Russian to host 1972 rematch?

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, January 25, 2012


MOSCOW -- Russia hopes to hold an exhibition hockey match in Moscow's Red Square to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Summit Series between the Soviet Union and Canada.

The 1972 series, which Canada won 4-3-1, was the first time Soviet and Canadian NHL players faced each other.

The state news agency RIA Novosti quoted sports minister Vitaly Mutko as saying Wednesday invitations have been issued to players for a Feb. 26 match.

The report said Paul Henderson, who scored the winning goals in three of the matches, has already accepted, while team captain Phil Esposito and Wayne Gretzky have also been invited.

A spokesman for Gretzky said they were aware the Russians were trying to put something together.

"But by no means have we been presented with an offer," Darren Blake said in an emailed response.

Andre Brin, the director of communications with Hockey Canada, also said they were aware the event and were looking into the possibility of attending, but nothing had been confirmed.

Also on Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he is inviting NHL officials to Moscow to push for adjusting the league's schedule to allow players to participate in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister's Office denied a report that Stephen Harper and Putin were planning to play in a game to mark the Summit Series anniversary.

Jury divided on dual roles in OHL:
For some teams, one person acting as coach and GM has been great. For others, not so much

By RYAN PYETTE, QMI Agency, Jan 25 2012



LONDON, ONT. - Look at the top of the Ontario Hockey League standings and what do you see?

A whole lot of men juggling the dual portfolio of GM and head coach.

All four division leaders -- Ottawa, London, Brampton and Plymouth -- have coaches who serve as their own bosses.

The top four teams in the Western Conference are that way. Same with the best three in the East.

Coincidence?

Steve Spott, the Kitchener Rangers' man in charge, thinks not.

"You look at the way Ottawa has always done it and the way we did it here with Pete (DeBoer) first and into today," said Spott, into his fourth year at the helm of the Aud-based squad. "When you're GM and coach and you see something that needs to be addressed, you're able to fix it without going through that extra layer.

"You look at the history of our league and that's the way it's worked." There are, as always, some asterisks involved.

The Owen Sound Attack won the OHL title last year with the talented Dale DeGray managing things and under-rated Mark Reeds, now helping the Ottawa Senators over-achieve, working the bench. But it does make a lot of sense the jobs are split up at the Bayshore, in Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury and Erie. It's hard to scout well when you're on a seven-hour bus ride with the team. But there's still little to suggest the one-man kingdom doesn't reign supreme.

Even Windsor, which won two straight Memorial Cup titles with Warren Rychel as GM and Bob Boughner on the bench, doesn't really enforce the two-man advantage. When you own the club, too, the chain of command is even shorter.

"Warren's on the ice with them all the time," Spott said.

If you want to take it further, three of the four teams out of the playoffs right now -- Kingston, Sault Ste. Marie, Erie -- have the two-man system in place. But if you're not top 16 in a 20-team league, you have a mountain of issues that need to be solved.

That's not Spott's concern.

The Rangers, third in the Western Conference, are trying to keep the OHL-leading London Knights in sight.

They are 10 points back but not about to roll over for their rivals.

"The first thing we want to do is make sure we secure home-ice advantage," he said, "and after that, we'll worry about winning the division. But absolutely, that's a goal. We have an outstanding group here. It starts at the back with tremendous goaltending (from John Gibson and Franky Palazzese). We play with a lot of structure." The Rangers didn't make a huge splash at the trade deadline like London, but they still felt like they got better.

"I don't like trading kids," Spott said. "There's no fun in that part of the job. But we were looking for another veteran forward and the Boston Bruins dropped it in our laps by sending us back (overager) Ty Randell. He's a big addition for us.

"We tried to get another forward, but we couldn't. We liked Austin Watson, we made a good offer, but they (Peterborough) went in another direction." Watson went to London.

But the Rangers still have Ryan Murphy, the most dangerous offensive blue-liner in the league and the inspirational Ben Fanelli, whose return from the devastating and much-publicized Mike Liambas hit gave Kitchener a major boost this season.

"It's gone past being a feel-good story," Spott said. "His play gave us the room to trade Julian Melchiori to Oshawa (which freed up the spot for the incoming Randell)."

It's created a belief this team can go deep into the OHL playoffs. The GM and head coach sure thinks so -- even if he's just one guy.

AROUND THE O: It's hard to believe how the Soo Greyhounds have fallen over the past two-and-a- half months. Since their victory in London on Remembrance Day (which featured Knights forward Ryan Rupert's five-game slash on Hounds taunter Nick Cousins), they have lost 21 of 27 games. Front-running London has gone on to win 20 of 26, including pasting the Soo twice on home ice ... The Erie Otters are closing in on securing the first-overall pick in the OHL draft this spring and the name to watch is forward Jared McCann, the Stratford native who now lives in Lambeth and plays minor midget for the London Junior Knights. He's a former Elgin-Middlesex Chief, which is interesting because the OHL Knights' star sniper at the moment is Greg McKegg, another ex-Chief acquired in a blockbuster trade three weeks ago from -- who else -- the Erie Otters.

Ice hockey teens are in a league of their own

Amith Passela, The National, Jan 26, 2012



ABU DHABI // The first two teams have finally faced off in the Under 20 Emirates Hockey League and the wait was worth it for the teenagers in the Junior Dubai Mighty Camels side.

They opened their account in a league that had been scheduled to start in September with a convincing 12-1 victory over the Abu Dhabi Storms, a team in which half the players are Emiratis.

"The wait was worth it because the youngsters are getting to play in a competition that would eventually be producing players for the senior league and country's national team," Anthony Johnson, the coach of the Junior Dubai Mighty Camels, said.

"Many of the players in the Camels' team have been playing in our own league in Dubai for the last three years and a couple of them have graduated to the senior team as well."

The league, which got underway last week, was started on the recommendation of the sport's governing body, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), who stipulate an IIHF-sanctioned country must have an Under 20 league.

While the Storms had a strong Emirati presence in their team there was a large North American influence in the Camels side.

Matti Fagerstrom, the coach of both the Storms and the Abu Dhabi Shaheen, acknowledged the youngsters from North America had a better knowledge and understanding of the game.

"In is our first game but I wasn't expecting such high score defeat," said the Finn. "Of course the Camels were a good team and they had several players from North America where the sport is very popular and well established.

"This is a learning curve for my players and I am confident we will catch up with them as the league progresses. Indeed it has been a long wait for all he player but they are now excited and they can now look forward for something every week.

Fagerstrom's side began training from last September and a majority of the team are new to the sport.

"They now have the opportunity to play competitive matches every week until May and can only get better," he added.

Johnson said his players were eager to play after the long wait to take part in a competition that was first tabled in April, almost at the end of last season.

"I tried to fire them up in the dressing room before the start of the game but they were already fired up," said the Canadian.

"They have been waiting since September for this moment and the mindset was to get on the ice and play their game. It was teamwork with everyone contributing.

"However, it was the Abu Dhabi team that scored first before we ended the first period leading 3-1. I didn't know what to expect from the Storms. I knew they had these Scandinavian coaches and they get two days of training per week, which is more than we do.

"They were fast and well conditioned but they were tactical they were not matching us. Our team had much chemistry in their passing and better understanding. We had the momentum going for us in this game but I would expect the Abu Dhabi team to come back with a different game plan when we meet next time."

The competition has drawn four teams - the Camels, Storms, Shaheen and Al Ain Theebs - who will play in a round robin league with each side playing 18 matches.

Proteau: One-on-one with NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2012-01-25


After a year on the job as executive director of the NHL Players’ Association, Donald Fehr is as calm as he ever was during his 26 years running Major League Baseball’s players union. He’ll need that calm in the months ahead, as the NHL collective bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15 and the focus will turn increasingly to the 63-year-old and his efforts to negotiate with what many believe will be an aggressive group of owners.

The Hockey News spoke to Fehr regarding issues pertinent to a possible lockout, including what appeared to be the first salvo fired, when the NHLPA and league couldn’t agree to ratify proposed realignment.

The Hockey News: In regard to realignment, many have focused on your rejection of the league’s plans, but fewer have focused on the league’s insistence of a hard deadline, which is ultimately what caused your rejection. This isn’t the first instance the league has been aggressive with the PA during the current CBA, is it?

