Report: NHL Still NBC's Bitch

I talked a few days ago that the NHL was potentially thinking of doing a Winter Classic Doubleheader involving teams that serve both NBC and CBC's best interests to get them the biggest audience they can on New Years Day 2010.

After all, the name of the game is getting the league more well known with a high-profile event regardless of whether or not it waters down the novelty of the whole thing.

Forget about the potential Canadian game here for a second since the American game at the least had a host team selected already in the Boston Bruins but there was much speculation going on about just who they would face. The prevailing rumor was that the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin were going to be the foe allowing the NHL a major media event in which to promote one of the biggest stars in the game, the back-to-back NHL MVP.

Capitals Insider Tarik El-Bashir was able to track down Caps general manager George McPhee to find out if the prevailing rumors had any truth to them. McPhee's answer was surprisingly snarky:

"I have not," McPhee said when asked if he had heard anything from the NHL regarding Washington's candidacy for the event. "You think we would know by this point."

McPhee added: "It doesn't sound like we will be part of it. Maybe that's not a bad thing. When you go, you have to play in front of 40,000 or 50,000 of the other team's fans. ...I would just assume if we were in it that we would know by now."

Sounds like there's some sour grapes there, and I don't mean Don Cherry. Perhaps something unseemly was going on and McPhee was all too aware of it and not at liberty to speak about it.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

A funny thing happened on the way through the rumor mill though as stories started to circulate that the Philadelphia Flyers were getting some buzz to be the Bruins opponent on New Years Day, a choice that seems a bit odd as, well, let's face it the Flyers aren't exactly a cuddly and marketable team. They're abrasive, 29 other teams in the NHL generally hate their guts and so do the fans of those teams but they're high profile thanks to that disdain and Flyers fans are generally some of the most psychotic staunchly loyal fans in the league.

The Flyers aren't a team without talent as there's Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Pierre McGuire object of affection Mike Richards as well but let's face it, when NBC picks their same six teams out of a hat for their schedule each year the Flyers are getting more than their fair share of NBC attention and it's pretty obnoxious.

This was all rumor on scattered Internet pondering though and harmless for the most part until earlier this evening news came out from, of all places, The Delaware County Daily Times that it was confirmed that the Flyers would be the Bruins opponent in the Winter Classic in Fenway Park and writer Anthony Sanfilippo brought the thunder with how he was able to obtain this knowledge.

Hang on to your asses because this is going to blow it right the hell up:

The NHL was pushing the Washington Capitals. They wanted to market Alex Ovechkin.

NBC, the network broadcasting the game, said no dice.

They were concerned with the poor ratings the Caps' produced in the playoffs in an opening round series against the New York Rangers - the No. 1 U.S. market for the NHL.

So, they told the NHL to skip Washington and give them the Flyers... a more certain brand to market.

The NHL was stubborn for a while... mostly because the Flyers were more interested in a Jan. 1 date with Pittsburgh than Boston.

However, the NHL assured the Flyers that a future Flyers-Penguins outdoor game could still happen in a couple years.

The Flyers were satisfied and agreed to play.

Pardon me for one moment...

deep breaths

deep breaths

Don't lose your cool, Joe. It's not even fucking worth it anymore. Just let it go...

Now, I'm not going to completely blow a gasket here because, hey, who's to say that Anthony Difilippo has his story accurate here. That's not a knock against him, he's dealing with sources that may or may not have everything squared away on their side.

But I believe every friggin' word of it. Why? This is easy. Look how nicely they handled things with the Pittsburgh Penguins and their outdoor screen. The guys at The Pensblog thought very highly of how they handled things:

NBC, the channel that has used the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby in just about every commercial since the network started airing hockey games, is refusing to let the team show game three of the Penguins/Flyers series on the giant screen outside the arena.

Ironically, MSNBC published this article on Wednesday in which they wrote "during the Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup finals last season, the outdoor TV routinely drew a couple thousand fans."

And during the Stanley Cup Finals? More of the same as NBC refused to allow fans in Pittsburgh or Detroit to watch their teams road games on big screens at their arenas out of fear it would harm ratings.

And just where's Herr Bettman through all this?


Zdeno Chara looks away while Mike Richards nauseates over Bettman's posturing with NBC. Pierre McGuire salivates wildly.

