Off Wing Opinion

At first, I was really annoyed when I read this column by Newsday's Shaun Powell about the continuing woes of the NHL as a business -- after all, it is a pretty easy storyline. Then I read this report, that said ratings for Game One on ESPN were the worst they'd ever been for a broadcast of the Finals, and I remembered just how desperate things really are for the sport financially.

Frankly, I'd rather think of what's happening on the ice. Here's the Tampa Tribune's Erik Erlendsson on the Lightning's dilemma after Game One:

The Lightning said all the right things after capturing the Eastern Conference title, how they still had unfinished business, how they were going to be ready for the speedy Flames.

But all the video work in the world, no matter how many times you watch it, can't prepare you for game speed. Seeing the Flames up close and personal, seeing how quickly they are on top of you, how they challenge everything was like watching an instructional video on how to swim and then dropping to the bottom of the pool the first time you venture into the water.

OK, so you're John Tortorella: what do you do?

1) Ask your team to focus, and keep with the gameplan;
2) Ditch the gameplan and open things up, thinking the less offensively talented Flames won't be able to handle the superior firepower on your top two lines?
3) Ditch the gameplan completely, and give the Flames a taste of their own medicine, adopting their forechecking tactics in an attempt to create the kind of turnovers the Lightning regularly created in the first three rounds of the torunament?

My guess is Tortorella won't panic. He'll stick with what's gotten him here -- at least for one game. If not for a fortuitous bounce, and one all-world play by Jarome Iginla, Game One would have been 1-0 headed into the third period.

One other thing to consider -- the ice in Tampa is really soft. Maybe Tortorealla asks management to turn up the heat and make the ice even softer -- something that might hurt the faster Flames.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 27th, 2004 at 12:28 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

If losing the opening game of the Stanley Cup Finals weren't enough, Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle's evening took a turn for the worse last night when he discovered a fire had caused about $300,000 damage ($U.S.) to his Tampa home.

Back in the Tampa Bay locker room, many of Rick Dudley's friends from his time as Tampa Bay GM were shocked at the news of his firing from the GM post with their cross-state rivals. Meanwhile, las Panteras made it official -- Keenan and Martin are in as GM and head coach next season.

Here's Chris Corrigan from the Hockey Pundits:

The game means more here in Canada than it does in Tampa Bay. I don't buy the "pillaging" argument, but it is not too much of a stretch to say that this series is being taken entirely differently on either side of the border.

In the NBA or the NFL the Championship is the Championship. In the NHL it's very market dependant. If it wasn't for the fact that there was a Canadian team in the finals, hockey would be on it's deathbed right now. If San Jose had won the West, thirty people would have been following the final.

Indeed, more folks in Calgary might care right now when it comes to the Stanley Cup Finals. But know this, a win by the Bolts would do a lot more to cement the future of the NHL South of the Mason-Dixon line, and virtually guarantee that the Lightning will continue to be a going concern in Tampa. Just ask the ownership groups in Dallas and Denver.

At a press conference before last night's game, Commissioner Gary Bettman was rattling the management sabre.

Earlier today, I said team speed was the critical factor in Calgary's win last night. Steve Ovadia thinks it goes deeper -- it was all about joy. ESPN's crew weighs in here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2004 at 4:57 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Over at About.com, Jamie Fitzpatrick has uncovered an epidemic of Florida-bashing on the eve of the Stanley Cup Finals. Does anybody remember this kind of silliness when Dallas won the Cup in 1999?

Here's ESPN.com's Terry Frei in response:

But the deal is -- seriously, folks -- that unless the NHL is going to try to turn back the clock four decades, everyone needs to get past this chauvinistic attitude about, ahem, "non-traditional" markets making the finals.

It gets old. Even older than Dave Andreychuk.

Here, here. Thanks to the Hockey Pundits for the link.

Steve Ovadia got a good look at the Jarome Iginla action figure, and has found a significant flaw.

NHL2Night might be gone forever, but thankfully, John Buccigross is still with us.

A little less than a year after dumping Mike Keenan from behind the bench, it looks like the Panthers actually want to bring him back in order to replace deposed GM Rick Dudley. If things hold to form, we should expect the Panthers to be the surprise Eastern Conference entry in the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Czechs and the Finns have named their World Cup rosters.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2004 at 7:03 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Congratulations to Team Canada, who took the gold medal in the World Championships with a 5-3 win over Sweden this weekend. Jeff and Alanah are celebrating. The U.S. secured the Bronze with a 1-0 shootout win over Slovakia on Sunday. The real hero for Team USA was Edmonton Oilers goalie Ty Conklin, who went undefeated in the tournament at 4-0-1, and helped the U.S. qualify for the final round in the 2006 Olympics in Turin.

Over at The Hockey Pundits, Chris McAlonan is doing a great job with his capsule reivews of the Flyers-Bolts series.