Donald Fehr: The league went into their owners meeting, they came out with a realignment plan, and obviously it required the players’ consent. We got into the details on it, we found out the background and information and there were two significant issues from the players’ standpoint: one was assurances as to what the travel would be, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to get those assurances. The league was not in the position even to give us a drafted schedule, which makes any analysis very difficult.

The second issue was access to the playoffs, where in the proposed seven-team divisions you’d have a permanent advantage in terms of access, because you’d only have to beat three teams to qualify, whereas in the eight team divisions you’d have to beat four. The players looked at it, but we weren’t in a position to consent. Whether the deadline was aggressive or not, I don’t really know. All I can say is that we offered – and if the league wants to, we’d be willing now – to meet with them to discuss these issues and see if a resolution could be found. So far, that’s not something they’ve indicated they’re prepared to do.

THN: Has the PA looked at making a counter-proposal for realignment, something that would address the concerns you have regarding travel and competitive advantage? Or do you sit back and wait for the league to drive the bus on that issue?

DF: When it comes to bargaining, we’ll take a hard look at playoffs and schedules and all that stuff and come up with our own ideas. Whether those will be related to the specific realignment proposals we got last December has yet to be determined.

THN: Is it unusual in your experience with baseball to look at hockey now – from what I understand is a $2.4 billion business prior to the 2004-05 lockout to a more than $3 billion business today, yet the owners still are rumored to be asking for concessions from players?

DF: Let me get into the numbers a little bit. The industry in terms of hockey-related revenue was at right about $2 billion before the lockout and the first year after the lockout. We expect it to be a little over $3 billion this year. I’ve heard rumors, of course, that the owners are going to be asking for significant concessions or major concessions or enormous concessions, and whether that will prove to be true remains to be seen. I’ve been in this business long enough to be satisfied that their positions will become clear when the time comes, and we don’t need to invent imaginary horribles until we get there.

THN: Each previous CBA has been held up as a victory for the owners, a so-called “idiot-proofed” system that can save the owners from themselves. Yet by the end of every CBA, it seems we have only more proof that market conditions – including any one owner’s willingness to throw lots of money around – is what actually sets salary levels. On some level, do you philosophically agree that owners have to take more ownership of their own choices and stop off-loading them on to the backs of players with increasingly rigid salary controls?

DF: There’s a lot of assumptions built into your question, and I don’t want to indicate I’m subscribing or not subscribing to any of them. With that said, let me respond this way: in my prior life (in baseball), we were in a world in which you didn’t have caps and management as a result of that had to manage its business on a team-by-team and an overall basis. There was fairly extensive revenue sharing negotiated with the union which went a long way toward alleviating some of the problems. That worked very, very well in baseball. There’s no doubt the last decade-and-a-half or a little more, baseball is far and away the most stable of the four sports. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. And I think there may be a lot that can be learned from that.

Everybody has responsibilities in an industry like this: if you’re on the players’ side, it’s to perform; if you’re on the management side, it’s to manage the various respects of the industry, either team-by-team or overall. And it goes without saying everybody has to do their job. But that should not suggest I’m indicating there are failures there. We don’t know that yet.

THN: When the NHL is in bad marketplaces losing upwards of tens of millions of dollars each season, that loss has to be reflected somewhere, and with the NHL it comes out of the hockey-related revenue pie and results in smaller paychecks for the players. Yet players essentially have no say in the location (or possible relocation) of teams. Is this something that players are interested in talking about in the next CBA – more of a voice in the business end and a true partnership with the owners?

DF: A so-called true partnership, if that connotes joint managerial control, joint ownership and all of those things, is a pretty tall order and so far as I know has not been adopted in any professional sport. If you take a step back from that and talk about whether you could develop vehicles in which you discuss a wide range of issues both in the abstract to the extent you can predict them, and then when they arise, in an effort to reach agreements, rather than having one side or the other make a decision, is that a good thing to do? I think it’s a good thing to try, yes.

I don’t mean to suggest that would necessarily be the case in every situation or that it would necessarily be successful when tried, but if you can get agreements and buy-in and consensus, I think it sets a good ground to move forward as other situations arise.

THN: All four major sports leagues are managed in labor negotiations by a single firm, Proskauer Rose. Is that correct?

DF: No. I would say that firm has acted as outside counsel at various times for the leagues. But they’re the lawyers, and decisions are made by clients, not by lawyers.

THN: Okay. I ask that because you see where the other sports have been trending toward the deals recently struck by the NFL and NBA, where revenue is split 50/50 by and large, and most other elements are ancillary to the deal being signed than that one main issue. Is that something you pay mind to specifically in terms of “the writing on the wall”, for lack of a better term, in the overall sports picture, do you think hockey is inherently different in the way the financial pie is split up?

DF: Let me give you a number of different responses to that. First of all, there’s a danger in extrapolating from too few data points. In this case, you have three: you have the concessionary bargaining that took place in the NFL and NBA that was accompanied by lockouts and a lot of conflict in both cases, and then you have the successful bargaining in major league baseball, where there was no cap, and no threat of a cap, no strike and no lockout, and no threat of a strike or lockout. So you can extrapolate whatever you want from three data points, but most statisticians will tell you that’s a dangerous thing to do, because you haven’t got enough.

The second thing is, I’ve always believed, and my experience since I’ve gotten to the NHLPA confirms, that the four sports are different. The ownership is different, the nature of the industry is different, the economics of the sports are different, and I think all the (labor) agreements are self-contained. And you should approach bargaining in that fashion. So that’s the way we’re going to do it, and it remains to be seen what positions various people are going to come in with. But I’m not going to pre-judge that.

THN: Another issue that is certain to get public attention is the issue of player safety and the level of its importance to the PA. How would you characterize that at this stage? Obviously, finances will likely be the driving issue, but how do you see the safety issue playing out.

DF: I don’t think there’s a single driving or most important issue. There may be a range of issues that have importance, and how those play out in the bargaining process in terms of what gets the most attention remains to be seen. That said, obviously, player safety issues are of really paramount importance to the players, whether it’s concussions, whether it’s other kinds of injuries we’ve seen, whether it’s the aspects of safety issues that result in disciplinary proceedings, whether it’s equipment, boards of glass, or whether it is rules.

My standpoint, from what I’ve gleaned in talking to players, obviously they’d like to make the game as safe as possible, but they still want it to be a hockey game. If you’re gathering from my comment those two may be a little bit in conflict with one another, I think that’s right. I don’t know anybody who wants to take the physical contact out of the game, and as long as you have it, especially as players get bigger, get stronger and move faster, you can’t avoid injuries altogether.

That said, I would expect the players will continue the internal discussions they’ve been having with each other and to an extent with union staff, about what can be done to take some of the risks out of the game or to minimize them, and I’d expect that to be discussed in bargaining. My hope is, and I think my expectation is, too, that when we get to the point of discussing that with the representatives of the NHL, there’s a common purpose in mind. Hopefully we’ll be able to do some good things.

THN: Equipment has continued to be an issue in regard to player safety, yet we haven’t seen a huge amount of change in some of the hard-shell shoulder and elbow pads. Is that something the league and PA have to push manufacturers harder on to respond more quickly? Or is that out of your hands and left to the business decisions made by equipment companies?

DF: No, I don’t think it’s out of our hands. Certainly, if they act together, the NHL and NHLPA can control the kinds of equipment that will be required, permitted or prohibited. You can’t say ‘do something completely different and have it here by 6 o’clock tomorrow night’ because that would be impossible. But if you factor in enough lead time and development time, I don’t think those are issues.

Player safety is a major issue. It’s a major issue for players for all the obvious reasons, it’s a major issue for owners, because I don’t think owners want players hurt any more than players want to be hurt. Hopefully we’ll figure out a way to make some meaningful strides in this regard.

THN: To follow up – do you as the executive director have to make the case to players and show them the financial correlation on some of these issues?

DF: The answer is it depends on what issue and what player. There are a whole lot of players, especially guys who’ve been around for a while, for whom the relevant considerations are obvious; they’ve lived with them day in and day out for years. There are others who, for one set of reasons or another, haven’t had that experience, or perhaps very young players haven’t had it. It varies by player and by issue.

