As August nears end, some dominoes stand to fall in rapid order as September and NHL training camps approach, leading to a release from the August hockey hot stove doldrums. A brief summary…
Mats Sundin – My colleague The Hac has already bitch-slapped this overrated, egotistical attention whore in a post; regardless, however this clown decides to proceed will affect the decision-making of a number of teams (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, NYR) as they fill out their rosters in the following weeks. Sundin seems unlikely to return to his former employer the Maple Leafs, much like teammate…
Bryan McCabe – The rumoured Florida trade (for Mike Van Ryn) makes sense for both teams, as it’s clear the Maple Leafs want to blow out their locker room while clearing cap space and McCabe needs a fresh start and still has value. However, even with this trade Florida is still hurting up front, which brings us to the…
Tampa Bay Lighting – With a massive glut of forwards and a questionable blueline, one would suspect they will be moving some bodies in the hopes of better balancing their roster. A deal with the d-man rich Panthers is a possibility, provided they can get over their divisional rivalry. This also might explain the Lightning’s rumoured interest in…
Andrej Meszaros – Ottawa’s lone holdout also represents the only decent puck-mover on their backend. Given the Sens’ lack of roster depth and questionable goaltending, I have a feeling this season will be disappointing for Senator fans. They do have options if Mezaros leaves the capital city, including…
Mathieu Schneider – The veteran offensive defenseman is currently under contract to the Worst Franchise Name Ever, a team roughly $3 million dollars over the salary cap, and rumoured to be returning flaky veteran Teemu Selanne for another go. Schneider would be readily available for a low trade cost, with rumoured interested parties including the…
Los Angeles Kings – With a gazillion dollars in cap space and the need to reach the salary cap floor, the Kings could use a talented veteran like Schneider to help nurture their talented blueline core. Of course, they could also use some help between the pipes, which finally leads us to…
Nikolai Khabibulin and the Chicago Blackhawks – Over the cap and with roughly $12 million tied up in their goaltending, vaunted paycheque player Khabibulin and his $7 million salary remains the most likely candidate to get bounced out of Chicago, whether via trade or waivers.
So, let’s see which domino falls first in the next week, and I suspect we’ll see a Verne Troyer sized flurry of activity as NHL clubs figure out who they want to go to war with. Should be interesting, and let’s hope it makes up for an unconscionably dull August.
JB
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Gary Bettman: Self-Deluded Idiot or Misunderstood Genius?
The long-standing Commissioner of the NHL has had an interesting run the last few years. I could discuss the absurdity of an entire season missed due to a lockout in an apparently futile attempt at keeping player salaries under control (Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, and Brian Campbell for nearly $50 million a piece? Ron Hainsey for $22.5 million? Really?), but the past summers have been strange in many ways. Time for a little reflection.
1) The continued clusterfuck in Nashville
Recent NHL news indicates that the tentative deal transferring ownership from Predators owner Craig Leopold to a local group of businessmen has reached some troubled waters, including the fact that the NHL neglected to do due diligence in their investigation of an owner that seems to be a tad bit of a criminal. What a shocking development. The truth is, this lingering issue regarding the sale of the Nashville Predators has become such a bullshit gumbo that it was inevitable things wouldn’t work out with the most recent group of fools eager to sink their cash into the blackhole-like money pit known as the Nashville Predators. The first issue: Hockey doesn’t fly in Nashville. 10 years later, and the Nashville market still doesn’t give a shit. The team has lost giant sums of cash every year, is under supported by the local business community, and in a league dominated by gate revenues, doesn’t spin the turnstiles nearly enough to get out of the red. The second issue: League interference (by league I mean Gary Bettman) in the sale. When billionaire Jim Balsillie made a giant offer to purchase the Preds, while making no bones about his desire to move the team to Southern Ontario, Bettman freaked, intervened in the sale, and urged Craig Leopold to reject the offer in favour of a local offer, the one that just had a lit stick of dynamite shoved up it’s ass, worth approximately $60 million less. Thanks Gary! It’s bad enough the team loses money every year, but then the Commissioner asks team ownership to bite the bullet and take a lesser bid. Can anyone explain how this makes any sense?
