Los Angeles – Granted, not even critics of the NHL’s post-lockout scheduling format agree on what the solution should be.
In fact, every time I bring it up, I hear from fans with a variety of possibilities. The most simple has been keeping the 32 intradivisional games, but playing twice against the other 25 opponents. The most complicated have been ingenious, and seem to be supported with spreadsheets, “power coefficients,” and YouTube presentations that in one e-mail can take up 31.89 percent of a Denver Post inbox.
But now that the general managers and board of governors have discussed the scheduling issue at meetings and allegedly pondered some of the objections to the current format, it is a little surprising that what seems to be the wish of the NHL’s most important constituency – the season-ticket holders – has carried such little weight.
I’ve come up with one possibility for making those folks see the need for change in the Penalty Box, elsewhere on this page, but the more serious point is that it shouldn’t be that complicated. No, I haven’t called season-ticket holders during the dinner hour and conducted surveys or sent out a mass e-mail, hoping it sneaked past spam filters, but I’m confident the sentiment against this format is widespread.
The league either doesn’t get it or doesn’t care that the consensus views are that four home games against teams in the division are too many, and that teams in the opposing conference coming to each city only once every three seasons is an abomination.
Why is that so hard to grasp?
“While there is some sentiment by a number of clubs that maybe a change would be good, when you sort through that, on balance not enough people believe that a change from what we have would be better than what we have,” commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters after the meetings in Florida.
Anaheim general manager Brian Burke has done a great job with the Ducks, but the former league executive and Canucks GM gets off-track with his stance.
“People pay to watch teams,” Burke said. “I think divisional rivalries are important. The fact that we have an aberration with two exciting young players right now, I’m not going to vote to change the schedule dramatically because we have two good players.
“They could get traded tomorrow. Then what do you do? It’s got to have more sense to it than that.”
Yes, some of the criticism involves the desire of fans in the Western Conference cities to see Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, but that’s only a convenient way to summarize the position with high-profile examples. It’s much more than that. The point is that even if one of those players were “moved,” a format taking every team to every city guarantees they make at least one appearance in every city a year – regardless of which roster they’re on. And the same is true for teams: The Bruins fan living in the Bay Area knows he or she will have a chance to see Boston once a season at San Jose, even if Bobby Orr and Rick Middleton aren’t walking through the HP Pavilion door.
Speaking of Sidney …
Crosby and Ovechkin play against each other for the first time this season Monday night in a game that will be nationally televised on Versus.
“I think it’s always a little bit more motivating,” Crosby said in a conference call last week. “You know, from my side I think that it’s built up so much that, in a way, you want to respond and make sure you have a good game. But at the end of the night, the win is most important. That’s the way I looked at it. But there’s no doubt there seems to be more emotion and intensity when we play each other.”
Ovechkin was on the same conference call, and he had to field several questions about his hit on Buffalo’s Daniel Briere on Dec. 2 at Washington. Using his shoulder near the Washington bench, he hit Briere from behind and drove him into the open door after the Buffalo co-captain had dumped the puck in. Buffalo’s Paul Gaustad went after Ovechkin and got in some punches before order was restored and Ovechkin was assessed a major for boarding and a game misconduct. Briere was unhurt, and Ovechkin wasn’t suspended.
“Well, my contact was not (an) accident,” said Ovechkin. “I wanted to hit him. But if you see replay, I don’t hit him, you know, hard. I just saw his back and I just hit him. I don’t want (to) give him injury or do some injury to him.”
Drake’s suspension
Ovechkin’s hit on Briere wasn’t to the head, but the NHL again served notice last week that it has found religion, so to speak, about hits to the head – even hits that in the past would have been deemed, well, part of the game.
St. Louis’ Dallas Drake wasn’t even penalized for his hit on Detroit defenseman Brett Lebda behind the Red Wings’ net Thursday, but he drew a two-game suspension, in part because he was considered a “repeat offender” by league discipline czar Colin Campbell.
