awful humor and poor production qualities, a great coda to the NHL season and playoffs.
Well, I wrote a blog blaming the NHL and Gary Bettman. Turns out it was a TV truck from the CBC. I still fault Bettman for a great deal of the NHL's issues, howev...
ButlerGoalie writes...
Nashville is Latest Punch Line in Running NHL Joke
Posted Tuesday | Comments 0
Expansion, Relocation and Shootouts, oh my! When will the madness that has become the NHL ever end? Would Howie Morenz, Ace Bailey and Eddie Shore even recognize the sport they helped to create?
Did you hear the one about the priest, a rabbi and a minister going into a bar? I don't remember the rest of the joke, but the punch line is "The Nashville Predators."
Sadly,...
[b]Originally posted on PredNation.com[/b]
On June 21st, Damien Cox of the Toronto Star, thestar.com, wrote an article discussing the impending Predators sale and the lack of movement by the Board of Governors. What follows is my rebuttal to Mr. Cox.
I was able to read your article entitled Why is Bettman so Scared of Canada?. Let me first say that I generally ...
I admit, when I first saw the headline on TSN this morning my stomach dropped. Not that I have anything against the people of Nashville, or feel a lot of joy out of ripping a team away from them, but I was hoping that the move to Hamilton would work out because it would be good for the game, for the NHL. Nashville has proven, over the last 10 years that it is not a hockey ...
The Nashville Predator story keeps getting richer and more juicy every passing instant. Gary Bettman approached "Boots" DiBaggio and made an offer that would make even Tony Soprano proud......
Simply put, "Boots" would get exclusive rights to the Predators, at a price set by the national hockey league, and would get unianimous BOG approval to move the team at the next B...
I was pondering today, how the NHL wasted that entire lockout year, and where do we stand now? The Rich teams can spend pretty much the same amount of money, they could back before the lockout and now we have the issue of all the "poor" teams struggling to stay alive in the "new" NHL. I feel that a this whole Nashville issue is a matter of the wrong place for a hockey te...
The NHL just released the schedule for the 07-08 hockey season and at first glance it looks favorable for the Preds.
- Saturday Night Fever: The Preds have 14 Saturday home games. For a team trying to get butts in seats nothing is better than a Saturday home game.
- Never Far Away: The Preds have only tow long road trips...a five game swing in Late October that takes...
Patrick Cwiklinski writes...
Playing For The Love Of The Game... Or Money?
Posted Thursday | Comments 0
Is it me or are NHL players just getting greedier and greedier? Just take a look at the salaries that some of these so called “superstars” are going to start making in the 2007-2008 season. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury are both great examples of unproven overpaid players. The New York Rangers jumped at the chance to pick up Scott Gomez for seven years at $51.5 million a...
I am a Flyers and a hockey fan. I have been a hockey fan in a town where the Philadelphia Eagles have a death grip on the hearts, minds and sports talk radio souls of our area. Heck, even the Phillies and 76ers (ban) - who are just god awful - get more airtime than the NHL. There are those who say that hockey doesn't matter, save for a few towns in Canada, and that th...
There have been few occasions over the last decade or so where Gary Bettman was the envy of the other major sports league's commissioners.
This is one of them.
League revenues are surging, players are being paid well and there is parity like we've rarely seen before.
But most importantly there are no Barry Bonds, Mike Vicks or Tim Donaghys.
Mr.Bettman doesn...
I've been kicking a few things around in regards to things that the NHL could do to improve, not only the game, but the state of the league in general. Here's what I've come up with. Enjoy!
1) Restructure Restricted Free Agency. In particular, restructure the offer sheets. I don't tend to think that using them is an underhanded or shady move, mostly because they are...
As I see the slow progression of teams like Vancouver, Nashville, and Washington creep out with their new designs for their emblems and styles, I take a step back and begin to think really hard. I begin to wonder what these new looks would, well, look like with the basic jersey of the yester-years. The loose design with the nice "[i]flutter in the wind[/i]" character of ...
Hello fellow-hockey fans,
Well, we are coming up to September rather quickly, and just under a few weeks we will all witness the birth of another NHL season. I, honestly, don't know what to expect. There were a lot of off season moves that seemed to shift the pendulum in favor of different teams strength-wise. The examples are all around us. The Avalanche picking up...
Yesterday I came across an article from the Asssociated Press regarding Jordan Staal and how he's embarrassed about his incident in the offseason. As well he should be.
However, what struck me as odd was that Mr. Bettman and the NHL have chosen not to issue any further discipline on him or Eric for their off ice behaviour. Nor are they going to levee any further discipl...
No! I mean, everyone is all for it that I have seen so far. Am I the only one that absolutely hates this idea?
"Hey Rick, where is our game next Friday?" -Foote
"Umm hold on.. Hey! It's in Europe!" -Nasher
This is probably, in my opinion, the stupidest idea known to mankind. This is so dumb to me it's like saying the grass is blue and the sky is green. I think Bettm...
WildMTUFan writes...
NHL playing hardball with Charter, another loss for fans
Posted Friday | Comments 0
Today I got a call from a CSR at Charter Communications corporate headquarters about the NHL Center Ice package. They basically told me the same thing I've been hearing for the past week and a half, the NHL wants too much.
This is classic NHL (maybe just classic Bettman era, not sure.) in the premise that the league wants to make these huge deals, but doesn't think about...
