The Two-Line Pass

I remember how much I hated the last NHL.com redesign. I found it to be oddly laid out, clunky and at times difficult to navigate.

Not so with the new one. Everything looks great, and it’s more intuitive, especially (especially!) the stats page.

But what’s going to make NHL.com the ultimate official sports league website — and that’s not in any way hyperbolic — is the new GameCenter Live feature. This is literally going to be the worst thing that ever happened to my social life. Way worse than the way I acted and dressed in junior high.

Live video feeds with live stats, replay videos of hits, saves and goals appearing on an overview of the ice as they happen, full replays of what seems to be an extensive library of classic games, the ability to watch up to four games at once, in-game chat with other fans (won’t that be unbearable?), and best of all, the ability to view the same game from multiple camera angles. I don’t even know how they’re going to do that.

Yeah, it’s going to cost money, and it’s probably not going to be the same as Center Ice, but if this means I can watch five games at once (six with picture-in-picture!), I’m all for it. I don’t care what it costs, I’m buying this. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way to purchase it yet, or even see how much it costs, but this can’t possibly be a bad thing. I am completely pumped for this.

The NHL gets criticized a lot in the blogosphere, and rightly so most of the time, but this is unquestionably awesome. Bravo.

So today the NHL announced that it had rejected the Carolina Hurricanes’ extension of Eric Staal’s contract for the low, low price of $57.75 million over the next seven years.

“It was just too stupid to tolerate, even for us” sai…

Wait that’s NOT why?

The issue with the contract pertains to the wording of the clause. The contract that was rejected by the league specified that his no-trade clause kicked in on July 1, 2010, when he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent.

Apparently the problem is that, if Staal doesn’t play those two seasons, which he will unless something goes terribly awry, he won’t be eligible for unrestricted free agency. So they have to change it to “as soon as he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency.”

Come on, NHL. Someone needs to let the Hurricanes know that what they did was flat-out wrong, for both the franchise and the league. Though one supposes that if the Jeff Finger contract is allowed to stand, this one looks like a stroke of frugal genius in comparison. Ah well.

Think dealing with the KHL is bad? Try dealing with the KHL in a few years, when even they have competition beyond the NHL.

The other day, former NHLer Hakan Loob revealed plans to dissolve the Swedish Elite League (click for moon language) in the next two or three years with the idea of competing with the KHL as soon as possible.

Håkan Loob revealed plans today: “It is a must for the Swedish ice hockey is not to lose out remains strong in Europe.”

Now it’s no secret or covert work projects anymore.

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The new multinational Superligan can become a reality within two years.

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Sportbladet can reveal that Färjestad, Frölunda, HV71, Djurgården and Linköping have jointly put together a team of outside experts and club employees to analyze how a possible Nordic accordance would work and be received by sponsors and hockey fans.

Apparently the response has been overwhelmingly strong.

The SEL, like several other smaller leagues in Scandanavian countries, is in real danger of being completely pillaged of its best players by the cutthroat KHL clubs, and and improved alliance (more like a unified front) would certainly help the Scandanavian leagues’ ability to stand up to the dark power growing in the East.

But he says that Färjestad just today have more focus on a Nordic accord than on KHL, the new Russian league. How quickly a Nordic league can become a reality is not fixed.

…

“I do not think that Färjestad play in elitserien, as it stands today, in a few years. A change will come about and more teams from other countries generates growth, which is a must for the Swedish ice hockey is not to lose out remains strong in Europe and why not in the world,” says Loob.

Right now discussed a Nordic accordance with 16-20 teams are included.

Most locations, are in Sweden and Finland. Then, strong Norwegian and Danish teams have the opportunity to enter the league.

But by becoming strong themselves, they also present a greater problem to the NHL itself, just as Russia’s league does. Granted, the Scandanavian countries have certainly been more than willing to send players over to North America in the past, but so, for a while, was Russia. What began as a bitter fight over Evgeni Malkin’s rights being owned by either the Pittsburgh Penguins or Metallurg Magnitogorsk has exploded into another Cold War with neither side willing to really listen to the other, but both overly cautious of what the other’s power growth might mean for its own future.

