The Carnival Of The NHL

Welcome to the inaugural Carnival of the NHL. Unlike yesterday's trip through the Basketball side of the Blogosphere, I'm not a tourist when it comes to my fellow hockey bloggers. I'm happy I can introduce you to some of them, as they soldier on in following a sport in idefinite deep-freeze.

As you might suspect these days, there are plenty of theories as to why the game continues to suffer. Steve Ovadia at Puck Update is pointing to the rise of linebacker-sized players as part of the problem:

The NHL can try and tweak the rules to generate a false sense of excitement and offense, but until they address the fact that the game has become dominated by meaty monsters who can score thirty goals a season just by standing in front of the net and letting the puck deflect off of them, they're never going to get any fans back. Until someone admits that the chasm between Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros (no offense to Lindros, whom I truly think is great) was a million conceptual miles—the death of finesse and the birth of size—then hockey is never going to have a chance. The lockout is just one of the NHL's many, many problems. They're hardly out of the woods.

Note to new bloggers: Mr. Ovadia's hangout is absolute proof that a simple and clean layout is all you need as long as you've got the goods behind the keyboard.

Everyone seems to agree that the NHL needs more: more speed, more excitement, more goals. The brainstorming of reporters, players, coaches, hockey execs and people who don't know anything has produced a huge catalogue of suggested NHL rule changes - all of them guaranteed to turn your team into the 1984 Edmonton Oilers. Here's an assesment of the ideas currently in circulation from Jamie Fitzpatrick, the resident hockey expert at About.com.

One of the great crimes of the lockout has been the fact that the fans in Tampa Bay didn't get to see their team raise their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters of their barn. And at a time when seemingly everyone likes to point to expansion as one of the downfalls of the league, it's important to remember there are still plenty of hockey fans in those markets -- like John Fontana at Boltsmag. Click here to revisit Game One of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals with John and his buddy Keith Short from Calgary.

Another consistent theme in the NHL over the last several years is just how much the smaller Canadian franchises have had to struggle to compete. Over at Breakaway Beach, you can find a lengthy analysis of the fight of the Oilers (Colby Cosh's favorite team) in Edmonton.

One of the newer hockey bloggers on the scene is James Mirtle. As it turns out, James is an actual journalist who works for the Toronto Globe and Mail, a pretty impressive gig for somebody about five minutes out of grad school.

Earlier this year, he pulled no punches in an interview with Buffalo Sabres pugilist Andrew Peters, who was over in Sweden playing Tier-2 hockey. "I don''t know that anyone in the world enjoys getting punched in the face," said Peters.

Blueshirt Bulletin is a (usually) daily log of mostly Ranger-related links (though in these latter days that covers a lot more than the Rangers) with the commentary of the Blueshirt Bulletin editorial staff -- i.e. Dubi Silverstein -- wrapped around it in a manner he calls "semi-objective", a term that's frequently shortened to "subjective". Because he's linked to a print periodical, Dubi sometimes posts original material that overflows from the magazine, like this exclusive interview with Ranger prospect Hugh Jessiman.

Dubi is also responsible for one post that's destined to go to the yet-to-be-established Hockey Blogging Hall of Fame. Never forget that Idle Rumors Are The Devil's Tools. And if the title of that blog confuses you, simply click here.

And speaking of the Devil, be sure to check out "The 'Other' Face Of Evil", a hilarious photo essay from Jes Golbez. Jes has been a must read throughout the lockout if for no other reason that it's good to know that top level hockey is still being played somewhere, and Jes always has the skinny on what's happening over in Europe -- especially this post where he scooped everyone in North America about former #1 NHL pick Alexander Ovechkin's decision to spurn the Washington Capitals, and stay in Russia next season.

While Hockey blogging might be a recent thing, it's important to remember that plenty of observers of the game have been kicking around for quite some time. Over at the excellent Sharkspage, John Swensen remembers LCS Hockey, one of the first Web sites to cover the NHL back in 1994. What started as 4 college students taking aim at traditional reporting, turned into a several dozen correspondents providing some of the best hockey coverage online. Sharkspage's tribute to LCS quotes from 4 classic LCS articles:

Why Gary Bettman is less boring than a Tampa-Anaheim game, the LCS Save-the-Whale Telethon, an interesting Q-and-A with all-world defenseman Scott Stevens and Common Swedish Phrases for the world hockey traveler:

Skulle du lik att se de hem av a ensam, ensam man? - Would you like to see the home of a lonely, lonely man?

Forlat, Jag tanke den var min ben. - Sorry, I thought that was my leg.

Behagar skaffa ej slag mig om. - Please do not slap me again.

One last note: though John would never say so himself, the man knows digital photography.

Another veteran of online commentary is About.com veteran Tom Benjamin of Canucks Corner. I asked him to submit a post, so he put the question to his readers. And click here for his look at what NHL labor armageddon might look like if the league attempts to decertify the NHLPA.

There are a number of other blogs that I turn to pretty regularly to supplement my hockey diet. Among them are resident Ranger fans The Rodent and Hockeybird. With The Rodent, it doesn't get much better than his three-part, "Revenge of the Stiffed." As for the Bird, take a gander at his view of the problems, or lack thereof, in televised hockey. And for some reflections on 65 years of Ranger fandom, visit Rangerpundit. And continuing with the Rangers meme, Joe Tasca has some interesting memories from his first up close exposure to the Rangers/Islanders rivalry.

And finally, also be sure to visit Kumar's Blizznog and the Puck Stops Here.

Wow, that was fun, and a bit exhausting. Still, I expect to do it again sometime, if and when the lockout gets resolved.

Eric 06:44 AM

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Posted by: at June 4, 2005 08:11 PM

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