Every once in a while you see a photo and you think...man, I have seen that person before. When you put the face with the other photo and you get that lightbulb moment...you have "Separated at Birth?"
For example....let's start with Wade Belak, since everything is his fault anyway.
[img:left]http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee162/JHRIV/th_1300.jpg[/img][img]http:/...
Every once in a while you see a photo and you think...man, I have seen that person before. When you put the face with the other photo and you get that lightbulb moment...you have "Separated at Birth?"
For example....let's start with Wade Belak, since everything is his fault anyway.
[img:left]http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee162/JHRIV/th_1300.jpg[/img][img]http:/...
Every once in a while you see a photo and you think...man, I have seen that person before. When you put the face with the other photo and you get that lightbulb moment...you have "Separated at Birth?"
For example....let's start with Wade Belak, since everything is his fault anyway.
[img:left]http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee162/JHRIV/th_1300.jpg[/img][img]http:/...
Every once in a while you see a photo and you think...man, I have seen that person before. When you put the face with the other photo and you get that lightbulb moment...you have "Separated at Birth?"
For example....let's start with Wade Belak, since everything is his fault anyway.
[img:left]http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee162/JHRIV/th_1300.jpg[/img][img]http:/...
-Mike Richards is now my favorite NHLer.
-Why is there no discussion of Andy Sutton's elbow to the head of Lasse Kukkonen at the buzzer of last night's Flyers-Isles game? It was a dangerous hit that marred a fun game to watch. Sutton now has laid two elbows this year that I found to be borderline dirty and review worthy for suspension.
-If Sean Avery did make derogat...
Although it is not unusual for the winning Red Wings to make the front page of the local papers, they were presented by [i]Detroit Free Press[/i] writer, Tom Walsh on 12/11/07 in a less than winning light ([i]Filling Empty Seats in Hockeytown: Red Wings Bring in Exec to Combat Sagging Attendance[/i]). This article can be found online at http://www.freep.com
It appears t...
Remember all the talk of the new NHL coming out of the lockout a little more than two years ago? The new rules and enforcements of existing rules were supposed to change the game for the better, creating more offense and eliminating strict defensive systems.
For a year, they accomplished their goal.
Does that ever seem like a long time ago now.
In the third season...
Okay, I've had it with this 1pt for losing in OT/Shoot out. Officially, there are only 6 teams with losing records in the NHL. This is a joke. The NHL point system must go. I understand that they wanted to do away with ties. But this OTL crap is out of hand.
Gary Bettman and the rest of these idiots who think losing in OT/Shoot out is worth a point should be shot...
The topic of how to best allot points for wins/losses/etc. in the NHL continues to be discussed.
I fully put my support behind the idea put forth by the Random Thinker himself, renowned HockeyBuzzard [b]jsaquella[/b]. ([i]the fact he's also my good friend and brother-in-law has little, if anything to do with it. In fact, it probably made me [u]less[/u] likely to listen)...
In light of the recent stomping incident involving Chris Pronger and Ryan Kessler, I thought I'd share the email I wrote to Gary Bettman (cc to Collin Campbell). I am simply disgusted with the direction this league is headed.
Dear Mr. Bettman,
If the current reports regarding the Chris Pronger/Ryan Kessler stomping incident are accurate, I feel compelled to voice my...
Bad publicity of hockey starts with the media. In North America, minds are controlled by the media. The little attention hockey gets in USA should be positive publicity and what it has to offer "as it is". The game is always in the news about how it can be improved or what needs to be changed as far as rules go. The problem with NHL isn't the game itself, but how it's bein...
We Canadians understand that hockey should be in a place where people want the sport. Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City ... anyone listening? However, when it comes to expansion teams this isn't the case; Bettman is still searching for his American audience and this just may be the place to find it.
LAS VEGAS; over 40 million tourists visit every year. It's one of the fas...
Gosh, it gets tedious to read the hockey reports in the [i]Sporting News[/i]. The title of a current epistle is [i]Ovechkin falling flat in playoff debut.[/i]
Are we watching the same games? Are we reading the same stat sheets? Do the Flyers get no credit for executing well?
Frankly, this type of reportage is more an indictment of the flawed mentality prevailing in ...
Nobody had ever seen anything like Sean Avery's stick-in-the-face antics against Brodeur. Most people thought it was unsportsmanlike behavior, not in keeping with the integrity of the sport of hockey. The NHL acted swiftly to clarify the rules, [i]aka[/i] the "[i]Sean Avery Rule[/i]" to make sure this never happens again without an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of 2 mi...
The [b]NHL[/b] web site has posted the transcript of [b]Gary Bettman's[/b] remarks before the [b]Wings/Stars[/b] game on 05/15/08.
In them we learn that at least one reporter had the ability to ask "a fascinating question" to which no clear answer was ever given, when queried if it is good for the league to have a dominating team like [b]Detroit[/b].
One wonders wh...
It has been 3 years since the lockout and 15 years since Bettman has taken over the job of NHL Commissioner. My question is this, has Gary Bettman helped our game or has he changed it too much far beyond recognition. Here are some pros and cons to consider, and please by all means add your own. I want to hear what fellow hockey lovers around the world think about the direc...
Happy Saturday.
http://flyerflies.com/blogs/Buts/
Enjoy or hate as usual!!!
