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Bobo Kadri

Nazem-the-dream

It’s getting very close to training camp and Nazem Kadri is still without a contract.

Without getting into specific cap scenarios and constraints that the Leafs might be facing in trying to sign Kadri and Franson (whom I think is the bigger priority), I find this pretty disappointing to see from Nazem-the-dream.

I happen to like Kadri. Not always as a player for the Leafs, but as what I perceive him to be as a person. I think if you polled most people who watch hockey, they would generally agree with this. He comes off very genuine, candid, dedicated and just plain friendly in most of his media appearances.

On the ice, he’s okay. He does things that I don’t agree with sometimes, but so does every player. I think outside of extreme circumstances (Sean Avery’s on ice behavior as an example), we can’t fairly judge players for how they act during the game.

Now that I have qualified my opinion of Kadri, I feel okay about saying he’s acting like a complete prima donna this summer regarding his contract.

The discussion on his new contract should go like this:

Kadri: I would like 5 years or more

Nonis: No Nazem, you have just 63 points in 99 NHL games and less than a point-per-game average in the AHL. Here’s $5 million for two years and we’ll see how you do.

That’s it. End of discussion.

The mere fact that he’s even asking for more than a two or three year deal is preposterous. You don’t get a long-term deal at this age and with those stats unless you’re a can’t miss stud. Look at some of the names who have these 5+ year deals immediately after their entry-level deal:

John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyler Seguin

Kadri should be fetching these two water while he’s holding out..

Gabe’s looks are worth $5 million annually alone.

Before anyone jumps on the mention of Landeskog and his newly signed 5.75 million / 7 year deal, just consider comparing their bodies of work. Landeskog won rookie of the year, was named the youngest captain in NHL history and is about twice the player Kadri is away from the puck. While they play different styles, there isn’t a huge gap between them offensively either. Kadri is more creative offensively but I don’t necessarily think he’ll be a better point producer.

Kadri-lovers might even argue that he’s even as good as Hall, Seguin or Eberle. He’s not… or at least he hasn’t proven it yet. Kadri has done essentially nothing to date and couldn’t even stick with the Leafs roster his first two years.

I don’t care what people say about rushing young players, if you’re that good, you play in the NHL.

Does anyone think ‘the Nuge’ is physically developed enough to play against NHLers? No, he looks like he still needs about 30 pounds of muscle, and that’s putting it a lot more nicely than I usually do. Yet he still plays at the top level.

I’m sure this is what most NHLers see when they line up against Nuge in Edmonton.

The way I see Kadri developing is a lot like how Claude Giroux developed… I am not saying he’s as good as G either – just similar from a career/contract trajectory. Both had a lot of raw talent early on, but it wasn’t quite refined enough to determine the long-term player they would become.

Here’s how it breaks down.

Giroux

Age 19 – 2 NHL games, 0 points

Age 20 – 42 NHL games, 27 points, 33 AHL games, 34 points

Age 21 – 82 NHL games, 47 points

Age 22 – 82 NHL games, 76 points

Kadri

Age 19 – 1 NHL game, 0 points

Age 20 – 29 NHL games, 12 points, 44 AHL games, 41 points

Age 21 – 21 NHL games, 7 points, 48 AHL games, 40 points

Age 22 – 48 NHL games, 44 points (don’t include AHL lockout totals)

So at Age 20, it’s fair to say these guys are in the same realm. Age 21… well let’s give Nazem his mulligan and say he had an off year. Age 22, they were pretty close again. (Though I would like to note that I do not think Kadri would have got 76 points had last season been a full one, I would think he would end up in the mid-60 range)

Since age 22, Grioux has developed into one of the better players in the league and has been handsomely rewarded. The Flyers didn’t jump the gun though. Before signing an 8 year / $66 million deal he signed a 3 year / $11.25 million deal for a hit of $3.75 million.

I think that is still a little rich for my tastes if we’re talking about Kadri, but at least it’s in the right region and isn’t an outright joke like a 5+ year deal would be. We just can’t trust a guy who has been this inconsistent early in his career.

For me, the whole takeaway from this is that if Kadri is a good as he thinks he is or thinks he will be, he should spend a couple of seasons MAKING ONLY 2-3 MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY and then get his $60 million multi-year deal. What’s the difference anyway? If he signs a 5 year deal now and becomes a superstar then he will be underpaid in years 3-5. Or, he’s underpaid the next few years if he’s really good and makes up for it with his next contract.

