Tom Benjamin's NHL Blog
NHL Notes
Posted by Tom on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 2:32 pm
NHL items that have caught my eye over the past few weeks: 1) I can’t take the most recent agreement to sell the Phoenix Coyotes very seriously. The sticky part doesn’t seem to have gotten any less sticky – the city of Glendale has to pony up significant cash. Even if they are willing – and surely they are tired of the circus and the money pit – the Goldwater Institute is still around waiting for a deal so they can toss in a monkeywrench and try to kibosh it. If there is some positive news it is in the rumor that the NHL cut the price for the team from $170 MM to $140 MM. That’s a step forward. On the other hand, there was very little real news at the media conference so it can be interpreted as applying pressure on the city. The league is out of time. They need a decision now. This can’t go on. 2) Speaking of Phoenix, how happy is Gary about the Phoenix playoff run? Or the New Jersey run? Two of the league basket cases enjoying a financial day... [Read more]
A Test of Ownership
Posted by Tom on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 10:33 am
Ben Kuzma thinks Alain Vigneault should be fired for all the usual silly reasons. Nobody will have to hold a tag day for Alain if he is let go – he will be immediately snapped up by a team that wants to employ one of the elite coaches in the game – but I find this type of “opinion” from a hack to be incredibly galling. Vigneault is the best coach the Canucks have ever had. He is a far, far better coach than Kuzma is a reporter. What kind of a person wants a clearly competent employee unfairly fired? Vigneault doesn’t deserve it from a reporter and he doesn’t deserve it from the Canucks. Mike Gillis did give AV a big vote of confidence, but this has gone on for far too long. It may be that Vigneault himself wants out and the Canucks might have a reason for playing the divorce this way, but I can’t really see that either. That leaves us with the owner. It is not good news if Vigneault is in limbo pending an Aquilini decision. Here’s Kuzma: Regardless... [Read more]
It Isn’t That Hard
Posted by Tom on Friday, April 27, 2012 at 10:49 am
Ellen Etchingham makes a number of thoughtful and valid points in this post on concussions, the culture of hitting in the NHL and in hockey more generally, and finding a workable (and effective) disciplinary system. She concludes with: What we often forget when proposing new punishments is that the players are not only objects of the disciplinary regime but co-creators of it. The NHL cannot simply dream up a system and impose it as though skaters were unruly children or bad dogs. To have the slightest hope of being implemented, any revised disciplinary structure must speak to the interests and desires of the players who will be playing under it. Thankfully, for perhaps the first time ever, the interests broad cross-section of players are starting to weigh on the side of deterring concussions rather than causing them. You can thank Colby Armstrong for that. I have not commented on the Raffi Torres suspension, mostly because anything I say about it will be a rehash of an argument that I... [Read more]
End of the Line
Posted by Tom on Monday, April 23, 2012 at 3:20 pm
It was a disappointing end to an enjoyable season. The series could have easily gone the other way, but in the end, the Kings deserved to win. The Canucks didn’t play very well in the second half of the season – they didn’t play as well as their record – so I don’t think Canucks Nation is nearly as shocked as the players themselves. I’m not really into the blame game, but if I had to point a finger at a single player who might have made a difference, it would be pointed at Ryan Kesler. Last year he was often the best player on the ice. This year he was seldom a force. He was good, but not an elite player this season and he was not a factor at all in the playoffs. If there is a concern going forward, it is that the Canucks are playing a style that is clearly falling out of favour. Mike Gillis has a team that tries to play like Detroit, the proverbial “puck possession” game. If Phoenix holds on to beat Chicago, all four teams to go through... [Read more]
Trading Goalies
Posted by Tom on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Here’s Iain MacIntyre on the Vancouver goaltending situation after Alain Vigneault opted for Cory Schneider on Wednesday night: With everything at stake, the Vancouver Canucks chose Wednesday to play the goalie who had the best chance of saving their season. Maybe you heard. It wasn’t the guy who has been the starter for six years, but the backup who should be the starter for the next six… But Schneider wasn’t chosen to start only Game 4 of the first-round playoff series. He was chosen to start, period. It’s his team now. The toothpaste doesn’t go back in the tube on this one. The Canucks will try to trade Luongo and his 12-year, $64-million contract this summer. There is no other reasonable conclusion to draw from coach Alain Vigneault’s decision to go with his gut and leave Luongo on the bench as Vancouver faced elimination. This reaction is exactly why I would have started Roberto Luongo on Wednesday night. I have confidence in him and he’s... [Read more]
On the Eve of Game Four
Posted by Tom on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Tom, Don’t want to put any pressure on you to post, but I’m dying to hear your thoughts on the Canucks and the playoffs in general. Is there anything more to say than the league’s best team has run into a hot goalie and are missing their top scorer due to a gratuitously violent non-hockey play that went woefully under-punished? Not to mention Vancouver, despite winning the President’s trophy, is facing a team that was the beneficiary of a comically lopsided late season trade with a franchise that has very little business being in the league. What a shame and what a tragedy. It’s been so frustrating watching that series, and I can’t imagine what it’s like for fans who’ve been with the team all season let alone however many years. I guess they’ll get another roll of the dice next season, which, particularly given the frequency of serious concussions in the game these days, is all the playoffs are at this point. RA There isn’t much... [Read more]
Canuck Notes
Posted by Tom on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 12:41 pm
On the Canucks as the regular season winds down: 1. It’s amazing really. The Canucks have failed to meet the fan and media expectations for most of the year, yet with two games to go the team has a better than decent chance of being the first repeat winner of the President’s Trophy in more than 20 years. Vancouver has sucked all the way to the top of the league. Amazing. 2. There is a valid argument that Cory Schneider should be the starting goalie for the Vancouver Canucks. I can respect anyone who holds that opinion. I can’t, however, respect Canuck fans who jeered Luongo off the ice on Tuesday night. Luongo does not deserve that. I hate that streak of meanness that runs through Canuck nation. 3. I agree with Tyler Dellow when he writes that the latest Oiler management blunder says something telling about their competence. In terms of impact on the team now or in the future, it was pretty small beer. But if the Oilers screw up the easy stuff what faith can Oiler fans... [Read more]
Point Systems and Playoff Races
Posted by Tom on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Just before the GM’s meetings, Ken Holland talked to Eric Duhatschek about the nonsensical way that the NHL determines the standings: “I was a big believer that we should go to the three-point game three or four years ago,” the Wings GM said. “I’m not a fan any more. What do you want? More separation? Less races? …“I like it the way it is. If you look at the West, Vancouver, St. Louis, Detroit, Nashville, you’ve got four teams at the top, all within about six points. You’ve got about five teams at the eight-hole, between seventh and 11th, within four or five points. What more do you want? It’s stretch run time. We’re all rounding the bend and it’s a horse race. I think the races are incredible. So I’m not a fan. I was a fan. I’m not a fan any more.” Maybe there is a good argument to have some games worth two points and others three, but I still haven’t heard one. This one certainly does not fly because it presents a false choice. There are very... [Read more]
