What the standings might have been

(Note: This post was written prior to the completion of the Saturday afternoon games. The standings reflect this, so it's not totally accurate based on when you read it. Still, you get the idea.)

I really, really, really can't stand the NHL's "lucky loser" point. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. You shouldn't reward any team for losing. You want to keep shootouts so that there are no ties? Fine. I have no problem with that. If you do that, however, I'd recommend this system (mentioned on my blog before):

2 points for a regulation win
2 points for an overtime win
1 point for a shootout win
0 points for any type of loss

The idea is to play with urgency throughout regulation and overtime with the shootout being the last resort. If you don't want teams to play for the shootout -- that is, to avoid teams that are good at shootouts playing in a defensive shell for the third and OT -- then you simply devalue it. If a team really needs points to climb up in the standings, then they should have to push the pace in regulation, then overtime. There's no reason why they should be rewarded for going to a shootout.

With that in mind, let's look at the NHL standings as of 6 PM PST in Mike Chen's standings system.

The real-world Eastern standings:

Rank	Team	Points (L = OT/SO loss, W = SO win)
1	x-Buffalo	107 7L 10W
2	x-New Jersey	100 8L 9W
3	* Atlanta	93 11L 6W
4	x-Ottawa	100 8L 2W
5	x-Pittsburgh	100 10L 10W
6	Tampa Bay	88 4L 10W
7	NY Rangers	87 9L 9W
8	Montreal	86 6L 6W
9	Toronto	85 11L 4W
10	NY Islanders	84 12L 6W
11	Carolina	84 8L 0W
12	Florida	82 14L 2W

Adjusted to my standings system:

Rank	Team	Points (L = OT/SO loss, W = SO win)
1	*Buffalo	90 7L 10W
2	*Ottawa	90 8L 2W
3	*Carolina	76 8L 0W
4	New Jersey	83 8L 9W
5	Pittsburgh	80 10L 10W
6	Atlanta	76 11L 6W
7	Montreal	74 6L 6W
8	Tampa Bay	74 4L 10W
9	Toronto	70 11L 4W
10	NY Rangers	69 9L 9W
11	Florida	66 14L 2W
12	NY Islanders	66 12L 6W

What's different here? Well, the Hurricanes, who have no shootout wins, vault into third place by not having any point penalties with shootout wins. The Penguins (20 points) and the Devils (17 points) are still pretty much neck and neck for the Atlantic Division lead; however, the Sens and Sabres become the elite of the East. As for those scrapping for eighth place, it's not nearly the logjam that you currently see, as the Lightning have a small, but semi-comfortable lead over the rest of the pack. The Rangers, who lose 18 points, fall quite a bit from a comfortable spot to just out of playoff reach.

Let's look at the Western standings.

In the real world:

Rank	Team	Points (L = OT/SO loss, W = SO win)
1	*Detroit	106 12L 2W
2	*Anaheim	104 12L 4W
3	*Vancouver	101 7L 5W
4	Nashville	105 7L 6W
5	Dallas	100 6L 8W
6	San Jose	100 4L 1W
7	Minnesota	98 8L 10W
8	Calgary	94 10L 3W
9	Colorado	89 7L 5W

With my standings system:

Rank	Team	Points (L = OT/SO loss, W = SO win)
1	*San Jose	95 4L 1W
2	*Detroit	92 12L 2W
3	*Vancouver	89 7L 5W
4	Nashville	92 7L 6W
5	Anaheim	88 12L 4W
6	Dallas	86 6L 8W
7	Calgary	81 10L 3W
8	Minnesota	80 8L 10W
9	Colorado	77 7L 5W

Now, things have really changed. The Sharks, who've hardly gone to overtime this year, let alone any shootouts, rocket to the top of the entire league. Detroit and Nashville remain neck and neck, but Vancouver's hold on the Northwest Division grows bigger. Anaheim and Dallas don't seem quite as impressive, and Colorado's caught up a little bit in the standings.

So, what can we learn with all this? If you're looking at the team that most decisively puts away their team in regulation or overtime, that would be the San Jose Sharks (good for my Sharks season tickets in section 205!). Come playoff time, when there's no loser point and no shootouts, this might give a better indicator as to who is the most armed and ready to tackle the post-season.

Lesson Two: Look at how many points teams get FOR LOSING and for winning a skills competition. Going to a system like this simply stops rewarding this level of mediocrity and puts the focus squarely on what matters -- winning a team game.