Kadri has also taken to social media and TV more than once and said something along the lines of “I only want what’s fair. I’m not greedy.” Well, I’m sorry, but when you are haggling over a long-term contract you don’t deserve and have about 5 million bucks sitting on the table in front of you over the next 2-3 years, yeah, you’re greedy.

He should really see this as an opportunity using P.K. Subban as an example. He signed the bridge deal at a nice discount for the habs, won a Norris he probably wouldn’t have got in a full season and now is going to pillage Montreal (or some other team) worse than Montrealers did during the Richard Riot in his next deal.

PK pondering about how much he’s gunna take Bergevin for next time around…

I hope Kadri just signs his bridge deal. Or if not, speak out saying something other than you want what’s fair. Say the length-range you’re looking for or something… Don’t just refute what reputable hockey people like Bob-o or Bobo McKenzie are saying and then offer nothing (where does he get off questioning Bob anyway… guy’s a legend..).

If neither of these scenarios work, then as a fan I have no problem letting him sit out for a dozen games or so until he caves. Then he can put his tail between his legs and come back at a discounted-rate. From there, I will be more than happy if he shows us he’s worth a long term deal at big bucks because right now, he’s not even close.

5 reasons to love Jaromir Jagr

Jags, like his hair, is an NHL legend

You know that old gym bag or suitcase that still does its job that you can’t seem to throw away? That’s Jaromir Jagr. It’s part way through the off-season and Jags is packing his suitcase again after joining his fourth team since rejoining the NHL in 2011.

Moving around this late in his career makes it seem like he is trying to win another cup before he goes, though signing with the Stars and now a Kovalchuk-less Devils wouldn’t make sense if that were the case. I think he is just trying to find any team to take him. This again seems weird, since it’s not as if he’s signing for pennies on the dollar (Philly Contract was worth $3.3 million, Dallas shelled out $4.5 million for him and now he has reportedly signed for over $4 million with the Devils).

He’s certainly lost a step, there’s no denying that. But he still boasts a 240-pound concrete frame that is basically immovable (unless you count this – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQYyl5G5MU ), a great shot, and natural puck and vision skills paralleled by few around the league – regardless of age. So why wouldn’t teams give him a one-year deal, something he doesn’t seem to mind signing, unlike a lot of players.

Take him or leave him, here are five reasons why you’ve gotta love this guy despite the fact that he has – or probably will – play for the team you hate the most at some point before he retires. I’ve gone ahead and left out outrageous hair, since that one is just a given.

1. He’s absolutely disgusting

Okay, so that’s a given. But just take a moment and think about how great this guy could have been had he not fled the NHL in 2008.

Let’s say conservatively he would have had about 65 points per year from 2008-11. And that’s a low estimate, since he averaged almost 97 points in the previous three seasons between 2006 and 2008. (Caveat: even though his totals dropped from 123 to 96 to 71 in those three years, Jagr has the ability to appear as if he is fading and then just turn it on. He hadn’t scored more than 100 points before 2005-06 since 2000-01 and appeared to be on the back end of his career. Then he started trying (or something?) again in NYC and was challenging Joe Thornton for the Art Ross). So I don’t necessarily think he would only get 65 points in the NHL during his KHL years, but you have to be conservative in hypotheticals.

So if you’ve done the math by now, that would put him up around the 1900 point range right now with well over 700 tucks… I’d say this guy has a couple more years in him if he wants, meaning he might have been able to pass 2000 career points. (Just in case you don’t know a thing about hockey’s beautiful history, this would put him second all-time behind Gretzky… not too shabby at all)

Now I’m not saying that he’s the second best offensive player of all-time, just highlighting the fact that this guy rarely gets talked about in the all-time greats list despite his incredible stats. People admit that he’s great, but I don’t think they appreciate just how great he is.

2. He is a pioneer of the outrageous celebration

I remember when Jags first started doing the salute. Back then, it was weird and everyone would wonder what the hell the Czech guy was doing. Now, in an era where guys do all kinds of showboating and weird shit like this ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfysDNnuX64 ), the salute seems pretty calm.

Now that I reflect, I have come to enjoy the salute and really don’t think it’s that bad at all. As Giroux put it in HBO 24/7, the salute is more like the signature move of a hockey legend.

Just for kicks, here are a couple of great salutes. My personal fave is the one where he rolls right through Pittsburgh’s crease as if to say that he’s still got it after he scored 2 goals in 20 seconds.

3. His stand-out playoff facial hair

This is pretty self-explanatory.