It seems I get more and more who hate the blog each week, I like it.
http://flyerflies.com/blog/?p=171
Al Strachan of FoxSports.com has published a blistering criteria of the NHL's current financial status today, declaring that the NHL is still destroying itself from the inside out. This comes in the wake of a disappointingly bloated 2008 free agent market in which a number of high and mid-level players seemed to get far more in their n...
Just when we thought the website war between the NHL and the NY Rangers was finished, the Rangers have struck back.
According to Newsday [url]http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/ny-sprang0718,0,5919151.story?track=rss[/url], the Rangers have asked the US District Judge to dismiss the case. here is the article.
[i]Madison Square Garden Thursday asked a ...
steal_your_faceoff writes...
The Law of Unintended Consequences: The Cap & Cost Certainty
Posted Monday | Comments 0
The Law of Unintended Consequences states that any purposeful action will likely produce some unexpected or unintended consequences. These consequences are almost always divergent from the intended result and, often, the polar opposite.
Two words uttered by Gary Bettman, in 2004, radically changed the landscape of the National Hockey League forever. This notion plunge...
B.D. Gallof writes...
PuckDaddy Provides Summer Fun with Bettman Photoshop Contest
Posted Thursday | Comments 0
Summer post Free Agency and draft is usually dog days to whip up hockey interest. Not on Greg Wyshynski's Puck Daddy blog, on Yahoo. Greg and Puck Daddy contributor, Sean Leahy (also of the excellent Going Five Hole Pens blog), came up with a brilliant contest this summer.
[b]The Puck Daddy Art Contest: Gary Bettman, Portraits in Heroism[/b]
http://sports.yahoo.com/...
Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk has said that European expansion is "...Happening, it's going to happen". He also added that he's in favor of it.
Granted the response was overwhelming-which is exactly what I'd expect. It's not as if Sweden doesn't have a rich hockey heritage of it's own, and a chance to see NHL teams certainly would be a very popular event.
The problems,...
Well the Sens are 3-0 in thier new black jersey's, anyone else think they should keep wearing them?
Finally we have a confident reliable goalie in net. Alex Auld has been a great addition, and has made Gerber a 3.5 million dollar paper wieght.
While I don't think the team is a contender yet, it is finally nice to see the team winning.
Although still way too many ...
In my last blog, I wrote that the NHL should have backed off and let Dallas handle the whole Avery debacle as an internal matter. I still feel that way.
I also wrote that the NHL missed an opportunity to show a game within a game, a true attraction where a loud-mouthed pest could have been chased around by physical, ticked off opponents. I was wrong about that.
I'm...
The entire Sean "Sloppy Seconds" Avery saga is fascinating stuff, especially with a suspension for just spoken word and stupid comments. I looked in the current law dictionary and their is no definition for the term "sloppy seconds". The term could have multiple meanings and by itself is not a vulgarity as defined by the "7 dirty words".
Many have commented on the st...
Recently Gary Bettman said Avery's remark offended him as a parent.
"To be perfectly honest I wouldn't want to have to explain to my 12-year-old daughter what he said," the commissioner said.
I find this humorous considering the NHL allows its teams and media partners to advertise viagra with a disclaimer: [i]in the rare event of an erection lasting more than 4 hours...
The NHL should be embarrassed by their officiating crews of the past two seasons. There is no reason for there to be 12 hooking penalties in a game. Hockey is supposed to be played 5-on-5, and fans don't want 30 minutes worth of power plays every night. I realize this is their half-assed strategy to add more scoring to the game, but it was fine before. There is nothing wro...
I recently posted a blog about the all star game and I wrote the following paragraph:
"The All Star game is meant to show case the NHL's best, even if they weren't named to the first team most will still be there but when they play a meaningless game in an uninspired way it doesn't showcase anything to an American Audience that is, in all honesty, already uncaring."
...
Can the National Hockey League really expect it's teams to take it seriously when it says things like "no message sending" and "no confrontations with fans" when it doesn't even act on most of the dirty things that happen on the ice?
Ok, yes, they suspended Daniel Carcillo for his "hit" on Max Talbot (I still question whether or not that was intentional), and Andre Roy ...
Lets look into this a bit. The Jets had pitiful attendance figures that declined right up until they moved to Phoenix. In their last season, the Jets averaged just over 11,000 fans per game.
Generally, Corporate ticket sales make up around 60-70% of total ticket sales, on average. The remaining tickets are ones bought by you and me, Individuals. The Jets were the third ...
The title that I wanted to put for this was too long so I had to shorten it. I don't mean to cause any kind of hatred or anything with it. The original title was to be: "Why the NHL is better off in Phoenix than in Winnipeg - Part 2: The Rebuttals".
Alright, so I promised to write a blog to counter the 18 comments on my last blog. Close to half of those comments didn't ...
As I'm here sitting down on a warm, summer night and Hockey entrenched in the offseason, I'm thinking about the state of the NHL and how can the league improve. Ever since the lockout, Hockey in general has really plummeted when it came to casual viewers in the U.S. Understandable in a way, because any sport that takes a leave of absence for a long period of time is going ...
mapleleafsforever writes...
Balsillie Blah Blah Blah... Coyotes Blah Blah Blah...
Posted Friday | Comments 0
Did I get your attention? Great.
I've been reading some pretty hilarious stuff since the ruling by Judge Redfield T. Baum regarding the September 10th auction for the Phoenix Coyotes Franchise. If you haven't heard the ruling you must tell me how you fit your computer under that rock which you must surely reside beneath. Essentially, the Judge has declared that all b...