Read more!

Damn you XM Home Ice

If any of you were listening to XM's Home Ice channel over the past 30 minutes, you probably felt a sense of shock, outrage, and outright fear when they announced that shootouts were now in in the playoffs. Then, when you came to your computer and checked every news source and didn't see a single word about it, you probably felt really, freally, freally stupid.

Nice pre-April Fool's joke, boys. You had me going pretty good in the car.

Read more!

Secrets of The Hockey News survey

The Hockey News posted the results of a players survey regarding some burning issues around the league. Some of the results, such as players in favor of keeping the over-the-glass penalty and preferring their kids to go NCAA over Canadian juniors, were kinda surprising. Here's some other interesting finds:

• The #1 city that players would NOT want to play for? Buffalo Sabres. That's right, wide-right/no-goal Buffalo fans, despite having a kick-ass team stocked with talent, players just seem to have a thing against upstate New York. I wonder if they'd think differently once you told them about the bisexual prostitutes that used to live down the hall from my buddy's apartment in Rochester.
• Runner-up for the worst city award? Edmonton. Maybe Chris Pronger stuffed the ballot box on that one.
  
• The #1 city that players DO want to play for? Toronto and the New York Rangers. However, the Rangers were voted as having one of the worst ice surfaces in the league. So I guess living in Manhattan supercedes dealing with crappy ice.
• 56% of the players surveyed said that Sidney Crosby was the best player in the league this season. Two players said that Sid the Kid is overrated. Um, when you're leading the scoring lead at 19 years old, how can you be overrated? One player thought that Joel Bouchard was the most overrated guy in the league. Joel Bouchard? Since when is a journeyman defenseman on his 100th team overrated?
  
• Most hated players in the NHL: I'm not sure why there was a vote for Paul Kariya unless Teemu Selanne was playing a practical joke on his buddy.
• Someone delusional picked Dan Fritsche as the #1 young player he'd build his team around.
  
• At least two guys in the NHL are totally honest -- they said that the best thing about being a player isn't living a boyhood dream or chasing the Stanley Cup; no, it's all about chicks! You think Sergei Fedorov was one of those guys?
• At the other end of the spectrum, one player said that girls (I'm assuming legal-age women, not the pre-teen Barbie set) was the worst aspect of the league. Well, there is that statistic about the percentage of the population that is gay, so I suppose that falls in line with that. Still, a hunch tells me that said player will NOT be coming out anytime soon despite the Red Wings being open to discussing tolerance.

In the end, the survey tells us what's most important to these guys. Sure, many players will complain that the schedule is too long, that it contributes to much to bad injuries and wear and tear, but when it comes down to their bank account vs. travel/injuries/long season, guess which one wins? Survey says...

Would you consider a shorter regular season knowing it would mean 10 to 15 per cent less revenue from gate receipts?
1) No (175) 63%
2) Yes (103) 37%

Read more!

How good are the Pens?

Don't look now, but Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins have the New Jersey Devils just a tad bit worried about their lock on the Atlantic Division title. While teams like the Rangers and Islanders are still kicking and screaming just to get into the playoffs, Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (and Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Whitney) have turned around the Penguins faster than you can say Ovechkin.

If you look at the Pens record as it stands today, it's good but not stellar: 43-23-10, or 10 games above .500 if you count the NHL's "loser point" as a true loss. What's most remarkable about the Penguins, though, is the way they've played since January.

In the calendar year of 2006, the Pens were actually below .500 with a 16-15-6 record (again, counting the extra point as a loss). Since then, the Penguins have been one of the league's hottest, most consistent teams, going 27-8-4.

Part of this is the overall defensive stability that the team has finally gotten down. The other part of this is that the team has become so strong and so creative up front that other teams can't shut them down completely. Stop Crosby and you have to deal with Malkin. Get a power play and Jordan Staal might burn you shorthanded. Cover down low and Sergei Gonchar can unleash a bomb from the point.

So that begs the question -- just how good are these young Penguins? Just for posterity's sake, let's look at another young team that hovered around .500 in 2003 before turning it on in 2004. The pre-Cup championship Lightning went 15-13-7 and flirted with non-playoff status in 2003 before going nuts and going 31-8-7 the rest of the way.