Check out these photos of Jags in the playoffs pulling off facial hair styles that would have most of us just plain laughed out of the room. He kind of looks like the Wolverine with this dyed-black beard he sported in Boston. Who knows why he does it? What we do know is that it shows some character and is absolutely hilarious.

Jaromir has become the poster boy for wacky facial hair in the Playoffs

4. He doesn’t take himself too seriously

One of the things I hate about athletes is their uncanny ability to tell you nothing in an interview. We get it; you don’t wanna end up like Tyler Seguin spewing out homophobic tweets twice in the same calendar year, but say something beyond the usual clichés. I think athletes in general (mostly NHLers) think that it is cool (and that people will like them) if they speak like they were educated in a barn and tell us nothing. But what they don’t get is that the only players who can pull off the robot-talk are the ones who are so unbelievably good (see: Sidney Crosby) that you can’t dislike them no matter what. The best guys are the ones that show that they are human every once in a while and play along with media trickery… this is also known as having a personality. Anyway, enough of this rant, here are a couple of great clips that show Jagr isn’t a robot, despite the fact that he sometimes looks a bit confused by the questioning.

5. He is a consummate pro

It certainly takes a lot of dedication to play professional hockey at a high-level into your forties. I do think that the Iron-Man-Dedication-type award should go to Temmu (who is apparently a fitness fanatic and is often referred to the best athlete in the world for his age), Jagr deserves a close second place nod here. The guy is in excellent shape and apparently works out after every game to keep his body loose and injury-free. He misses some time, naturally, but I think there are few guys in the NHL who take the off-ice aspects of the game as seriously as he does.

In addition to this, he seems like he just has it all figured out at this point. In the video below (made before he joined the stars) he says “for me to score goals is not the number one thing in my head… it’s to win hockey games,” you know anyone who says something like that after winning virtually everything in his NHL career (and therefore has nothing left to do except pad his stats), is a great guy to have on your team to mentor the young guys.

So there you have it. Five reasons you should love and appreciate Jagr and try to enjoy the remainder of a truly great career! Do yourself and go to Youtube and check out some of his highlight compilations… There are just too many to embed on here.

Ilya Kovalchuk: Coward or Hero?

Kovy is all smiles for Team Russia.

A lot of fuss is being made by North American media outlets, hockey fans and pseudo-pundits (mostly in Canada… and in the GTA) about Ilya Kovalchuk’s decision to retire from NHL hockey and return to Russia to play in the KHL. While I won’t say that this isn’t a bit shocking (though he did threaten this in January) and that Devils fans shouldn’t be upset. I don’t think it’s quite as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be.

My opinion – plain and simple – is to move on… It can be summed up pretty well with this short video.

He doesn’t want to play in the NHL? Okay, that’s fine. I’ll never think about it again.

So if you’ve read this far you probably think this is a bit simplistic. But hear me out.

The first and most important point is that I find it hard – no, impossible – to believe that anyone who is criticizing Kovalchuk would do something different. Let’s put aside the notion of sentiment and “loyalty” for a second.

If I’m working a job in Mississauga and I get offered a job Downtown that pays more money, is closer to my family, and in every sense of the phrase a better fit for me, why on earth wouldn’t I take that? My boss likes me. I get along with my colleagues. I even like my job and see it as a good opportunity. But I don’t think for a second that anyone wouldn’t take a better offer if it was presented to them. This isn’t just a bit better either, since living in NJ for a guy who doesn’t speak English very well and whose family is in Russia must be less than ideal. Oh, and I forgot to mention the 50-100 per cent pay increase…

Here is where people jump in and say that he screwed over the NJ fans and organization, and that he should be loyal to them after signing a contract of that length. Well, I feel for all the bleeding-hearts out there. I really do. But just remember that hockey is a business. There is no loyalty. Do you think that players getting bought out (say Vinny who spent his whole career in TB, or Grabo, who was starting a family in TO at the time of his buyout) were shown loyalty by their team? Nope, don’t think so. Those were business decisions.

Vinny: uhhh wait a second… you’re buying me out? But I’m captain… Lightning: Yeah but you’re just not that good anymore and we have to make the best decision for us.. even though we said in the contract you could stay for your whole career!

Vinny was the god damn captain of the Lightning and thought he would spend his whole career there, and in one swift move they sent him packing. So don’t expect loyalty from players when it isn’t a two way street. Yes, Kovalchuk signed the long-term deal and said he would finish his career in NJ, but seeing as Vinny signed a long-term deal on Tampa and got shown the door, I can’t blame Kovy for not believing the Devils wouldn’t do the same. He had to do what was best for him. We can’t expect players to honour-to-the-death any contract they sign when the owners aren’t held to the same regard. This was just the player-initiated version of the buyout.

