Off Wing Opinion

The NHL has just hired John Collins, formerly President and CEO of the Cleveland Browns, as their Chief Marketing Officer. His stay in Cleveland was anything but quiet, as it was marked by a very public power struggle with Browns General Manager Phil Savage -- check out the archive at Dan Wismar's place for more. Whatever his merits on the job there, the fans in Cleveland weren't exactly sorry to see him lose out to Savage, as The Dawg Blog chronicled at the time.

Then again, I'm sure with the way the Browns are playing this year, Collins has to feel like he's enjoying the last laugh.

From his Wikipedia entry:

Collins spent the next 15 years in a variety of key business roles with the National Football League, beginning with NFL Films before becoming Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales prior to his appointment with the Browns. He oversaw all the marketing, corporate sponsorship and advertising sales functions of the NFL and was a key member of the team that launched the NFL Network.

Sounds like just the kind of guy the league needs. And after seeing his predecessor pack up and leave New York after only six months on the job, that's an awfully big need.

Congrats to Paul Kukla for coming up with a new angle on the same old hockey interview:

I had enough of the same or typical question syndrome and decided to do something about it. Recently I approached the Washington Capitals with a propostion -- Would AO be able to answer some questions from the hockey fans worldwide? Their response was "certainly", with one stipulation. The questions must be unique, not the "typical" questions we have heard over and over.

So here is your chance to be like a hockey writer. Put on your press credential badge or hat and ask away, but keep the word "unique" in mind when submitting your question. I am not going to give you any guidelines, but questions such as, "Alex, how many goals do you want to have this year?" will not make the cut. Fresh and out-of-the-box are the way to go.

Open Source sports writing: It's a new world.

On The Wings has moved. Best to Matt.

Great to see Washington come home from the road trip with five points in four games. It could have easily been less, but thanks to Olie Kolzig's performance in Vancouver, the Caps were able to salvage an extra point that might be looking pretty huge come April.

And speaking of that point in Vancouver: Caps Head Coach Glen Hanlon says the team doesn't practice the shootout and won't start. But now that the Caps have dropped three points in shootouts so far this season, I think it might very well be time to start.

From what I saw of the Caps-Flames game tonight, Alex Ovechkin might have been held without a goal, but there was one sequence in the Calgary defensive zone when he absolutely abused Dion Phaneuf. It was great to see. Too bad we may not see it again until 2008. Which means there was one thing that Dave Nonis was right about.

Nice to see Richard Zednik get his first two goals of the season.

As On Frozen Blog mentioned yesterday, Dainius Zubrus has picked up where he left off last season, and a pair of goals last night put an exclamation point on Game 11. Then again, on a team that takes too many penalties, Zubrus has piled up more PIMs than anyone else -- 22.

One last thought: When I saw Steve Eminger missing from the line combinations at the start of last night's game, this description from Sunday night is the first thing that came to my mind:

Eminger looks nervous at times, lost at times, and flat disinterested at times. Being paired with the struggling Clymer isn

By now, I'm sure most of you have read about the speech Canucks GM Dave Nonis gave in Vancouver today:

The age for free agents in the NHL "is a joke" and could result in the Pittsburgh Penguins losing Sidney Crosby when he's just entering his prime, Vancouver Canucks general manager Dave Nonis said Monday.

"Pittsburgh is going to put seven years of development money into him and he can leave when he's 25," Nonis told a B.C. Chamber of Commerce meeting.

[...]

Under the collective bargaining agreement, a player aged 29, with eight seasons in the league, became a free agent for the 2006-07 season. In 2008-09, a player aged 27, or one with seven seasons in the league, becomes an unrestricted free agent.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but I was cackling pretty loud when I first read those words.

Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that the NHL's new free agency rules are going to play havoc with the lives of plenty of league GMs. Combined with the salary cap, I'm sure things are going to be especially miserable for executives who don't learn to become as deft at balancing budgets as they are with talent evaluation.

Then again, asking players to delay free agency for a period longer than seven years after being drafted seems excessive to me. Think about having to wait seven years before getting a shot to choose your employer and negotiate the best deal you can make.