Now, I'm not saying that the Penguins can mirror the Lightning's Cup run. There's just too many variables before anyone can try and predicate that. But the Pens 2007 record shows that teams really need to fear them -- and that with a little luck, they're good enough to make anything possible.

Read more!

Does NBC read this blog?

So, one day after I posted the question about "quality game/lower-profile teams vs. star player/crappy game," I see this over at Kukla's Korner:

NBC will be able to select from a minimum of three games scheduled on Sunday afternoons. Thirteen days prior to the scheduled games, NBC, in conjunction with the NHL, will select one of those games as the "Game of the Week" to be broadcast during the NBC window. The other two games will revert back to the team's regional carrier (not to be televised during NBC's broadcast window).

It looks like NBC will only be showing one game per week next season. Is this to maximize exposure of a good game (probably) rather than be stuck with Sidney Crosby vs. a crappy team? Or is it to cut down travel and setup costs?

My guess is that NBC decided that regionalization isn't all that important; instead, they'd rather have one game to promote across the country. The added bonus of saving money via less on-air talent, travel, equipment, trucks, etc., well that's probably music to Gary Bettman's ears -- remember, it's a revenue sharing deal. In order to share, well, you actually have to have some revenue, right?

Read more!

Smart move by NBC?

I'll admit, I haven't watched too much of NBC's coverage this season. Not that I don't think it's good, it's just the time slot doesn't always work with my weekend plans. This weekend, I settled in to catch some of the Bruins and Pens and, right on cue, the Pens started kicking the crap out of the Bruins.

When it was 4-0, NBC did something that I haven't seen before (except in college basketball, but the first round of March Madness has so many games going on that it doesn't really count) -- they switched over an entire region to the other game. Here I was, sitting in the Bay Area about to switch off the Pens game when NBC decided that us west coasters would rather watch a white-knuckle game with playoff implications between two teams that hated each other.

Well, their strategy worked because the Isles/Rangers matchup was a hell of a game. Today, Paul Kukla posted that it got a 1.1 rating which was a small ratings bump over previous weeks. Whether or not this has anything to do with the switchover, I don't know, but I think you can categorize the TV-watching hockey audience into three categories:

1) Local fans who want to see their team
2) Casual fans who want to see star players and "name" teams
3) Die-hards who want to watch a good game

The thing with this is that the NHL already has 1 and 3 but not enough of 2. Having Sidney Crosby play in NBC's game of the week is a good idea except that no one wants to see him smack around a non-playoff team. It's just no fun.

So what do you do? If you have a crappy game featuring your marquee player, do you stick with that? Or do you show the good game that actually means something even though it's highly regionalized? It's an interesting marketing conundrum, especially considering that the New York World Series a few years ago had awful TV ratings, as did the California World Series back in 2002.

Of course, the bottom line is that there is NO good formula for creating NHL TV ratings. The small bump in ratings could have more to do with the fact that 100,000 people left their TVs on when the phone rang. I'm sure John Shannon and his NHL Broadcasting Department are staring at a bunch of spreadsheets wondering what went right and what went wrong when it's really all chaos theory.

Read more!

Non-hockey post: My blog on getting published

For better or worse, you gotta figure that someone who blogs about hockey, runs a writing business, and writes for a variety of websites is really sick in the head and slightly obsessed about writing. Yes, it's true, I have that horrible illness and I've semi-secretly been writing a novel manuscript for the past year (semi-secret as in I hid it from most of my friends and family but shared it with other writers for critiques). It's been reviewed and workshopped quite a bit and people tell me that it's actually pretty good and funny -- not funny like "Wow this is laughably bad" funny, but witty and biting and sarcastic, all in a good way.

I actually think that I might start shopping it in about 1-2 months depending on how the last few bits go. So, with that in mind, I've started The Manuscript Journey, my blog that has nothing to do with hockey and everything to do with writing. I'm not sure what this blog will really do for me other than give me a place to vent about getting rejected non-stop for the next year or so (fingers crossed that the right person, like a powerful literary agent, will read it and want to see my work). But, if there are any faithful Hockey Blog readers who've dipped into the same realm, well, come along for the ride.

And now back to your regularly scheduled hockey blog.

Read more!

This could be very interesting...

Remember the good ol' days of the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings beating the living snot out of each other on a regular basis? Remember the palpable hate between the teams? Remember Claude Lemieux, Darren McCarty, Patrick Roy, Mike Vernon, and all those other players that just loved to say hello to each other with their fists?

