Bluelines (1/29): Pat Burns looking good
Jan 29, 2007
One of the NHL’s biggest jobs may be up for grabs. A report out of Toronto has Hall of Famer Harley Hotchkiss retiring this June as the league’s Board of Governors’ chairman. The much-admired Flames’ co-owner has served six, two-year terms at the helm.
League coffers will be substantially boosted when new rights deals are finalized with two major TV carriers. If current plans gel, both the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and The Sports Network will split a new rights deal pie. CBC’s “Hockey Night In Canada” will continue doing games but TSN moves in as a major player with more games featuring Canadian clubs and a Canadian series in the playoffs. The CBC deal is estimated to be worth $100 million a year while TSN’s likely will fall between $25-$40 million.
Nobody explains the Predators’ ascent better than ex-NHLer Jim McKenzie. Now broadcast analyst in Nashville, Jimmy Mac. “It starts with goaltending,” says McKenzie. “Tomas Vokoun and Chris Mason give the club so much confidence. And the defense – once a question – has been amazing. Kimmo Timonen, Marek Zidlicky and Dan Hamhuis have been excellent. So have the three young guys, Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and Greg Zanon. The biggest surprise is Zanon who plays as if he’s 35. He’s never out of position, blocks shots and puts passes on the tape to get them out of their zone.”
Jarome Iginla had a cute retort when someone asked him whether his recent injury automatically removed him from the Flames’ sideburn-growing contest. Calgary’s ace replied: “No! Genetics did.”
It would not surprise us if the next gifted player to be traded happens to be Nikolai Zherdev. The reason: Ken Hitchcock demands accountability and Zherdev does not know how to define it.
Barry Trotz may be a Canadian but he certainly has a bone to pick with the media in his mother country. “I get frustrated with the Canadian media because they don’t give the Predators a lot of respect,” says Nashville’s perceptive coach. “They can’t understand that there are good hockey teams in Tampa, Nashville, Carolina and other (non-traditional-hockey markets.) And it bothers me!” It bothers us, too!
So, the clock is ticking on Pittsburgh but you can still bet that between Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Gary Bettman, a plan B will be formulated before the deadline and the Pens will stay in Pitt.
It will be interesting to see if the NHL follows through on the possibility of “rules and regulations” to ensure that players do not alter the high-tech uniforms mandated for next season. There’s talk that the league might even levy fines against players who try to change the uniforms that are issued. Guaranteed, the Union will fight this one. As for Reebok, we’ll see.
Pat Burns looked wonderfully robust when we saw him on Friday in Tampa Bay. Although media types keep suggesting the idea of Pat returning to coaching, we believe Burns when he says he’d just as soon finish his hockey career working as a special assignments man for Lou Lamoriello.
Our man in Vancouver, Ron Spence, expects the Canucks to pull off a big one. With Ryan (Overpaid At $1.9 Million) Kesler out for the season, there’s Cap room for a significant trade. “What has Vancouver fans salivating,” says Spence, “is the prospect of underachieving Markus Naslund being united with his pal, Peter Forsberg. With those two playing together, the Canucks afterburn would be blinding. Don’t be surprised if Brendan Morrison is part of the package.”
The Canucks – no surprise – are only one of several teams eyeing Forsberg. In Detroit, the talk is that PF could wind up wearing the Red and White of the Wings. After all, Ken Holland is on record saying he’s looking for forwards. “I’d like to be a little deeper up front,” Detroit’s g.m. insists. His club is in position to take on almost $8 million in face value contracts.
The ECHL eliminated the 10-minute misconduct penalty for instigating prior to the 2004-05 season, continuing to have the two-minute penalty for instigating. The initial belief was that fighting would increase after the elimination of the 10-minute penalty. Actually, it has gone down each of the last two years and is down again in 2006-07. … Islanders’ off-ice official, Mike Rosen, has plenty to beam about. His son, Dan, is a finalist for the Hobey Baker award for the top U.S. College hockey player. Mike tells us that Dan started playing goal at the age of four -- much to his mother’s dismay! But, obviously, not to the father’s despair.
Good News Dep’t. The Canadiens retire Ken Dryden’s Number 29 tonight (Monday). The bad news is that Larry Robinson’s Number 19 still is awaiting retirement.
From a media viewpoint, one of the most unfortunate situations involves the relationship between Ed Belfour and Panthers’ beat writers. Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post tells us that Belfour has given the no-talk treatment to the Florida print media since an Autumn story about an alleged clash between The Eagle and sidekick Alex Auld. Right or wrong, it’s sad because Belfour – as happened on Saturday night – often is the Panthers’ star and his voice should be heard. According to Biggane, the league’s Bill Daly is checking it out.
Well, now that Sid (Der Bingle) Crosby is the next Wayne Gretzky, who’s the next Crosby? At age 16, the favorite is John Tavares, now burning up the Ontario Hockey League. He’s starring for the Oshawa Generals which just happened to have been Bobby Orr’s team. Speaking of Crosby, he is being favorably compared to Michael Jordan as a marketing tool by one of America’s leading experts in the business. That happens to be Marc Ganis of Chicago who says that Crosby’s sometimes nasty edge makes him a better sell than a Lady Byng candidate. “If Sid was too much of a goodie two shoes,” Ganis explains, “it actually would work against him.”
The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch makes a fascinating point when he notes that the Senators were on the verge of dealing with Florida for Roberto Luongo. According to Garrioch, Florida would have received Chris Phillips, Antoine Vermette and Ray Emery. Apparently John Muckler’s offer arrived a bit too late.
Wayne Gretzky had one of the most pleasant comments about a player he scratched; namely Dave Scatchard “He’s a wonderful young man,” said the Great One, “and I know he’s a better player than he’s showed.”
When Petr Nedved showed up in Calgary with the Oilers, it was like old home week. The Czech playmaker came to the Stampede City as a 17-year-old after defecting from Czechoslovakia in 1989. He’s still affectionately remembers the warm treatment he received from Calgary citizens. It’s not so warm for Nedved in Edmonton. Our advice: Keep an eye on the Oilers press box. If Nedved gets benched a few more times, it could be good-bye, please, for one of our favorite interviews.
Craig Conroy to Calgary for Jamie Lundmark plus a 2007 fourth rounder as well as a 2008 second rounder means that Dean Lombardi is shedding the big bucks. Our sidekick, David Kolb, suggests that Rob Blake may be next on the Unload List in L.A. Whatever, the Flames are a better team today than they were yesterday.
Jim Devellano was a welcome sight in Tampa Bay, entertaining the media during press dinner. Detroit’s senior v.p. tells us that he planned to draft Pat LaFontaine before Steve Yzerman in 1983 but Bill Torrey picked Patty third overall which meant that Jimmy D had to “settle for” the Wings’ eternal Captain.
Credit Where Credit Is Due Dep’t. We’ll double-dip on this one dealing out kudos to Bryan Murray for deftly reviving the Senators and Dany Heatley for helping his coach with the resuscitation process.