2) The NHL’s stubborn insistence on keeping teams in poor markets and devaluing the economic viability of the league as a whole
Outside of Predator-gate, other failing markets include Phoenix, Atlanta, Florida (Miami), and Tampa Bay. Notice any similarities here? Formerly thriving markets that have gone the way of the Atlanta Flames include Chicago, Boston, and Long Island, where incompetent ownership and poor on-ice performance have neutered the fan base (although Chicago and Boston have shown signs of life as of late, such as the Blackhawks embracing the novel concept of televising their product). To make matters worse, Tampa ownership, relatively fresh off a recent Stanley Cup victory, has decided to bail, selling the franchise to an ownership group that appears determined to collect forwards and refuses to shore up the areas (goaltending, defence) that have plagued the success of the on-ice product. Losing a lot of 5-4 games will sure help stabilize things. At least Doug McLean wasn’t part of the ownership group as initially rumoured; that guy crippled Columbus for almost 10 years but somehow avoided unemployment, thus earning the nickname (from me anyways) of Doug “Genital Herpes” Mclean, as he had the staying power of, well, genital herpes.
I wonder why bids such as those from Jim Balsillie are sabotaged and derided. Was he arrogant and obnoxious in his approach? Yes. Does he provide the financial acumen, savvy, and competitive edge to own a successful franchise? Absolutely. Moving a team to Southern Ontario makes so much sense that it just won’t happen in a league where the NHL stubbornly insists on keeping teams in markets where they lose enormous sums of cash every year. Having strong teams in strong markets is what makes a professional sports league successful and profitable as a whole. Look at the NFL for evidence.
3) Rumours of NHL interest in expansion
Ugh. I’ll just echo the choir of common sense expressed from around the hockey world. Don’t expand. Move a team to a new market instead. The talent pool cannot support 32 teams. I live in a city where I have to watch teams like the Wild and the Canucks all the time. Don’t encourage this style of play by diluting the talent pool even further. Please.
4) NHL games in Europe
Given that fan interest and widespread media coverage in the United States ranks below that of NASCAR, you might think the NHL might be more interested in shoring up their domestic market. Well, you might think that, but apparently you would be way offside. Instead, 2 puff games were played in London last year, with 2 more planned for Prague this year. Well done! “Exposing” the game to overseas markets might seem like a swell idea, but to do so when roughly a third of your franchises have a hard time giving tickets away seems more than a little self-indulgent to me. Put in perspective though, this makes perfect sense, as when Gary Bettman became the commissioner the NHL threatened the NBA in popularity and had a decent piece of the North American sports pie. Now, the NHL is a David Letterman punchline and would have a hard time selling liquor and drugs to Amy Winehouse. Bravo NHL!
In Conclusion:
Well, I guess you might see where I sit on the Idiot/Genius debate. It shocks me that Gary Bettman keeps his job after years of failure and backwards steps. He must hang out with Doug McLean and discuss office politic strategies on justifying an unequivocally disgraceful job performance. The NHL will continue to sputter as long as this clown reigns supreme, stubbornly forcing the league into the Triple A status of professional North American sports leagues. The steps to building a stronger, more profitable NHL seems obvious:
1) Find viable hockey markets for franchises, and abandon those markets that are clearly failures. Hint: a decade or more of losing money and flat-lining attendance numbers are pretty good indicators you might want to pull up the anchor.
2) Build independent financially viable franchises. Focus on helping clubs build their local markets and fill their buildings.
3) Promote stars and successful franchises nationally. A return to form for the Original 6 franchises would be helpful here. Get back on ESPN and lose the bogus network that currently broadcasts your games.
4) Fuck overseas games. Get your shit together domestically first.
Those are my thoughts. I might be crazy, but frankly, I don’t think Gary Bettman could organize a shag at a cathouse. Can the league recover? Yes. Is new leadership required? Undoubtedly.
JB
1) The continued clusterfuck in Nashville
Recent NHL news indicates that the tentative deal transferring ownership from Predators owner Craig Leopold to a local group of businessmen has reached some troubled waters, including the fact that the NHL neglected to do due diligence in their investigation of an owner that seems to be a tad bit of a criminal. What a shocking development. The truth is, this lingering issue regarding the sale of the Nashville Predators has become such a bullshit gumbo that it was inevitable things wouldn’t work out with the most recent group of fools eager to sink their cash into the blackhole-like money pit known as the Nashville Predators. The first issue: Hockey doesn’t fly in Nashville. 10 years later, and the Nashville market still doesn’t give a shit. The team has lost giant sums of cash every year, is under supported by the local business community, and in a league dominated by gate revenues, doesn’t spin the turnstiles nearly enough to get out of the red. The second issue: League interference (by league I mean Gary Bettman) in the sale. When billionaire Jim Balsillie made a giant offer to purchase the Preds, while making no bones about his desire to move the team to Southern Ontario, Bettman freaked, intervened in the sale, and urged Craig Leopold to reject the offer in favour of a local offer, the one that just had a lit stick of dynamite shoved up it’s ass, worth approximately $60 million less. Thanks Gary! It’s bad enough the team loses money every year, but then the Commissioner asks team ownership to bite the bullet and take a lesser bid. Can anyone explain how this makes any sense?