You can't go home again, but there's something very interesting brewing out west that could just add a new twist to this slumbering rivalry: what if the Avalanche played Todd Bertuzzi and the Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs?

For the longest time, everyone basically thought that the west's top eight were set with Colorado sitting well out of eighth place. The Bertuzzi trade to Detroit was more about his health and the Red Wings' gamble and I don't think anyone was even considering how it might bring the old burgandy vs. red rivalry back into prominence.

However, things have turned around for the Avalanche, and the Red Wings -- who were behind the Predators for top spot in the west for a long time -- are now realistically within striking distance of claiming that top seed. As it stands this morning, Colorado is four points behind Calgary, Detroit's one point behind Nashville, and Todd Bertuzzi is set to debut tonight against Columbus.

So, let's just think for a moment about the right cards falling into place here:

1) Calgary fails to heat up during the final stretch of the season
2) Colorado wins consistently and overtakes eight place
3) Detroit surpasses Nashville for first overall
4) Todd Bertuzzi stays healthy

Granted, a lot of the bad blood between these two teams is mostly fan-based these days -- I don't think Wojtek Wolski wants to kick the crap out of Henrik Zetterberg. The Avs and the Wings are both more skill-based teams rather than the mix of sandpaper and talent that the late 90's squads had. And even with Bertuzzi, so many players have left Colorado since the actual incident that there's not the same level of vitriol towards #44 as there was several years ago.

Still, if this happened, the first thing that would happen is that the fans, especially in Colorado, would go nuts about a chance to go after Evil Team #1 and Evil Player #1. Second, the mainstream and local media would pick up the story and run with it, much to the delight of Gary Bettman and co. Third, with all of the hype surrounding it and the naturally chippy style of play during the playoffs, the old hatred could very easily return.

Usually, it only takes one or two games during a playoff series for teams to really dislike each other. Even the San Jose/Edmonton series last season, which everyone wrote off as boring since they had no history against each other, turned into the requisite playoff mix of nasty and tough. So if you take two teams that have a long history with each -- even if the true animosity has been dormant for a few seasons -- with the most hated hockey player in Denver and you have the making of what could potentially be a rebirth of The Rivalry. It might not last past this season, but it could still be fun to watch.

So for those of you rooting for the return of good ol' fashioned bad blood between Colorado and Detroit, time to start hoping that Calgary and Nashville lose.

By the way, for anyone looking to refresh their memory on the Avs/Red Wings rivalry, you can pick up Blood Feud by Adrian Dater over on the right side of the blog. Just click on the photo of Patrick Roy getting punched.

Read more!

Heads up!

The NHL rulebook defines a clipping penalty as such:

Clipping is the act of throwing the body, from any direction, across or below the knees of an opponent.

1. A player may not deliver a check in a "clipping" manner, nor lower his own body position to deliver a check on or below an opponent's knees.
2. An illegal "low hit" is a check that is delivered by a player who may or may not have both skates on the ice, with his sole intent to check the opponent in the area of his knees. A player may not lower his body position to deliver a check to an opponent's knees.

A player who commits these fouls will be assessed a minor penalty for "clipping". If an injury occurs as a result of this "clipping" check, the player must be assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct.

The rule is designed specifically to prevent any sort of serious damage to the knee or below. You hardly ever see clipping called, and a big part of that is probably because players have always been trained that it's off limits. If that's the case, why not implement a similar rule protecting a player's head? With all the hubbub about hits to the head and concussions lately, here's what Jarome Iginla had to say about it in the National Post:

“It’s not that fast. Guys know what they’re doing on 90-plus per cent of the hits.”
On almost every one of those hits, the player throwing the check recognizes that an opponent is in a dangerous spot. Many will take their foot off the gas. Not everybody does. I’ll be honest,” Iginla said. “Some guys, if you’re leaned over, your head’s sticking out there, a lot of guys will pass that hit up. There are some guys though, who will take that [hit].”

So the league's premier power forward basically states that in most cases, a hit to the head can be controlled somewhat. Sure, there are going to be incidents where a player didn't intend to, but in most cases, the lax rules allow this to happen.

If the NHLPA cared about the health of its constituency, it would help the league create a hit-to-the-head rule similar to the clipping rule. Why protect an MCL or an ACL but not the head? The clipping rule protects players from missing 4-6 months from a torn ACL but why aren't concussions considered just as great a threat, if not more? Concussions have an indeterminate effect on games missed and can have a cumulative damaging effect on a player's post-NHL life. The PA has pension plans, education plans, and other sort of after-hockey help so why don't they care about the health of their players?