Yeah, bending over for NBC again and again out of fear upsetting their drunken abusive father of a national broadcast "partner." How many times now has Bettman "fallen down the stairs" for NBC so they can call the shots as to how the NHL operates its own league?

Disgusting.

This lack of a spine shown by the NHL sickens me as they had the right idea for what to do with this game but instantly rolled over for NBC because they didn't like the matchup.

Unfuckingbelievable.

Out of all this the Flyers still get what they want by getting an outdoor game with cross-state rivals the Penguins in a few years when, who knows if the game will even be worth doing if they run this trick pony into the ground.

And what's more is... Who the hell do you market to the fans in a game between the Bruins and Flyers? Chara? I guess. Richards? Well, we'll hear enough about him from McGuire. Do they spend the whole game talking about hockey's supposed resurgence in Boston? What if the Bruins get off to a bad start next year and the crowd is swarmed over with people there to boo them or, worse yet, are only there for the spectacle and could give a shit else about the game?

That'll play great on television - silence with mixed jeers from drunken boors.

My stand, and I'm sure the stand the NHL had until NBC President Dick Ebersol took his belt off, was that with the Capitals in the game you are guaranteed a major superstar worth marketing for the league in the game.

The last two versions of this game was teeming over with stars. In Buffalo you had Crosby, Malkin and Staal for the Penguins while Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek played for the Sabres. In Chicago you had Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to push for the Blackhawks while the Red Wings came out with their crew of all-stars.

This time around? Marc Savard and maybe Phil Kessel for the Bruins with Richards and Carter and the potential Ray Emery sideshow carnival.

Wow, consider me glued to the set for this one.

With the NHL allowing themselves to be in a position to be abused by NBC like this the fans lose out because you don't get to see the best of the best out there. Instead you get what might turn into a street fight. Hell, don't even bother with Fenway, just play it behind the Green Monster on Lansdowne Street and turn it into a brawl since these two teams can always be counted on for that. I'm sure the NHL will love having these two teams beating each other's face in in a game that's meant to show off the best the league can offer in one of its most magical settings, the outdoor pond where everyone's careers began long ago.

What a joke this "leadership" is. The NHL, instead of getting what it wanted, ended up making concessions not only with NBC but with one if its own teams.

Unreal.

NHL: Where Ruining A Good Thing Happens

The last two New Years Days the NHL has taken the holiday to seize the day and make sure to do something that allows them to get airtime on a day when they know everyone is going to be home nursing a hangover or at the very least laying about on the couch.

The NHL to their credit came up with the idea to play an outdoor regular season game on that day during the afternoon. After all, it's January 1st and most of the northern US and southern Canada is in a deep freeze or at least winter-like conditions that lend themselves perfect to playing a game outside in a huge venue.

Two years ago, the Penguins and Sabres played at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY and last year the Red Wings and Blackhawks played at Wrigley Field in Chicago. January 1, 2010 will see a game featuring the Boston Bruins played at Fenway Park and the opponent to be announced later on this summer (rumors abound that either the New York Rangers or Washington Capitals will be involved).

Again, this is a great thing and a perfect setting for a game given the rejuvinated hockey fan base in Boston and getting a game with either the Rangers or Capitals is ideal because you're either getting your biggest media market involved or the team with one of the biggest stars in the world. You can't lose here...

...Unless you get the bright idea to do an outdoor game doubleheader on New Years Day with a second game set to take place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.



Coming soon to the back of trucks all across Canada.


From the National Post in Canada:

Sources say the NHL is looking at building on the success of the Winter Classic by hosting two outdoor games on New Year's Day. The first is rumoured for Fenway Park with the Boston Bruins hosting the Washington Capitals. The second is pencilled in for Calgary between the Flames and another Canadian team - likely the Toronto Maple Leafs.

CBC TV is a major push behind the Calgary proposal.

"I can't see anything that jumps out to me that would be a roadblock logistically," Haverstock said.

Now, I understand that he's talking about logistics of doing a game in Calgary. Obviously its going to be cold as hell there and having conditions able to sustain the ice outdoors won't be an issue.