2) The NHL’s stubborn insistence on keeping teams in poor markets and devaluing the economic viability of the league as a whole
Outside of Predator-gate, other failing markets include Phoenix, Atlanta, Florida (Miami), and Tampa Bay. Notice any similarities here? Formerly thriving markets that have gone the way of the Atlanta Flames include Chicago, Boston, and Long Island, where incompetent ownership and poor on-ice performance have neutered the fan base (although Chicago and Boston have shown signs of life as of late, such as the Blackhawks embracing the novel concept of televising their product). To make matters worse, Tampa ownership, relatively fresh off a recent Stanley Cup victory, has decided to bail, selling the franchise to an ownership group that appears determined to collect forwards and refuses to shore up the areas (goaltending, defence) that have plagued the success of the on-ice product. Losing a lot of 5-4 games will sure help stabilize things. At least Doug McLean wasn’t part of the ownership group as initially rumoured; that guy crippled Columbus for almost 10 years but somehow avoided unemployment, thus earning the nickname (from me anyways) of Doug “Genital Herpes” Mclean, as he had the staying power of, well, genital herpes.
I wonder why bids such as those from Jim Balsillie are sabotaged and derided. Was he arrogant and obnoxious in his approach? Yes. Does he provide the financial acumen, savvy, and competitive edge to own a successful franchise? Absolutely. Moving a team to Southern Ontario makes so much sense that it just won’t happen in a league where the NHL stubbornly insists on keeping teams in markets where they lose enormous sums of cash every year. Having strong teams in strong markets is what makes a professional sports league successful and profitable as a whole. Look at the NFL for evidence.
3) Rumours of NHL interest in expansion
Ugh. I’ll just echo the choir of common sense expressed from around the hockey world. Don’t expand. Move a team to a new market instead. The talent pool cannot support 32 teams. I live in a city where I have to watch teams like the Wild and the Canucks all the time. Don’t encourage this style of play by diluting the talent pool even further. Please.
4) NHL games in Europe
Given that fan interest and widespread media coverage in the United States ranks below that of NASCAR, you might think the NHL might be more interested in shoring up their domestic market. Well, you might think that, but apparently you would be way offside. Instead, 2 puff games were played in London last year, with 2 more planned for Prague this year. Well done! “Exposing” the game to overseas markets might seem like a swell idea, but to do so when roughly a third of your franchises have a hard time giving tickets away seems more than a little self-indulgent to me. Put in perspective though, this makes perfect sense, as when Gary Bettman became the commissioner the NHL threatened the NBA in popularity and had a decent piece of the North American sports pie. Now, the NHL is a David Letterman punchline and would have a hard time selling liquor and drugs to Amy Winehouse. Bravo NHL!
In Conclusion:
Well, I guess you might see where I sit on the Idiot/Genius debate. It shocks me that Gary Bettman keeps his job after years of failure and backwards steps. He must hang out with Doug McLean and discuss office politic strategies on justifying an unequivocally disgraceful job performance. The NHL will continue to sputter as long as this clown reigns supreme, stubbornly forcing the league into the Triple A status of professional North American sports leagues. The steps to building a stronger, more profitable NHL seems obvious:
1) Find viable hockey markets for franchises, and abandon those markets that are clearly failures. Hint: a decade or more of losing money and flat-lining attendance numbers are pretty good indicators you might want to pull up the anchor.
2) Build independent financially viable franchises. Focus on helping clubs build their local markets and fill their buildings.
3) Promote stars and successful franchises nationally. A return to form for the Original 6 franchises would be helpful here. Get back on ESPN and lose the bogus network that currently broadcasts your games.
4) Fuck overseas games. Get your shit together domestically first.
Those are my thoughts. I might be crazy, but frankly, I don’t think Gary Bettman could organize a shag at a cathouse. Can the league recover? Yes. Is new leadership required? Undoubtedly.