Some fans and observers will say that this will take hitting out of the game. I don't believe that to be true. How many big hits do we see that don't involve the shoulder cap going all the way to the head? The Ontario Hockey League has already implemented a penalty for a hit to the head and from all of the people I've heard, hitting has not been reduced; instead, it's simply more focused on body contact. I'm going by anecdotal evidence on the OHL but I haven't heard anything negative about the rule. If what Iginla is saying is true, NHLers should be able to control their hitting to the level where this type of thing is minimized.

This will not eliminate open-ice hitting as some have feared. Search the web for any highlights of big hockey hits and you'll see the majority of them (minus the requisite Scott Stevens hits on Eric Lindros and Paul Kariya) start with Player A going fast and hitting Player B in the mid-chest region, then using his legs to extend up through the upper chest. The effect is that Player B is knocked off his center of balance and falls on his butt. It looks spectacular and it's effective, and no one's brain turns to jell-o.

That's not to say that a hit-to-the-heald penalty will eliminate concussions; a brain bruise can still happen when any sort of vicious whiplash occurs. Still, getting rid of direct contact to the head should reduce a fair percentage of head-related injuries, and fewer injuries is good for any sports league.

Then there's the debate about how players should just keep their head up and be aware of their surroundings. It's true, players are responsible to be aware of what's going on. However, I don't see the correlation between one guy looking at the puck or down the ice (like Tomas Kaberle) and another guy drilling the bejesus out of him. It comes down to respect. If you want to hit a guy who's not looking, hit him clean, knock the wind out of him, and punish him. There's no inherent connection between that and clocking someone on the head.

The other argument is that some guys are shorter than others, so that Zdeno Chara could hit Marty St. Louis in the head without even trying. Look, it's never going to be an exact science, but that doesn't change high-sticking rules, right? Clipping rules don't discriminate by height or length of leg. It's a combination of awareness and respect. Sometimes things will cross the line by accident, and that's just part of the game.

Ultimately, the league and the PA should come to an agreement about hits to the head. Concussions have simply ended the careers -- or damaged the careers of too many players of all skill levels. One has to wonder how Eric Lindros's career might have turned out if he never got his bell rung so many times.

Read more!

Minor penalty: 2 minutes for swearing

Bryan Murray doesn't like it when Sidney Crosby swears close to network microphones:

“He’s one of those young people, and rightly so, that the league is really promoting as the example of the new NHL,” said Murray. “When he turns, and I’m sure he’s on camera quite often, using the language he does, I don’t think that’s something he should do. That’s all.”

So, Bryan, you probably don't have the Center Ice package, right? Because if you did, you'd probably have caught at least a few Phoenix Coyotes games. I've documented just how Wayne Gretzky does his best Mr. Furious imitation on this blog before, and if you watch the Yotes broadcast, Wayne likes to drop his own f-bombs quite a bit behind the bench.

Yes, this is the same Saint Gretzky who was a Saturday morning cartoon character and still the most recognized hockey guy anywhere. He ain't happy when things don't go the Coyotes way (which is pretty fuc...I mean, pretty freakin' often) and that means there's a LOT of profanity coming out his mouth. It's Great profanity, but profanity nonetheless. Sure you can't always hear it, but you don't need to be a CIA operative to read his lips, and the occassional microphone pass catches it too. It's actually really entertaining.

Brian Burke, who's admittedly not in the media spotlight like Sidney Crosby is, had this really funny semi-related quote in his trade deadline journal:

I talk to Florida assistant GM Randy Sexton about Todd Bertuzzi, and he tells me "the guy we like is Perry." I offer him profanity. If you are offended by profanity, it's difficult to make a trade in the NHL.

So the lesson we have learned from Bryan Murray's blurb is that Sidney Crosby shouldn't curse like every other pro athlete on the planet (and pretty much 95% of the world's population) AND that Bryan Murray's aversion to swearing may preclude any deals with Anaheim. You learn something every f@#@ing day now, don't you?

Read more!

