The trade deadline has passed. The World Cup initial rosters are out. The playoffs don’t start for nearly six weeks and the Stanley Cup Final won’t begin for almost 90 days. It’s time for your NHL Mailbag!
1. Say Anything
https://twitter.com/NerdBoxCanada/status/706916649329266689
It’s definitely not good. Hockey is popular enough that it will always exist in some form but it could be something great if players weren’t encouraged to hide their personalities. My dream is for the commissioner who succeeds Gary Bettman to demand on his first day that players show personality whenever possible and assure them that there won’t be fines or suspensions for those displays, within reason, of course.
I saw this documentary on Pete Weber, a bowler. He was, like, the most popular bowler in the world. He had some issues with alcohol, but he was suspended from the PBA multiple times for outbursts and being a wild man during events. He did his best to keep his personality hidden and eventually the PBA’s ratings fell and then new ownership took over the sport.
The new ownership basically said, “Pete, go nuts, man. We’re not encouraging alcohol abuse but if you want to swear and do crotch chops at the crowd after rolling a strike, you’ll never hear from us.”
Ratings and revenue rose when the sport’s best player wasn’t admonished for showing personality. It’s a lesson for the NHL.
It’s apples and oranges, individual and team sports, smoking in between rolling a 16-pound ball and drinking water in between 45-second shifts. But after I become commissioner in a few years, I’m telling every NHL player, “After you score a goal, ride your stick like it’s a broom and you are playing Quidditch.” It won’t instantly change the culture, as any player who wants to do that still has to deal with coaches and teammates and the culture of conformity, but I think it would help.
If you appeal to the bank accounts of organizations and players, it could be the start of a slow shift. I just want to live in a world where a guy can pretend his stick is on fire or it’s a rifle without people clutching at their pearls and penning columns about class.
Sports are entertainment. If we wanted to watch robots, well, we’d watch that dumb movie where Hugh Jackman’s estranged son was a robot fighting king or whatever.
http://gty.im/513257018
2. What do the St. Louis Blues have to do this year to finally get over the postseason hump? I’ve heard a lot about how the Blues are getting their injuries out of the way before the postseason, and once having their full lineup they could be scary in the playoffs. Can Hitchcock guide this team for a deep run in the playoffs?
-Trevor
It’s simple. Have the Blackhawks disqualified from postseason eligibility. Once that happens, the Blues are in business.
3. Fargo
@davelozo what’s the best Cohen brothers movie?
— tristan (@shiftevil) March 7, 2016
Fargo. No Country For Old Men is second. Raising Arizona is unlike any of their other movies and it’s great too. It’s too bad the TV series has to get all tangled with Fargo. Reboots, remakes and sequels nobody wanted are a sickness but using the name of a classic film to push your TV show that has no connection to said movie is the pits.
Imagine a TV show called Rocky and it’s about a boxer in Philadelphia but has literally zero to do with the Sylvester Stallone movie. It’s unsavory.
http://gty.im/514238802
4. Eastern Promises
@davelozo do you think the Top 8 teams in the East now will be the same ones we’ll see in the playoffs? — Andrew Poirier (@apoirier717) March 7, 2016
The real question is, “Will the Flyers make the playoffs?” Nobody else below the top eight has a chance. The only team in the top eight that could miss is Detroit, so really, the question is, “Will the Flyers pass the Red Wings before the season is over?” The Flyers play seven road games this month and are a sub-.500 team outside of Philadelphia this season. Twelve of their final 17 games are against teams in a playoff spot right now.
The Red Wings only face eight playoff teams the rest of the way. They have a nearly even home/road split the rest of the way and nearly identical records at home and away. The Flyers will probably have to beat the Red Wings in their remaining two matchups to have a chance. If they don’t, the East is probably set.
http://gty.im/510988692
5. Quick Change
@davelozo do coaches wait to long to switch goalies when they’re clearly out of sorts? Re: 3/6 MIN Wild game
— Callaspo (@iamcallaspo) March 7, 2016
God, it all depends. Who is the backup? Is there a game tomorrow? Did he allow particularly awful goals? Is the team sagging? It’s impossible to answer such a broad question so I will instead focus on the specific game you’re referencing. Jori Lehtera’s goal is off a horrendous turnover and he pounds it 5-hole to make it 1-0. The Ryan Reaves goal less than two minutes later that put the Wild in a 2-0 hole is comically bad. That should have been the end of the night for Devan Dubnyk.
I have a long-held belief that a lot of goalies can’t get past being beaten 5-hole, especially early in a game. It rattles them. If a dude picks a corner, you can shrug it off as a great shot. When a guy drives one between your legs from 20 feet, it messes with you. Dubnyk looked like a guy still thinking about the first goal when he allowed the second goal. Throw in the fact Dubnyk won a shootout the night before and backup Darcy Kuemper has a .922 save percentage, switching goaltenders seemed like a no-brainer.
Yanking Dubnyk after it became 3-0 midway through the second period on another bad goal was way too late. On the bright side, at least your coach didn’t screw this up in an elimination postseason game like Ken Hitchcock did last year with super shaky Jake Allen. You wait one goal too long, and you could cost your team its season.
http://gty.im/470551016
6. Hot Dog … The Movie
@davelozo what’s your favourite kind of mustard? — Jim Duhaime (@Duhaimer) March 7, 2016
There are only two types of mustard in the world: spicy brown and honey.
Here is how they should be used.
Honey mustard: On sandwiches with swiss cheese. The sweetness of the honey counterbalances the dryness of the cheese perfectly. If you get turkey and swiss, top it with honey mustard and never look back.
Spicy brown: On everything else.
Regular yellow mustard is for suckers and children, who are suckers by nature. If you put it on your hot dog, which is a sandwich, just throw it away.
http://gty.im/514087560
7. Escape From New York
@davelozo How do you see a Rangers/Islanders first round series going? Who wins?
— Elissa (@sarcasmpucktail) March 7, 2016
As long as Henrik Lundqvist is healthy, Rangers in six or seven. The Islanders will probably play better in the series, but as is the Rangers’ way, they will let Lundqvist clean up their messes and make the most of their scoring chances against Jaroslav Halak or Thomas Greiss.
Either way, next year will be the start of the Islanders’ reign in New York.
http://gty.im/148210383
8. I am a die-hard fan of the New Jersey Devils and hamburgers with Taylor ham (pork roll). The problem is I view cheese the same way I view the New York Rangers, absolutely disgusting.
Yesterday I frustratingly watched the Penguins murder my beloved Devils 6-1. To top off the dismal performance, the folks at the “Jersey Grind” outside section 12 of the Prudential Center would not make a “Jersey Burger” sans cheese because they considered it a special order. There were five burgers just about done on the grill without the cheese, and they still refused. Every burger on the menu had cheese on it, leaving me out to dry.
I’m sorry, I’ve tried to like cheese and I just can’t. I can’t even eat the burger after scraping it off.
Am I a fool? Should I go back to school? Is eating burgers with no cheese cool?
Joseph
I don’t have an answer to this. (Ed note: tell them you are lactose intolerant and they have to make you one or you can probably sue them.) I do want to make fans and security near section 12 at Prudential Center aware there is a potentially unhinged man in the area during home games.
