Puck-off! NHL 2022–23

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/eprinkside/status/1617222951983779840?s=61&t=OW0pDEMxCPbS9P7n0UoDNQ

[Amor de Cosmos]

Quite. The contempt the Canucks dis-organisation has shown Boudreau is nothing less than disgusting. They've deservedly managed to lose the respect of public, fans, players and media in this town. It's a long time since dislike and despair at the state of the club was at such a pitch. I honestly don't think Aquilini can do anything but sell up if he wants to salvage any credibility or self-respect from this tire-fire.

[Hot Pepsi]

THG tells the truth.

[Hot Pepsi]

It all raises that old question about the Canadian teams as a group.

Is there something about the Canadian way of doing business, in hockey in particular, that is impeding these seven organizations’ ability to make good decisions and hire the right people?

Or is it just a coincidence that none of them have won a cup in 30 years (a few have come close)?

Perhaps hockey franchises are like families, in that, as Tolstoy said, the dysfunctional ones are all different. That feels more likely, I think. The reasons the Leafs can’t get it done are, I think, very different from why the Canucks can’t get going. And the reasons have changed over the decades.

[ursus arctos]

I think that "hockey people" may be particularly poor at dealing with media attention/criticism than their counterparts in other sports, and that therefore "non traditional markets" have an inbuilt advantage.

The Islanders' and Devils' respective heydays was a while ago now, but one theory at the time for their relative performance. vs that of the Rangers was that they had a much smaller and more supportive media following.

[Amor de Cosmos]

THG tells the truth.

100%. And if you watched this team for any length of time at all it's impossible to disagree with a word of it.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Perhaps hockey franchises are like families, in that, as Tolstoy said, the dysfunctional ones are all different. That feels more likely, I think. The reasons the Leafs can’t get it done are, I think, very different from why the Canucks can’t get going. And the reasons have changed over the decades.

I'd agree with that. Except maybe the last sentence. As THG says in the Canucks case, and the Leafs too I think, it's been rinse and repeat for decades. The team owner however is the worst I can remember.* He combines Steinbrenner levels of hands on involvement, with incompetent hiring practices. Hiring a team coach, then a team president and GM less than a year later can only end one way, and it has. It didn't have to as ugly and disrespectful as it was, but he could have mitigated that too. He's a clod, and I don't think that's going to change.

* The first owner — An American guy who eventually did jail time IIRC — might, just possibly, have been worse than Aquilani.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Leafs’ problems have evolved.
For most of the precap era when they should have had a huge advantage in resources, they were owned by Harold Ballard, who was one of the worst owners - worst people, perhaps - to ever own a pro team. They were just a nonfactor in most of those years.

Then there was the teachers pension era where they were run by committee. Now they appear to have definitive leadership with Shanahan but the problem is a combination of dumb luck and having too much money tied up in the stars and not enough in goalkeeping. Same with the Oilers.



The thing about the media being difficult to deal with bothers me. Hockey seems to be the only team sport where a lot of players don’t want to play in a city that actually cares about their sport. If you can’t handle some dumbasses on the radio or internet not liking you, how are you going to handle the pressure of a Stanley Cup final?

Or maybe the ideal situation is a place like Winnipeg, Minnesota or Edmonton where the team is well-supported but there isn’t as much media pressure because there just isn’t all that much media. And if you win there, you’ll never have to pay for a drink in that city ever again (as the saying goes.)

[Amor de Cosmos]

The thing about the media being difficult to deal with bothers me. Hockey seems to be the only team sport where a lot of players don’t want to play in a city that actually cares about their sport. If you can’t handle some dumbasses on the radio or internet not liking you, how are you going to handle the pressure of a Stanley Cup final?

I've never heard that about local media to any extent. Most of them want — need — to maintain access so play soft ball. What is true, I think, is that hockey players aren't coached in media skills as much as their contemporaries in other sports are. Most rookies, unless they're high draft picks look, and sound, like rabbits caught in the headlights of a car. Pro hockey, even at NHL level, remains a relatively unsophisticated industry.