Don't count the Avs out yet

Long dead and buried, there's a tiny, tiny glimmer of hope for Colorado Avalanche fans. Currently, the Avs are six points behind the Flames with one game at hand (tonight against the Sharks). In addition, the Avs have two head-to-head games with Calgary. Let's take a look at their upcoming schedules:

Calgary's Schedule
Mar 20 vs Detroit
Mar 22 vs Nashville
Mar 25 at Chicago
Mar 27 at Minnesota
Mar 29 at Minnesota
Mar 31 at Vancouver
Apr 3 vs Colorado
Apr 5 at San Jose
Apr 7 vs Edmonton
Apr 8 at Colorado

Some things to consider:

• Calgary's pretty awful on the road and 2/3 of their remaining games are on the road.
• There's a gimme game against the Blackhawks, but the rest of the schedule's pretty tough. Even Edmonton, who's been awful since the trade deadline, gets geared up for the Battle of Alberta
  

Colorado's Schedule
Mar 18 vs San Jose
Mar 21 at Edmonton
Mar 23 at Edmonton
Mar 25 at Vancouver
Mar 27 vs Vancouver
Mar 29 at Phoenix
Mar 31 vs Minnesota
Apr 3 at Calgary
Apr 5 at Vancouver
Apr 7 vs Nashville
Apr 8 vs Calgary

Some things to consider:

• Games against Edmonton aren't blood feuds, so the Avs should have a slightly easier time with the Oilers. Throw in another gimme game against Phoenix.
• Three games against Vancouver will be difficult, including a home-and-home

Looking at this, if the Avs play well and the Flames stumble on the road, everything could come down to the April 3rd and April 8th games. The Avs have to strike first with at least a point tonight against the Sharks (notice I didn't say win -- that's my Sharks bias coming through).

Read more!

Which Sith Lord is Gary Bettman?

Caution: This post contains heavy levels of nerd discussion. Reader discretion is advised.

Indulge my nerd sensibilities here for just a second, but there's an increasing fan movement to get Gary Bettman booted out of his commissioner's chair. There's FireBettman.com, there's online petitions, and even mainstream media articles are giving Bettman a hard time.

Bettman himself has said that he's not an all-powerful overlord; at the State of the Game address at the All-Star Game, Bettman stated, "And sometimes people lose sight of the fact that while some of you think I throw lightning bolts, the fact is I do report to a Board."

Is that true? Is he merely just a pawn of the Board of Governors? Or does exert a ton of control, just to hide it behind a politically correct statement. So I propose to you, dear reader, what is the deal behind Gary Bettman? Is he the all-powerful evil Sith Lord or is he the manipulated Sith Apprentice? Is he Palpatine or Anakin Skywalker?

In more normal terms, it comes down to whether or not Bettman is the manipulator or being manipulated. Ok fellow nerds, time to turn on your Star Wars encyclopedia for this.

Scenario 1: Gary Bettman as Palpatine
Senator Palpatine rose from being a mere senator from the Naboo system to claiming power, sweeping out a tired and weary regime with the promise of peace and prosperity. Manipulating the senate, Palpatine created a war to divide his Jedi enemies, extended his own political power, and eventually framed the Jedi, splintering the order and cementing his role as Emperor of the Galaxy.

Gary Bettman rose from being a mere executive from the NBA to claiming power as NHL commissioner, sweeping out a tired and weary regime with the promise of expansion and television money. Manipulating the Board of Governors, Bettman created a lockout to divide his NHLPA enemies, extended his own political power, and eventually framed the NHLPA as the bad guys in the public eye, splintering the PA and canning Bob Goodenow and cementing his role as Emperor of the NHL.

Scenario 2: Gary Bettman as Anakin Skywalker
Anakin Skywalker was brought to the Jedi Council as The Chosen One -- the one who would bring balance to the force. Unfortunately, Anakin didn't always know the ways of the Jedi properly and there would often be embarrassing complications. As a conflict with a separatist group becomes an all-out war, Anakin becomes a destructive pawn of the Sith. While he is a henchman and does their bidding in an effort to crush the separatists, and ultimately, the Old Republic, Anakin is merely manipulated by higher powers. The true face of evil is an ancient power controlling everything from behind the scenes to create a new world order.

Gary Bettman was brought to the NHL as The Chosen One -- the one who would bring American success to the game. Unfortunately, Bettman didn't always understand hockey properly and there would often be embarrassing complications. As a conflict with the NHLPA became a season-killing lockout, Bettman becomes a destructive pawn of the Board of Governors. While he is a henchman and does their public bidding to crush the NHLPA, and ultimately, the Old NHL, Bettman is merely manipulated by higher powers. The true face of evil are ancient powers (Bill Wirtz, Jeremy Jacobs, etc.) controlling everything from behind the scenes to create a new profitable world.

