Prime Time Sports Summary - April 13, 2007

Here are the NHL Stories from Prime Time Sports last night (National Hour):
Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Stephen Brunt from the Globe & Mail, James Deacon from the FAN590 and Gord Kirke, a sports lawyer

Main NHL Story: The roundtable discussed the situation in Phoenix again. Specifically, an interview that Cliff Fletcher had earlier in the week on the FAN. Fletcher had mentioned that Gretzky had not yet talked to him, which is very un-Gretzky-like (he usually is on the phone all the time). The roundtable talked about why Gretzky was in Phoenix in the first place - it was to grow the NHL and help out a poor market, however, now with all his friends gone and the team doing poorly, can Phoenix and the NHL afford to get rid of him? Deacon talked about how it usually the case that Great athletes usually make poor coaches, because they think some things are easily done and therefore expect too much for their players. The roundtable agreed that given his current position, and with Mike Smith now gone to Russia, Gretzky should step aside. As was talked about earlier in the week, even if the Coyotes hire a new GM, it will be very difficult to do anything to Gretzky - can a clause be put in his contract that allows him to get rid of the coach with no questions asked. But if the new GM does fire Gretzky, we come full circle and again the question of the Coyotes surviving in Phoenix returns. Overall, the roundtable agrees that, given Cliff Fletcher's past record with teams, that if he was unsuccessful the problem must have lied elsewhere (the coach) and that the only solution is to get rid of Wayne. Deacon brought up the point that given the strong Canadian dollar, the team should get rid of Wayne and move back to Winnipeg.

Canadian GM's
Kevin Lowe will not be fired in the off-season, however he will be in the 2008 off-season if he doesn't turn his team around. If any personnel moves are going to be made in Edmonton, it would be with the coach - he just didn't seem to get the team fired up when they needed to win.

Bob Gainey is 100% safe.

John Ferguson Jr., according to Richard Peddie, has a 50/50 chance of returning to the Leafs. This fact was taken out of the way he spoke during an earlier interview. However, Gordon Kirke, believed that Peddie acted this way because he was responding to the way his players talked to the media on exit interview day. Leafs Nation was quite upset with the positive interviews given by Andrew Raycroft and Darcy Tucker and Peddie was just trying to calm down the Leafs Nation by suggesting that the season wasn't what the organization had hoped for. James Deacon suggested that if a big-name GM becomes available (like with what happened to the Raptors) JFJ can pack his bags, because the Leafs have the money and the reputation that can and should attract top talent.

Bullets:
Rick DiPietro - will attempt to play Game 2- they have to play him over Dubielewicz because of the money they pay him
Mats Sundin - resign or not - everyone agreed that resigning Mats is the best for the Leafs, except for McCown...go figure.

Prime Time Sports Summary - April 5, 2007

Here are the NHL Stories from Prime Time Sports last night (National Hour):

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Jim Kelley from Rogers Sportsnet, James Deacon from the FAN590 and Adam Proteau from the Hockey News

NHL Discussion:
The point system and it deception. McCown believes the NHL points system is flawed. He thinks a 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 system for would work for points. This system places emphasis on winning in regulation time (4 points) and puts less emphasis on a shoutout win (2 points). McCown did this analysis on the 2006 - 2007 season and found some surprising results. The best team in the NHL would be the San Jose Sharks and not the Red Wings - they would fall to #2. The most interesting parts come near the bottom, where the Hurricanes would be 15th overall and would be winning their division. This system really shows the strength of the Western conference. Proteau really thinks this system has a legs, and feels it is just too difficult for teams that fall behind early to catch up to those that started the season well. For example, numerous teams, the Leafs included, have gone on some serious win streaks, yet maybe move 1 position up. Kelley and Deacon really loves this system as it forces teams to win a game within 60 minutes. Deacon brings up the point of conflict between the NHL's MO of making hockey more interesting to the casual fan and putting less emphasis on the shootout with this point system. Gary Bettman has been quoted many times as saying that the shootout makes the game more exciting to those casual fans - putting less emphasis on it, may make the NHL look unstable in its decision making. McCown rebuts this by saying the shootout is simply not part of hockey - if it was, why are teams dressing a guy who is a shootout "expert" yet is unable to anything else? Kelley raises the point that some powerhouse teams may runaway from the pack quicker and therefore become "unreachable" and the league's parity would be lost. I think it's a nice idea and may work, but as these guys discussed it would change how GM's would pick their teams and the decisions coaches would make during game - as they want to get the win in regulation.

In addition, and while Bob was on roll, he suggestion to fix the All-Star game: fill the penalty box with cash and who ever wins, gets the cash.

Bullets:
The Pavel Datsyuk contract - too long and will take money away from a good goaltender when Hasek leaves. This move (7 year contract) is very unlike the Red Wings. Overall, the panel agreed this was not a good move, especially given Datsyuk's past playoff history - they should have waited.

Prime Time Sports Summary - April 5, 2007

Here are the NHL Stories from Prime Time Sports last night (National Hour):

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Jim Kelley from Rogers Sportsnet, Paul Coffey former NHL player

Main NHL Story: Limited hockey discussion on Thursday night. For the first 20 minutes or so, Paul Coffey was live in studio and the panel discussed some of the hot topics around the NHL. Paul mainly talked about the NHLPA issue and his involvement (which was limited), however from his view he was very thankful for what the PA did for him and his career. Kelley talked about the situation in Edmonton and how the city is so focussed on hockey that it becomes difficult for the star players (Pronger, Smyth, etc.) to keep the town happy. Coffey was very impressed with the work Oiler's GM Kevin Lowe has been doing since his was given the job. McCown brought up the fact that the Edmonton of the 80's and 90's is a totally different from the Edmonton of today - simply put, if your winning, it's a place you want to be, if the team is not winning, then the city seems to take a dip. Going along with that difference, is the difference between the game today and the game back when Coffey played. Coffey agrees with a majority of the rule changes, however he feels more power should be given to the defencemen. Coffey says that today's defencemen have trouble expanding their game. He feels that a more "robotic" motion is in place - when in the defensive zone, the defencemen can't lay a hand on any attacks and when they flip to offense, they simply fire the puck up to the forwards. The days of the rushing defenceman is slowly slipping away.

Finally, Coffey talked about his Baycrest Hockey Tournament for Alzheimer's. The tournament runs from April 26 to 28, 2007. Click the link for more info.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Maple Leafs Hockey Blog

Starting April 1, 2007, this site will be your resource for all things Leafs and NHL hockey. I will give you a little background about what you should expect from this site. First, I am sports writer based out of Toronto, Ontario - therefore when I am not writing on the Leafs, a majority of my stories will be of Canadian content. I will do my best to keep in touch with NHL issues around North America, however the volumes of media written everyday about the NHL will lead me to prioritize my news. What will differentiate my site from others, is that I will attempt to summarize the discussions held about the Leafs and the NHL on the two local sports radio stations here in Toronto. Each day I will blog about the Hockey discussions held on AM640's Leafs Lunch and The FAN590's Prime Time Sports. If time permits, I may discuss The FAN590's HockeyCentral as well. I hope you enjoy what I have to say and check back for updates.

Cheers,

Jeff