Having said that, there’s nothing about this stuff that in any fashion is beyond that which you’d expect players to pick up on very readily and easily. Part of my job, and part of the union staff’s job, is to make sure they understand the issues and the relevant considerations. Because players in the end have to make decisions as to what positions they want to take, what agreements they want to make, what kinds of things they don’t want to do. Obviously, making those judgments on an informed basis is what you want.

THN: When you stepped into this role, was a priority for you to shake up a constituency used to having their business affairs taken care of for them and getting them to speak their minds to you? Was there a feeling out process where you had to encourage that voice, and maybe poke them with a stick to let them know you’re there to represent them?

DF: Not really. What there was, I think, was the necessity for me to spend some time introducing myself to players, making sure they understand my background and the limitations of my background. I’ll tell you what I mean by that. In terms of how I view what a union is, it is not something that’s distinct from the players. It is the players. And then there’s union staff. That’s what I am. The union is the players.

Sometimes, especially with a group of players who haven’t been through bargaining before – which is about half the players in the NHL now – you do need to take some time explaining to them how bargaining works, what their role is, the fact that not only are they welcome at negotiating meetings, that they should come to negotiating meetings, that there’s nothing that’s off-limits from them, and so on. But you get an awful lot of help from veteran players in that regard. My job is to make sure players make informed decisions and that there is a very solid consensus on what we should be doing.

THN: In regard to the supplemental discipline process, some have observed that punishments can’t really have the desired effect when a player’s union fights as much for the aggressor or alleged aggressor in any incident as the target of that aggression. Do you sense the players want fines and suspensions in the next CBA to have more teeth in that regard?

DF: You pose some interesting questions. Whenever you have somebody in the States and in Canada, and in any societal and quasi-judicial system which is modeled on the Anglo-American system, you have this notion that before you can be penalized, you have the right to have a hearing, there has to be evidence, somebody has to prove you did something and that the penalty meets the offense in some fashion or another. And that’s true even if everybody in the world thinks you’re guilty. The process matters. And the process in this case is something I think the players may well – we don’t know for sure yet – but may well want to pay serious attention to. And in that regard, everybody’s got a right to be defended, and that’s what the union’s obligation is.

You have to look at it in that regard. You’re defending the process, you’re not defending, per se, the individual or the specific set of circumstances. And I think virtually all players agree, that before somebody is told ‘you can’t play for a long time, and we’re going to take tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars away from you,’ that there ought to be a process in place that everybody thinks is fair – fair meaning, if it happened to me, I would be satisfied with the process. Not ‘I think it’s fair what happened to you’.

THN: What about repeat offenders? In my experience talking to players, they give me the sense the game is fast and things happen at a high rate of speed and you’re not going to rid the game of incidental collisions or borderline hits, but they don’t like repeat offenders – and I think of Daniel Carcillo, who recently had his 10th run-in with an NHL disciplinarian, and yet still wasn’t suspended even 10 percent of the season.

Contrast that with your old sport of baseball, where punishments for steroid abuse can run more than 100 games. Don’t league punishments have to carry more weight to be effective, especially for those repeat offenders who seem to be the biggest focal point of player frustration?

DF: All of those things and a lot of other considerations are what we talk about in the office and with players, and when we get to the point of discussing them with the NHL, it may be appropriate to have some conversations publicly about that. I’m not prepared to do that now.

THN: I’m certainly more skeptical regarding the NHL’s claims than I was in 2004. In terms of the public relations war, is that important to you on some level? It seems like it’s almost unwinnable, given the frustrations fans have and how easy a target players can be.

DF: You always want the media and fans to understand the issues. And in everybody’s idea of a perfect world, you want everybody to agree with you. I’m no different than you are or Gary Bettman is in that regard. And you do what you can to explain the issues, but if you or one of your readers came to me as a lawyer and said ‘I have this problem and I want you to represent me,’ and I said, ‘Great, let’s put out some very incomplete, sketchy notion of what this dispute is about, and then we’ll go take some opinion polls, and then I’ll do whatever the opinion polls tell me to do,’ you’d quickly find another lawyer.

To a large extent, that’s true here. You have to make decisions based on the facts, you have to make decisions based on what the players want to do. And you have to make decisions based on what the players want to do when they’ve made informed decisions. To the extent those decisions can be explained and understood, that’s great and wonderful, and you should try and keep at it. But that doesn’t mean you make a judgment based on what you think the public view is.

THN: I’m interested in sport as a microcosm of society as a whole, and I look at the overall labor movement worldwide as having been on the wane since I was a kid in the 70s. And yet through Occupy Wall Street or other groups, you see the social movements are starting to have a little more teeth to them. Do you think people are more cognizant in general of labor movements and maybe with particular mind to the sports labor movement, how have you seen the attitude toward unions play out?

DF: In North America, essentially what we saw was that in 1981, President Reagan broke the U.S. air traffic controllers in their strike, and that summer, there was another strike – the 50-day baseball strike. I was Marvin Miller’s general counsel at the time. That was sort of the signal that it was okay to go beat up on organized labor, and that began this long trend, which continues in large part today, of essentially saying, ‘I’m having trouble competing, so let’s move to Alabama or Mexico or Taiwan or Bangladesh, whichever’s cheaper at the moment to do this, and we’re going to blame organized labor for what our problems are.

You can’t really blame the workers, because you don’t want to look at them, so you say the union is something different than what the employees are. Which is not right. So you’ve seen that. I would like to believe that trend is beginning to change, that people are beginning to realize there was a reason unions were there, that there was a reason people joined them, that they served a great leveling force and that they were, far more often than not, something that served the public good. Whether that will turn out to be the case is not something I’m willing to hazard a guess on. I hope it will.

Coyotes have 3 interested buyers: Bettman

The Associated Press, Jan 26, 2012


NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says there are three groups showing "serious" interest in buying the Phoenix Coyotes with the intention of keeping the team in Glendale, Ariz.

Without going into detail, Bettman revealed there was a third group during his weekly radio show broadcast from Ottawa, where the league's All-Star Game is being held this weekend.

"There are probably three different groups that are taking a serious look at buying the Coyotes to keep them where they're located," Bettman said in a broadcast that was also showed on the NHL Network. He added that Glendale is also "very much part of the equation," referring to the city, which has paid out $25 million US in each of the past two seasons to keep the Coyotes while the NHL operates the team and seeks an owner. The NHL purchased the team out of bankruptcy in 2009.

The two groups known to have expressed interest in the Coyotes are one led by former San Jose Sharks president and CEO Greg Jamison, and another by Chicago sports mogul Jerry Reinsdorf.

Bettman said the sales process remains a "work in progress," and he's hoping to prevent the Coyotes from relocating, but didn't rule out the team moving if a deal isn't reached.

"We're going to try to avoid a move of the Coyotes, but if we don't sell the club, I'm not sure that this won't be the last season here," he said.

Bettman made his comments in response to a fan's question.

The Coyotes' future is expected to be brought up during the NHL's Board of Governors meeting in Ottawa on Saturday. Bettman is scheduled to address the media following the meeting.

The NHL has already gone through relocation once last year, when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg to become the Jets. As it turns out, it was the Jets who moved to Phoenix to become the Coyotes in 1996.

-----

"And I've got some nice Florida (swamp) land to sell to you too... along with the Coyotes", said Bettman.

Send the NHL all-stars outdoors

BRUCE DOWBIGGIN, Globe and Mail, Jan. 26, 2012


Far be it from us to tell Gary Bettman how to run his all-star game, where interest peaks with the prospect that the celeb singer will forget the words to a national anthem.

Still, for the second (third?) consecutive year, let us suggest a solution to the All-Star Analgesic: Merge it with the Winter Classic. Have the all-stars frolic in the great outdoors before 50,000. And make Jan. 1 a real showcase game on real ice.

Hear us out. One of the growing concerns about the Winter Classic (at least among Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean’s book club) is the substandard condition of the ice. The reasoning goes that, if bona fide points in the NHL standings are at stake, it behooves the league to present a modicum of acceptable ice upon which the teams can perform when playing outdoors.

So far in the history of the WC, there have been rain storms, deep freezes, postponements and other acts of God that created a patchy skating surface. How patchy? Players say it reminds them of the ice at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. Or a snow cone. Same thing.