No one would blame a kid from Toronto playing in the KHL for coming home to play for the Leafs for more money, would they? It’s the same scenario, essentially.

The one caveat to that scenario is that the Stanley Cup is the most coveted prize in hockey, not the KHL trophy, whatever that is (could just be a briefcase full of laundered bills). But here’s the distinction people in North America fail to realize. The Cup is the most important thing for North American players. This can’t really be said for all international players. While I do think any hockey player would want to win it, the cup might not be as important to Russians as it is to us.

International players, Russians in particular, regard international success very highly. Just take a look at any international tournament, even the World Championships. While many of the Canadian superstars eliminated from the playoffs hang out in Muskoka or at home, the Russians come out in droves, even though winning the WC is not that big a deal.

I would go so far as to argue that international success is more important to them than winning a North American trophy. Some Russians, say, Alex Ovechkin, have developed a strong desire to win the cup. But I think part of that should be attributed to the fact that he is heavily North Americanized. He speaks English well and has soaked up the culture. Guys like Kovalchuk who play here while their heart remains overseas probably don’t see it that way.

Don’t believe me. Refresh your memory of the 2011 WC.

This was only the quarter finals as well. In a tournament that nobody really cares about, facing a 2011 version on Jonathan Bernier. Could you imagine that was for the Gold Medal in the Olympics? He would have had a cardiac arrest and still be happy.

Just look how excited he got to win the WC gold in OT back in 2008…

The point is that the Russians take international hockey very seriously and probably value it more than winning the Stanley Cup, at very least in some cases.

So should we really chastise or even care that a guy who we don’t know much about retired from the NHL only to sign a new contract a week later in his hometown? Probably not. He made the choice to do what was best for his family. And he’s getting between $15 and 20 million to do it.

He left the best the league in the world, a whole pile of guaranteed money and the chance of winning at the highest level knowing full well he would be mercilessly ridiculed for it. I think that is more courageous than anything. It takes a lot of courage to do something that you know people will shred you for, regardless of whether it is the best decision for you.

The thing is, I’m sure many of the Russian players have thought of doing this before. Recall Ovie’s petulant interview during the lockout about how he might not return to the NHL because of labour stoppages and salary cuts. The difference is Kovalchuk cashed the cheque (both figuratively and literally) and left the NHL.

So will we see more Russian or European stars take off for home? I would think so. Though perhaps later in their career and less suddenly than Kovy.

I don’t even think this is a bad thing, other than the fact that I selfishly want to see all the best players in the NHL. We shouldn’t hold athlete’s to a higher standard than regular people when it comes to making decisions based on their own well-being, because in the end, they’re just super-athletic-and-talented versions of the rest of us.

1 Comment

by Stephen Rothwell on July 19, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in NHL, Sports, Sports Media

Tagged Devils, ilya Kovalchuk, NHL

Posted by Stephen Rothwell on July 19, 2013

https://srothwel.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/ilya-kovalchuk-coward-or-hero/

Some Thoughts on the NHL Lockout

While I was with the hopeful masses this week thinking that a deal to end the lockout might get done after the owners tabled a 50/50 split, I can’t say that I am shocked now that the NHLPA-Owner negotiations have again reached a standstill.

It’s hard for me to decide which side I support; Rich athletes living a dream lifestyle that I would give anything for, or super-rich owners that want to be even wealthier by getting a higher share of Hockey Related Revenue based on the fact that other leagues have a 50-50 split. To me, one thing is clear; they are all still rich.

I think I am at the point that I just don’t care who gets what, but just that a deal gets done. I really don’t care if a guy making a minimum of 500+ K loses 12 percent of that, and I definitely don’t care if a billionaire gets several more million dollars from the deal. I find it absurd that anyone in the media or otherwise, would be supporting either side in this, but after listening and reading a lot of sports media, there is a certain divide on the issue.

James Cybulski from TSN radio loves hockey players so much (see: World Junior Championship 2007) that he goes on the radio every afternoon and smashes Gary Bettman with thinly veiled insults – none of which really make his argument any more valid – unless he’s trying to prove his undying love for hockey players. Only a brief moment on his show is worth listening to, and that’s when Bob McKenzie comes on to shed some real light on the situation, the only problem is that Bob comes sporadically between 5pm and 6pm with no pattern. But my opinion of Cybulski is an entirely different issue.

As much as you want to hate this guy, he’s not the problem.