With the Scandanavians entering the fray, it could serve one of two purposes. First is the preferable, if less likely, one: that the league will help break the tension between the KHL and NHL by openly dealing with both, and encouraging business between the two others indirectly. The second, and more unfortunate option: things get worse, and in the Scandanavian’s desire to protect their own interests, they also cease to have a transfer agreement with either league. It would be great for Scandanavia to hold onto its big stars, but, speaking purely as a selfish American, I’m not sure it’s in the entire sport’s best interest.

Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious.

Lately, the situation between the KHL and NHL has been a bit tense.

The armies of general managers, agents, league officials and lawyers have been holed up in their Cold War-era situation rooms for the weeks following the KHL’s July 15 moratorium on signing players under NHL contracts. The begrudging “respect” was borne of the mutually-assured destruction that would take place were one side to openly attack the other.

What the Kings just did is the equivalent of dropping a neutron bomb on Leningrad, then sent a teletype to Kruschev making light of his mother’s weight problem, indicating that, were she to sit around the Kremlin, she would sit AROUND the Kremlin.

It’s on now (click for moon language-y goodness, but good on the Ruskies for using WordPress).

“The Continental Hockey League strictly adhered to the unilaterally declared moratorium on signing players who had existing contracts with the National Hockey League clubs. The NHL violated the earlier agreement in Zurich on August 28 and formally announced the signing of contracts by the Los Angeles Kings club with players Andrei Loktionovym and Vyacheslav Voynovym. These players have existing contracts with KHL clubs “Lokomotiv” (Yaroslavl) and “Tractor” (Chelyabinsk), respectively.

“In connection with this, the KHL considers itself free from any obligations to comply with the previously announced moratorium on transferring players. On September 6 at the headquarters of the International Hockey Federation in Zurich, there will be a meeting on this topic, after which the Continental Hockey League will determine further action regarding the National Hockey League.”

Whether or not their KHL contracts were actually valid is a point I’m sure the Kings would deny profusely, but regardless, why pry open this can of worms right now? It’s not as though the Kings didn’t retain their rights, and it’s not as though these kids are likely to make the big club this year. Lombardi had previously said they’re open to playing in North America regardless of it being the NHL or in juniors, and certainly they wanted to get them signed before they put pen to paper on a long-term KHL deal, but I would have to think someone at the NHL’s head office would say to Dean Lombardi (and I’m sure he consulted them on this), “Uhh, Dean, this seems like a pretty bad idea right now.”

Who’s to say that a transfer agreement of some kind couldn’t have been reached before next year’s draft? Who’s to say these kids would have signed a KHL contract for five years and a lot more than the Kings can give them, as is Lombardi’s fear? If they’re so committed to North America, then getting them to sign at any point would have been simple enough.

I understand that this might all be posturing from KHL officials like the Filatov situation. The NHL says Russian Super League contracts never carried over to the KHL, the KHL says they did. That’s for the IIHF to decide.

But why would Lombardi stir the pot to begin with? There’s nothing to be gained by this aside from two mid-level prospects. Doesn’t seem worth it to me.

Man I love watching Ranger games.

Well one thing of which the NHL cannot be accused is being unaware of which side its bread is buttered on.

The new national TV schedule, released today, certainly confirms that.

From the NHL press release:

VERSUS opens its fourth year of NHL coverage with an international doubleheader on Sun., Oct. 5, when the Lightning and Rangers face-off in Prague at 12 p.m. ET, followed by the Penguins-Senators match-up in Stockholm at 2:30 p.m. ET. VERSUS’ schedule includes a season-high eight appearances by the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Penguins. The Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals are all making seven appearances each. In total, VERSUS will televise 56 regular-season games, All-Star weekend, games in each round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. Every game on VERSUS is produced and shown in HD where available.

After NBC launches its NHL coverage New Year’s Day with NHL Winter Classic 2009 from Wrigley Field in Chicago, the NBC NHL “Game of the Week” drops the puck on Sunday, Jan. 18 when the Penguins host the Rangers.