But the all-star game is heaven-sent for patchy ice. Played at half-speed by players who saw last call the night before, fast ice conditions are not an imperative. Best of all, no one this side of Lady Byng cares who wins, so you remove the MacLean Integrity Factor caused by bad bounces.

The Winter Classic has become a huge corporate promotion – just like the all-star game. And let’s face it, the glassy-eyed suits are not even paying attention to the action. It could be in Kansas, as long as there’s a hospitality suite. New technologies are making games in warm climes like Los Angeles and Florida practical, so you can spread it among all teams.

Ah, but what to do about that lucrative Jan. 1 date NBC cherishes?

Why not make it a rematch of the previous year’s Stanley Cup final? You’re telling us watching Jaromir Jagr in a tuque is a better draw than the Boston/Vancouver grudge match was earlier this month?

Sure, NBC sportscaster Bob Costas would be forced to pay attention, but wouldn’t that sell the game more than swagged-out all-stars in a scrimmage?

Makes sense. Now, stand at ease.

BRUSH OFF

CBC has broken its silence over the cancellation of its Grand Slam of Curling broadcasts.

The CBC had aired the Grand Slam for the past four years, but on Jan. 18, it told iSport Media and Management, the circuit’s organizer, it was ending coverage immediately. That left the final two events this season with no TV broadcaster. Thus far, no replacement network has been announced.

At the time, iSport chief executive officer Kevin Albrecht told The Globe and Mail issues over quality of the broadcasts was a factor.

Not so, says Jeffrey Orridge, executive director of sports properties for CBC Sports.

“This is about ISport not fulfilling the terms of the contract,” Orridge told Usual Suspects. “We could not go on any further financially under the circumstances. It had nothing to do with quality of production.”

CBC carried the series past the point where it made financial sense, Orridge says. “Our concern was for the curlers and the fans who support the sport. We tried to give it every chance to succeed. This wasn’t a capricious decision. CBC has had some form of curling since 1962, and we didn’t take this lightly. But the time comes when, as a public broadcaster, we have to be prudent. There was no chance of recouping our costs, and we reluctantly made the decision.”

Orridge says there is no chance of a reconciliation with ISport, but that the network would seek to get curling back onto its airwaves.

One way would be to have the Olympic curling competition from Sochi in 2014. But talks between the CBC and partner BCE Inc. with the International Olympic Committee over TV rights have stalled.

“The good news is we’re still talking to the IOC,” Orridge says. “Negotiations have not collapsed. But I can’t say anything more than that.”

We contacted Mr. Albrecht but had not received a reply by publication.

BROWNS MAN DOWN

How much fun is Twitter? Just ask Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter Tony Grossi, who became the latest in our tribe to fall afoul of the social media site.

Grossi, the Browns beat guy for the CPD, inadvertently published a tweet about team owner Randy Lerner that was meant to be private. No big whoop, right?

“He’s a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world.” Oh.

Grossi deleted the tweet and profusely apologized for having an opinion about the owner of the sad-sack Browns. But the newspaper felt he was tainted and replaced him on the prestigious beat with someone who’ll keep his/her opinions to themselves.

Because journalism is all about playing kissy-face with the big sports owner in town. Everyone knows that.

DRIPPING HONEY

You might say there aren’t many wordsmiths working TV these days. So let’s all bow down to GolTV’s Ray Hudson: “Well cut apart from the genius of Messi again, he draws the defence to him like a magnet. And once more, Casillas’s men are playing poker with a witch. They’re gonna lose. Messi magisterial. Pedro, that man I told ya about people, he’s a goal scorer and he’s a real talent. Holds up beautifully and what a dispatch. Fabulous by Messi, magic feet dripping honey on it with every touch and then he’s got the awareness, the dexterity, and that x-ray vision like Superman through steel to put it on an absolute scalding altar. Again from this angle, again, the gazelle running around cheetahs, but look at that pass people. It’s absolutely monumentally perfect.”

Americans consider ban on fighting in junior ranks, hope Canada follows suit

Allan Maki, Globe and Mail, Jan. 26, 2012


USA Hockey is looking to ban fighting from its junior ranks and is hoping Canadian hockey does the same.

At its recent winter meetings, USA Hockey recommended that fighting be eliminated at the Tier I, II and III levels. The proposal, which will go to a formal vote in June and could be implemented for the 2012-13 season, calls for National Collegiate Athletic Association-style sanctions to penalize fights. (In the NCAA, a player who fights receives a game misconduct and must sit out the next game, too. There are increased suspensions for every additional fight a player has.)

USA Hockey also asked that Canada work to ban fighting, too. The rationale is that player safety is paramount and that blows to the head from fighting could cause brain injuries in young players and result in lawsuits.

Jim Johannson, USA Hockey’s assistant executive director of hockey operations, said “everything that’s been going on in the game – player safety, the number of injuries and where fighting fits into that” was the impetus for taking a tougher stand on fighting.

“Whatever we do there’ll be a fight in junior hockey next season,” Johannson said. “But if kids are in this level of hockey and fighting x amount of times, then what’s going on? We have a responsibility to safeguard the game at the minor levels. This is not the NHL, and that’s not a criticism of the NHL. These are kids under 20 playing hockey.”

Canadian hockey officials are willing to discuss the fighting issue and do what’s best for the players. Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson participated in a meeting with USA Hockey during the 2012 world junior tournament in Edmonton and said Thursday: “We want to remove fighting from the game, but we don’t want to create other violent acts that may occur. We’ll work hand in hand with USA Hockey.”

Kirk Lamb, chairman of the Canadian Junior Hockey League, also took part in the world junior meeting with USA Hockey, and insisted it was important to make smart decisions, not ones with “unintended consequences.”

“Player safety involves more than just fighting,” Lamb said. “It’s about attitudes of players and coaches and making sure we adopt rules that encourage change in those attitudes. If, after considering all the information available it’s decided fighting needs to be removed, we just want to be sure that we do it in a way that doesn’t trade one type of violence for another, such as head shots or dangerous hits.”

The CJHL will soon formulate data collected from its leagues that allow a player to fight twice in the same game and compare it to leagues where only one fight is permitted. It’s that sort of hard-core analysis Canadian hockey officials are willing to share with their American counterparts.

“We’ve done some pretty good things in junior A in the last 18 months,” Lamb said of the CJHL’s disciplinary efforts to reduce fighting and violence. “We put the offer out to [USA Hockey], ‘Let’s work together.’”

Getting the Canadian Hockey League to follow USA Hockey’s no-fighting plan might not be easy. The Ontario, Quebec and Western major junior leagues are associate members of Hockey Canada and govern themselves. They’re prime feeders for the NHL and, as such, allow on-ice fights as part of a player’s professional development. Ron Robison, commissioner of the Western Hockey League, was at the world-junior meeting with USA Hockey, and Thursday he reiterated how the CHL is “partnered with the NHL and we have an understanding to mirror their rules.”

“From a WHL/CHL perspective, we feel strongly our role is to prepare players for the next level and as long as fighting is an element of that, we need to prepare the players so they can protect themselves,” Robison said, adding that fighting in the WHL is down 10 per cent compared to a year ago.

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So let me get this straight... "... our role is to prepare players for the next level and as long as fighting is an element of that, we need to prepare the players so they can protect themselves,"?

If you outlawed fighting, players wouldn't need to fight to protect themselves... right?
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“We monitor [fighting] very closely,” he added. “I think the game is evolving to a point where there are less one-dimensional players, if any. The focus today is on speed and skill.”

USA Hockey concurred with that, but is still hoping for a significant show of support from its northern neighbours.

“They’re important stakeholders,” Johannson said of Hockey Canada, the CHL and the CJHL. “The hope for them is that all of us agree about the need to look out for the good of the sport and the players in it.”

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Great job USA! Time for Hockey Canada (and other hockey nations) to pull their collective heads out and join the 21st century!!!

Slap Shot - News From the World of Hockey
NBC Brings “Science of N.H.L. Hockey” to TVs and Classrooms

CHRISTOPHER BOTTA, New York Times, January 25, 2012


NBC News and NBC Sports have produced a series of 10 educational segments called “Science of N.H.L. Hockey” that will make their debut during the NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the All-Star festivities this weekend.

