Gold Medal Game/CBA

Congrats to Team Canada for The Gold Medal. Many hockey analysts referred to it as the greatest hockey lineup ever assembled, but they still had to overcome home town pressure, many many egos, and a high flying U.S. Team to win the medal. I am a patriot but how can I root against Steve Yzerman, Ken Holland and Mike Babcock? I was happy with either result, and just glad we got an overtime. Poor Bill, Beth, Val and Mike had to deal with my irrational dislike of Sid The Kid. I wanted anybody but Sid to score the game winner. For the record, I respect his skill, he is one of the top 3 players in the world. He can now add Olympic Gold to a Stanley Cup at 22 years old, and he deserves all the credit. I think I never recovered from the last two years of Sid this and Sid that during the Finals as The Red Wings have often been referred to as "the other team" or "the opponent." I will get over Sid overdose though because his goal and the quality of The Gold Medal game as an event put hockey back on the map. The last two Stanley Cup Playoff tournaments have been in my opinion the greatest quality of hockey I have ever seen. This was different though. The greatest players in the world all on one stage grinding it out for their countries. This was the two hockey super powers playing with all of the intensity we hoped for. The game went down as the most viewed hockey event in Canada ever, and the most viewed in America for 30 years. Hockey needed this game.

NHL

I have some thoughts as a fan of The NHL as to how the league can build off of this momentum, or more to the point not stunt it as it tends to do. Some of my ideas are as realistic as me being hired to work for Ken Holland for my brilliant hockey insight, but here they are.

-Do not, DO NOT skip the next Olympics! I've seen all of the posts by hockey insiders suggesting that the NHL should not be involved in Olympic play. That Amateur hockey players should be allowed to represent our country just as the famous "Miracle On Ice" team in 80. My argument to that would be first that so many great players have defected from The NHL, such as Forsberg, Jagr, Palff, and on and on, that our team of College age players would likely get destroyed in Russia 2014 by NHL caliber players. More importantly, why not let Rick Nash, Sidney Crosby and Roberto Luongo defend their Gold Medals in 4 years? They shouldn't defend their country because they're professionals? That's absurd! The point of The Olympics is the best of the best. Not the best unless you do it for a living. Equally disturbing is the rumor that Gary Bettman and staff are considering preventing players from entering the Olympics in Russia in 2014. BIG MISTAKE!

This is a small piece of a much larger puzzle. The CBA between the league and Players Union expires after the 2011 season. It is imperative that this not lead to another strike and lost season. I believe the NHL has just about recovered from the fan loss of 2005 in large part due to the emergence of Crosby, Oveckchin, Datsyuk, Toews & Kane and the new generation of Super Stars. Part of the 05 CBA was an inclusion of NHL players in The Olympics for 06 and 10. This was VERY important to the players. Why risk complicating a negotiation already hampered by league revenue, salary cap and a crap economy? The belief of some NHL officials is that the time zone difference of The Russia games will kill fan interest. It's called DVR, or tape delay! Real fans will watch no matter what. And they will not forgive taking away the amazing tournament we just witnessed.

The issue of fairness to the teams and their owners has emerged as well. There is a belief that this Olympics may have worn out the games best players and will effect the overall quality of play for The Stanley Cup. I can understand that owners don't want their ticket revenues to decline but as a league you just experienced a gigantic boost from The Olympics. These guys will give it their all in April as well. Interest in The NHL is at a peak again. Just in time for what will be another great Stanley Cup Tournament I'm sure. The Salary Cap has chased many European players back to The Russian Elite or Swedish Elite leagues because an $8 Million cap is too low for them. All greed aside, let's add the option that they can play The Olympics to the fact that they can make more money on the other side of the pond. Good idea!

- Promote, promote, promote these Playoffs! The Stanley Cup starts less than 2 months away from an amazing Olympic tournament. TV promotions (even if it's VS. and NBC, ugh) should sky rocket to take advantage of these great games coming up. I understand that we do not have near the interest in our country as Canada. I mean, there is a reason we watch most of these games on CBC. The coverage is thorough and enthusiastic. I think this is a great opportunity for The NHL.

- My last non Olympic related thought on building the game is about as likely to happen as Sid The Kid showing up at my door step to personally thank me for supporting the game. Contract, contact, contract! Owners are all up in arms about the diminished quality of their stars because of The Olympics. What about the fact that the average fan cannot recognize half of the players in this league right now? Two teams too many in my opinion. Do we really need two ice hockey teams in Florida? Are both Nashville and Columbus ever going to stop losing money? This has stretched the revenue sharing very thin and to me expansion happened way too fast and is still killing this league. That won't happen so in the meantime...

No touch icing should happen, and very soon. I'm with Don Cherry on this one. It was great in the Olympics. Puck crosses the back line, whistle. It speeds up the game, and avoids these hits on guys that are just trying to touch up for icing. Most of the scrums that tie up the game, hits on an icing touch up. You know what else Americans love Mr. Bettman? Blood, good ole fashion gore! Know your audience. Take away the instigator rule (player who looks for a fight draws a 2 minute Penalty should the other team not bite) and let the enforcers enforce. More violence sells the game, sorry, but it's true. Anybody reading this blog not know the significance of March 26th, 1997? I rest my case.

STEVIE Y/BABS

On to a big positive for an individual from The Olympics. I believe this will accelerate the GM career of Stevie Y. As President of Hockey Operations for The Wings he is being groomed for a GM position, I'm just not sure it's for Ken Holland's job. Stevie loves it in Detroit and wants to stay but I cannot see Ken Holland leaving anytime soon. He is the best GM in hockey. Stevie Y handled the Olympic roster very well though, in addition to his work on resigning Wings free agents the last few seasons, he is primed for management. Do we end up losing him to Ottawa? It's possible. I think this sets up for Stevie Y the GM sooner than later. Babcock's impressive resume gets another shine (3 Stanley Cup Finals in 5 seasons) and we are reminded how lucky we are to have that coach!

On to the final 20 games. We just grabbed 8th seed with a 3-2 victory over The Avs, but that is another blog to follow...