So, is Bettman the true face of evil seeking power or is he just a puppet for the Board of Governors and their quest for profit? Tell us what you think in the poll below:

Which Sith Lord is Gary Bettman?
	Palpatine -- he's pure evil, MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
	Anakin Skywalker -- he's just a manipulated pawn. NOOOOOOOOO!
	Wow, what a bunch of nerds!
pollcode.com free polls

Read more!

Blog is back up

After a lovely visit from a hacker, my blog is now back up. Thanks to Blogger, all of the files were reconstructed with the touch of a button.

The rest of the site...well, my host has to restore those. So while I can blog, my writing business takes a standstill for a day or so. Which is fine cause, you know, the whole paying bills thing is overrated anyways.

Thanks hackers. May karma Bertuzzi you into a Chris Simon crosscheck some day.

Read more!

Chris Simon finally puts the NHL on US TV

Wow. Just wow. You know, I think Chris Simon must really, really hate Gary Bettman. Simon must really want to make Bettman look stupid and helpless. Why else would he go bonkers and do a two-handed chop worthy of Braveheart on the three-year anniversary of the Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore incident?

It wasn't like the anniversary was going by quietly, either. Several prominent Canadian writers had pieces on Steve Moore's current condition, including the Toronto Star's Damian Cox -- who also contributes to ESPN. That incident has not really disappeared from America's view of hockey; instead, the average moron who doesn't know two things about Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin knows that 1) You can get away with insane amounts of violence in the NHL 2) The league shut down for a whole year and 3) Games are broadcast on the Ted Nugent hunting channel.

Chris Simon, why the hell would you choose that very moment to lose your cool? And why the hell would you lose your cool in that way? A two-handed chop to the head? I mean, that makes Marty McSorley's stickwork on Donald Brashear look like a lovetap in comparison.

So, no one across the US really saw Sidney Crosby's 99th point last night or the Florida Panthers continuing their hot streak. No, NHL highlights led with Simon trying to decapitate Ryan Hollweg. Way to be, guys. No wonder the league is looking for a new PR person.

Look, people will say Hollweg skated off on his own power. It doesn't matter. Don't look at the result, look at the incident. If someone breaks into my house and only steals my crappy laptop instead of my good laptop, it doesn't mean that the crime wasn't commited.

If the league wants to spin this into a positive -- and Gary Bettman is a master at trying to spin poop into gold -- they should take the opportunity to set a precedant with Simon. While there's been so much talk about Chris Drury and Tomas Kaberle getting injured with hits to the head, this incident is leaps and bounds beyond a late hit. This is a combination of things -- a hit to the head and the use of the stick as a weapon. GMs, you want to address hits to the head? Now's the time in the most extreme fashion possible. Let it be a watershed moment where the league can say, "Look, this kind of stuff absolutely will not accepted in any degree."

Let me make one thing clear. I'm not comparing this to Drury or Kaberle. However, with hits to the head being such a hot topic, I believe this incident provides a forum to confront the whole thing head on -- and that's a good thing.

How does this compare to Bertuzzi? Both were vicious hits to the head. Bertuzzi's was a blindside punch to the back of the noggin. Simon's involved using a weapon to the jaw. Bertuzzi's however, was premeditated (fans who argue this can simply refer to the video where Bertuzzi chases Moore down the ice) whereas Simon was acting out of in-the-moment emotion.

In terms of the actual attack, you could argue one was worse than the other, but in my opinion, Simon's was worse simply because of the fact that the stick was used like a baseball bat to the head in a check-swing motion. Still, that's a judgment call, but I don't think that it's out of the realm of reason to at least put the two on par with each other in terms of intent to injure. From a league perspective, however, this is worse. Back in 2004, sure, the lockout was looming but at least the NHL was still on a known network and hadn't imploded itself yet. Right now, the product is good but the exposure is not and now's simply not the time for this kind of crap to happen.