The sort of logistics I'm thinking of here are those involved in wearing out the NHL fans and the wonderful novelty of the whole thing. Obviously Canada is bothered that they've, again, been left out of the NHL's reindeer games in regard to doing an outdoor game. After all, it's Canada that got the ball rolling with this thing back in November 2003 with the Oilers and Canadiens playing an outdoor game at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

Now with NBC and the NHL teaming up to make sure all the US marquee teams get taken care of with mid-season showcase event, Canada wants back in and for that I can't blame them. Problem here is that a second game will get no attention in America.

The Heritage Classic in Edmonton nearly six years ago was an event that ESPN and ABC should've gone bonkers over to cover considering how much went into it with the legends game featuring the all-time greats for both franchises playing an exhibition game and then the real game itself. Instead, the event was largely ignored in the United States and video and highlights of then Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore playing with a toque over his helmet in the frigid Edmonton air were about all we were left with to soak in.

When Buffalo and Pittsburgh played on January 1, 2008 the event was heralded as incredible and amazing a magical and all that with very little credit in the way given to what had happened five years previous but now this event was going to take over as a yearly staple - and hey, why not? It generates attention, looks great on the air and manages to steal airtime away from putrid college football bowl games.

Should the NHL decide to double its pleasure in 2010 to throw viewers a bone in both countries, because God knows Americans won't watch Canadian teams on TV and Canadians are ruthlessly nationalistic and wanting some attention from Herr Bettman for all the financial propping up they do - sure, why not - let's just slaughter the novelty of the whole thing and cave into everyones television demands.

Bettman has already shown that he's got very little backbone to stand up for any sort of principles for the NHL and is now on the brink of selling out to both countries national broadcast partners at NBC and the CBC. This does come with a catch, however:

No one bothered to clue in the NHL Players Association.

Whoops.

From TSNs Darren Dreger:

''This is all news to me. We are breaking news, this is an insider moment that Calgary is potentially going to get an outdoor game and this is the first I've heard of it,'' Glenn Healy, the NHLPA's director of player affairs told TSN.

The NHL confirms the outdoor twin-bill will be discussed on June 25th at the competition committee meeting, however based on Healy's reaction; there is reason to believe the event may be in jeopardy.

''We have never been approached by the league about a second outdoor game ever in Calgary and if they want to approach us, then our numbers are in the book.''

Then again, why would the NHL ever communicate something with the group of people they dislike more than NHL fans when its so much simpler to have someone at CBC let something slip out and get the buzz started instantly.



I can't really top that because this is all it boils down to.

A man sits in his lonely board room cooking up ideas with his media pals... You know, the ones that he's trying to win over so that they'll give him some kind of money to turn a profit after he's already given them carte blanche to boss him around and make a joke of the league by bumping off playoff games from their air in favor of horse races.

He cuts his deals, he makes his promises, and gives no regard for how things will work in the future when he's trying to figure out a way to do an outdoor game in Tampa, Florida. You know he'll have to do that because he'll running out of ideas on where to do the next game or two on New Years Day all the while the fans have gotten over the novelty of it all and the idea just gets stale.

True Bettman style: Get a hold of a truly great thing and abuse people with it simply because it "works" and then be forced to ride the negative tide that sweeps in when things get out of control.

Take a guess what tide rolled in today with this rumor of a New Years Day doubleheader.

Don't get lost in what I'm ranting about here.

The Winter Classic as a singular game and big-time event yearly on January 1st is a great thing. Turning it into an annual circus having to look for new locations at all times to the benefit all the teams looking to cash in on a sideshow-like spectacle is a BAD idea.

The novelty is killed, the interest is nullified and pretty soon people stop noticing and giving a crap altogether. Doubling up sets a terrible precedent for this event in the future because you're not only continuing a bizarro hockey xenophobia that exists with American and Canadian audiences, the simple greatness of a great spectacle event is worn out twice as fast as it would otherwise.

Leave it to Herr Bettman to continue his version of Sherman's march to the sea to make sure anything good that happens with the NHL is soon burned to the ground.

Herr Bettman's State of the Reichstag

I've held off on this piece for a bit because, well, there's a big series going on right now. That said, I couldn't allow for Herr Bettman's yearly, rambling spin doctoring speech which he calls the State Of The League address go without giving it proper roasting.

Now I know that some of you may think that the harping on Bettman goes over the top and that's fine and a fair criticism to which I just ask that he not make it so easy to find ways to hammer him. That said, it's getting more popular to needle the man as Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy did quite nicely with his piece examining the NHL constitution and bylaws. If you haven't given that a look over you should because the NHL constitution goes over about as black and white as the rules interpretations do for officials.