JB
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sundin and McCabe
First off, let me say that Mats Sundin has had a great career statistically, and he will probably go to the Hall of Fame as a Leaf. But let me also say, he and McCabe are a pair of complete assholes that clearly don’t give a shit about Leaf fans.
It started last year at the trade deadline when neither of them would waive their NTC so the Leafs could set the foundation for the future. That was equivalent to giving Leaf fans the middle finger. Fast forward to this summer, and we have Mats being non-committal about even playing, and McCabe for all intents and purposes trying to trade himself.
Now if Sundin doesn’t play wouldn’t it have been better if he’d accepted a trade to a contender (probably the Wings). It would have been great for Sundin as he’d have won a cup, and it would have be better for the organization because they would have picks or prospects. Last but not least the fans would be respectful towards Sundin for doing the right thing, and excited he’d won a greatly deserved cup. As it sits he probably will play, but not for the Leafs; he won’t win a cup, and the Leaf fans will be the only ones feeling screwed, as they will have no superstar to lead their team, and no prospects for the future…ouch!
McCabe on the other hand is basically the definition of overpaid underachiever. There is a picture of him in the dictionary right beside the picture of Frank Thomas in a Jays uniform. If the fact that he’s mailed it in for two year wasn’t bad enough, he too wouldn’t accept a trade at the deadline. Compounding this he is now dictating to Fletcher where he’ll go, and if the rumors are true we’ll all find out in about a week. Of course he’ll add insult to injury when he picks up his 2mil door prize for being mediocre. Now, the real problem here is that at the deadline Fletcher could have traded McCabe for more, because every GM in the league now knows that the Leafs want him gone, not to mention the fact he short-listed some teams thereby limiting the competitive trade environment further pushing down his value. If I were a Leafs fan I’d be livid; I’m not so this is kind of funny, but if I were my feelings toward him would rank right up there with having an oral exam with a jack hammer.
It is ironic that two players that were thought to be corner stones of the Leafs franchise are ultimately going to be responsible for leaving the team on a shaky foundation. The only silver lining is that the Leafs are positioned to execute the Pens rebuilding model to a T, and pick 1st overall picks in a couple years to come. So Leaf fans prepare for a couple seasons of brutal hockey, which won’t he a huge stretch from the shit you faced last year. Perhaps look at taking in more AHL games…..the team might be better.
Give us your thoughts,
The Hac
It started last year at the trade deadline when neither of them would waive their NTC so the Leafs could set the foundation for the future. That was equivalent to giving Leaf fans the middle finger. Fast forward to this summer, and we have Mats being non-committal about even playing, and McCabe for all intents and purposes trying to trade himself.
Now if Sundin doesn’t play wouldn’t it have been better if he’d accepted a trade to a contender (probably the Wings). It would have been great for Sundin as he’d have won a cup, and it would have be better for the organization because they would have picks or prospects. Last but not least the fans would be respectful towards Sundin for doing the right thing, and excited he’d won a greatly deserved cup. As it sits he probably will play, but not for the Leafs; he won’t win a cup, and the Leaf fans will be the only ones feeling screwed, as they will have no superstar to lead their team, and no prospects for the future…ouch!
McCabe on the other hand is basically the definition of overpaid underachiever. There is a picture of him in the dictionary right beside the picture of Frank Thomas in a Jays uniform. If the fact that he’s mailed it in for two year wasn’t bad enough, he too wouldn’t accept a trade at the deadline. Compounding this he is now dictating to Fletcher where he’ll go, and if the rumors are true we’ll all find out in about a week. Of course he’ll add insult to injury when he picks up his 2mil door prize for being mediocre. Now, the real problem here is that at the deadline Fletcher could have traded McCabe for more, because every GM in the league now knows that the Leafs want him gone, not to mention the fact he short-listed some teams thereby limiting the competitive trade environment further pushing down his value. If I were a Leafs fan I’d be livid; I’m not so this is kind of funny, but if I were my feelings toward him would rank right up there with having an oral exam with a jack hammer.
It is ironic that two players that were thought to be corner stones of the Leafs franchise are ultimately going to be responsible for leaving the team on a shaky foundation. The only silver lining is that the Leafs are positioned to execute the Pens rebuilding model to a T, and pick 1st overall picks in a couple years to come. So Leaf fans prepare for a couple seasons of brutal hockey, which won’t he a huge stretch from the shit you faced last year. Perhaps look at taking in more AHL games…..the team might be better.
Give us your thoughts,
The Hac
Friday, August 22, 2008
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