With that in mind, if I was Colin Campbell, I'd suspend Simon for the rest of the season, don't let him play the playoffs, take him out of a good chunk of next season too. While the premeditated nature of Bertuzzi's attack makes it worse, Simon chose the wrong time to do this and the NHL has to prove that they're serious about doing something about it. This will make Simon the fall guy, and yeah, maybe that's not totally right, but it depends on what's your agenda: make a strong statement now or giving it something similar to, say, Dale Hunter's 21 games (the Islanders have 15 games left). I'm on the side of making a stronger statement now, Don Cherry's opinion be damned. The NHL doesn't need this and Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell must do something to make a statement to show that losing control to this level will absolutely not be tolerated.

Read more!

Will JR talk retirement tonight?

We all know that Jeremy Roenick loves the spotlight to shoot his mouth off. Well, for some strange reason, he's booked tonight on CBS' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Check out the guest list:

Set those Tivos or brew some coffee. We should start a pool -- what will JR talk about?

A: Announce his retirement
B: Rip the NHL for, well, pretty much anything
C: Rip Wayne Gretzky for not playing him
D: Beg ESPN for a job
E: Beg Versus for a job

It's just too bad that the other guest is PAUL Morrissey, not Stephen Patrick Morrissey. Having Mozzer with JR on one show would be like the greatest piece of late night entertainment in the history of time.

Read more!

Trade Deadline: The Movie

Last week, USA Today had an excellent piece where they printed bits and pieces of Brian Burke's trade deadline journal. The journal covered the two weeks prior to the trade deadline and revealed Burke's interest in Peter Forsberg, Todd Bertuzzi, and other big names. It also had this awesome quote from Burke:

I talk to Florida assistant GM Randy Sexton about Todd Bertuzzi, and he tells me "the guy we like is Perry." I offer him profanity.

Burke's journal revealed a lot more about trade deadline negotiations than fans are usually allowed to know. Another little interesting nugget came in a radio interview with Sharks coach Ron Wilson. Apparently, TSN was already interviewing Bill Guerin before the deal actually finished. GM Doug Wilson came to Ron's office and asked him if he wanted Bill Guerin to which Ron replied that TSN already said that they had him.

These insider stories are just the tip of the interesting world of NHL trade deadline mania. So for my newest marketing idea for the league, I propose Trade Deadline: The Movie. Here's the idea -- for the two weeks prior to the trade deadline to a day or two after the deadline, send camera crews to cover six teams: two contenders, two teams competing for 8th, and two teams that are sellers. An example for this season would be Buffalo and San Jose (contenders), the Islanders and the Penguins (8th place), and Phoenix and Florida (sellers).

The idea is to give camera crews an all-access pass to document the different ways that teams, coaches, GMs, players, and fans react to the frenzy that is the trade deadline. Show how the contending teams react to big moves and try to make counter moves; show how the borderline teams anguish between buying and selling; show how the sellers try to hold an auction for the highest bidder.

I'd love to see a camera crew follow around a big name player as he prepares for his inevitable fate as a rent-a-player. What are his thoughts and feelings, how does he prepare his family, and how does he say goodbye to his teammates? For the coach, I'd love to see the post-trade reaction -- how does his strategy immediately change and how does he break the news to the team.

I say this is a marketing idea because I think all sports fans, not just hockey fans, would find this interesting. Trade deadlines in sports all have different degrees of activity depending on their time of season, salary cap, etc., but I think it wouldn't be a hard sell to the casual sports fans to let them in on the secrets of high-stakes trade negotiations.

Once the footage is all compiled, I think you can edit it into a two-hour special. To promote it, show 2-3 minute clips of interesting moments (such as a censored version of Brian Burke's spout of profanity) every day of the week on highlight programs leading up to the premier, and really hype the hell out of the thing as "trade deadline secrets you never thought you could know. " Considering how quotable most GMs usually are when you get them away from the standard PR fodor, you have to think you'd have more than your share of memorable quotes and snarky quips for two hours of entertainment. If you could get one highly memorable moment in each clip, you could promote the league, promote the players involved, and the teams involved.

I propose premiering Trade Deadline: The Movie the day before the Stanley Cup playoffs start. The idea is to have an event that could grab the non-hockey fan with a really interesting concept, then plug the hell out of the playoffs during the broadcasts and hope that some of the intrigue and personalities could have piqued their interest.

The NHL has shown a little bit of creativity with their new ad campaigns, and they have shown a new willingness to let cameras in places that were previously off limits. If Brian Burke can write a journal for USA Today, why not take it one step further and document the whole thing on film?

Read more!