In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
Yes, I realize I just quoted the impeccable F. Scott Fitzgerald in writing this, but the quote seem...
During the lock out I happened to bump into a very well known Flames Defenseman (won't name names here) and after telling me about all the various locations he had visited during his time off (yeah so hard done by) he went off about what a weasel Bettman is.
The players have never had it so good as they do now, the guys that have gotten them there have all been fired ...
A few thoughts…
It was actually Brian Burke, the proverbial King of controversy, that said the sooner this Coyotes Bankruptcy saga is all squared away the better it will be for everybody. Burke hit the nail on the head. If this mess is not resolved within the next three weeks than it will drag out over the entire season and not only distract the Coyotes players from c...
[i]The following is completely ficticious and is meant only for your amusement. I don't actually believe anything that follows and neither should you.[/i]
The Phoenix Coyotes will win the Stanley Cup this year. It's not because they are the best team, or because they are built for the playoffs, or even because Ilya Bryzgalov is the best goaltender in the world this year...
Though most likely no one will read this little blog I have mustered up (justly so), I’d like to voice my opinion on the magnificent reign of Gary Bettman (insert sarcastic face emoticon here).
Upon finishing up an outline for an upcoming term paper, I visited my twitter account. Low and behold, one of the best articles I’ve read on the infamous Gary Bu..ettman mad...
gkmkiller writes...
Time To Make Your Move, Gary: An Open Letter To Gary Bettman
Posted Wednesday | Comments 0
Dear Mr. Bettman,
I’m going to be blunt with you Gary; I’m not going to sugar-coat anything. Look around you, Gary. You’ve got ownership problems with a number of franchises. Every time you seem to get one squared away, like Tampa, another one or two crop up (Los Angeles and Phoenix for example). It’s time to make some hard choices my friend.
No one wants to ...
The reflective introspective is done. After meditating in front of their version of Buddha, which is actually just a picture of Gary Bettman in a towel, the Flames have started addressing the shortcomings of their feeder system.
After signing Bryan Cameron, a junior scorer who could not comes to terms with L.A., the flames have now set about replacing Keith Aulie's hulk...
In light of the recent debacle, known as the Ilya Kovalchuk contract saga, and listening to and reading wide ranging opinions on various radio stations and print media, I can’t help but thinking back to the lockout and lost season of 2004-2005.
The main issue of the CBA negotiations was the idea of creating “cost certainty” for the owners. Gary Bettman wanted to ...
If leaked reports are to be believed the NHLPA is preparing to file a grievance pertaining to the NHL’s rejection of the unprecedented 17 year, $102 million contract filed last week by the New Jersey Devils for Russian forward Ilya Kovalchuk. The report suggests that even if the Devils and Kovalchuk can agree on a restructured deal, the NHLPA may still decide to file a g...
[b]*Warning: More analysis and opinion concerning the Kovalchuk decision. For those who want to talk hockey, as opposed to the now perpetual indiscretions of the league office etc. Don't read.[/b]
When Richard Bloch decided to rule in the favour of the NHL in the case of Ilya Kovalchuk and the ridiculous contract, he set in place a new precedent that the league hope wi...
After months of political manoeuvring and speculation… and pending ratification, Donald Fehr appears primed to formally take office as the Executive Director of the NHLPA with the Ilya Kovalchuk saga providing an appropriate backdrop. Despite having earlier dismissed himself as a candidate for the role, the former MLBPA hardliner is now expected to spearhead the players ...
Going into tonight's game in Dallas the Preds are still unbeaten this season. I'll take 3-0-3 over 2-3-1, which is where the Flyers, Stanley Cup finalists last year currently sit after 6 games. The injury bug has been flying around and it's not a good thing, hopefully we can weather the storm and the dam doesn't burst.
Now onto my favoraite subject, the Canadian press...
Yesterday afternoons game between the flyers and kings was a well played game and wound up being a 1-0 defeat for the Flyers. I am not concerned with the outcome of the game but a particular call within the game. Entering the last 7 minutes of the game Pronger was hit into the boards from behind questionably. Pronger was square to the boards and hit hard from behind sendin...
Hi fellow hockey nuts!
my name is will, i am a life long of the great game of hockey as im sure all of you are. i have loved the toronto maple leafs, pittsburgh penguins and the winnipeg jets(not coyotes) for as long as i can remember. i am very opinionated when it comes to the game and have been booted from addicted hockey fans united for being too opinionated. i love am...
hi all,
i just have something to get off my chest. facebook.com is supposed to be a place where you are can speak your mind about everything and anything. not so! i was an admin for a page called addicted hockey fans united. as i said in my introduction, i am anti-bettman, always have been and always will be. i spoke my mind about him, the coyotes and hockey in the so...
thanx to tsn.ca for this
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/jetsmeter/
This is actually a draft of a 2,500 word college report, so I did not post it on the MYHB site. However, if you want to attempt to read it, it is available [url=http://hockeybuzzalex.blogspot.com/2011/04/concussions-proposal-to-nhl.html] here. [/url]
Hope to have a real blog up sometime this week.
Go Ran-Guhs
Edit: Just saw I got 100+ hits on that link, wow guy...
icedog97 writes...
2012 Realignment: Detroit, Nashville, Columbus...Phoenix?
Posted Thursday | Comments 0
Yesterday Gary Bettman indicated he expects realignment for the 2012-13 NHL season.