The videos, which feature the N.H.L. players Matt Moulson, Pekka Rinne, Brenden Morrow, Erik Johnson and Jaroslav Halak, were made as a learning tool for teachers and students to use in the classroom. Created in conjunction with NBC Learn (the educational arm of NBC News), the N.H.L. and the National Science Foundation, the segments, which will be aligned to lesson plans and national and state education standards, are available to the public free of cost.

“Hockey is my lifelong sport of passion,” said Sam Flood, executive producer of NBC Sports. “To be able to help people understand how a slap shot takes off, that really excites me as a producer and as a hockey player. The segments have frame-by-frame breakdowns so viewers can really see and understand the science behind the movements.”

During the broadcast of the All-Star Skills Competition on NBC Sports Network on Saturday night, Flood plans to show the segment on the science of the slap shot before Zdeno Chara and the rest of the players take part in the Hardest Shot competition.

“Every kid wants to know how to get his or her slap shot in the upper right-hand corner,” Flood said. “They’ll see these pieces and say, ‘Oh, so that’s how you do it.’”

The video above features Moulson, the Islanders’ leading goal scorer, on Kinematics and the science of positioning, velocity and acceleration.

“We talked a lot about the game of hockey and how I thought things worked from my perspective in relation to different parts of science,” Moulson said. “Then when I got on the ice and filmed shots, I got to see a wide range of different cameras and results. Seeing everything in the slow-motion HD cameras, like the ice chips flying up from my skates in super slo-mo right after I shot it, was pretty neat.”

Other videos focus on passing the puck, making a save and stopping abruptly on the ice and analyze the science behind reflexes, reaction time and linear motion.

In each video, a scientist with the National Science Foundation explains a principle. The scientists are Edward Burger of Williams College, Irene Fonseca of Carnegie Mellon, Jim Gates of the University of Maryland, Robert Gehrz of the University of Minnesota and Patricia Shewokis of Drexel University.

Moulson and the other N.H.L. players describe how the principle applies to their respective positions. The videos also include game footage provided by the N.H.L. The lesson plans accompanying the videos will be provided by the National Science Teachers Association.

“Wayne Gretzky once said, ‘The only way a kid is going to practice is if it’s total fun for him… and it was for me,’” said Morris Aizenman, senior scientist for the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. “This project with the N.H.L. and NBC continues our effort to make science total fun for students. We hope that students, after watching these videos, will also want to learn and practice science.”

The segments will be available on NBCLearn.com, NBCSports.com, Science360.com and NHL.com and will be broadcast on NHL Network and on arena scoreboards throughout the league.

“Science of N.H.L. Hockey” follows “Science of N.F.L. Football” and “Science of the Olympic Winter Games,” collections produced by NBC in recent years.

“The feedback on the Olympic and N.F.L. segments was through the roof,” said Soraya Gage, executive producer of NBC Learn. “We received so much great feedback, including letters from teachers and students, about the impact they made. With the recent launch of the NBC Sports Network and this weekend’s All-Star coverage, we believe the N.H.L. work is going to be our most successful collection yet.”

Oilers plan to grow own success

TERRY JONES, QMI Agency, Jan 26 2012



OKLAHOMA CITY - Anybody can take Taylor Hall or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with a No. 1 pick in the draft.

The trick is to produce quality NHLers with the subsequent selections. And the trick to that is not only for Stu MacGregor and his team of amateur scouts to draft well, but for the organization to develop well, too.

The early Edmonton Oilers drafted unbelievably well, leading to five Stanley Cups, picking future Hall of Famers who bypassed the minors entirely. But the team has never excelled at development in all its years since in the NHL.

Now they're diving head-first into farming and growing their own.

So how is it working out so far?

Great, if you look at the standings, with the Oklahoma City Barons going into the weekend at 59 points, sitting first overall.

So-so if you dig a little deeper.

"As far as I'm concerned, we've done nothing yet," said senior director of development Billy Moores.

"But I'm hopeful. Very hopeful."

You could look at second-round draft choices and first-year pros Tyler Pitlick and Curtis Hamilton, and come to the quick conclusion that so-so is sugar-coating it.

Last year, it looked like head scout MacGregor may have hit home runs with those two as well as second-round pick Martin Marincin and Ryan Martindale, first pick of the third round.

First, let's deal with Pitlick and Hamilton.

Pitlick was the next best thing to a first-round draft pick, first in the second round in 2010 after Taylor Hall was selected first overall.

He has a mere four goals and nine points with a minus-seven on a first-place team of mostly plus players.

Hamilton was also selected in the second round of 2010, with the 48th pick. He has exactly the same stat line Ñ 34 games, four goals, five assists and nine points. Only difference is that he's a plus-one.

TRACKED WELL

These are two players who both were tracking very well in their final year of junior before making the jump to pro.

Pitlick, the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder produced 27 goals and 62 points in 56 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers last year. Hamilton finished fifth in the WHL in plus-minus with plus-48 and ranked tied for eighth in assists with 56 in a season that also produced 26 goals.

Both started slowly as pros, finding themselves as healthy scratches on occasion. But there is some evidence they're just now starting to make the adjustment to the AHL, with increased ice time lately.

" 'Push Up' is our organizational philosophy now," said Barons GM Bill Scott. "No one is getting ice time because they were picked in the first round or the second round. There's no entitlement.

"They both started with eight to 10 minutes a game and have been healthy scratches for games. Now they're up to 10 or 12."

Coach Todd Nelson believes they'll get there. And when they do, he hopes they'll be ready to stick and click.

"The Detroit Red Wings keep players in the AHL for two or three years. They let them mature here, so when they get them up there they stay there.

"These are two players projected to help the Oilers in the future. It might take them two or three years. They're making a lot of adjustments to a lot of things. They're living together, doing their own cooking, doing their own laundry for the first time in their lives."

They don't lack in skill.

"Pitlick, he's so fast. The way he can skate ...

"He's had his ups and downs. But the last game he did a very good job supporting the puck.

"Hamilton is still a young player trying to figure out the league. He's our youngest player. He just turned 20.

"He's very intelligent and has a big body. He's starting to win battles on the walls. Before he was not," said Nelson.

"My perception is that they're making good progress now, earning their ice time, learning to train off the ice like pros and being away from their junior billets looking after themselves,” said Moores.

“It’s been tough,” said Pitlick. “It’s a difficult adjustment, playing against better players. It’s definitely a change from junior, where every chance they had, they’d get you out there. You expected to score and get points every night. Now it’s more that you’re hoping …

“But now it’s starting to go pretty well. Now I’m starting to have fun and enjoying the game. And the coaches have been awesome. They’re really good working with you. They’re really hands-on, more than in junior.”

Hamilton said it’s definitely an awakening.

“When you come out of junior, you’re a high-point guy. All of a sudden you’re not getting points. But it’s good for you. At the start of the year it was tough. Now I understand how hard this league is. I’ve learned a lot. And I’m in the lineup a lot more now.”

Marincin isn’t here. He’s still in junior, his point production having tailed off somewhat from a 14-goal, 56-point season last year to six goals and 22 points.

“Marincin is a very good example of discovering what we needed to get better at,” said Moores.

MORE RESOURCES

The Slovakia world junior defenceman who seemed to be regressing from his start to the season last year after he’d been drafted, was not only in a new country, he couldn’t speak English and was getting no help.

“We found two ladies in Prince George, Teresa and Linda, and they made some real good gains. We went to his billet with a nutritional program we felt he needed. They were wonderful. We met with his junior coach and set up a strength and conditioning program he needed,” said Moores of the player recently traded to Regina.

“He’s 6-foot-5 and 185 pounds. He needs to get stronger. He needs an off-season conditioning program. He’s an example of needing more resources.”

Then there’s Martindale, the 6-foot-3, 207-pound centre picked first in the third round who had 83 points including 34 goals and a plus-38 last year in junior. He should be here but is down in Stockton, with five goals and 14 assists, a definite disappointment. The Oilers are waiting to see him show them he’s hungry and that he wants it.

Philippe Cornet is the example of working for it.

Picked 133rd, the 21-year-old fifth-rounder found out Wednesday he’s been named a starter for Monday’s AHL All-Star game in Atlantic City.

“He wasn’t a big part of the team at the start of last year, But this is a guy who put in the work,” said Scott.

“His speed is at a much different level than last year. He didn’t have the speed to get there last year. Now he has another gear to his game. And he’s going to the tough areas of the ice,” added the Barons GM.