The only thing I will say is that he is attacking Bettman, who might be the scapegoat on the league side (and a great one), but is not the villain. He’s representing the people he serves. The owners tell Bettman what to do at the negotiating table, and while he might offer insight or suggestions to them, he’s not making these offers alone.

Now this doesn’t mean I support the owners. I think it is ridiculous that teams would sign players to huge, long contracts in the past year fully knowing that the CBA was expiring and that they would be looking for a rollback under the next CBA. But that’s why they are successful businessmen. Craig Leipold, owner of the wild, will be laughing if there is a significant rollback after his two recent signings.

I also think it is ridiculous for owners to hide behind the guise that certain teams are losing money etc. and the rollback is necessary, since owners of these teams usually buy their team as a side project or hobby. You’d be hard pressed to find an NHL owner whose entire income comes from an NHL team.

Other media I have read; blogs, columns, articles, and comments sections come at the players a lot more critically.

Why should a guy making a minimum of $525,000 be complaining about a 12 per cent rollback? He’s still making more than $450,000 to play the game he loves. Not to mention enjoying the other perks that come with being a professional hockey player; paid travel and hotels, expensed team meals, summers off, a high per diem than most travelling employees, and state-of-the-art training facilities and medical staff – the list goes on, but the bottom line is that and average life in the NHL, or as any pro athlete, is pretty amazing compared to the average life of a fan.

Zack Parise and Ryan Suter after signing identical 100-million+ contracts in July.

People will refute this by saying “well NHL players retire early and then they don’t have that income in their 40s,” or “guys making the minimum are at risk of being placed in the minors or have a short career in the NHL.” But that’s their burden for choosing to pursue professional hockey and forgoing getting an education and finding a stable job. I don’t have any sympathy for a guy who makes, say 5 million gross dollars over his career in the NHL, and squanders it on a big house and lavish lifestyle when he knows full well that he might not be playing a 20 year career.

So I don’t really side with the players either. I agree with them on the level that they don’t want their signed contracts to be altered under the new CBA, but at the same time, people in the real-world have their salaries frozen or rolled-back all the time. Since the recession, we have seen layoffs, contract restructuring and hiring and salary freezes across the board – so why should they play by different rules?

You think the Ontario teacher that signed a contract 10 years ago expecting banked sick days, steady pay increases and unmatchable benefits is happy about current negotiations? Probably not, but he doesn’t make 500 K per year and can’t afford just to take a year off to negotiate a deal.

One thing that is clear is that NHL lockouts hurt the game in the US. While the NHL is growing nicely (hence the players wanting to keep the current revenue share), the fair-weather American fan will find something else to watch if there is no 2012-13 season, and may never come back.

We don’t have to worry about that in Canada, since people will watch again if the league takes 5 years off (myself included). But with lockouts happening every 5 or 6 years, people who are starting to enjoy hockey down south will find other sports to watch.

This ultimately results in less HRR, which hurts both the owners and the players. So in that sense, you’d think it would be in both of their best interests to find a solution to keep the game growing a steady pace.

Is Alex Ovechkin sick or something?

I frequently find myself scratching my head wondering what on earth has happened with Alexander Ovechkin?

The once perennial Hart, Art Ross and Rocket Richard candidate has pretty much dropped off my radar as one of the NHL’s elite talents and is doing so in ugly fashion.

He is on pace this year for 32 goals and 30 assists for 62 points – which would be by far his worst statistical season ever. Now those aren’t terrible numbers, but for a guy you pay $US 9 million to, it is fair to say that he is underachieving, big time. It is particularly concerning considering he scored 65 goals alone in 2007-08.

Sid and Ovi mix it up

After that season, everyone was saying how Ovi was going to score 60+ consistently and how he was the best and most dominant player in the game. Well that just isn’t and wasn’t true. (I’m going to avoid the argument of Sid vs. Ovi all together, since Sid is injured and I am sick to death of the argument… but Sid is still better)

The next couple of seasons saw his numbers take a very slight dip, and yes, he still was a top 3 player in those seasons. But after that, there has been a steady decline in his production. 32 goals and 85 points last year is respectable, but when you come to expect 50 goals and 110 points, it isn’t all that great. And this season is on pace to be worse, way worse.

Now I could be more sympathetic to Ovi if I saw some of the things in his game that I did like – like his passion and timely goals. Of last seasons meagre 32 goals, 11 were game winners at least. That is pretty good. But this season, he has just one. So not only is he not scoring a lot of goals, he isn’t scoring them when his team needs him most either.