No wonder this league is such a mess.

What we're going to focus on here, however, is Bettman's May 30th press conference about what he thinks of the league and its many sticky issues and why he's the kind of lying liar lying about lies that drive us crazy.


Black and White makes this blog classy-ish. It also opens the door to break Godwin's Law.

If you've watched or absorbed sports enough in your life you know that when you get a talk from or an interview with someone involved in the game either they're going to bore the crap out of you with the standard athlete/coach speak in which they offer up little to nothing informative or interesting.

If you're dealing with someone in an executive position you're probably going to get lied to a lot and if you're on to their game and understand that they're lying to you to mess with you, it's fun.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock is a superstar at this because he not only flat out lies, he twists reporters in knots with a British comedy-like dry wit in which allows him to both insult and take down a reporter who thinks they're ahead of the game.

You also have guys like John Tortorella who don't mind actually taking you down a peg or twelve and believe me, that's quite the moment to have.

For Gary Bettman though... We know he's lying, we know what he's lying about and he thinks he's being cute with us while others are more than happy to eat up what's spoonfed by the Lying Mouth That Fails.

Honestly, do you think anyone out there believes it when he says this:

With regard to Phoenix, there has been a lot of commentary on the subject. So let me spend a brief moment on it.

The team was never in jeopardy. It was literally 20 minutes away from being fixed in a way that we thought was going to work quite well, and it's our view, my view, that the Coyotes should not be in bankruptcy.

Give me a freaking break.

"Literally 20 minutes away from being fixed" - if you believe that I've got a team bridge to sell you.

Considering that the incredibly awful situation in Phoenix has now allowed for the soft underbelly of the NHL to be out in full display opening the door for every crazy canuck with lots of money to come running out to make a claim, how is it possible that the league was that close to righting the ship when they can't even get out of their own way in the first place?

How difficult would it be for Bettman to be up front from the get-go to say, "Listen, things are in a bad way in Phoenix. Jerry Moyes has come to us with concerns and has asked for the league to help out in finding a buyer for the franchise interested in keeping the team tied to the city."

At worst, the league takes a hit for playing things parallel to what goes on in corporate America with financially miserable companies getting a taxpayer bailout but at best everyone in the situation comes out looking like they're trying to do the right thing for everyone concerned. Not only does it allow for everyone to look good, it's solid PR for the league and for Jerry Moyes.



NHL Planning: It's fannnnnntastic!

Instead you get this from the press conference following the State of the Game address:

Q. Publicly you've painted a fairly optimistic portrait of Phoenix's financial health all season, yet court documents relating to the bankruptcy suggest there were some serious issues all year round. How do you imagine it turning around in that market?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: First of all, I know there have been suggestions that either Bill or I have been optimistic. That was not the case. What we've always responded to has been the notion that the club was not in any jeopardy. The club's losses are comparable to what they've been.

The City of Glendale is prepared to work with the club in terms of building arrangements. And we believe there are buyers out there who are willing to step up, invest and make it work. This is a club that needs new ownership and a change in management and needs to perform better than it has. As long as there are people prepared to invest in doing that, we think the prospects can be optimistic and should be. At least some of the people that I've spoken to believe that it can be turned around and turned around rather quickly by doing a lot of the right things that haven't been done.

Spin, spin, spin away.

The best part about reading this transcript is that you can see Bettman's mood change from the start of the press conference to the end of it and he knows that what he's shoveling isn't being bought by those in attendance and hey, when you go into one of these things knowing full well that the reporters are going to come at you armed with a litany of hot-button topics you have to think he'd be prepared for this or more media savvy about it.

But it's great to read an exchange that goes like this:

Q. Having said that, you've been in the south now, and your southern expansion, you've been 30 teams for, correct me if I'm wrong, 7 or 8 years now - the goal to be to get the big U.S. TV contract. The reward has never come. You don't have the big TV contract?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Really?

Q. Is there any shelf life on being in these cities where across the board down there you've got financial problems. Do you ever pull your horns in on this whole 30?team thing and bring it back a little bit?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: The answer is I don't agree with your premise. It wasn't all about just the big TV contract. It was about expanding our footprint and connecting with fans in more places than before. If you count, I don't have the exact number, but the number of people that have attended games in the new markets since they've come into the League goes into the tens of millions. We have a number of Stanley Cup champions and/or finalists who have come from the so?called Sun Belt.

