Time To Phase Out "Energy Goons"

I remember years ago back in junior high school we used to have boxing matches in gym class.  It was actually a lot of fun.   For some kids, however, the experience wasn't so great as the gym teacher would match kids they did not like with partners much bigger, tougher and stronger.   This typically resulted in a one-sided ass kicking.   Over time, the school administration realized this probably was not a great idea as there was a possibility of someone getting seriously hurt.  Boxing was soon phased out of the gym class curriculum. 

You know what else is not a good idea?  Having Matt Cooke on your team.  Last week Cooke was handed a four game suspension for his behind the back hit on Fedor Tyutin.  When asked about the Cooke hit here's how Dan Bylsma responded “The player looks him right in the eye and knows he’s coming and makes sure he keeps his numbers turned towards him."  Dan, did you ever consider why folks are taking shots at some of your better players?  Look at this video from Don Cherry last March.  It shows numerous examples of Matt Cooke intending to injure opponents.   Cherry is prescient as he points out that opponents will start going after star Pittsburgh players like Sidney Crosby. 

                 http://spreadia.com/Matt_Cooke/188343854/Don_Cherry_on_Matt_Cooke

Retired winger Bill Guerin even called Cooke out after the Savard incident, you would think when your own teammate is non-supportive, Cooke would get the clue he's way over the line.  The most recent Cooke incident with Tyutin comes on the heels of last Sunday's game against the Washington Capitals where he intentionally stuck out his knee on Alex Ovechkin. 

So, how does this get fixed?  Mike Milbury and Pierre McQuire actually had some pretty good thoughts on this.  Milbury suggested putting a maximum limit on the number of major penalties or suspensions for a given player during the course of the season.  Once this limit is exceeded, they are gone for the rest of the season.  Pierre McQuire suggested lowering the roster size of players on the bench by one.  That way a coach or GM would think twice about wasting a slot with an "energy-goon" like Matt Cooke.  The Detroit Red Wings, for example, seem to do pretty well without an "energy goon".

Miscelleneous notes.....Islander goalies....where do they get these guys?  I have always thought it risky to select a goalie as your #1 pick.  Goalies are really a wild card as a high draft choice, they less predictable than forwards or defense men and typically have a longer development cycle.  Picking Rick DiPietro first and signing him to a long term contract as an unproven NHL player was not a good move....Islander rookie goalie Kevin Poulin was irate at Vancouver Canucks forward Mason Raymond's spin-o-rama shoot out goal in a January game....Here's a novel idea Kevin, you might want to consider stopping the puck and keeping quiet...not a sermon, just a suggestion.

Washington Capitals.....very interesting team right now.   I believe the goal tending is solid and so is the defense.  The key missing piece to the puzzle this year is something they new about at the start of the season - no depth at center ice beyond Niklas Backstrom.  They tried Tomas Fleischmann there, but he didn't click.  Mathieu Perrault is talented and fast but inconsistent and still learning.  Marcus Johansson can fly but is not quite there yet.  The Caps did not plan on Backstrom having a really poor season....the lack of firepower up the middle is killing these guys...should be an interesting trade deadline....if they want to get into the playoffs and advance a couple of rounds they need some center icemen... 

A Letter To Maple Leaf Season Ticket Holders

It is fascinating to look at the NHL from a financial perspective.  Two (2) interesting metrics are Price Per Ticket and Operating Income by team.  Check this out:

Price Per Ticket - US $ (Based on the week of January 10, 2011)

Toronto                $209.26
Montreal              $194.46
Vancouver           $157.76
Pittsburgh             $144.76
Edmonton            $121.49
Source:  SeatGeek

Operating Income - US $ (in millions, 2009)

Toronto                $78.90
Montreal              $31.30
NY Rangers         $27.70
Detroit                 $27.40
Chicago               $20.90
Source:  Forbes November 11, 2009

Imagine paying on average $209.26 for one ticket to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs!  What are these fans thinking about? This franchise has done next to nothing since they won the Stanley Cup in 1967.  In fact, they have missed the playoff for the past five (5) years (and won't make it this year either), they have the longest active Stanley Cup drought in the league and are the only Original Six team to not have won the Cup post league expansion.  Despite this pile of dung they serve up every year, this franchise has the highest valuation in the league at $470 million and makes far more Operating Income than the number two team, the Montreal Canadiens at $31.3 million.  When you look at the entire NHL Operating Income of $183.5 million, you quickly realize the Maple Leafs earn 43% of that total.

After looking at these numbers and the sustained below average performance of this team for the past 40 years, I wondered what the yearly letter from the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. says to the Maple Leaf season ticket holders.   Below I have crafted how it might look:

Dear Maple Leaf Season Ticket Holder,

Congratulations on becoming a season ticket holder for the 2010-2011 hockey season.  We are prepared for another exciting season of Leaf hockey at the Air Canada Center.  Frankly, we are absolutely blown away by your support.  We have not made the playoffs in years, we don't expect to make it this year and we have not won the Stanley Cup in over 40 years.  Despite this, you continue to support our franchise, your perseverance is noteworthy and we are grateful.