“He was in and out of the lineup a lot last year. But he grew as a player in February and March,” said Nelson.

“At the end of the season, we sat him down and talked to him about what he had to do in the summer, that he had to get an extra step and an extra gear. He worked hard to get that extra step. To get to the NHL he needs another step.”

Cornet said while they didn’t dress him for the first game this year, a 7-0 loss, they’ve kept their word about earning ice time and opportunity since.

“Since that first one, I haven’t missed a game,” said the team’s leading scorer with 20 goals.

“The ice time is good. I’m getting power-play time.

“This year I’ve improved a lot. It’s a huge improvement from where I was last year. I’m not at the level I want yet, but they can see I want to get better.”

He’s not likely to be Nugent-Hopkins or Taylor Hall. But he might get to play with them.

The NHL is becoming a crazy business

ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Globe and Mail Update, Jan. 27, 2012


Last June, in a rational and thoroughly convincing explanation of why he was so anxious to land Jeff Carter from the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets’ general manager Scott Howson noted that there’d only been two No. 1 centres traded in the six years since the NHL lockout ended (Joe Thornton, from the Boston Bruins to the San Jose Sharks; and Brad Richards, from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Dallas Stars) before two more were moved on a single day before the 2011 entry draft. That shattered the NHL peace in a big meaningful way.

The Los Angeles Kings got the other one, by the way - Mike Richards, who was signed to a 12-year, $69-million contract by Philadelphia. Howson, by comparison, got off comparatively lightly in terms of the overall cash outlay - Carter’s contract was for a mere 11 years and $58-million, a reasonably cap-friendly number, even if it was a significant commitment in terms of the overall dollars.

Of course, the reason the Flyers were so anxious to move out all that money was so they could hand a lot more of it over to goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who received $51-million from them spread over nine years. If you factor in the money Philadelphia paid Daniel Briere (eight years, $52-million), Kimmo Timmonen (six years, $38-million), Scott Hartnell (six years, $25.2-million) and Chris Pronger (five years, $31.25-million, to a player past the age of 35 when he signed), you can genuinely conclude that the Flyers contributed more to the NHL inflation rate than OPEC ever did to the general economic malaise back in the high-interest eighties (hey, if Tim Thomas can mix sports and monetary policy, so can we).

Now, some eight months after making the Carter deal, there is talk that the Blue Jackets would consider moving his rights, if they could find someone willing to take on the contract (and give up something of consequence in return, since Columbus surrendered two top-10 NHL entry draft picks to land his rights in the first place).

With the NHL about to start new collective bargaining talks with the players association some time after the all-star break, it bears asking the question: Is anybody really getting their money’s worth on these mega-year, mega-bucks contracts that commit team to player in a long-term relationship that invariably seems headed for the rocks sooner if not later?

Not that the NHL all-star game should act as the perfect referendum on money well spent, but consider this: Eight players are earning over $8-million this season, according to capgeek.com. Only two - Evgeni Malkin and Zdeno Chara - are playing in the all-star game. Alex Ovechkin would have made it three, had he not bowed out; and you’d have to think a healthy Sidney Crosby would be there as well. But think of some others: Brad Richards ($12-million), Vincent Lecavalier ($10-million), Bryzgalov ($10-million), Christian Ehrhoff ($10-million). Dany Heatley didn’t make it, nor did Duncan Keith nor Thornton nor Henrik Zetterberg nor Eric Staal nor Scott Gomez nor Rick Nash nor Anze Kopitar. What do they have in common? All are signed to contracts seven years or longer and earn $7-million or more on average. And the conundrum is, if the players underperform, or simply just aren’t a good fit, or by their play, give you a strong message that they’d really like to be somewhere else, how do you move all that money when so many teams are capped out?

Worse still, those sorts of forever-commitments put ownership in the awkward position that Washington was in this week when both the owner, Ted Leonsis, and the general manager George McPhee, came rushing to Ovechkin’s defence when he decided to drop out of the All-Star game, after a perfectly legitimate decision by the NHL’s player safety department, to suspend the Capitals’ captain for three games for leaving his feet to hit Pittsburgh’s Zbynek Michalek in the head.

Hello.

Didn’t the Caps get the memo? Half the league is currently missing in action because of concussions. Hits to the head are bad. They damage brain cells. They may cause significant health issues down the road.

The league is trying to minimize these blows so that its star players are actually in the lineup on a more regular basis, instead of being on the sidelines, seeing stars, and otherwise not functioning properly. If everybody exempts their own players from the new standards that the league is trying to impose, nobody wins - and everybody loses. But with so much money committed to Ovechkin, the Caps are not about to hurt his hurt feelings any further by noting that everything else about the hit on Michalek was fine, but Alex - please, please, please - don’t leave your feet to launch yourself like a missile into him. That’s a no-no in 2012. That would be the right message to send. But right now, the desire to keep Ovechkin happy trumps all, a function of committing too many dollars for too many years to a player, so you end up coddling them, and do whatever it takes to prevent the sort of week-long pouts that has the Blue Jackets thinking about what to do with Carter after going to such trouble to land him in the first place. What a crazy business the NHL is becoming.

DUCKS QUACKING: The Anaheim Ducks entered the all-star break on an 8-1-1 run and have been one of the most dangerous teams in the league ever since general manager Bob Murray read his players the riot act and threatened to move everybody but Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu (both of whom are protected by no-trade clauses).

The problem with the Ducks is that they dug themselves too big a hole early, so that they look like this year’s version of either the 2010-11 New Jersey Devils or the Calgary Flames - two teams that were red hot in the second half of last year, but were so far gone early that even their big push didn’t result in a playoff spot. But the Ducks are true believers, at least Selanne is. And by the way, he has no interest in moving to another team - pretender, contender or the Winnipeg Jets - at the trading deadline, under any circumstances. Selanne said that in a conversation the other day, and then went on to assert: “The thing is, I still feel we can make it. This is a great league when we play well.” Selanne went on to note that past the all-star break, “there are still 30 games left. That’s a lot of hockey if you can stay hot and healthy for a while.

“This is almost like a very familiar situation. We are always behind the eight-ball at Christmas and we start climbing. Hopefully, this is the case too. If this type of team makes the playoffs, that confidence, that building ... who knows? You never know. That’s a new world. That’s a new hockey world then.”

In 11 games in January, the Ducks offence roared to life, scoring 37 goals, the second-highest goals-per-game average in the NHL behind Boston, at 3.83. Selanne, meanwhile, has already this season passed Mats Sundin, Guy Lafleur, Brendan Shanahan, Johnny Bucyk and Mike Modano on the NHL’s all-time points-scoring list, and now sits at No. 22 overall, six points behind Brett Hull, who is at 1,391.

Barring injury, he should be able to reel in Luc Robitaille and Jari Kurri before season’s end. Passing Kurri, an idol of his growing up, would be a big deal and also enable him to get to 1,400 career points, something Kurri just failed to do (1,398). The way Selanne, 41, Nick Lidstrom, 41, and Daniel Alfredsson, 39, are all playing this year, you’d have to think there’s a chance all three will play on beyond this season, when many believed the trio might all be in their final seasons.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT ALFIE: The all-star weekend marked the return to Ottawa of Zdeno Chara, who was a popular figure in his four seasons (2001-02 to 2005-06) with the Senators, before leaving to join the Bruins as an unrestricted. Chara has delivered more bang for Boston’s free-agent bucks than perhaps any high-profile, high-priced unrestricted free agent in history, after the Sens chose to keep Wade Redden instead of him when it became clear they couldn’t afford to pay both.

As captain, Chara shared the spotlight Thursday with Alfredsson, a former teammate, when selecting their respective teams for Sunday’s game. An while Alfredsson stuck with the script that Eric Staal followed as the hometown captain last year in Carolina, picking teammates and countrymen first, Chara got off to a great start by grabbing Pavel Datsyuk, then a teammate (Thomas) and then Evgeni Malkin with his first three picks.

Of course, Alfredsson got the de facto equivalent of Datysuk and Malkin by selecting the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel much deeper in the draft, and did what every smart fantasy manager does - which is delay for as long as possible before making his good sleeper picks. Because of Boston’s history with the Canucks and Sedins, it was highly unlikely that Chara was going to take either of them, which meant they (and Alex Edler) would come to Alfredsson anyway.