With the new Winnipeg franchise playing in the Southeast during 2011-12, a distance of almost 1,300 miles from where the Thrashers played, realignment of this franchise is a necessity.
Since we aren't even finished with the Stanley Cup Finals for 2010-11 yet, I am a little surprised t...
[img]http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/images/11/2011/09/medium_puck_daddy_chats_with_brendan_shanahan_about_making_suspension_videos_colin_campbell_criti.jpg[/img]
By Ryan Wilson
Follow me on Twitter [b]@gunnerstaal[/b]
As each day passes in the playoffs it seems that it also comes with a new disciplinary issue. The one thing that most people who are dire...
There is a #91 Tavares Jersey that is framed and hung on Eric Murphy's office wall on the set of HBO's "Entourage." It's ironic, considering the show had it's final season on HBO last year and the Islanders might not be far behind.
In August 2011, a referendum which would have allowed the Islanders to borrow up to $400 million to modernize the Nassau Coliseum failed in...
cuppacoldtea writes...
Five Reasons to Look Forward to Losing a Year of Hockey
Posted Wednesday | Comments 0
Here are five positive things I will take away from a lockout, in descending order
5: The New Jersey Devils will save about 3 million dollars every two weeks in player's salaries. This should help them make their loan payments...seeing how four rounds of extra playoff revenue did not seem to to the job.
4: Vancouver have an extra year to work out a deal with Tor...
suraj1017 writes...
5 Reasons the New CBA Needs to Get Done Before September 15
Posted Thursday | Comments 0
The NHL and NHLPA have reached a point of potentially experiencing a second NHL lockout in less than a decade.
There are significant losers if this does happen, and very limited winners as well.
So, why has it not been resolved?
That's for both parties to figure out, but it seems the difference in desires for the new CBA will continue to hinder the possibility o...
I wonder how the American government would run if the nation's laws shut down every 5 or 6 years while the Republicans and Democrats hammer out a new deal. Of course, it would take forever because both sides would have to invariably agree to everything.
Granted, the process isn't like politics or legislation of laws, but in comparing this CBA system to systems that p...
Whether many read this blog or not I felt compelled to put my 2 cents out into the Blogging Universe regarding the collective bargaining situation between the NHL and the PA.
First of all, I believe anyone deserves to get paid when they put in the effort and make the sacrifice to succeed. I believe in fairness and goodwill. I don't believe people should be punished fo...
He saved the Penguins on the ice and raised two Cups as their captain. After his retirement, he saved them financially. He rolled what salary he deferred as a player a primary ownership share in the franchise. He also saved the team once more time by securing a new facility for the Penguins, which ultimately prevented them from moving cities.
All of the above-mentioned...
Let me just start by saying that I'm not an expert on the lockout. My understanding of all the technical aspects isn't crystal clear. I don't religiously follow the daily back and forth between the two sides. I don't have any insider telling me when and how the labour dispute will be settled. I'm not going to pretend that I do.
I do know a fair bit about the fan's menta...
Bettman is oft’ made out to be the bane of the NHL’s existence by some, and by others excused for simply trying to fulfill the owner’s mandate of selling the game in the U.S. market, ending labor unrest, completing expansion plans, and modernizing the views within the ownership groups.
[b]Let’s look at the body of work of Mr. Bettman.[/b]
Since the diminutiv...
I saw earlier today, the rumor (on several sites) that the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, in all his infinite wisdom, may consider using replacement players should the NHL remain in a lockout come November. This is extremely risky, even just to have it be a rumor.
There are thousands of hockey players in the world who want a shot at the NHL. I went to college with a few...
They adopt a new system that hybridizes the marketplace and the cap approach, which theoretically allows a team to spend as much money as they want. “That’s what Goodenow wanted!”
But wait... let’s go over some limitations.
The new team structure would be presented as such, assuming a 50/50 split in revenue is reached (it’s really no secret the NHL offere...
Man, I got to say this NHL lockout really does suck. The more time that passes the more I realize how much I am starting to miss that routine of getting back into a new hockey season. You know what I mean; September roles around and your thoughts begin to drift further and further into that beautiful abyss that is the NHL season. Your thinking about how trades and signings...
AarifDeen writes...
There's Two Separate parts to the CBA Negotiations
Posted Wednesday | Comments 0
[b]For everything hockey - 24/7 news updates, scores, humour, blogs, and everything else in between, please follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/DailyNHLGrind.[/b]
Something that was already a given, has further been proven now with the latest updates of the CBA negotiations.
In case you haven’t heard the news yet (which obviously means you’ve probably b...
The following blog is published on my site. and the original URL is:
http://replacebettman.com/post/33933352781/nhl-proposal
I have posted the complete article here for you consideration.
October 19, 2012
Below is an Open Letter to both the NHL and NHLPA. I am telling each party in simple uncomplicated and straight foreword terms what my thoughts, feelings a...
So like everyone else in the hockey world, I’ve been following all of the news with the proposals presented by the NHL and the NHLPA this week. I do not, repeat, [b]DO NOT[/b], agree that this is going to lead to any more negotiating or more talks at this point in time. This past week has just been a botched public relations move that was handled poorly.
Gary Bettman...
I'm starting to wonder if the NHLPA resents that the NHL had a plan for a full 82 game schedule with a pretty good offer on the table.