Going into this season we are encouraged as our season ticket wait list is now over 3,000 strong.  Evidence that our mediocre hockey team is not only a source of entertainment for you, but for many other folks in the area.  In fact, you should tell your friends one interim solution to the waiting list is our VIP Mini Packs - check them out on our website at http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=42099.  This promotion allows you to get two (2) tickets to five (5) Leaf games AND two (2) tickets to five (5) Toronto Raptors games.  Due to the demand for sub-par sports entertainment in the Metro-Toronto area we have ingeniously applied a ticket tying practice.  This way when you buy Leaf tickets you can augment your hockey disappointment by getting a dose of frustration from our below average basketball team.  We have seen the Microsoft Corporation bundle mediocre products, so we decided to give it a shot.  It's turning out to be a real money-maker for us so far.

As for future direction of the club, we are petrified of what a franchise in Hamilton poses to our business model.  Could you imagine the possibility of Leaf season ticket holders switching allegiances en masse to an ownership group that could actually outfit a winning hockey team?  We still remain supportive of Burkie and his staff though admittedly we are scratching our heads on why Phil Kessel and Kris Versteeg have a combined plus/minus of -26 as of this writing.

Despite all appearances we are not the Washington Redskins.  We can judge talent and we will not overpay our players.  We again thank you for being a season ticket holder!

Sincerely,


Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd.

Hall of Fame Smorgasbord

Interesting interview with Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito over the weekend.   They were talking about the good old days back when Espo was a rookie playing for the Blackhawks in the early 60's. Evidently, these guys spent many a late night on the town - I'm sure that shocks you all.  Hull, Esposito, Kenny Wharram and Chico Maki were the chief participants who would come back to the hotel really hungry after a night of hard drinking and carousing.  Back then there were no late night food joints open, so they canvassed all floors of the hotel and confiscated guest leftovers that were left outside the rooms.  Yes, hamburgers with one or two bites taken out of them.  They took the "stash" back to one their rooms and had a feast.  They actually did this on numerous occasions and in the interview reminisced fondly at recollection of these antics.  

Automatic Notifications of Blog Updates - RSS Feeds or Twitter

Two easy ways to know when new content is published to my blog:  

1) RSS Feeds.  At the bottom left side of my blog there is a link that says 'Atom'.  You right click on that link, select copy link, then add that link to whichever feed reader you use.  I use Google Reader.  Easy! 

2) Twitter.  Become a subscriber to my Twitter account 'neilrherron'.  I will post 'tweets' each time I publish new content.  

Feedback From Top Massachusetts High School Hockey List

We had some interesting feedback to my December 12, 2010 blog entry entitled The Top Massachusetts High School Hockey Players of All Time.  My nephew, graduate of Reading HS, suggested Sean Collins and Steve Saviano.  One of my friends, a former Boston College graduate, suggested Brian Boyle (St. Sebastian's) and Kevin Stevens (Silver Lake).  Bias notwithstanding, some notable suggestions to the list.  

We also had feedback from a NHL scout in the Boston-area.  He put together a really good list by position:


Forwards
Robbie Ftorek
Bobby Carpenter
David Silk
Jeremy Roenick
Tony Amonte
Mike Fidler
Ralph Cox
George Hughes
Mark Fidler

Defense
Rod Langway
Jack O’Callahan
Mark Fusco
Dukie Walsh
Jack Hughes
Tom Poti

Goalies
Tom Barasso
Mark Holden

Honorable Mentions
Bobby Miller
Freddie Ahearn
John Cunniff
Greg Brown

Not a bad team at all!

The Top Massachusetts High School Hockey Players of All Time

I have been asked on a number of occasions "Who were the best players in the history of Massachusetts high school hockey?"  The response is typically the players listed below:

1. Robbie Ftorek, Needham
2. Richie Hebner, Norwood (yes Pirates fans, that Richie Hebner)
3. Rod Langway, Randolph
4. Bob Carpenter, St. John's
5. Tom Barrasso, Acton-Boxborough
6. Mike Fidler, Malden Catholic
7. George Hughes, Malden Catholic
8. Dave Silk, Thayer Academy
9. Tony Amonte, Thayer Academy
10. Jeremy Roenick, Thayer Academy 
11. Bob Sunderland, Braintree 

Choosing the Top Ten Players was not an easy task, so as a result I have made an honorable mention list:

1. Ralph Cox, Archbishop Williams (last guy cut from 1980 Olympic Team)
2. Randy Millen, Oliver Ames
3. Jack O'Callahan, Boston Latin
4. Cap Raeder, Needham
5. Dukie Walsh, Matignon
6. Bill O'Dwyer, Don Bosco
7. Mark Holden, Weymouth
8. Tom Glavine, Billerica (yes Braves fans, he played hockey)
9. Bob McDonald, Winthrop
10. Mark Fidler, Matignon
11. Ted Donato, Catholic Memorial
12. Shawn McEachern, Matignon
13. Cleon Daskalakis, Thayer Academy
14. Kevin Coughlin, South Boston

Gary Doak Signed By Islanders - Player Role As Shoot Out Specialist

OK, now that I have your intention, the Doak signing is not true. But, perhaps for a moment you thought it was, because nothing from the Islanders really surprises us anymore. What is driving the Islanders into the ground is Charles Wang and a myriad of poor choices he has made as owner of this team.