But if he’s not scoring, what does he really bring that makes him an elite player?

Can’t be his passing…

Ovi has never been a great passer. Sure, he has thrown a few nice cross ice passes or some sauce on 2-on-1’s that seem amazing to most fans – but the fact is that most elite professional hockey players can move the puck pretty damn well at least some of the time. Most of his assists come from rebounds from one of his shots – so he’s not exactly what I would call a great playmaker.

Now here is where all the Ovi supporters would usually jump on me and say that he is out there to score goals and not pass the puck. And the famous “If you could put one player on the ice to score you a goal with one minute left who would it be? Ovechkin, no doubt.”

For a while, I would have agreed, at least in theory, with those people. Yeah, sure, if I had to put my money down on one guy to score it would obviously be the guy with the most goals in the league. But he doesn’t score every goal. And I would much rather put a guy out there who can score a timely goal, creates plays, and who makes his teammates better players.

Now, I’m not the number one Pittsburgh Penguins fan in the world, but I can’t think of two guys who do this better than Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But there are others too. There are few people who would argue against me that Pavel Datsyuk controls play better than anyone in the NHL and is one of the best guys to have on the ice when your team needs a late goal. How about Jonathan Toews? He might not have the standout numbers Ovi had, but I would be calling nineteen before eight if they were both on my team. I might even go for a guy like Marty St. Louis, Corey Perry, or Ryan Getzlaf if I had the choice. If we are using just this season as an example, how about Claude Giroux or John Tavares, Tavares has been single-handedly keeping the Islanders in a lot of games, and winning a lot of them too.

There are some people who will attribute Ovi’s lost production over the last couple of seasons to Boudreau’s more defensively responsible system in Washington. But surely it could not have cut his goal production in half.

I think it comes down to two things; people have figured out his game, and he has a terrible attitude.

Ovi is a skilled player, but don’t shit your pants on him, as John Tortorella would say. Beyond waiting for one-timers on the power play or shooting on the rush, he doesn’t score many other ways. So players and coaches around the NHL said, “hmm, maybe we should play tighter on him on the PK so he can’t get his one timer, and step up and get a stick on him when he is rushing and about to shoot.” And voila, his goal production plummets. Of course he’ll beat you sometimes, but watch him play this year and see how many fewer one-timer opportunities he gets, and how many of his shots get blocked or deflected harmlessly wide.

Ovechkin takes a shot on the rush against Florida

You saw the same thing with Phil Kessel this year. During his tirade where he led the NHL by far in goals and points, other teams were giving him time and space to release his bullet snap shot. Finally, enough was enough and you saw Kessel getting bogged down and bottled up on the rush. He got fewer shots and his totals plateaued. Well since the All-Star break, Kessel has found new ways to score, whether it be going to the net for rebounds or tap ins, or beating players with his speed. I guess Ovi hasn’t figured out yet that he needs to change-up his game in order to keep the defenders guessing.

It also seems like he just doesn’t care all that much anymore either. I watched him play the Leafs earlier this season, and I barely noticed him on the ice. There was a time when you would know that number eight was on. He would hit you, fly around the ice, and get more pucks to the net than anyone. Gone are the end-to-end goals and explosiveness from a few years ago. Now, he seems happy just to let the game come to him.

Not only have Ovi’s numbers taken a severe hit in the past couple of seasons, but he is also doing other things that make me dislike him even more as a player and ambassador for the NHL.

His renowned physical game is downright reckless. He has been suspended three times for dangerous hits and I would suggest there would have been a few more suspensions if the Shanahan era had started a few years earlier. His most recent suspension was a clear headshot, yet no one seems to get on him too much about it for some reason.

Ovi takes a few days off instead of going to Ottawa for All-Star Weekend

And what about skipping the all-star game for a weekend away with the boys? I mean, who can blame him for wanting to see the boys, but do it at a more appropriate time. Lidstrom and Selanne asked ahead of time not to be selected, which would have been the proper thing for Ovi to do if he knew he wasn’t going to go. But what’s his reason? He isn’t injured. Lidstrom and Selanne deserve an exemption because between them they have been to 22 all-star games and are both 41-years-old.

Despite the fact that his play has been garbage this season and he doesn’t really deserve to be an all-star anyway, people still like him for some reason. (Maybe it’s because he’ll put a cowboy hat on and use two sticks like an idiot during the skills competition, but who knows) He should have done his duty and gone to all-star weekend, even if he plans to half-ass it like everyone else does anyway. The fans shouldn’t suffer because he doesn’t feel like an all-star because he took a cheap shot at someone and is having a cry about it.

