Comments on an NHL related article on ESPN's web site
I was poking around some sports related sites and came across this article by ESPN NHL anchor John Buccigross. The article, entitled 'State of Hockey isn't Bettman's fault' can be found here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=2057114
So as I'm watching repeats of Drag Racing I'd thought I'd begin writing my proverbial 'blog book'.
I'm a passionate hockey fan who is deeply concerned about not only the state of Hockey in the United States but the state of the NHL.
I'm not a reporter and I'm not 'connected' to anyone in the NHL or Hockey in General but I am an analyst of everything I see, hear, or read. One of my great talents is that I draw in all sorts of information that is available to me and give my opinion of certain topics. Unfortunately, some of the information that is available to the media or the NHL isn't always available to the general public so keep in mind what I'm working with.
Frankly, I'm sure that there's alot of what's going on during the CBA that will never be available to the public. I personally don't have an opinion on who's right and who's wrong in the CBA negotiations. I know at first I did but now I don't. It's not that I'm keeping my mouth shut about the CBA it's that I just don't have enough facts to make a comment either way. I will say this, the way things are going, the NHL won't be able to be successful in the future and it needs to be fixed NOW!.
In response to the question that Mr. Buccigross asks in his article:
"Should Bettman Remain as commissoner, yes or no?"
Look, it's not my place to say wether or not he should go or not. As stated before, I don't know what goes on behind the scenes so I can't fully comment on wether or not he should stay as commissoner or not or gage his performance based on some rating scale. I will however, state my opinion on what I have seen and the information I've been able to gather from various sources.
Let's start with Mr. Buccigross's 'stereotypes' of Mr. Bettman:
1) He's an NBA Guy.
He was an NBA guy who was hired away from the NBA to put an NBA style salary cap into the NHL after the NHL couldn't hire away David Stern and the #2 NBA man at the time. (Stan Fischler's Book about the Previous CBA)
3) He de-emphasized fighting and alinated the hard core fan.
Let me ask you all this. If Wayne Gretzky were in his prime in today's NHL (if there was a season), do you honestly think that he would be scoring as many (or more goals and assists) in today's NHL as he did when he played with the Oilers? No, he get pounded, trapped, and basically slowed down.
Come on, let's be honest about this. A lack of production would more than likely happen in today's NHL the way the current set of rules are.
I don't beleive for a second that there could be any way Gretzky could have been as successful now, against the players and the teams today, than during his actual playing career. Back then, he had players protecting him and the rules in the NHL allowed the players to police themselves on the ice. The players today are bigger, stronger, and faster (insert the 'Six Million Dollar Man' theme here).
Now add to the mix, the 'de-emphasizing' of fighting in the game and the other related rule changes during Bettman's tenure.
So basically, the NHL took the 'policing' of the game by the players out of the mix. Fine. I don't have any problem with that. The NHL Brass is now in charge of policing the players and teams.
**Disclaimer**
Now, I will say that I'm a Vancouver Canucks fan and I am biased towards them as well. Most people will write off what I have to say next as being too pro-Vancouver and any other related comment. I could give a rat's ass what they have to say. With the examples I'm about to give I simply can't think of any other example to use excpet for what I saw.
During the last full Regular Season, St. Louis Blues player Doug Weight, during a game in St. Louis cross checked Vancouver Canucks player Henrik Sedin in the face with his hockey stick (he basically blind sided Sedin). This cost Weight four games and 180K (US) in wages.
Here's a link to the Story about Weight's Suspension:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1656656
Ok, now think for a second what would happen if something like that happend in the old days of the NHL? Do you think that the players would just sit and do nothing? Furthermore, what would have happened if the NHL didn't fine Weight (in Today's NHL)? There would have been a throwdown in GM Place the next time St. Louis came to Vancouver. But, the NHL stepped in, suspended Weight, case closed.
Now could you argue that the Moore/Bertuzzi incident could have been avoided if Moore had been suspended with his hit on Naslund in Denver? If memory serves, Naslund was out for quite some time with a concussion and, after they were eliminated by the Flames in the playoffs, it was made public that he did get a body injury as a result of Moore's hit in Denver.
4) He expanded too much and too fast.
I agree with Mr. Buccigross in the sense that it is indeed too complex of a question to tackle.
However, you can't deny that the state of the NHL today is partially a result of the quick expansion of teams. A quick expansion of teams in the sense that with said rapid expansion, there was little to any effort to market the game. Nothing personal, but is an NHL commercial with Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan the way you want to sell the NHL to the masses?
More on this in my next post.
posted by Dolemite da Wizard @ 10:14 PM