In any business, leadership at the top sets the strategy and culture within an organization in its pursuit of success. It is interesting to look at rankings of the best and worst owners in the NHL. The top 5 are listed below:

1. Mike Ilitch, Detroit Red Wings
2. Jeffrey Vanderbeek, New Jersey Devils
3. Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, Pittsburgh Penquins
4. Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, San Jose Sharks
5. Peter Karmonos, Carolina Hurricaines

The worst 5 are provided below:

1. MLSE, Toronto Maple Leafs
2. Alan Cohen, Florida Panthers
3. Charles Wang, New York Islanders
4. Atlanta Spirit, Atlanta Thrashers
5. Predator Holdings, Nashville Predators


Source: Sports Illustrated, May 2009

I think these lists are relatively accurate. Frankly, I would add Ted Leonsis of the Washington Capitals to the list of the best. He is a bright guy, has built a fine organization, has a capable GM and arguably the best coach in hockey. Strong ownership is a huge differentiator for a prospective player when they consider the +/-'s of a given city. Quality ownership attracts the more talented players, it's that simple. Strong owners have infiltrated their organizations with outstanding hockey people that are extraordinary at judging talent.

Another addition to the worst owners list would be Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins. He has owned the Bruins for more than thirty years without a Stanley Cup. While I do believe Jacobs is on the right track, as Peter Chiarelli and Cam Neely are quite capable, he stuck far too long with Harry Sinden and he is still paying the price for it. As for the order of the poorly ranked owners, I maintain Charles Wang is unquestionably the worst. Just look at his track record as founder of Computer Associates (CA). For me this served as a really accurate predictor of what was to come with the New York Islanders when he became part owner in 2000 and full owner in 2004.

While at CA, Mr. Wang's career had considerable controversy. He spearheaded over fifty takeovers. In most cases these takeovers were followed by immediate firing of top management and key employees. The most despicable of these practices included forcing the employees of newly acquired company to sign new employment contracts on-the-spot at a company meeting with no prior warning - employees who refused to sign at the meeting or wished to have the contracts reviewed by a third party prior to signing were summarily fired. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle once quipped, CA is where all good software goes to rest. Once a really good software company was acquired by CA, typically its employees and customers ran like the wind.

In 2000 a civil action lawsuit accused Wang, co-founder Russell Artzt, and President Sanjay Kumar of wrongfully reporting $2.5 billion of revenues in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. This was done with the intention of inflating CA's stock price.  Since 2000, four other class action suites have been filed against CA, all of them specifically cited Wang.

So, the NHL in its infinite wisdom, approves Mr. Wang becoming owner of the Islanders. What ensued has been a series of poor decisions that is driving this once storied franchise into the ground, let's take a look:

1. Keeping Mike "Gimme Your Shoe" Milbury in place too long. Milbury's tenure as Islander GM was littered with poor trades. He traded away Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goalies Roberto Luongo and Tommy Salo, as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Tim Connolly, and Raffi Torres. Chara, Brewer, Luongo, Jokinen, Connelly, and Torres trades were conducted by Milbury under Wang's ownership. "Gimme Your Shoe" also selected Rick DiPietro first overall in the 2000 draft when both Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik were available. To make matters worse he signed this mediocre unproven goalie, DiPietro, to a ten year $67 million dollar contract that Wang had to approve. This crappy contract and the salary cap will encumber the Islanders for years.
2. Fires GM Neil Smith after 40 days. Wang gave Smith very little latitude in personnel and staffing decisions. Instead Wang wanted to subject the GM's decisions to ratification by a committee of advisors. Can you imagine what draft day in a circus like this would be like?
3. Senior Advisor Pat Lafontaine quits after 10 days on the job.  Guess the advisors were not on board with this approach either.   
4. Hires Garth Snow as General Manager. NO experience at all. Great goaltender, no clue on how to run a hockey club.
5. Rescinds access to blogger Chris Botta for reporting facts about the Islanders. Seems Mr. Botta expressed his disagreement with the recent firing of Islander coach Scott Gordon. Botta indicated Gordon was in a "no win" situation given the only way the Islanders are meeting the cap floor is via massive buyouts. He also cited DiPietro's ridiculous contract and Snow's ineptness at constructing a hockey team.  

How much longer can the NHL keep Jim Balsillie on the sidelines?