[ursus arctos]

Scallen did go to jail

He was convicted in 1973 of stealing $3 million from Northwest Sports Enterprises Ltd., the company that owned the NHL Canucks, and using the money to pay off debts of Northwest’s parent company, Medical Investment Corp. (Medicor).

Scallen was also convicted of issuing a false prospectus in raising money to cover the $6-million fee the NHL demanded for an expansion team in Vancouver.

Originally convicted to concurrent four-year prison terms, Scallen appealed to the B.C. Court of Appeals, which unanimously dismissed the appe

https://benchedathletes.wordpress.co...3/tom-scallen/

[Amor de Cosmos]

That's the guy.

[Hot Pepsi]

I've never heard that about local media to any extent. Most of them want — need — to maintain access so play soft ball. What is true, I think, is that hockey players aren't coached in media skills as much as their contemporaries in other sports are. Most rookies, unless they're high draft picks look, and sound, like rabbits caught in the headlights of a car. Pro hockey, even at NHL level, remains a relatively unsophisticated industry.

They are certainly well-versed in cliches.

I can also recall hearing that some ball players don’t really like playing for the Red Sox or the Yankees because of the talk radio and the back pages, etc. Or just the fan expectations overall. But given that it’s that same media that promotes that hypothesis about certain players, it might not actually be true.

Some in the media would probably have you believe that it’s harder to play for the Cowboys than other NFL teams because they’re “America’s Team” but I don’t see any real evidence of that.

[Hot Pepsi]

THG has more. The Canucks claim they decided to hire Tocchet “today.” Good thing he happened to be in Vancouver today, then.

[ursus arctos]

Just garbage all the way down

Rutherford has torched his reputation

[Amor de Cosmos]

There's been quite a bit of on-line discussion on what the response will be, from both fans, and ex-players. Obviously if the team really tanks then attendances will drop off, but the effect of that might be several years coming. I do wonder if Stan Smyl and the Sedins quit their front office roles whether it might accelerate sale of the team?

But probably not. It'll still be Aquilini's toy.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Daniel Wagner gets it right:

[Hot Pepsi]

It reminds me of that old bit by Bill Simmons that every pro franchise needs a Director of Common Sense.

(Although, IIRC his original example of that was saying that the Texans should have used the first pick in the NFL draft to take Vince Young or Reggie Bush. They took Mario Williams who had a better carrier than those other guys.)

[Amor de Cosmos]

"Making a 68-year-old hockey lifer tearfully confront his mortality in public so that you have the entire weekend to book a room for the news conference is not a crime that I know of. But maybe it should be."

Cathal Kelly has his say:

[Snake Plissken]

I think that the only good thing of all this is that it was made clear to Boudreau that the Canucks fans didn't hold him responsible for any of this mess and that final "Bruce! There it is!" was a pretty classy thing to do.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Even Forbes is twisting the knife.

[ursus arctos]

It hadn't occured to me that the Canucks' rumoured interest in returning to the "skate" crest and colour way might be partially motivated by a desire to appeal to BC's growing (and affluent) Asian population, but this has made me think

https://twitter.com/upstudiosworld/status/1617890338483355650?s=61&t=WksV4C_mCwmKvIYYsBCTUg

[Hot Pepsi]

That's pretty cool.

[Amor de Cosmos]

It hadn't occured to me that the Canucks' rumoured interest in returning to the "skate" crest and colour way might be partially motivated by a desire to appeal to BC's growing (and affluent) Asian population, but this has made me think

That might be giving the organization too much credit. Not saying it won't happen, but if it does the impetus is likely to come from outside rather than inside. As the Punjabi telecasts did, which are carried extensively outside BC now I believe.

[ursus arctos]

Giving them any credit is too much

[Flynnie]

My extremely broad brush take on Canadian franchises is generally a refusal to build from the ground up and lots of quick fixes every year to try and remain relevant. A lot of people are upset the Canadiens are pretty crappy this year but I’m somewhat relieved, they seem to actually be trying to do a full rebuild which hasn’t happened in my lifetime.