I don't know about anybody else, but it makes me sick. Seven years is long enough.

And does anybody else find it the least bit ironic that a GM in a league that regularly plucks the top talent from Russia is talking this way? Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with the way the NHL is dealing with teams in the former Soviet Union. But to hear an NHL GM exclaim at the unfairness of only being able to hold onto a player for seven years in light of the manner in which players are leaving Russia these days is almost too precious for words.

Another great find by Colby Cosh: An online league for the SuperNintendo version of NHL '94.

The guys from Battle of Alberta and Covered in Oil got together this weekend for some street hockey in snowy Edmonton. Colby Cosh was there with his camera.

My apologies to any of you who might have slipped me a note in the past few days. Free time is at a premium for me these days, and answering all my email is just impossible.

That being said, I'd like to point all of you to some newcomers to the Hockey Blogosphere who are worth your time:

Eric Caterina is joining up with the crew at Sports Column Blog, where he'll be contributing a daily NHL post.

I was happy to hear from Jonathan Jackson, the mind behind Western Ontario Sports. Lots of great stuff on Ontario junior hockey. Check it out;

And my friend John Fontana isn't alone anymore now that Lightning Hockey Central is in business.

As I've said many times, competition is good for everyone. Welcome to the show, guys.

From time to time, bloggers have wondered out loud whether or not the attendance data being published by the NHL tracks actual results.

Which is why my this item caught my eye a little while ago:

StratBridge is working with the National Hockey League (NHL(R)) to provide StratTix ticket analysis and reporting tools to all 30 member clubs so they can continue to grow home game revenues and increase ticket sales league-wide. The NHL is the second major professional sports league (joining the National Basketball Association) to capitalize on StratTix's comprehensive data analysis features.

[...]

All 30 NHL member clubs will have StratTix in place to collect sales data and deliver reports that present revenue information in a consistent format. Previously, teams relied on different systems for tracking sales information and then reporting on it. StratTix will automate the process, saving both the NHL and individual member clubs the time and money it takes to re-key information, track down errors and hunt for key statistics.

Member clubs will have the option to use StratTix to create graphical representations of sold and available in-arena seating and conduct complete analyses of ticket sales and individual seating information for every game. They will also have the option to use the StratTix Premium service to access up-to-the-minute sales information to develop special promotions on the fly.

Thanks to the guys over at the Hockey Analysis Group at Yahoo for starting this conversation.

My latest notebook column from NBC Sports has just been posted. In this week's edition, I talk to Chris Snow, the former beat writer for the Boston Red Sox who left journalism behind to work for the Minnesota Wild; take a closer look at Buffalo's ten-game winning streak; and follow up on some of the more recent developments concerning penalty enforcement in youth and recreational hockey as well as one last look at Alex Ovechkin's visor.

David Betancourt of the Washington Post had a fun experience recently -- taking on Caps winger Alex Ovechkin in EA Sports' NHL '07, the videogame where Ovechkin serves as the cover boy:

The folks at EA Sports told me that Ovechkin got the hang of NHL 07 pretty quickly, even with changes in the controls that require more use of the two thumb sticks and not the controller's buttons. The Capitals' public relations department said the same thing.

[...]

When I arrive at Verizon Center to face off with him, Ovechkin is in a team meeting, which gives me time to hook up my Xbox 360 and, more important, get in more practice. While practicing, many spectators comment in amazement on the graphics in the game, which brings up conversations about the original "Blades of Steel" title (a classic) for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Thanks to Nate Ewell from the Caps, who makes a brief appearance in the piece, for the heads up.

In a reaction to Monday's NBC notebook item on the new rules of enforcement, Chris Snethen has introduced a new term into the hockey lexicon:

The answer, of course, is better officiating. But, as we see at the junior level, that's much easier said than done. I'd hate to see a generation of players brought up to play lawyer-hockey, but that seems the direction we're headed.

That's a winner.