Over the weekend, lots of folks pointed to this Larry Brooks piece pointing the fingers at the owners in the CBA dispute. While I can understand the folks who are inclined to call ownership a pack of liars due to their negotiating position, I don't think we should fool ourselves into thinking that a negotiation between billionaires (owners) and millionaires (players) has anything to do with a traditional labor/management dispute. Taking sides in this dispute is a lot like taking sides in the contract negotiations between NBC and the cast of Friends.

PJ at Sharkspage took his camera to Sunday's San Jose-Calgary game, and he's promised me an all-babe gallery for Game Two.

Did I ever mention how much I love Sharkspage?

The story of Mike Danton just gets sadder, as evidence of the complete control his agent exercises over his whole life become more apparent everyday. Danton seems so in the thrall of his agent, that I have to wonder if a trial will even get us nearer to the truth.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2004 at 4:44 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

We've got to wait how many more days before the start of the Conference Finals? I guess it will be good practice for next season, when we don't know if we'll get to watch much hockey at all.

The Tampa Tribune's Martin Fennelly is getting a little uncomfortable with the playoff success the Lightning has been enjoying thus far. But when you play the seventh and eighth seeds in your conference in the first two rounds of the playoffs, success like this shouldn't exactly be unexpected. Then again, when you finish first in the your conference, you're expected to capitalize on your good fortune with performances like the ones the Bolts have put in.

Pat Quinn, who has one year remaining on his contract in Toronto, will be back as head coach of the Leafs next season. BTW -- great seats are still available at the Air Canada Centre. Though I'm shocked, it looks like Tony Granato will get to keep his job in Colorado too. And in Florida, the Panthers talked to ex-Sens coach Jacques Martin about the head coaching job there, though management says interim head coach John Torchetti is still the frontrunner.

Out in Vancouver, the Canucks are expected to announce that Dave Nonis will be their new general manager. Tom Benjamin is still angry about all of this, and he's got a right to be. Tom also talks about the hockey most of North America isn't watching, the World Championships, and Hockey Rodent has a report on Team USA's surprising victory over the hometown Czechs.

On The Wings has shaken off post playoff depression, and is looking to the future on the blueline.

And in case you missed it, St. Louis Blues forward Mike Danton was extradited to Illinois to face charges in that alleged murder for hire plot that still lacks a target with a name. The plea was not guilty. Danton's agent, David Frost, just talked with the AP, and claimed that Danton was delusional and under the influence of painkillers and sleeping pills when he arranged the alleged contract hit.

In happier news, the AP has caught up with former NHL coach Kevin Constantine. Looks like somebody has found a home in the WHL.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2004 at 4:46 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Vancouver Canucks Op Ed isn't happy with Orca Bay's decision to let Brian Burke find a new job. They're right to be upset, as Burke will almost certainly have another team on the brink of a Cup sometime in the next few seasons. The Canucks clearly would have been right there if not for the Bertuzzi incident.

Want to beat David Aebischer? Here's how PJ at Sharkspage says you can do it:

San Jose will need to pile bodies in front of the crease and aim high, preferably blocker side. Getting big goalies moving side-to-side will open up the five hole.

Meanwhile, remember how Sharks head coach Ron Wilson called out a number of players after their OT loss to Colorado in Game Five. Looks like Sharks defenseman Mike Rathje is a little annoyed with Wilson:

"I just gave them the puck, basically, from what I hear" from the coach, Rathje said after practice, declining to discuss the play in greater detail. "I'm not going to focus on one play out there. It's a 60-minute game, a 25-guy team."

Rathje has been the only Sharks skater on the ice for the three Colorado goals that have brought the Avalanche to within one win of San Jose entering today's Game 6 in Denver.

Back East, there's joy in Philadelphia, as it looks like Robert Esche will start Game Six tonight in Toronto. Though Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock reported that Esche was suffering from "flu-like symptoms" that resulted in him being pulled from Game Five, most folks are acknowledging that Esche probably suffered some sort of head injury during Game Four. Last night on ESPN, there was open speculation that the Flyers would be reluctant to report that Esche has suffered a concussion, as league rules would mandate that Esche be held off the ice for at least one week before returning.

Puts the whole Eric Lindros/Flyers saga in a different light now, doesn't it?

Up in Toronto, Mike Ulmer of the Toronto Sun is pretty fatalistic:

MAYBE YOU remember the conflicts facing characters from high school English: Man versus man, man versus himself? I ask because the greatest obstacle facing the Maple Leafs is not the big, hard-skating Philadelphia Flyers.

The Leafs' greatest hurdle is the little voice lurking inside each player that says: "Why bother? There's already enough pain in the world. Why go looking for more?"

I understand what he's talking about. Unfortunately, the Leafs play will only reinforce this notion, as I predict they will win tonight, only to lose Game Seven in Philly later this week.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 4th, 2004 at 3:57 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.