To use your methodology of seven years, I'll make it 10 or 12 years, that's a relatively short period of time in the life of a franchise.

We like where we are. And this is not something that you take a snap shot over. We believe that our franchises can all be successful where they're currently located. And somebody could have asked me the same question that you just asked eight years ago about the Canadian franchises. They could have said; 'Why do you have any franchises other than Toronto or Montreal?' eight or ten years ago, because the buildings in all the other places were two?thirds to half empty. And the answer is because that's where we belong having franchises. We're working with our fans. And we don't run out on cities. We try to make it work. I think at this stage to pronounce that our expansion and the places where we are isn't working is premature.

With respect to television, the television landscape is a lot more complicated than the discussion about it. Taking the year off that we took had an impact on where we are and who had what needs when, and the perceived value of our product.

The fact is we decided coming back to go in a certain direction in the United States. Our ratings are growing very nicely with a partner who is growing with us. And it's playing out pretty much the way we planned. So if it's not living up to the standards, perhaps, that you've set for these franchises, I apologize. But we think we're doing okay.

Freaking hilarious.

I can picture in my head how Herr Bettman pouted over this and about how no one believes what he says when it comes to just about anything having to do with the league.In fact, I don't have to imagine it.


Gary's head being this cartoonishly large makes my Photoshop work all the more realistic.

I can just look at this and feel a lot better knowing that this is the look on his face.

With regard to what he's saying about Phoenix, I doubt there will be any deviation in how things go at tomorrow's hearing in the desert even though the Toronto Star seems to think that Balsillie has a good enough case to win out over the NHL. While we're talking about super-wealthy rams butting heads here, I doubt that the courts would ever go with someone trying to back-door their way into owning a team and violating the way the league does business.

Then again, you just never know - law is funny that way. For my own greedy purposes, I'd love to see Balsillie win out in court tomorrow. Getting a judge to help me and others across the Internet give the NHL and Bettman the finger is something I pray will happen some day, I just doubt beyond anything else that tomorrow is going to be that day.

Of course, should it break down like that, the NHL already has the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on stand-by ready to smack that down just in case Judge Baum wants to get frisky.

At least the league is always ready with a backup plan.

Er... Right.

The Cost of Words

Colin Campbell's Wheel of Justice was called in to weigh the cost of words against NHL Officials in regard to Joel Quenneville's loony outburst after Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Wheel spit out a $10,000 fine for these words:

“I think we witnessed probably the worst call in the history of sports there,” Quenneville said after the game. “Nothing play. “They scored, it’s 3-0. They ruined a good hockey game and absolutely destroyed what was going on the ice. … Never seen anything like it.”

Hilarious.





Let's go back down the notable checklist of punishments from the Wheel of Justice.

• Sucker-punching a player while he's not looking: No suspension.
• Criticizing officials: $10,000 fine
• Making fun of other players for banging girls they used to: Indefinite suspension and league-wide scorn.
• Deliver an open-ice hit similar to that of Mike Brown of Anaheim: Six games and national scorn... If your name is Donald Brashear.
  

It all makes complete sense.

Stupid NHL.

Stupid As Hell

I don't expect much from the NHL nor from the Versus Network, and frankly that's a good thing, it saves me a lot of aggravation.

Thanks to Wyshynski at Puck Daddy though, I've gotten my mojo back.

How else can you explain that the lowest of the low amongst hockey bloggers gets the call to help out Versus, the American network of hockey?

That's right, Versus has hired the infamous Eklund (that link is a MUST read) to be their voice of the hockey blogosphere.

I provide you the link to the Versus site merely to prove that it's not some jerk-around that Versus did something this stupid and I do NOT encourage anyone to visit Dwayne Klessel's page either at Versus or his own kingdom of stupid.

I'm not going to pile on about Klessel because, let's face it, if you're familiar with him at all you know his site is a joke and that the man himself is a poser of the highest order and a phony. If you don't know him, don't bother getting to know him or his joke of a hockey blog full of terrible rumors.

What's got me amazed here is that there is information galore all over the Internet about what a fraud he is and Verus still found him to be their go-to-guy for web analysis of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Unreal.