In our culture, we seem to have this problem and resentment towards other people trying to make our decisions easier for us for our own good, even if the agenda isn't always pure. Unfortunately, when we start thinking that the helping h...
If you've played Texas' Hold 'Em, you probably know of this following situation.
You're holding onto a pair of natural kings in your hand and one of the three cards revealed is an ace. You're looking at the snarky guy across the table and he's the type of guy that always weasels out every hand and bluffs to take everyone else's money. You KNOW he doesn't have the Ace,...
Can somebody explain to me why the National Hockey League is allowed to negotiate a collective salary rollback? Do they not believe, as most all people do, that all contracts should be honored as signed? How would the owners react if Comcast/NBC reneged on their pact with the league? I cant imagine they would be very happy. It is because I believe this practice to be unfai...
I like to share stories in my life that are relevant to the situations I see in the media. The metaphor is such a beautiful thing to be able to reveal to many what has been hidden in the foundations of the world.
Today, yesterday, the day before, the NHL and NHLPA have been meeting, and this came after a week-end of Daly meeting with S. Fehr giving us promise that thin...
As things stand on November 14, it’s hard to feel any kind of optimism about the NHL and NHLPA reaching any kind of a deal to salvage any part of the 2012-13 season. In all honesty, it should have been predictable – but way too many people put way too much faith in the ability of both sides to compromise. Some famous guy once put out a definition of insanity; some of...
Every morning, I open the hockeybuzz website as well as other websites to get updated from the news around the NHL and around the world, and I see on TSN more and more players migrating to Europe, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about this migration.
Now a lot of people are on the player's side, often because they've been part of unions or strikes ...
I was planning on coming home from work, quickly changing, and hopping on the I-90 to head to Rochester for the Amerks vs Heat game. So why am I writing this? My wife is feeling under the weather, and I’m taking care of her. In the end, that’s way more important than a hockey game. My back up plan? Watch the game on Time Warner Sports Network. Downside with that, they�...
Hockey players have usually been a classy lot, that maybe sometimes they were outspoken, but most of them remained tight-lipped and stand-up people off the rink. Few other sports can bolster the class that hockey players (in general) have. Many wear suit and ties to games and make it a habit to keep clean shaven during the regular season, also keeping their hair trimmed ...
Now I used to get into a lot of arguments online, so I know a lot of the tricks that people do in order to gain the upper hand. One of them is being employed by both sides of the negotiation, and it came more to life yesterday.
Most arguments have to do with language, words (semantics), what meanings they package, and how they're contextually used. Since language is a...
If Bettman's suggestion goes through and Fehr and Bettman are lesioned from the situation with players and owners doing the raw negotiations, a deal will get done much faster so long as they keep it that way. It will. But one side will probably be a clear winner at the end of all of this because they'll quickly establish a language and the more persistent will probably o...
Is everybody healing up after the Probert-esk emotional pummeling dealt out by Donald Fehr? Good, now lets hit some high points of todays CBA talk.
I think a 10 year CBA is a horrible idea. That assures a work stoppage in 10 years time. I think if they have a shorter CBA, 4 years with a mutual option for 2 , it will allow the league and players an opportunity to...
So that I can stop hearing complaints about my owner's bias, I need to set the record straight. I am not biased for the owners: I'm biased for this version of the game.
Before that, let me take you through a little of my own history.
In the early 1990s, we used to play League Sim which was a program based on Wayne Gretzky's Hockey (an old hockey game for the compute...
As much as I hated to see it, the last NHL lockout made sense to me. The gap between haves and the have-nots was growing at a ridiculous rate, and truth be told, I was glad to see the NHL take action before it got too far out of control like it has in Major League Baseball. The results of that lockout speak for themselves. Parity has returned to the league and ultimately...
If there is one thing anyone who follows the NHL knows, even the mere mention of the name, "Gary Bettman" evokes a response. The NHL Commish is a polarizing figure, no more so than when a new CBA is being formed, and especially when there is a strike or lockout. Everyone, from the casual hockey fan, to the players in the League, has an opinion of "Bettman", and surely aren...
So the Anaheim Ducks have signed two of their big free agents. First they sign Ryan Getzlaf through 2021. That's a rather lengthy contract considering the NHL wanted to scale back those long term contracts. But even more impressive is the $8,250,000 per season over the next 6 seasons. Mind-blowing numbers when you consider that also was one of the major issues that ke...
I don't hate the shootout that much, I find it just messes with everything. I like it because there is a winner. You can gloat to your friends that your team won in head-to-head match, but in reality it's just a dirty win. It's a skills competition, a cop-out to end the game early and have the crowd go home happy with a win, or content, knowing there team "at least" got a ...
Is the NHL even watching the same game I am? (I know you guys miss me and my blogs, admit it).
Brian Burke has been a loud advocate of fixing a true problem in the game: scoring chances.
Watch a game... really closely. Teams are so obsessed with possession and collapsing defense these days that most shots are boring ones from the perimeter. Bigger nets and fixing g...
The Lightning are dancing on fire... cool imagery.
Not so cool if they lose a former first overall for, to put it bluntly, sweet **** all.
Take it from a Devils fan... it hurts (thanks, Kovy).
So now the Media are overblowing a story about Stamkos "liking" a tweet about the possibility of him coming to Toronto. Meanwhile Stamkos is probably like, "All I did w...
