Prime Time Sports Summary - May 2, 2007

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

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Jim Kelley from Roger Sportsnet
NHL Call-In: Al Morganti from Comcast Sports and Eric Duhatschek from the Globe & Mail

Main NHL Story:
The Shane Doan incident. Doan was accused 17 months ago of making a "French-Canadian" slur during an NHL game. Doan has been named the captain of the Canadian over in Russia. Duhatschek, who has known Doan for a long time, said that this is really uncharacteristic of Doan and also the NHL is known being strict on things like this and yet they are coming to his defense - therefore the investigation the NHL did must have proved that Doan didn't say what the government is alleging he said and case closed. Morganti said the story really hasn't hit the US, but Morganti just can't believe this story - he thought Canada had more common sense. Morganti feels this is all politically driven and he feels sorry for Doan. Kelley brought up the fly in the ointment point that the official involved said under oath that a french slur was said during a lawsuit between the official and Doan. Kelley asked, did the NHL do enough research? Duhatschek said during the NHL investigation they concluded that something was said, but it definitely wasn't Doan and no one will say it was them - drawing the blame away from Doan. Duhatschek said that all three officials should submit a deposition about what they saw and heard on the ice. Duhatschek goes one step further and said if Doan is "acquitted" what will the Canadian government do to rebuild his reputation? Morganti brought up the fact of Don Cherry and why does he get away with it, especially given his position.
John Tavares - The 16 year old phenom of the OHL. McCown feels that he is flying under the radar and wants to know why. Duhatschek suggested that because Tavares hasn't played internationally for Canada, yet and the people out west haven't seen much of him. Duhatschek said that give him sometime and within 2 years Tavares will be a household name. Morganti said there really isn't too much of a buzz about him now, outside of hockey people, and really in the US no one has heard of him or cares, simply because they have Crosby and Ovechkin already to watch and also some of young USA players (Jack Johnson, etc) deserve some of the spotlight right now, but his time will come. McCown said if he was a GM he would attempt to suck by the time that draft year comes up.
Phoenix Coyotes GM Position - The GM list has been shortened and a decision is due soon. Will Gretzky still have a say? Duhatschek says yes and also says it's hard to pick who will get that role as there are so many potential GMs out there, some new and some with only a year of experience. McCown asked Morganti - should Wayne's name be on the list. Morganti said no. Given Wayne's track record as a coach and his only GM experience is with Team Canada (which is a different pool altogether).

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 11, 2007

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

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Stephen Brunt from the Globe & Mail
Uplink: Al Morganti from Comcast Sports and Eric Duhatschek from the Globe & Mail, Scott Moore from CBC Sports

Main NHL Story: McCown talked about 3 NHL topics with the Hockey Pucks." 1) The CBC snub by the NHL; 2) The Phoenix Coyotes firings; and 3) The Playoffs. He talked to Moore about the CBC snub as well.

The CBC Snub: Both analysts believe this was stupid on Gary Bettman's part. Morganti brought up the fact that NBC is not paying a cent to broadcast the NHL in the US and the CBC is paying a lot (even more starting in 2008). Morganti point is that in any other business/profession, money talks - why not in the NHL? Duhatschek mentioned that even though CBC is still under their old agreement with the NHL, they are still paying the NHL to broadcast games. He also did not understand why Bettman thought, that one game would save hockey in the US. McCown responded to that saying that 90% of Americans don't even know the NHL is in the playoffs and even less would know to turn on NBC on Saturday to watch the Pens and the Sens.

The Firings in Phoenix: Basically, the Coyotes had no choice, something had to be done. Wayne Gretzky had been sticking up for GM Mike Barnett for too long and this time, upper management had had enough. Duhatschek brought out the fact of the new CEO and new silent partner in Phoenix, which are forcing Gretzky to get on his horse and do something with the team. The Coyotes have said that they will put in a thorough search for a new GM, which is promising. Possible candidates are Pat Quinn and Dave Taylor. The roundtable moved to the discussion of Gretzky and how the organization is so focussed on one guy, it will be difficult to try and change things around him. Whatever they have to do, it has to be big and long term, because the team has done worse in 2007 than it did in 2006 and they are out of excuses in Phoenix.

Stanley Cup Playoffs: McCown brought up the statistics about 8 vs. 1's and 7 vs. 2's. These statistics show that once a team makes the playoffs, they have a legitimate chance of winning it all. Morganti cited the fact that so much goes into hockey and the game itself that anything can happen and no one team has a dominate presence. The roundtable also talked about the East vs. the West. Duhatschek still stands by that the West is a better division, however the East is more exciting to watch. The reason why the East has one the past three cup? The West simply beat each other up in the regular season/playoffs and are just too gassed to all the way to get the Cup.
Predictions for Cup Winner:
Morganti - Penguins
Duhatschek - Sharks
Brunt - Sabres
McCown - Sharks

Scott Moore Interview: Scott Moore, head of CBC Sports, called in during the last segment of the program to discuss the NHL's decision to play the Pens and Sens game on NBC. Basically, Moore stated his case to Bettman, and Gary just wouldn't listen. The interview was cut short due to time, however, the Globe & Mail article is the best reproduction of the effects on CBC and Moore's thoughts.