This is an amazing level of carelessness on the part of a network that has not improved much since Day One of their contract with the NHL. I can't believe that it makes me this angry especially when there are at least three kings of the hockey blogosphere that could have been/may have been contacted about this instead.

Any one of Paul Kukla, Greg Wyshynski or James Mirtle would've lent a lot more credibility to Versus on this one, even adding any of the numerous folks who are acolytes at any of their respective big time sites would have done the trick as well.

Instead we get a heaping dose of continued failure from a network that insists on continuing to treat their core audience like children who have never been to a game.


Versus: The Official Network of the Failboat

I've heard back from all three blogging gurus about this and Mirtle reports that he was not approached at all. I have to wonder if that has more to do with James being from Toronto and Versus folks not really being aware of where or what Canada is.

Greg Wyshynski adds in a similar tale in that he was never approached about such a thing either. Wyshynski also has a distinct pedigree having come from both Fanhouse and being featured at Deadspin.

Paul Kukla, on the other hand, was approached by Versus at the beginning of the season and tells me that while he was flattered and intrigued by the offer he didn't want to lend his and his website's name to something that might be "tied in with other less-reputable bloggers." Versus said they could not guarantee this would be the case, a response that opens up another entirely insane can of worms regarding the network.

Interpret that how you wish, but apparently Kukla's response was taken seriously enough that he wasn't approached about doing the same for them for the playoffs and obviously Versus decided to go with, perhaps, the least reputable guy on the Internet.

What an awful network and what an awful set of decision makers. I can't say how happy I am that the NHL is tied up with them until 2011.

Ahoy - It's the NHL's Great Green Whale

I know when you think of a hockey relic, some think of Gordie Howe or even Red Kelly. Some might think of Don Cherry, although it'd be safe to say that his opinions on the game are even older than he is and twice as tired.

In the current NHL landscape where anything going back as far as (gasp!) 15 years ago seems like and is treated like ancient history, there's one hockey relic that always brings back fond thoughts.



Bow before your legendary icon.

That's right, the Whale.

What folks might not be realizing is that the NHL is very slowly, semi-secretly doing their part to try and win back the city of Hartford and win back the hearts of folks like myself who can hear the strains of "Brass Bonanza" whenever they set foot into a hockey rink.

I just received an NHL Catalog in the mail and was stunned and amazed to see photos of an NHL sweatshirt on sale in there emblazoned with the classing Whalers logo.



This jobber doesn't even realize the greatness he's modeling.

Not only was it that, but it was part of a small collection of other highly-priced NEW Whalers merchandise on sale by the NHL.

This amazed me because the logo is owned by the Connecticut Development Authority and not the NHL. To put the logo on any merchandise you have to get permission from the CDA to make it happen and, let's face it, the NHL doesn't exactly enjoy legal wrangling with anyone. Of course, in this case, there's money to be made for the NHL and Whalers merchandise, after not being available now for the better part of 10+ years would sell like crazy to people like me who look for it on Ebay.

Something is afoot here and the NHL is getting back in touch with the folks in Connecticut and not just for a way to get money out of our wallets. They're also looking into seeing what the city of Hartford has to offer as the home of an NHL franchise once again.

What, you don't believe me? Then explain this:

Mayor (Eddie)Perez, along with Andy Bessette, Chief Administrative Officer of the Travelers Insurance Company (who is leading a task force on private sector support for a new arena) and Oz Griebel, CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance, discussed with Commissioner Bettman the potential for including an NHL franchise in future plans for the development of a new Hartford arena.

“Today’s meeting with Commissioner Bettman was an excellent opportunity to let him know that Hartford remains interested in bringing the NHL back to Connecticut’s Capital City. We had a very good discussion and the Commissioner was generous with his time and thoughts about what was necessary for an NHL franchise to succeed,” Mayor Perez stated.

Incredible, right? After all, the NHL was more than happy to run screaming from Hartford (with Peter Karmanos' help) and head to North Carolina.

Herr Bettman doing something to reach out to other cities, even ones that used to have hockey and didn't do well to sustain themselves. I wonder what the folks in Winnipeg think about this.

What's even more amazing about all of this is that Hartford mayor Eddie Perez fits right in with Bettman and his other business pals and loser owners.

