As the notes column turns …
How different is the New NHL to the old version?
Consider this: Of the top-10 scorers in the league after the 2003-04 season, four are among the top 10 this season. That would be Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson, Atlanta’s Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk, and the Avs’ Alex Tanguay. The others have been supplanted by a wave of great young players, the likes of which the league desperately needed after the labor battle that wiped out the 2004-05 season.
Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, 20, is among the league scoring leaders. So are Carolina’s Eric Staal, 21, and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, the 18-year-old uberprospect who ranks just outside the top-10 scorers.
Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull and Mark Messier may be gone, but the new generation has arrived to take their place. And just in time, says Avs forward Ian Laperriere.
“The New NHL wants to be built on speed and skill and you’ve got those young kids coming up,” Laperriere said. “It’s a great product to sell when you’ve got 18- to 20-year-old guys scoring goals in bunches. When superstars like that come along after a lockout, it’s great timing.”
OK, so some of their point totals are inflated because of the rules changes. All the better when it comes time to market the league’s rising stars, many of whom still are relative unknowns.
“Every team has got a young kid they’re pretty high on,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. “It’s good for the game. Those franchises that have basically had tough years in the last few years, now they’ve got something to really get excited about in the coming years.” …
With the Super Bowl behind us, it’s time to start my fearless predictions for the baseball season. For one thing, I predict, right here and now, that the Rockies’ season won’t be as bad as that Hummer3 commercial Sunday afternoon. …
It wasn’t just the Super Bowl. The officiating throughout the playoffs, like the steel reinforcement on the side of the Titanic, left a lot to be desired. …
John Madden was voted into the Hall of Fame with 112 wins, including one Super Bowl. Bill Cowher, media types have been quick to point out after Sunday’s game, is a lock now that he has won the Big One. Moral to the story: Mike Shanahan could sail off into the sunset tomorrow and he’s in. …
Not that he would do that, of course. I’m sure Shanny couldn’t bring himself to leave his friends in the Denver media. …
Most owners have yet to figure it out, but stability and continuity do count for something in the NFL. To wit: The Steelers have had two coaches in the past 37 years. The Lions have had four in the past 37 months. …
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape and you don’t get into a playoff with Tiger Woods: The Tiger man is 10-1 career in extra holes. …
Given how much Da Commish is pushing it, does that make the World Baseball Classic the real-life Bud Bowl? …
OK, so it didn’t rank down there with Janet Jackson‘s wardrobe malfunction, but I swore I saw a couple of Mick Jagger‘s liver spots Sunday. …
At the risk of telling you something you already knew, they didn’t play the Super Bowl on Sunday. The real Super Bowl was played three weeks ago when the Steelers played the Colts at Indy. …
Hey, what’s a hundred-plus passer-rating points between friends? Ben Roethlisberger‘s rating in the Super Bowl was 22.6. Two weeks earlier, with Broncos rushers arriving a step late and a dollar short, it was 124.9. …
Dan Hawkins, addressing a crowd of about 900 at the CU preview luncheon at the downtown Marriott: “So many people talked to me and said, ‘Hawk, don’t go there, it’s dirty, it’s low-down.’ … I welcome all the adversity.”
Catch Jim Armstrong from 6-9 a.m. during “The Press Box” on ESPN 560 AM. He can be reached at 303-820-5452 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