It’s remarkable how much fantasy sports drives the real thing these days. Alfredsson isn’t into it himself, but is only too aware of how fixated some people can be on picking hockey pools and the like. This year, with 38 points in 46 games, he would have been a shrewd pick for anyone who took him. Coming off an injury-filled 2010-11 season, in which he managed 31 points in 54 games and then required back surgery, there would have been some thought his numbers would tail right off.

Instead, he’s got a chance to finish with 70 points for the 10th time in 11 years and says he hears about his production all the time, “mostly, when you’re out and about in Ottawa, with the younger crowd. The older crowd doesn’t do it much, but the younger crowd does. It’s all about the fantasy - and the betting. Sometimes, it becomes a little bit skewed. It’s too much the statistics behind the way you play. But it’s something, as you get a little older, I’ve been around a long time in the league, so you know when you’re playing good or not.”

What the older crowd does like celebrate is that players such as himself and Selanne and Lidstrom are striking a blow for the Zoomer generation, in an era when youngsters are so celebrated and coveted by teams.

“It becomes a challenge,” acknowledged Alfredsson. “You break into the league, you have to prove yourself. Then you have to prove yourself again - that you are an elite player, over many years. Then when you get older, you got to prove that you can keep up with the young guys again. So it never ends. I think that’s what it is to be a pro athlete, that challenge, to always strive to be better all the time, and never be satisfied. That’s what drives me. I can tell you that’s what drives Teemu and Lidstrom as well. Don’t just go out there and go through the motions because that’s not how we function. That’s not in our DNA. It’s fun to try to keep up with the young kids - and show them once again that you still can.”

As for his health, Alfredsson says that’s the single biggest difference between last year and this year: “I’ve been struggling the last few years with my skating. Today, I felt really strong on the puck and in the battles. That’s what I enjoy. You can forecheck, you can backcheck, you can do everything. last year, obviously, I had my questions. Is this it? I can’t go on like this. If the surgery hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

CHI TIME: Vancouver’s rivalry with Boston is second only to Vancouver’s rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks, and both can be traced back to great recent playoff series. After the all-star break, the Blackhakws embark on a massive three-week road trip that starts Tuesday in Vancouver which could make or break their attempts to win the West this year.

Chicago plays, in order, the Canucks, Edmonton, Calgary, Colorado, San Jose, Phoenix, Nashville, the Rangers and Columbus (on a Saturday afternoon) before finally returning home for a Sunday afternoon date with the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 19. In all, 20 of their final 32 games are away from the United Centre, and they go into the break without two of their top forwards, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, both out with wrist injuries, though both are expected back at some point on the Western Canada swing of the trip, good news considering how much Toews, an MVP candidate, has meant to their success this year.

AND FINALLY: After playing just 60 and 62 games the last two years, and scoring 57 points in each of them, the Senators’ Jason Spezza is healthy and having a productive season, even with that nasty looking black eye. Surprisingly, Spezza has only played in one All-Star Game in eight years, which is another reason he is looking forward to this one, one that’s being played so close to home. Thankfully, as Sens fans booed all things related to Toronto during the televised fantasy draft, they developed amnesia about Spezza’s birthplace.

“I’ll have a lot more people in town than I normally would,” said Spezza, “so it’s extra special this year with family and friends. It’s real close to home for me, so I can get everybody down - and that’ll probably never happen again, so it’s a good opportunity to include everybody; and the city’s really excited about it. It’s a great hockey town.

“Maybe having it in a Canadian city, it’ll be more appreciated than when it’s in other places that maybe don’t understand the relevance of the game. Nobody’s expecting an intense game. They’re just excited to see all the stars and to interact with them.”

NHL Notes: Owner stunned by plummeting Blue Jackets

By QMI Agency, Jan 28 2012


Columbus Blue Jackets owner John P. McConnell may not be angry enough to fire his general manager, but he is stunned that his team is dead last in the NHL.

After some off-season moves sparked hope that the Jackets would be a playoff contender, the team managed just one point through its first eight games and never recovered. At the all-star break, Columbus had a 13-30-6 record.

"It has been crappy," McConnell told the Columbus Dispatch in an interview published Friday.

"It has just not turned out as we'd hoped or planned. Everybody wants to blame somebody when something goes wrong, and sometimes there's nobody to blame.

"To me, I think everybody in the organization has a little bit of blame."

After trading for centre Jeff Carter and signing defenceman James Wisniewski the Jackets were on a high. Then the puck dropped.

"Everybody was looking forward to this season, myself included," McConnell said. "I think that makes the fall even worse."

McConnell said team president Mike Priest and GM Scott Howson were safe, but that roster moves were pending. Carter, for one, is on the trading block.

McConnell said a decision would be made within two weeks whether to tweak the lineup or make major changes.

"When the 'nuclear' option is mentioned, I cringe less now than I did two months ago," he said. "That doesn't mean that's what we're going to do, but it certainly becomes a more realistic choice."

COYOTES HAVE THREE SUITORS?

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has media scrambling in Arizona to determine what other group might be interested in buying the Phoenix Coyotes and keeping them in the desert.

"There are probably three different groups that are taking a serious look at buying the Coyotes to keep them where they're located," Bettman said on his weekly radio show.

Two groups have been in the news for months: One is led by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison; the other by Arizona lobbyist John Kaites and Chicago sports magnate Jerry Reinsdorf.

As for the third group, well, note that Bettman did say "probably."

Leafs boss furious at Don Cherry: Source

Joe Warmington, QMI Agency, Jan 28 2012


TORONTO — Has Toronto Maple Leafs boss Brian Burke had enough of Don Cherry?

An insider told QMI Agency Burke is tired of Cherry criticizing his team — in particular, his coach — and he is contemplating asking for a meeting with CBC brass to complain.

“He is furious at the comment Cherry made about Ron Wilson not applauding for the troops and for other things too,” said an insider. “He is fiercely loyal to his guys.”

On Jan. 14, Cherry mentioned during a broadcast that visiting New York Ranger coach John Tortorella applauded when the troops were introduced at a recent Armed Forced appreciation game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

He also called a clapping Leafs assistant coach Rob Zettler “a good Canadian boy.”

But he said Wilson and other coaches “couldn’t have cared less.”

The Leafs president responded to an e-mail asking him if there had “been a formal complaint,” but chose to not get into the fray.

“No comment,” Burke said in a return e-mail. “All-star weekend (is) hardly the time or place for a beef like this.”

For his part Cherry agreed with Burke that he did not want to take anything away from the all-star NHL weekend in Ottawa, where both are scheduled to attend.

But when told Burke was not happy with his most recent comments on Wilson, and that there are rumours of a potential meeting with his bosses, he laughed.

“If it’s true, he’s got to get in line to get me because there are lots of people who seem to want to,” Cherry said.

It was not the first time Cherry has mocked Wilson.

In the past he has called him “Napoleon” and criticized his handling of players such as former first round pick Nazem Kadri.

The on-going feud has also seen Wilson fight back — once saying, “I don’t even listen (to him). It’s irrelevant. It has no affect on what I do as a coach. Honest to God, I don’t listen to it.

“Whatever Don Cherry wants to say — I’ll compare my record with Don Cherry. He can call me whatever he wants. I’ve got a job to do and whatever people think of the job I’m doing, has no impact on what I have to do. I keep counsel with my bosses and they’re pleased with what we’re doing. I don’t have to worry about what anybody else who’s not in the actual cauldron and doesn’t know what’s really going on.”

THN at the All-Star Game: Bettman, Fehr play down CBA doom

Adam Proteau, The Hockey News, 2012-01-28


OTTAWA – After the NHL Board of Governors meetings finished up late Saturday morning, league commissioner Gary Bettman was more than willing to share the good news – namely, that the league is heading toward record revenues and attendance and that the city of Columbus was awarded hosting duties for the 2013 All-Star Game – but was less willing to talk pessimistically or aggressively when it came to some of his business’ tender areas.