Perez is, allegedly, a crook.

In court papers, prosecutors accuse Perez of hiring city contractor Carlos Costa to renovate his home and not paying for it until after being confronted by investigators.

Charged with receiving a bribe, fabricating physical evidence and conspiracy to fabricate evidence, Perez says he is innocent... Costa and a city employee were also charged with felonies.

So here we've got Herr Bettman showing up playing the part of the Redeemer and Perez trying to cast himself as the Hero of the Day and instead it's Perez being arrested for being a shyster all in an effort to reclaim the greatness and the glory of the Whale.

Amazing. I'm not entirely sure this makes everything even more tragic and disgraceful or one hell of a dire effort. Considering that Bettman is along for the ride, I'll think of this latest series of events as another skid mark on the legacy of the Whalers.


"Moby Dork" featuring Gary Bettman as Captain Ahab and Hartford mayor Eddie Perez as Queequeg.

The extra fun part about all of this is that whether the City of Hartford was able to secure this new arena deal or not, moving an NHL team back to Hartford or giving them (God help us all...) an expansion team might rank out as one of the worst ideas in professional sports.

Hartford is an abysmal city, much like most Northeast cities that aren't named Boston or New York City are. Considering that other cities that I'd compare similarly to Hartford (Providence, Worcester, Albany, Syracuse and Rochester) are all homes to AHL franchises, it's fitting that Hartford is home to one as well and there's a damn good reason for that.

These cities are depressed (or recessed, whatever) and folks that live there or in their suburbs aren't selling out the arenas for any of these AHL franchises so what makes any of these simpletons think that planting an NHL franchise with vastly more expensive tickets is going to change the situation? It won't and Hartford has been through this already once and a new arena isn't changing that.

Look, we all think fondly about the Whalers and everything that they stood for and everything that they ever were but this is a case where keeping the memories alive in our minds and on reverential websites (Like: The Blowhole, Whalers Hockey, Brass Bonanza) are what pay the proper respect to the Whale. Trying to reanimate the corpse of the Whale would only serve to ruin the memories of a much beloved former franchise.

Return of the Cash Cow

That's right kids - the magical, mythical and incredible marketing scheme that has made the colored jersey at home the current and ridiculous staple of the NHL is coming back with a vengeance this season.

The third-jersey is back, baby!

Get ready to drop anywhere from $120 to $300 for your new, and quite possibly, horrendously all-time ugly team jersey!

All-time ugly is something yours truly is a great appreciator of, after all, when you're sporting a collection of jerseys that outnumber U.S. states...these things happen. The beauty of this being the off-season and now merely a month away from the start of NHL training camp, that means we're that much closer to getting the official unveiling of these potential atrocities to sports fashion.

While I'm wont to give credit to a certain other blog site, I will say that Howard Berger has managed to finagle a view of all of these new jerseys and he reports on what they're going to look like, and, frankly some of these descriptions have "horror" written all over them.

If this is a topic you should want to follow further, I'll point you to nowhere else other than to the Icethetics blog, which I did have linked to the right side for a while when it was formerly known as the Tournament of Logos.

I'll readily admit here that I'm borrowing the graphic that was posted at Icethetics, and likely elsewhere as well, so that I can help visualize things for you rather than send you to that site and then get my wonderful commentary while jumping between windows. Don't worry Icethetics, I'm linking to your post and your site very much here. Fear not! Should that picture not show up large enough for your liking, feel free to click this link to get the larger version of it.

That said - here goes nothing:

I can already tell you right now which ones will go down as truly great ones and which ones will be held up in all-time infamy as ugly. I can also tell you that the folks in Toronto are either truly die-hard traditionalists or they're struck with permanent amnesia because their design has held up the test of time since Toe Blake was running around. Either the Leafs ownership group figured what was good before the lockout was good enough or they had this meeting break out:

"So, we need to develop a third jersey for this season. Any ideas?"

"Well, I was thinking... what if we took our logo from the 40s and 50s and made the uniform look like it also came from that era, you know, back when we were always winning the Stanley Cup and could beat the Red Wings and Canadiens with ease?"

"That's brilliant! It'll make everyone forget how poorly we've been for the last....40 years? Huh... how about that. Anyways - I like it! Let's run with that! Also, let's see if we can work out a way to make ticket prices even more ridiculous than they already are! LET'S GO LEAFS! LET'S GO LEAFS! LET'S GO LEAFS!"