By my count, that’s 11 nationally-televised games for both Penguins and Rangers, even before NBC makes any decisions about which games they’ll air (those are made 13 days before they’re shown) or the playoffs begin. For some reason, those two teams also show up on the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada a combined 13 times and five more on TSN.

A full breakdown of Versus games by team follows (unabashedly stolen from Wyshinski and reformatted, though it should be noted because this is all subject to change because — surprise — Versus dicked the whole thing up on its website):

Sabres and Wild: 9 (huh?)

New York Rangers and Penguins: 8

Bruins, Red Wings, Flyers and Caps: 7

Devils: 6

Avalanche and Blues: 5

Stars, Islanders and Lightning: 4

Blackhawks, Canadiens, Sharks and Maple Leafs: 3

Thrashers: 2

Ducks, Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Panthers, Predators, Senators, Coyotes and Canucks: 1

Flames, Oilers and Kings: 0

How do the Thrashers get more than the Ducks, Senators or Canucks?

BEST BUDS

Last Thursday, NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly had a pretty fascinating interview on Team 1040 radio in Vancouver.

Because something like 30 percent of the league’s revenues were coming from the six Canadian franchises, Kelly made the logical argument that perhaps the league should expand to Canada

“It will ultimately come down to the revenue-sharing system we have in the game,” Kelly told the Team 1040. “I mean the haves - the big market teams - are doing very, very well financially, and they could probably do more in the way of revenue sharing to help out those teams that are in the bottom five or six on the list to help make them more stable financially.

“But long-term, the players aren’t singling out any particular franchises and saying ‘that’s got to go’. They really would like to see all the existing franchises survive, if that’s possible.”

That last part was what caught my attention. Sure, a lot of it is probably union talk since Kelly obviously doesn’t want 1/30 of the professionals he represents being completely out of a job should retraction happen, but this is conceivably a problem given that some teams, according to Sports Business Daily (subscription required).

Not to get hyper-technical, but teams are penalized for not having their revenue growth rate meet the league’s average, and those teams that fail to meet said benchmark see their revenue-sharing money, which comes from the league’s top 10 earning teams, will be cut by 25 percent. Should the problems continue, the league cuts 40 percent for the second year and 50 for the third.

That would be disastrous to a team like Nashville, which received the most revenue sharing money this year ($12 million, about a third of the team’s 2007-08 payroll). Teams cannot get money if they are in a major market (i.e. New York, L.A., etc.). Obviously Nashville and Columbus don’t have to worry about that, but they’re barely above solvency as it is, and getting their money cut even 25 percent could prove disastrous.

Brian Burke offered the key point in the Columbus Dispatch a few weeks ago:

“The million-dollar question is whether revenue-sharing will be sufficient,” said Burke, a former NHL vice president. “If we believe these franchises are an asset to our league, does it make sense to cut their subsidies?”

It clearly does not, but you also can’t keep propping up doomed franchises for the sake of having them. Had Bettman not stepped in and nixed the sale and relocation of the Nashville Predators to the welcoming arms of Hamilton, Ontario, it would be one less thing to worry about. Read the rest of this entry »

All you far-flung fans of your old hometown teams can begin circling the dates on your calendars, the NHL’s schedule has been released and is, at long last, back to the old format.

Sweden and the Czech Republic have opened their doors to the NHL for many years now by developing greats like Nicklas Lidstrom, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Lundqvist, Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek.

So what will you do to make it up to them, NHL? Give them a bunch of money? Formalize an equitable transfer agreement with all European leagues to make sure that teams are adequately compensated for players they lose to the allure of the greatest league in the world? Nope, those ingrates will be repaid with

Jaromir Jagr still won't play for the Rangers. Quit sucking up.

Blair Betts, Ryan Craig, Cody Bass and Eric Godard.

The NHL will give back in early October when the first major event of what should be a star-studded 2008-09 season takes place. The New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins will compete in the NHL Premiere on Oct. 4-5 in Prague and Stockholm.

Lucky them.

The press release goes on to state that a pair of “legendary franchises” will face off in Toronto on All-Star Weekend, and the NHL has clearly stretched its definition of “legendary” to include the Maple Leafs.

The season gets going on Oct. 4. Can’t wait.