Drouin's antics have exposed the hockey world yet again with lockout-esque humdrum in the media. Now the US vs. THEM attitude has people once against pinning PLAYERS against OWNERS.
Who is right? Who isn't? Let's take sides!
But just like the lockout, this has absolutely nothing to do with players vs. owners. It has everything to do with player agents vs. general m...
You can win OR you can cash in... should be Stamkos' choice. But...
You know, I really hate the precedence set by Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
Let's not kid ourselves. The two of them are vital to the success of the Chicago Blackhawks. (Of course they are; they're the product of tanking). So now the GM can manoeuvre his team around these two guys and they'l...
Over the last few seasons, I've noticed a trend picking up among GMs. Of course, it's easy to notice that not as many teams are going to dump their first round picks for a rental--everyone should have taken the hint when well-managed teams were reluctant to do so. But this next trend might be a little more invisible to the common eye.
The trend I'm speaking of is the ...
So Boston, a team with 42 wins, doesn't make the playoffs while other teams with 41 wins do because they've made the most of the consolation point. Especially disgusting among those three teams is Minnesota, with a meager 38 wins on the season.
Let's just change the point system... no 3 -2 -1, no 2 - 1. Wins are worth 1 point. Shootout losses and OT losses = 0 poin...
archromat writes...
Why not equal distribution of talent? I'll tell you...
Posted Monday | Comments 0
Suppose they ditched the lottery 1, 2, 3 system (which is even more erratic than the previous system), why wouldn't they just take the fourteen teams that missed the playoffs and lottery the whole list, replacing them all randomly?
"Chaos" says one GM, "Disaster" says another.
Do you know why? Because the first overall pick is worth six times as much as the fourteent...
Months ago, I wrote about Yzerman's conundrum in terms of the Drouin situation. I said his choice was to stick to principle or to cave into his demand, expressing doubt that he would stick to his principles.
But he did, and to my surprise, it all paid off.
Yzerman is not out of the water since he has a Stamkos issue to worry about, but now that the Drouin situatio...
I'll tell you, and I won't be very popular with this one but I might actually have an idea of what GMs are thinking while a lot of people are stuck in the "stats la-la land" that focuses mostly on a genuinely useless stat (shots on goal).
It's funny that you want a society to get smarter in an abstract sense, but they sink into abstracts (shots on goal) while veering aw...
archromat writes...
When analyzing a trade, this is often overlooked...
Posted Thursday | Comments 0
I read a few articles on bad trades that some teams made, and usually it's "all star" for some guy who has the ceiling but is a few years younger, and more often than not, the one who benefits is the one that gets the better player NOW rather than the future.
But it's like those games, where a team loses 4-3 in OT, and people rush back to thinking about that goal that...
The Islanders’ owners are “committed” to New York but are keeping their options open with regard to Barclays Center, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said during his news conference during the league’s All-Star Weekend.
“They’re committed to the franchise, they’re committed to New York and the great fan base that has followed the Islanders,” Bettman said, r...
archromat writes...
Six observations about Olympic Mess and Hockey World Cup
Posted Wednesday | Comments 0
Players have been reacting chiefly negatively to the NHL's decision to not participate in the Olympics.
1. [b]Evaluating the Strength of Tradition[/b]
NHL is trying to replace the Olympics with this "World Cup" device. Now let's put hockey world cup into context with football/soccer world cup. The World Cup of Football was started in 1930 in Uruguay and has been a ...
Every year the media comes up with all these story-lines for the teams that eventually do succeed as if everyone should have known all along that they were going to. During Anaheim's miraculous 2003 run, it was that they won a lot of one goal games so they were used to playing under pressure. Some of the biggest miracle runs was not that one, but rather the Kings in 2012...
archromat writes...
Is it time to alter the draft in the case of elite talent?
Posted Friday | Comments 0
I have long enjoyed the managerial aspects of the game (certainly more than the game itself). To be able to try to construct your team by trading and managing assets, by developing talent, by installing the best guys behind the bench additionally to the best guys on the ice. They keep sites like this alive and energetic, whether we're making fun of absurd trade proposals...
The title is kind of blunt, isn't it?
I remember watching it a few years. It wasn't exactly can't miss television.
Hey guys, I got a great idea... it's 26 degrees outside, so let's go inside and watch a bunch of hockey players pick up trophies with deadpan faces and speaking with all the emptiness you'd expect in a hockey interview during the intermission. "Uh, i...
The Avalanche looked absolutely terrible this year. Roy's probably laughing at the team, but he shouldn't; he helped make this disaster. Roy and Sakic were stuck between two dynamics: Roy wanted a bigger team that was hard to play against and Sakic... I don't know what Sakic wants to do. I don't think Sakic knows what Sakic wants to do.
I can look at the Avalanche li...
Montreal scored a whole four goals in four games.
It's only four games in, surely! They're generating 38.8 shots per game! By my calculation, that leaves the team with a collective ~2.5% shooting percentage. So if stats guys are right, then their gambler's fallacy will tell them that this shooting percentage will shoot up to about 9-9.5% soon enough and they'll be sc...
The NHL challenge has been another addition to the game which follows the successful model in the NFL, giving another reason for anticipation for fans.
But its reach has not yet been refined.
Years ago, the "horseshoe" blue line allowed Matt Duchene to score a goal for the Avalanche, and yes, that was a blown non-call by the linesmen. It's a tough job, sometimes...
Well these rumours are a surprise.