Following up on my column on NHL GMs voting to ban mirrored visors like Alexander Ovechkin's, Martin Thornell talked with former minor league goalie Steve McKichan to ask him what he thought about Martin Brodeur's contention that the mirrored visor gives shooters an advantage because a goalie can't see the shooter's eyes:

"Goalies at our level would be unwise and victimized if their attention shifted to the players eyes away from the stick puck relationship." McKichan is a former professional goaltender and the current Goaltending Coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He also runs the Future Pro Hockey School.

Martin also passes along the findings of research out of the University of Calgary that goalies fix their gaze on the puck a full second before the shot is released.

Back at the ranch, after speaking briefly with a Devils PR rep earlier this week to ask for clarification on New Jersey GM Lou Lamoriello's contention that the action by the league's GMs was "both a safety and marketing" decision, I've yet to get a call back. To be specific, the point I'm asking for clarification on is this: Just what safety issue does the wearing of a new visor represent?

If I hear anything, I'll let you know.

While something tells me this might have happened before, it's still odd to see -- a coach pulling his goalie after OT in favor of the guy sitting on the bench.

But that's just what happened in Philly tonight, as Bob Hartley removed Johan Hedburg, who had never appeared in a shootout, with regular starter Kari Lehtonen.

If I was Hedburg, I'd be a tad annoyed. Especially since Lehtonen was beaten by the first two shooters he faced, and the Flyers won the game, 3-2 (SO).

Courtesy of Islanders beat writer, Greg Logan. Great to see hockey getting the same sort of blog treatment at Newsday that football and baseball have been getting.

In his first post, Logan wonders what it will take to recapture the glory days on Long Island:

Looking forward, maybe Ted Nolan is the guy who can resurrect the glory days. I don

Now that we have 12 -- that's right 12 -- Caps blogs to choose from, I thought it might be a good idea to get into the habit of peeking in on everybody the morning after a nifty 5-3 win over the Avalanche in Denver last night. Here's what they had to say:

Japers' Rink
The Bench Minor
Caps Nut
On Frozen Blog
The Peerless Prognosticator
Random Reality Thoughts

General consensus: Nice win to start the road trip. Still too many penalties. Still giving up too many shots. What the heck was Alex Ovechkin doing on the ice in the waning seconds with the outcome already determined? Mike Green looks like he's ready for the big time.

Some students from the University of Alberta name their favorites.

The Rangers are selling a t-shirt commemorating Brendan Shanahan's 600th goal, and Steve Lepore of SFM isn't happy about it:

[L]et's point out the absurdity of the Rangers selling t-shirts celebrating Brendan Shanahan's 600th goal. When two were scored with the Rangers.

I feel the same way about this that I did about the pink jersey: If you don't like it, don't buy it.

Then again, I guess the league thinks Rangers fans would buy anything...

Click here to go to the NHL page at Versus, and then select the link slugged, 2-4: PIT Malkin (4) EV, 10:41 3rd.

Pretty sweet if you asked me.

I was just taking a look at the blogroll over at Southeast Shootout, and I took a look at the listing for blogs that cover the Caps.

Subtracting the blogs by Ted Leonsis and Mike Vogel, there are 12 blogs that cover the Caps in one form or another -- more than any other team in the division, and I'm sure more than a lot of other teams in the league.

Wow. Check them out right now.

One item that didn't make it into my column over at NBC Sports on Monday was the effect that the new rules of enforcement are having in girls hockey.

Again, this comes from a discussion I had with a hockey parent of two teenagers, a boy and a girl. According to him, before the new rules were introduced this season, using the stick to impeded the progress of your opponents in girls hockey was pretty much accepted.

But with the new rules eeliminating much of that stick work, that isn't much of an option anymore. As a result, my friend tells me that a lot of girls, including his own daughter, are starting to lobby that they be allowed to check -- something that has always been banned in girls hockey.

I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Banning checking in girls hockey seems like a relic of the past. And if girls wear the same equipment as boys (not the case in girls lacrosse), there isn't any reason in my mind why the rules shouldn't be the same either.

Whether or not all parents agree is a question I can't answer on my own.

On Frozen Blog talks to an anonymous reader who admits to being a Caps draft geek:

Pucksandbooks: In Hershey last season a handful of Caps