NHL Lockout 2012: Against Popular Opinions

The fan's anxiety of the current NHL lockout has been hysterical as if it were judged by the internet blogisphere. One would think that the universe were collapsing and the Mayans were right after all. It wasn't all that long ago, that the same issues brought on by the owner's previous lockout, were all hopefully taken care of now that the salary cap and other financial rules were put into place. The fans and players are told now that it isn't so. The financial model of the league is still "broken". Therefore, the League's owners choose to sit out and wait until they can plan for all contingencies.

So far, this lockout has divided some fans and Gary Bettman's reputation has fallen further (as evident by the radical outspoken fans). But before you view the NHL commissioner and collective owners as callous, here is a list of reasons why I am taking the owners side in lockout 2012 and you should also.

1. I am a non-conformist when it comes to populism. I see the hate and piling on Bettman and I think it's outrageously cruel. He's had so many pictures of him making him look foolish, but there is no real substance or solution offered by those fans. They just demonize Comish Bettman. It's a childish immature response.
   
2. To quote James Carville: "It's the economy, stupid". There are people out there who will never see a million dollars. For the players to trot out the "I'm starving" when they have more than what they need just to play a trivial game is a slap in the face to people who can barely make ends meet and have to save up to even buy one overpriced ticket.
   
3. Donald Fehr. He was instrumental in baseball for making sure that we have irreversible competitive non parity in MLB.
   
4. NHLPA hypocrisy. As reported by Yahoo! Sports Hockey, The players union meet in "New York Marriott Marquis, a non-union hotel, as the Fortune Limousine service idles outside. A black SUV displays an NHLPA sign and this license plate: "FORTUNE1."
   
5. If it's evident to me that they can't respect each other on the ice with constant intent-to-injure hits, why should I believe they are so arm-in-arm in brotherhood now?

So, that's the way I see things. NHLPA does not get my sympathy.

NHL Resurges With New Plan On Concussion Plans

After having been pressured by a multitude of outside sources, the NHL today released a plan that intends to fix the very dangerous rising trend of concussions and adhere to clarity of player safety.

Even with the best of intentions, the collective NHL general managers are fighting against the rising tide of cynicism among fans and media. The League representatives at their best have trotted in front of any microphone and promised reprisals, but seemingly more and more players got hurt. I can feel the palpable negativity surrounding this latest plan.

Commissioner Gary Bettman again posed a rather eloquent, but still resembled rhetorical speak when he was quoted with this thought.

"There's no one single thing causing concussions," said Bettman. "There is no magic bullet to deal with this. I know that it's an emotional, intense subject, particularly for our fans. We get it. But dealing with this issue is not something you can do whimsically or emotionally."

Begging for patience when there is very little to be had among the fans, players, and media is but only ringing hollow in their ears. And just who did Commissioner Bettman try to appeal to here with that quote? Everyone?

Then the other stages of the meeting in Boca Raton, FL, revealed the line of thinking that the NHL top brass qualifies and quantified as the problem areas.

Of the approximately 80 concussions suffered by players in 2010-11, the NHL found that 44 per cent of those were caused by a legal hit. Another 26 per cent came on plays that were deemed accidental, 17 per cent were ruled to be the result of an illegal hit and eight per cent were suffered in fights.

The remaining five per cent couldn't be accounted for because they occurred on an undetected play.

So, the majority of hits came from legal plays as the rules stand now. But now, the solution is to fix that by making any and all shots to the head be deemed illegal. It seems fair, but how many players will second guess themselves if what they are about to do is legal? Hardest hitting is the several bullet points that came out of the GM discussion group.

• A pannel of ex-players to continue looking into the concussion issue.
• Shanahan to work on equipment construction rules.
• Fining teams' ownership for large quantities of suspensions.
• Getting an engineering team to construct a safer hockey rink structure while eliminating the dreaded "seamless glass" by next season.

I would have to say that this is a real positive step in the right direction. Even though I am mostly positive to the NHL's leadership, I wonder just how this will play out among fans and will the players buy into it as well.

After all, the true change is to the players themselves. The truest form of change will come with the player attitude and vast increase in the respect to their fellow player.

[Via: Rogers Sportsnet]

Bettman Fights For Women's Olympic Hockey

Critics of Commissioner Gary Bettman have leveled many charges against him, but occasionally they will see a side to Gary that can be agreeable. Such is the case of the momentum of the Hockey Summit focusing light on the marginally growing womens game.

So, Bettman, being the consummate leader familiar face to the media chose to stand up to the I.O.C. in response to whispers and rumors regarding the downgrading of women's hockey in the Olympic games.

"My own view is it's very important to support women's hockey, to maintain its presence at the Olympics. The way women's hockey will get bigger and better around the world is if there's an inspiration of excellence that people can strive for," Bettman said at the Beyond Sport Summit, designed to promote the use of sport to create social change.

"I think it would be a huge mistake for the IOC or the (International Ice Hockey Federation) to consider doing anything that diminishes the role of women's hockey."

If women's hockey is to get better with the further development around the world, I would agree that the main stage of Olympic competition has to remain visible or women's desire to play beyond mite, high school, or any university level is going to drastically wain for other opportunities.

TSN.ca

Quebec City Meets With Bettman for Possible Nords Return

In a surprising story that I hope doesn't fizzle away into "just a tease" category. It was reported today that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had a positive meeting with former Quebec Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut and Quebec City mayor Regis Labeaume.