The NHL has made Ovi a star. He gets paid millions of dollars and people idolize him, so why not pay it back and show up for them. He has no problem showing up for the dozens of commercials he is in, or doing a cameo in a Russian rap video. I think now that he established himself as a public figure, he would rather be a celebrity than a professional athlete; he doesn’t want to win, he wants to be famous.

Two Russian stars - I'll take the one on the left, please

Now I am not arrogant enough to say that if I were George McPhee, I would have taken someone else in 2004 entry draft (Except maybe Evgeni Malkin, who has developed into a much more rounded player). That year was pretty light on talent after Ovechkin and Malkin went 1-2. But I certainly wouldn’t have made him captain of my team and built the franchise around him – he just doesn’t have a winning attitude.

Earlier this year he called Boudreaux a “Fat Fuck,” (which may be true) because he didn’t put him on in the last-minute when they needed a push for the tie. He was having a bad game and Boudreaux recognized this and put the best players at the time on the ice. They ended up tying it up.

What kind of captain displays this terrible attitude? It’s a selfish me-first way of playing the game. A true leader does what is best for the team. If that means sitting on the bench during the final minute, then he is on the bench cheering the boys on.

I’ll just touch on the fact that his team wins their god-awful division each year (which probably helps them win the conference too, since they play the four mediocre teams in the Southeast eight times each), yet he still can’t manage to get any playoff success. We all know how that story ends.

Washington underachieves every year, and it’s not because they have a lack of talent. The success of a team reflects the leadership of the team. Maybe Ovi’s poor attitude, leadership and lack of focus are rubbing off on Semin and Backstrom, who are both struggling as well. Semin has been particularly bad, and has been a healthy scratch more than once this year.

In case you can’t figure it out, I don’t like Ovi, nor have I ever really liked him. But at least up until this season I respected his talent and passion for the game. Well that respect is gone now. I can think of a dozen players that I would build my team around before Ovechkin.

It’s just too bad for Washington that it ended up this way, because with Ovi locked up until 2020-21 at a $US 9.5 million cap hit per season, they are probably praying that he turns it around, or thinking of a way out, though I doubt there are many teams willing to take on that contract and give up the talent Washington will want in return.

But hey, I hear Montreal is willing to pay big bucks for guys who lose their scoring touch, so maybe there is hope still.

1 Comment

by Stephen Rothwell on February 8, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in NHL, Sports

Tagged 2004 Draft, Alex Ovechkin, All-star weekend, Bruce Boudreaux, Claude Giroux, Corey Perry, Evgeni Malkin, George McPhee, John tavares, Jonathan Toews, Marty St. Louis, NHL, Ovi, Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ryan Getzlaf, Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals

Posted by Stephen Rothwell on February 8, 2012

https://srothwel.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/is-alex-ovechkin-sick-or-something/

The worst job in Sports

You watch NHL hockey from up close. You get unprecedented access to the sporting world that most people can only dream of. You make game-altering decisions and judgements on some of the most highly viewed events in the world. Who wouldn’t want to be a NHL referee? I am pretty sure I wouldn’t want to be.

During any point of time during your work week, some stakeholder in your sport will hate your guts. You make a bad call, and you have tens of thousands of people booing you and throwing insults your way that have got to hurt. You have massive, conditioned and irate professional athletes in your face telling you that you’re a moron (probably worse, but I’ll keep it PG). You have coaches or GM’s going on air after the game criticizing a split-second decision you made in a sport that moves way faster than it looks. And then you have the media, who get the luxury of reviewing your split-second decision in slow motion, criticizing it all the way through.

John Tortorella voicing his displeasure with the calls at the Winter Classic.

: Stammer giving it to the ref over a call.

Just look at John Tortorella, who went out in a press conference after the NHL’s Winter Classic and suggested that the referees and NBC conspired to send the game to overtime. He did so in an eloquent way, masking it with backhanded compliments like “these refs are both great guys and I like them both,” but the message was clear. I like John Tortorella. I think he is a great coach and I loved his presence in HBO’s 24/7. And I give him credit for a sincere apology in the wake of his tirade. But that made him look stupid and whiny like a child, and he probably should have been suspended for questioning the integrity of the game. The worst part is his team won the game, so it didn’t even matter in the end. This is hardly the first time I have seen NHL coaches do this. Often they will speak in the intermission and complain about some call or missed call, or some series of hooks and slashes that no one remembers. But why? Wouldn’t it be more sensible just to talk to the ref personally and explain your case than to humiliate him on National TV?