Sure, Bettman said in a press conference before a throng of media the Phoenix Coyotes still-unresolved ownership situation may yet become untenable, but the league still is pursuing talks with three different groups to keep the team in Arizona. Sure, he said the financially strapped New Jersey Devils are in the midst of a feud between principal owners Jeffrey Vanderbeek and Ray Chambers – and that the league has been advancing the franchise money to help pay its bills – but characterized the team’s situation as “stable” and said he’s working on mediating a solution that would see one of the two men step up and take control of the team.

And sure, Bettman said the league was facing an unsettled labor situation with the collective bargaining agreement expiring this September, but he is leaving the NHL Players’ Association to decide when to begin formal negotiations and would rather everybody just enjoy the rest of the current season.

“My guess is, at least informally, we’ll have some discussions in the not-too-distant future," Bettman said. “The union has had some work to do. Don Fehr, obviously being somewhat new to the job, is going through a bit of a learning curve and wants to make sure he understands what his constituents want. So we’re patient. I'm not concerned about the time frame.”

It shouldn’t be any sort of shock that Bettman will never acknowledge the game’s sore spots. As the owners’ representative, he is paid to do exactly that. Heck, Bettman wouldn’t even acknowledge the optics that the league was throwing the money-losing Blue Jackets a bone with the cash-injection an All-Star Game provides.

“(The All-Star Game) is a request they’ve had on the table for years,” Bettman told THN.com. “Every time I go to Columbus, I’ve been asked the question. The stars aligned in terms of the calendar and we think this would be a terrific place for us to go next year. If it serves a greater level of interest, but this is something we’ve been focused on and they’ve been requesting for a number of years. We were there for the draft, and the city did a great job on that.”

Similarly, NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, who spoke to reporters after Bettman’s press conference, was equally hesitant to say much to challenge the commissioner or tip his hand regarding labor talks.

“There will obviously be some preliminary discussions to set things up,” Fehr said of formal negotiations. “My preference will be when we get to the real significant sessions to do it at a point in time which is rather more likely to have players present easily than less. But we'll know sometime in the next few weeks how that’s going to play out.”

Fehr once again raised the notion of revenue sharing as a solution that worked in his past job running the Major League Baseball Players’ Association, but didn’t talk like a man who was gearing up for a heavily rhetorical public brawl. Neither did Bettman, who noted the union and league were able to settle the contested issue of hockey-related revenue without a protracted, negative battle.

Those black clouds might yet appear on the league’s horizon. But for now – and as a mild weekend in Ottawa shut down the famous Rideau Canal from All-Star Game events-interested skaters – both Bettman and Fehr were content the NHL’s ice was solid enough for the game to continue skating on.

A look at NHL collective bargaining issues

David Shoalts, Globe and Mail, Jan. 27, 2012


REVENUE

At present, the NHL players receive 57 per cent of all hockey-related revenue. That number rose from 54 per cent in the first year of the current collective agreement. The team owners want to cut that back to less than 50 per cent, in light of the recent 10-year labour agreements reached in the NFL and NBA. The NFL players agreed to a minimum of 47 per cent of all league revenue (which can rise to 48.5 per cent depending on revenue growth). The NBA players agreed to 51.2 per cent of basketball-related income this season, and a range of 49 per cent to 52 per cent in the remaining years. Some NHL owners want to remove the revenue-growth accelerator that increased the players’ share each year. They want a constant rate or only a small increase over the life of the contract. The NHL Players’ Association will push for more revenue sharing between the rich and poor franchises.

ESCROW

As the NHL’s actual revenue for a season is not known until the Stanley Cup playoffs are over, the players’ share is estimated prior to – and re-estimated again four more times during – the season. Payments are deducted from the players’ salaries every two weeks and placed in an escrow account. The payments are calculated by the league and the union and are usually around 10 per cent, but have gone as high as 18 per cent. Once the revenue is established in the summer, and the players’ share is determined, the escrow accounts are settled. If revenue grew, the players usually get most or all of their deductions back, with interest. But the recession caused flat or declining revenue in the last few seasons, as the players gave back 10.4 per cent of their salaries in 2009-10 – although they managed to lower that to 2.3 per cent last season. This is a hot issue for some players, who would like to see a different system, although the NHLPA has not publicized its stand on this.

SALARY CAP

The salary cap is based on the NHL’s hockey-related revenue and the percentage given to the players. This season, each team can spend $64.3-million (all currency U.S.) on its player payroll. There is also a minimum spending requirement, known as the floor, which is also based on revenue. This season’s floor is $48.3-million, which is more than $9-million higher than the $39-million cap in 2005-06, the first season after the lockout. Several small-revenue teams say the floor is no longer affordable and will push to have it lowered.

CONTRACTS

Some owners are not happy with the length of some player contracts, which can run for 10 years or more. They will fight for limits on the term, which will make it easier to overcome bad contracts or compete with other teams for a player. The players may push for changes to contracts for players over the age of 35. Right now, the entire length of over-35 contracts count against a team’s salary cap, even if the player retires before it’s up. This means teams can be reluctant to sign older players.

PLAYER SAFETY

The epidemic of concussions in the NHL in recent years will be part of the collective bargaining. While the players have long resisted regulations on their equipment, such as mandatory visors or thicker helmets, both sides appear willing to hammer out an agreement on this issue.

REALIGNMENT

The NHLPA scuttled the league’s plan to abolish the current Eastern and Western Conferences and create four conferences that were roughly geographically-based when it refused to sign off on the new look. The idea was to reduce the travel burden on the more-spread out western teams while preserving traditional rivalries. But the players’ union said there were still too many travel problems. The union also did not like the fact two conferences had eight teams and two had seven, as it feels teams in the bigger conferences had a lesser chance to make the playoffs. Realignment will happen, but now it will be done in labour negotiations.

OLYMPICS

Both the owners and players have to agree if the NHL is to participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics and beyond. A lot of owners don’t like interrupting the regular season for what they see as limited marketing value. Almost all of the players love playing in the Olympics, so the owners will probably use this issue as a carrot to get them to agree to something else.

Morrison will be missed in Flames locker room

STEVE MACFARLANE, Calgary Sun, January 28, 2012


CALGARY - In the big picture, it’s a small deal.

Rarely, though, does an athlete make the kind of impact in less than 100 appearances with a team as Brendan Morrison did with the Calgary Flames.

Not so much on the ice, where the 36-year-old played 94 games in the Flaming C uniform — interrupted by a serious knee injury suffered last March that contributed to his struggles this season.

But in the locker-room, he was a key character both to his teammates who could count on him keeping his head during the ups and downs of a season, and members of the media who visited his stall daily for a dose of honesty, insight or casual conversation.

His class endeared him to the fans, who quickly forgot he was once a member of the hated Vancouver Canucks.

Morrison hasn’t seen the Twitter response to Friday’s trade that sent him to the Chicago Blackhawks but has heard about all the support for him second-hand.

“You never really, I guess, fully comprehend it until you actually move on,” he said of the impact he had on the fans in Calgary. “I’ve had some friends going, ‘Twitter’s going crazy.’

“To be able to have a positive impact on people, I think that’s a good thing. I’ve always tried to treat others the way I like to be treated and be respectful. It’s just how I was brought up and raised.”

For the Flames, sending the veteran centre to the Blackhawks for 25-year-old defenceman Brian Connelly does very little in terms of affecting their own present. It’s created a much brighter one for Morrison, though.

“I don’t think I could have picked a better team to go to. In my opinion, they’ve got as good a chance as anybody team to win,” he said.

“I’m nervous. I’m excited. All these kind of emotions rolled up. It’s good to get into these things right away.”

With four goals and 11 points in 28 games this season after pressing to come back from his ACL surgery a little too quickly in the fall, Morrison hasn’t been able to live up to his impressive debut season with the Flames, which saw him post nine goals and 43 points in 66 games before the knee injury in March during a game against the Blackhawks in Chicago.

Morrison would love to prove he can still contribute offensively.

He’ll get a chance to show the Flames first-hand Friday when he comes back to the Saddledome with his new Blackhawks teammates.

“There’s no bitterness on my end. It’s just kind of the evolution of the game. But on the other hand, for sure, I still believe I can play at a pretty high level and contribute on a nightly basis,” Morrison said. “It looks like I’m gonna get an opportunity to do that.”

Regardless of what happens on the ice, you can guarantee he’ll be visited by his former teammates who didn’t get to wish him luck in person, and every member of the media he connected with during his time in the city.