Ian Winwood of the The Guardian, an English paper/site takes a look at the NHL and concludes what a lot of North Americans already know: Gary Bettman runs the NHL like someone who hates the game. Nothing new, but it's kind of cool because it's coming out of England.
Kind of like 70s punk.
On a semi-related note, today I learned former Bruins goalie Byron Dafoe is English.
Thanks to SportsFilter for the first link; I found the second one all by myself.
Joe Sakic is crazy. Every time I look at his stats, I find something new and horribly impressive. Tonight he'll miss his third game in a row. The last time he missed more than one regular season game? 2002-03. And before that? 1999-2000.
Also, the NHL is finally beginning to realize the Flyers seem to have some anger issues. They're on double-secret probation (login info.). And not a minute too soon. A brief fight broke out between Daniel Briere and Sami Kapanen. During practice. The Flyers have run out of opposing players and have now turned on themselves.
Finally, on a happier note, Sam Weinman has a fascinating look at what the Rangers do before a game. Basically, they just eat and sleep. Says defenseman Jason Strudwick: "Were trained...We eat. We sleep. We're like Pavlov's dogs."
Check out the article. It's a great read.
So apparently Larry Brooks is the only person in the world who thinks a more balanced NHL schedule is a bad idea. Brooks' argument is that familiarity breeds rivalry breeds exciting hockey. And that's true, if you're talking a rivalry like Boston-Montreal, Rangers-Islanders, or Detroit-Colorado. But Anaheim-San Jose? Nashville-Columbus? The history just isn't there. You can't build a rivalry out of thin air. This isn't BIG BROTHER 19.
Also, Wes Walz emerged from seclusion to announce his retirement. Patrick Reusse had a nice column, calling Walz coach Jacques Lemaire's security blanket. Which was true, because Walz was really the personification of Lemaire's oppressive, smothering defensive style of hockey. Size is just a small part of the equation in a system like Lemaire's, and Walz had the speed and intellect to make it work.
Also, the Times had a nice follow-up to my interview last week with Fred Teng, who's part of the team broadcasting Rangers-Islanders games in Chinese.
The Times caught up with the broadcast team. The Gray Lady also now has a hockey blog: http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/.
