Tom Benjamin's NHL Blog
Sedin Surprise
Posted by Tom on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 11:22 am
Kevin Allen of USA Today delivers up what he considers to be the top ten surprises of the season so far. Here is his third choice: Patric Hornqvist leading Nashville in scoring with 21 goals: He¢s playing just 15 minutes per game, and no 20-goal scorer is playing fewer minutes than he is. In terms of individual production, he’s probably been the NHL’s biggest surprise Really? Kevin Allen isn’t shocked with the idea that Henrik Sedin is leading the league in scoring? I’ve been watching the Sedins for years and – perhaps because of that – I’m stunned by... [Read more]
Cowtown Craziness
Posted by Tom on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 6:05 pm
I thought Darryl Sutter was mad to trade for Olli Jokinen a year ago and I think he is mad to now trade Jokinen for Kotalik and Higgins. I don’t think the Flames can possibly be better for the trade this season and they sure won’t be better for it over the next couple of years. I thought Darryl Sutter was nuts to go after Bouwmeester – even though I like Jay a lot as a player – because I thought Jay’s money would have been better spent on Mike Cammalleri or another forward. It turned out that Bouwmeester was too much like Phaneuf and Jokinen was too much like Iginla... [Read more]
Moving On
Posted by Tom on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Tom, your thoughts on the Coach’s refusal to let any players be interviewed by HNIC after the Hawks game? Does tis mean if the team doesn’t agree with a story they will deny acess to the offender? That’s why we have so many softball reporters and it ends up just propaganda for the league. Usually I find your blog enlightened and fair but it seems like you have developed a bit of a “Homer” syndrome on this story. - Boxcar Posting this gives me the impetus to write yet another piece – even though I don’t want to – on a story the Canucks clearly aren’t willing to... [Read more]
One More Time
Posted by Tom on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 12:10 pm
The last I want to do is write another post about Alex Burrows but I don’t understand why the league has chosen to give the subject legs by making Burrows the villain of the piece. It would have been better for all concerned if they had left the issue swept under the rug. The Ron MacLean interview of Colin Campbell on HNiC on Saturday night and the subsequent response of Alain Vigneault on After Hours poured gasoline on the fire. Since then, MacLean has been defending the HNiC segment in the Vancouver media. Setting aside the dubious relevance of the HNiC report, MacLean touched on the nub... [Read more]
Let’s Pretend Professionalism
Posted by Tom on Thursday, January 14, 2010 at 10:48 pm
According to ex-referee Paul Stewart, there is a long tradition of referees evening scores with players and Burrows was in the wrong for complaining about it when it happened to him. He goes on to relate a story that involves goading and then punishing Denis Savard for not showing Stewart what he considered an appropriate level of respect. In other words Alex got what he deserved for showing up the referee in Nashville. In other words, it’s okay if Auger did exactly what Burrows claims he did. And it turns out that’s pretty much what he did. According to Colin Campbell, Auger denied... [Read more]
Burrows and Auger
Posted by Tom on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 6:41 pm
I think Bob McKenzie is mostly right with his comment on the Alexandre Burrows vs. Stephane Auger incident: If the allegations are true – and Burrows has far too much detail and at the very least a compelling case of circumstantial evidence (the video of the pre-game conversation, the diving penalty, the interference penalty and the misconduct penalty) – then the league has no choice but to discipline Auger. In the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal, the NBA referee who was part of a game-fixing scandal, the NHL has no choice but to ultra-sensitive to allegations that one of its officials may... [Read more]
Curious Effects
Posted by Tom on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Tyler Dellow has a fascinating post in response to this from Eric Duhatschek: Generally, what sets the NHL apart from the far more predictable (and parity-free) NBA is the curious effect that team play and chemistry, coaching and camaraderie can have on results. Tyler – using some Tom Tango work – makes a compelling case that the curious effect is due to random variance, not any of the reasons cited by Duhatschek. In other words, luck is a smaller factor in the NBA than it is in the NHL. There is less parity in the standings in the NBA not because there is a larger spread between the... [Read more]
Cherry on Top
Posted by Tom on Monday, December 21, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Here’s Mirtle in his post about the tiff between Charles Tator And Don Cherry: Is Cherry part of the problem? Sure. But he’s got so much company that it hardly seems fair to single out one voice from a united chorus against altering the rules for the good of its participants (once they’re long out of the spotlight). Maybe Charles Tator is jumping into the limelight here by calling out the NHL’s most famous advocate, but so what? At least this is on the news agenda again, making headlines. Tator, after all, has an important voice in the discussion. He’s the man behind... [Read more]