Referees definitely eat the most garbage of any job in NHL hockey. But it doesn’t end there. If you’re a ref in a recreational or minor league you take the same punishment, except you barely get paid to do it. I have read numerous stories of minor hockey refs getting physically attacked by parents during games as low as atom hockey. Yes, atom hockey, where the kids barely even understand the rules of the game. It seems ridiculous they can get anyone to take these jobs anymore.

But to give one concrete example about the stupidity of being a referee, I can’t imagine why anyone in their right mind would ref a men’s league hockey game for a couple of extra bucks. It can’t be for the skill level and competitiveness. Most of the leagues have few skilled players and the lack of body contact and altering of rules changes the game so that it more resembles pick-up pond hockey.

However, in some leagues, like the one I play in, you might have a team with some good players on it. But that only makes them more angry and uncompromising to bad calls. Players who come from a competitive background like Junior or College hockey probably know the game better than the refs in their game. At very least, they certainly have the self-entitled ego that would suggest they know it better. So when a bad call is made, they fly off the handle. Just last night three guys on my team got tossed for ‘Gross Misconduct – Abuse of Official’ penalties. I can hardly remember the call that set it all off looking back. All I remember is these guys screaming obscenities at the refs and making them more likely to call penalties against us (we ended up getting an additional two minors after this initial penalty).

And what must the refs be thinking? They probably have day jobs and families to go home to. I’m sure getting berated by a bunch of guys all night is the perfect cap to their Wednesday night. And how do they handle the situation when things get out of hand? I have watched first hand men’s league fights, or spears, or cross-checks, slew-foots, the list goes on and on. Should the refs step in during these scrums and risk getting a shiner before going into work the next day? Or should they let these guys pulverize each other in a way that would get them an assault charge if the same situation happened on the street. The problem is when you get these competitive players coming into a non-contact league they end up doing something dumb when they get mad. What is a ref supposed to do when there is really no accountability for this stuff? At least in the NHL or any kind of organized hockey, if you hit a referee you’re going to receive some kind of major punishment. Well not in men’s league. Last night I watched one of my teammates get tossed out who is a fighter in the NLL. He also stands about 6-foot-8 on skates. If I were the ref he was harassing on his way off the ice, I would have bolted for the locker room and called the game.

The fact that this discussion is even going on is ludicrous. The attitude that players, fans, coaches, GM’s and media have towards referees trickles down in every level of hockey. The fact that minor league parents think it is in any way acceptable to hassle, let alone attack a referee in their child’s game shows how serious people take hockey at such an inconsequential level – but they obviously picked up this competitive spirit from somewhere – probably the NHL. The trickle down of this negative attitude towards refs could even start negatively affecting the game. While referees are trained thoroughly and held to a high standard, they are still human at the end of the day. I know if some hero is yelling at me because his 7-year-old got tripped up by another child, I’m not going to go out of my way to rectify that missed call. In fact, I might even take my autonomous power to the bank and call a penalty on his team. What can he possibly do to me (aside from accost me in the parking lot after the game)?

We might even start seeing this in the NHL – though a lot less likely. But for arguments sake, imagine I ref 20 Dallas Stars game in one season, and Steve Ott is constantly hounding me and calling the game in my ear. That kind of constant annoyance can only be a detriment to his team. Even if I am trying to be objective, I will already have it in my head that I hate that guy and would be more likely to call him for a penalty, or give him a misconduct for something small based on the bottle-up and boil-over theory. In addition to my personal problems with him, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell my reffing colleagues about how this guy is a pain, potentially influencing their in-game decisions. This kind of referee bias will trickle down all levels. While NHL refs might be able to remain objective because it is their profession, I can’t see why the guy reffing my men’s league game for 25-bucks an hour will give us the same courtesy

The better decision will always be to shut up about it and play the game. Refs meet in between periods and after games to discuss what went on. They will know when they messed up and will be more likely to rectify it or make the right call in the future if they haven’t been heckled about it. If it is so egregious a mistake that it can’t be forgotten, then let the captain and coaches talk to refs in a civilized manner. They are the ones that are supposed to be doing this anyway. That way, players and coaches can get their point across without infuriating the people policing the game. The best way to get over a bad call is to respond on the ice. Burn the penalty or score a goal without complaining. Let the play do the talking. By butchering the referees every time you don’t agree with a call, it hurts the game and sets a precedent for poor refereeing and unacceptable behaviour across all levels of hockey.

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