One deflected shot in the playoffs to win vs. Penguins, plus capitalizing on Rinne's terribad performance in the Stanley Cup Finals last year, the Sens win the cup with that Cinderella run.
Now they're burning on the other side of the rift of fire and screaming out to Lazarus, "Help, help! We're in tribulation!"
So is it a go...
This year's playoff hunt has now hit boiling point. In both conferences, x teams are vying for x - 1 spots, so two teams are going to lose their respective games of musical chairs.
I think what irritates me about this scenario is that both of these teams that fail to make the playoffs will quite likely end up with a higher than true 500 stat (that is 41+ wins) and es...
I've written about this a few times because I hate the one thing that improves your team the most comes down to lottery balls without rhyme or reason except for teams improving their odds through something that can be about 50% arbitrary (see the Avs from last year to this year, who doubled their points with basically one less player).
This year, some of those perennial...
archromat writes...
A Bunch of Questions: about offside, tavares, sabres, etc
Posted Tuesday | Comments 0
In no particular order:
I notice goalies have been getting much taller lately; I also notice that the "slap shot" is going away. Is this all a result of those mega flex sticks that do the work for the player? If there was an insane reversion to the wood sticks, would the goalies get smaller again and would the slap shot make a comeback?
The Sabres looked really good...
A lot of rabble rousing has occurred this season with Toronto and Boston headed on a third date, and know what third dates mean. It means Toronto fans get really unhappy because their team gets ... again.
So when the Toronto fan base is angry, it causes a rumble in the hockey world, largely because they have the greatest influence over the network that arguably still h...
Toronto Boston was supposed to be the talked-about series the next day... was among fans of those teams, I'm certain, but much of the talk was amount the Sharks' 5 minute power play after their captain hit their head on the ice.
I let this slide: I always thought passively that it was the right call, but on the wrong player, so whatever. Vegas is the team that couldn...
Before I write this post, I will ask you to put these concepts in order of importance.
- Flawless Officiating
- Fun to play
- Entertaining
- Profitable
Now you might ask: "why can't we have them all?": but it's known when you try to accomplish everything, you more usually end up accomplishing nothing: see Theresa May's approach to Brexit as an example.
So now...
archromat writes...
A Trade is Like a Storm - On Marner, Subban, Trouba, etc.
Posted Monday | Comments 0
Storms are born near the equator of the planet and flow outwards. They are born from water currents in the oceans. They are born when low pressure systems get pinched by high pressure systems. They are born when accumulated water vapour creates conduction between two positive spheres in the planet, causing electrical exchange we know as lightning. (See Electric Univers...
This is a team breakdown for what strategy I'd take as every team.
I'm going to skip over the Devils and the Rangers at 1 and 2 since it's fairly obvious the Devils will take Hughes and the Rangers Kakko. I'm also going no farther than 16 because after that, the possibilities are endless and these combine interviews and scouts could have come up with anything.
Chi...
I have been rather critical of several GMs in the past that have certainly proven me wrong - namely Sakic's situation a few years ago about how his team lacked an identity, and Yzerman's dealing with Stamkos even though I believe that situation was still handled clumsily - and I have defended some of Chiarelli's moves - that Griffin Reinhart deal with Barzal was available ...
Insane, I know.
I can only imagine the thoughts of many fans when they read a headline like this: "Let's see what this idiot has to say". It's like you're reading Vice.
But the way I see it, the Leafs' salary structure wasn't so much spoiled by Tavares, since he deserved a payday and he's obviously an elite center. Yet a one-two of Tavares and Matthews, while t...
Could the Leafs be about to troll the NHL?
Negotiations are usually a meet in the middle kind of thing, unless the middle is more than what the other side has to offer.
So the settlement? Four years at 9m/y. That is what I believe the final number will be around.
When you negotiate, what's "fair" usually isn't on the table, because people don't live in a fair wor...
In my spare time, I pythoned up a sim, but part of that sim was creating a power ranking based on a self-invented hundred balance system (ie, 132 = 32% stronger than average; 75 = 25% weaker than average). This system is entirely statistically based with zero input, but I shall only explain why I "believe" the teams are where they are and what issues they might need to ad...
Greetings! I have returned for my next instalment of power rankings. If you have read the first one, then you'll be familiar with what I am about to say: these power rankings are based entirely on statistical performances and they are churned out by a python code that examines every game in the last ten regular season weeks played (bleeding into the last year for now). N...
In the spirit of Hallowe'en and All Saints Day comes this week's power rankings, which I'll now be making on a monthly basis.
I must repeat the disclaimer: the stats entirely determine the power ranking: I only try to rationalize what the stats are pointing out.
1. Boston Bruins 9-1-2 POWER 130 LW: 1
The Scary: Boston's dominance in both NFL and NH...
Don Cherry was always an outspoken individual in terms of politics, so he made his remarks and Sportsnet said it's the last straw.
I always hated Sportsnet, and this is just an honest and candid opinion. As my friend put it, "it's like watching AHL level of broadcasting". TSN's hockey coverage rivaled American channels covering the NFL. I'm not going to hide behind...
1. Cancel the NHL draft (picks would just all move back a year, so if you have 3 1sts this year, you get them next year instead).
There was an opportunity in 2005 absolutely wasted. They could have simply cancelled the draft and changed the minimum draft age to 19*
*Every year, up to three to five players at 18 are NHL ready. Sometimes none are ready. Perhaps if y...