The new vigilance is a huge step forward for the league, as long as the standard is consistent and the “result” of the hit isn’t the only factor considered. A dangerous and irresponsible hit to the head shouldn’t have to cause a concussion to be cause for discipline.
“The part I didn’t like is you can’t be leaving your feet,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock told reporters after the game. “I thought there was something in this league about protecting guys’ heads. That’s the only issue I have. … You have to protect players’ heads.”
Andreychuk’s memorable moment
The Lightning didn’t retire Dave Andreychuk’s number, but otherwise honored the former winger in a ceremony before a game against the Sabres last week. Fans in attendance even received Andreychuk bobblehead dolls, and there already was one up for auction on eBay on Friday.
Andreychuk, traded to Colorado from the Bruins with Ray Bourque in 2000, finally was on a Stanley Cup winner in 2004 with the Lightning. Tampa Bay’s captain, he got to raise the trophy overhead first – and didn’t have to take a quick handoff from Joe Sakic, as Bourque did in 2001.
“People bring up that moment to me more often than I think about it, but certainly when they do, it brings back a lot of memories,” Andreychuk told the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. “But not just for me. That was an experience for everybody – fans, players – not just me. Time stopped for a quick second and we all remember that moment, we remember where we were at that time. It was a part of my career that I will never forget.”
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
Spotlight on
In November 1995, Ryan Dingle and his buddy, J.D. Corbin, were among the spectators at McNichols Sports Arena when the Avalanche played the Detroit Red Wings in the regular-season opener to officially kick off Denver’s second stay in the NHL.
They were still in grade school, and were trying to decide whether hockey was going to be their primary sport. Dingle’s family had season tickets to DU Pioneers games in the old DU Arena, and Ryan lobbied to make sure he never missed a game. “I thought it was great,” he said last weekend. “The Bleacher Creatures, the chants, everything.”
He also admits he didn’t understand all the words he heard at first – and that once he did, he didn’t use them.
That’s his story and he’s sticking to it.
Dingle and Corbin are among the first wave of the Front Range’s “Avalanche generation.” There are eight Colorado-born players on the Pioneers’ roster this season. Corbin, 21, was an Avalanche draft choice in 2004, but hasn’t played this season because of a broken fibula and an ankle injury.
Dingle, 22, was the Pioneers’ leading goal-scorer, with 12 in 16 games, going into their weekend series against Minnesota State.
Shortly after the Avalanche’s arrival, Dingle and his family moved to Steamboat Springs, and he ended up playing junior hockey for the Des Moines Buccaneers and the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League before coming to DU.
The USHL prelude to a college career is common, and contributes to a wide gap in ages among NCAA players. Dingle had a breakout sophomore season in 2005-06, with 27 goals in 38 games, and he has stayed on a roll this season.
He wasn’t drafted by the NHL, and he almost certainly will have a chance to sign a free-agent deal at some point.
Perhaps even with Colorado.
PENALTY BOX
GMs fail to get grip on scheduling woes
Miscreants: The NHL’s board of governors.
Infraction: Failing to come to grips with the need to modify the current scheduling format at a meeting last week in Florida. (The NHL does a better job of scheduling its meetings than it does scheduling its games.)
The skinny: The general managers talked around the issue as well at their own recent meeting.
What the penalty should be: The next eight meetings of the board of governors should alternate between Minot, N.D., and Flint, Mich. The next eight meetings of the general managers should alternate between Regina, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Nice places, but the NHL power brokers would get sick of seeing them.
Top 10
Polls close Friday morning.
Rk. Prev. Team Comment
1 1 Sabres Briere shrugs off hit
2 2 Ducks Giguere cements No. 1
3 3 Sharks Despite loss to Avs
4 5 Red Wings Markov: Broken hand
5 4 Predators End loss streak at three
6 6 Stars Turco in stingy mode
7 8 Thrashers Horrible vs. Lightning
8 7 Hurricanes Monday Night Hockey here
9 – Devils Brodeur No. 2 behind Roy
10 10 Islanders NHL’s streakiest team