It immediately made me think of this news item that I highlighted several years ago. But since I have not heard anything else about the progress towards rebuilding the Hartford Whalers, I hope that this idea for Quebec is not just a tease gift-wrapped up in wishful thinking.

"It was very welcoming, very profitable, very worthwhile," Labeaume told the media. "But we'll get back to you in a few days -- we still have work to do."

Take note that it was not Bettman who said this quote, but the Mayor who does not have any stake in the current NHL business plan nor "La Commissionare"s reputation with Canadian fans.

Personally, I think it would be great to see a revival of the Montreal/Quebec rivalry.

[Rogers SportsNet]

Maple Leafs Have No Sway With NHL Directives

Coming out of the Coyotes Bankrupcy circus today has the NHL explaining publicly that the Toronto Maple Leafs opinions do not sway the National Hockey League with a "veto power". Deputy Commish Bill Daly said so on 640 AM today during an interview with Dreger.

"It's the league's position that, no, they (the Leafs) don't have a veto power," Daly said, noting that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been very clear and consistent in this interpretation of league rules for some time.

This argument that the League has been protecting the southern Ontario market for quite some time on behalf of the Leafs has been the crux of the way Jim Balsillie has fought in hopes that he might get an anti-trust ruling in his favor.

Daly also pointed out that the commissioner has unassailable rights to interpret the league constitution as he sees fit.

Wow. so, basically Daly said here is that Bettman can do anything he wants. Wow.

I don't agree with that assessment, even if it is true. If the understanding that came out of the recent NHL lockout that the game is bigger than any one person, player, agent, or team, then how can this statement be made? Accountability at the highest levels is always necessary when any company is to remain successful.

[Via: TSN.ca]

Avery Suspended For Misogyny

When villains with no shame provide themselves with attention-grabbing stunts, there is no depth as to which it ends. Sean Avery may be a lot of things, but we can add misogynistic to this list.

The Stars super-pest was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Tuesday for conduct "detrimental to the league or game of hockey." The league imposed the ban "following inappropriate public comments, not pertaining to the game made by Avery earlier (Tuesday)."

The NHL Commish, Garry Bettman, has suspended Avery for making public comments to the media about his opponents in Calgary. He labeled Flames captain Jerome Iginla as someone "who nobody cares about" and continued to infuriate with

"I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds."

Avery is referring to his ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert who continues to stay romantically linked to other NHL players.

The comments were intended to inflame, so I am not going to get too upset about it, but I am glad that Bettman and the the Dallas Stars have agreed with me.

The Stars were so shocked by their own player's conduct that they publicly supported the suspension.

But shockingly, there are some fans who will argue that Bettman's handling of the situation only raises more questions. Chris Wassel, of The Program blog, wrote a stunning defense for Avery citing censorship will soon purify the NHL into a "No Harassment League" spoiling the fun.

how does "sloppy seconds" adversely effect the game of hockey?

Fans like Chris Wassel don't see the bigger picture of upholding the dignity of the sport and league. Where the NHL is constantly fighting off barrages of attacks from the drive-by mainstream media, this actually makes the league look good to the feminist fans. It's doubtful that the NHL will continue a crusade against taunting. They would have done it by now.

[Via: The Program & The Hockey News]

Hockey Groundhog Predicts

Blogger fans, it is again that time of year where the Hockey Groundhog comes up from out of the ground and takes a look around to predict the coming years of professional hockey.

It seems that the Hockey Groundhog has seen his shadow... so it will mean another 15 more years of Gary Bettman!

[Assist to: Stormbringer (for the paint.NET help)]

Hockey Fanatic Podcast No. 4

Hi everybody! Here is another rendition of my blog's podcasts that I have uploaded. I am cozily situated within my own hometown of North Huntingdon, PA and enjoying a hot chocolate and bagel at Java Trails Coffee. If you are ever here, please shop around and buy a cup. There is free wi-fi which is allowing me to do this.

I am talking a little bit about the XM show that Commissioner Bettman is doing now so that he can be an innovative figurehead. This is also cross-posted over at my other blog angled to my broadcasting career as well as a watchtower on the "mainstream driveby media".

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NHL to Balance Schedule

I could pretty much guess that pressure from the league owners and the majority of fans who wanted more variety in the NHL schedule. Actually, it is no real secret. Commissioner Bettman went ahead and openly admitted it.

"The sense of the board was we heard the concerns raised by some of the fans, and this was an attempt to be responsive to the concerns of our fans," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

I have said a million times that I don't want the Penguins to play anybody else other than the regional Atlantic Division + Washington. That is where the excitement is! The rivalries that gets supercharged! An east coast fan has to wait for an 11pm start for a 8pm West coast spot. Ugh! What are you people doing?

The League explains the new scheduling setup in their announcement.

Under the new format, approved at the League meetings in Pebble Beach, Calif., and scheduled to begin in 2008-09, teams will play each club in their division six times, a total of 24 games, and the 10 other clubs in their conference four times, a total of 40 games.

The remaining 18 games in the 82-game schedule will involve each club playing all 15 clubs in the other conference at least once, home or away. The three remaining games will be devoted to inter-conference “at-large” scheduling.

No mention of actually moving the games closer or fixing it so the playoffs don't get scheduled until the middle of June. That would be a great fix!

[Via: NHL.com]