Sounds about right, doesn't it?

First of all, big ups to some of the teams for dusting off old favorites (yes, even Toronto). The Blackhawks, Islanders, Oilers, Sabres, Canucks, Flyers and Penguins have all gone back into the vault to break out iconic jerseys from the 70s and 80s. For this guy who grew up on hockey in the 80s in the times of Gretzky, Lemieux, Beaupre and Wreggett it'll be a treat to see these jerseys back out on the ice again.

That said, having to see them up against the ones that will be sported by the Ottawa Senators, Atlanta Thrashers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings. Out of those four, the Kings jersey has the most potential to look good, but I'm hesitant to be positive on this right now.

The Stars jersey I don't actually mind, I'm just taking points off for them being thoroughly unoriginal as their's is just the white version of their current home jersey. Soft serve I say.

The Thrashers jersey is thoroughly baffling. They're going with a deep red version with script lettering. These ideas aren't bad unto themselves except that the entire Thrashers marketing for their home games is that they're Blueland. "WELCOME TO BLUELAND!" can be found all over Philips Arena and now you're going to have your team come racing out on home ice in red?

Ridiculous and stupid. Typical of a team that still needs their public address announcer to tell the fans what the hell is going on in a game.

The Senators and Lightning jerseys just don't do anything at all for me. I don't generally have a problem with script lettering at all, except that the Senators appear to be doing theirs in the opposite direction from what we've seen with other teams that letter diagonally and the Lightning just don't seem to have a look that's at all good. For shame.

As for new and innovative styles, the Bruins are head and shoulders above all others. The old logo with the current color scheme is perfect. I would buy one of those jerseys. Now if only the Bruins didn't play a dreadfully boring kind of hockey.

The Blues, should their style be correct, will also be big hits. Adopting the style set forth by the Minnesota Wild was a good idea here as was incorporating the St. Louis Arch into the design. Very well done. The Coyotes and Sharks are also coming correct here, although going with a black jersey, while predictable, is a bit of a let down.

The jersey I'm left undecided on is the Hurricanes. There are two designs on that graphic, one inferior to a great degree and the other being head and shoulders superior and in the class with the Bruins and Blues. Should the current shoulder logo be put on the front, that is a big winner for me. Going with the current crest logo and a triangle (meant to stand for the Research Triangle in Raleigh) is an immense bore and a complete loser.

I can't get too down on the black jersey here, but I think going with a red jersey with the shoulder logo would be a huge upgrade.

Now that I've put away my Mr. Blackwell suit and eye for fashion, I'll gear you up with some words of wisdom (yes, wisdom) from Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Brilliant Ideas Sullied By Madness

Recently, NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly gave an interview with the Palm Beach Post (wait...huh?) and one thing he said stood out so much, TSN decided to carry it as one of their main stories.

In it, he says something that I stand firmly behind and support, and then blows that support up with the clarifying statement. Quoting from the TSN article:

In an interview with the Palm Beach Post, Kelly listed a number of cities
that are "anxious" to get a team, including Seattle, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Kansas
City, Las Vegas and Houston.

"The six Canadian franchises do so well, they pack the buildings, get great
TV, great revenue streams. If you put another team up there, be it in Nova
Scotia or Hamilton, it would be more of the same."

This sounds good - we've got a handful of cities that are really hurting in the support category and could be looking to get out of town. Reinvigorating the Canadian market is also a brilliant idea as they will fill up an arena at will and the Canadian dollar is on par with the U.S. dollar (scarily so).

Except that the article leads off by saying that these cities are all interested in expansion opportunities.

NO! NO! NO! NO! Bad NHL!

You continue to learn nothing from past mistakes and seek to overwrite them by making more bad mistakes. Yes, revenues keep going up magically - mainly by bilking the fans that want to come to games.

They seem to think these revenues will continue to keep coming whereas instead we're just going to see the fans in cities where they do love and care about hockey continue to get it stuck to them for ticket monies and the hemorraging markets will keep trying to cut deals to fans to make it affordable while still eating a huge financial loss.

I know the Players Association wants expansion, it's more voices to add to yell at Bettman - that much I support. What it'll do to the game, however, I do not support. If anything, the NHL needs contraction.