Commish for a Day

Michael Farber at SI.com contributes the ten changes he would make as NHL commissioner.

I concur with Farber on two of these (#s 1 and 2); the next eight are my own:

1. Mandatory visors. Ive been saying this for years- it is going to take a human eyeball rolling in a bloody mess on the ice for the NHL to wake up on this issue. No, they arent going to prevent all injuries. Irrelevant. This is a serious no-brainer, and the PA could file every grievance they like- but if I'm in charge, you can go play in the Quebec Senior leagues if you want to be a tough guy and not wear one. . Every single player entering the NHL right now has worn a visor (or more) their entire amateur career. There is no adjustment needed for them.

2. Schedule format changes. Everyone loves playing divisional rivals a lot. And I'm sure all the teams love the decrease in air travel. But its just not right that a hockey fan in Vancouver who shells out big bucks for tickets only gets to see Sidney Crosby once every three seasons. Or that If I have Isles tickets, I'd better hope Im around the one day every three years I can see Dion Phaneuf or Ladislav Nagy play in my hometown. Sorry fellas, you can deal with the air travel. Respect your fans and let them see all of the league. More specifics on this later.

3. Stiffer, more consistent suspensions. The suspensions the NHL doles out are nothing short of a farce. The biggest thing keeping hockey in the "dark ages" at times isnt fighting, isnt defensive schemes, and isnt baggy jerseys. Its having to try to defend your sport and explain to non-hockey fans why a guy can criminally assault someone on the ice and miss only a handful of games. Or why Jiri Fischer can deliberately, maliciously crosscheck someone in the face and miss one game. Or why players can kick, sucker-punch, hit from behind, and slash each other with little fear of meaningful punishment. There is always a need for a case-by-case review, but anything deemed intent to injure gets you 10 games minimum, unpaid, plus whatever Campbell's replacement adds on. Anyone from the PA who complains about hefty fines immediately has their name released to the media.

4. Eliminate a point for losing a game. Im not a fan of the shootout, but I applaud the league for bringing it in and it seems to be here to stay. Fine. But there is no reason that a team that loses a game in overtime should get a point. The major issue is that some games give out 3 points, and others 2. So someone watching a game between two teams his team is chasing must hope for a non-OT game. Further, rather than spicing up overtime (which 4-on-4 did all by itself), it has led to the occasional drab final 5 minutes of a game where teams take just as few risks as before. I'd rather watch a tenuous 4-4 OT than a tenuous 5-5 third period. The only solution is three points for a win. Forget the record book and the traditionalists. 3 points for a win, two for a shootout win. One point for a shootout loss. Its a bunch of columns, and it would take some getting used to, but its worth it. If the shootout stays, so should this system.

5. Tweaks to international tournaments. I'd take the pros out of the olympics. It was great hockey, and gave us some good memories, but I think its more hassle than it's worth. Keep the World Cup and hold it every three years. As the only major tournament using all eligible NHL players, it will take on intensified meaning for everyone and lead to an amazing showcase. Heres the important part though- play in friggin Europe, too. It is patently absurd that countries like Sweden or the Czech Republic, with the amount of succes they have had, should have to come over to N. America and win a tournament on hostile ice. Rotate the tournament between the 7 major contenders. I could even live with an alternating N. America/Eurpoe format. Then Canada could have its precious home-ice more often. Or, gasp, let the winner host the next one. This will give the tournaments continuity, up the ante for the respective national federations to ice winning teams ($$$), and just plain be more fair. Hey Canada and USA, congrats on your success over here. Great, your fan support is raucous and rabid (well, Canada anyway). Now try winning a big semifinal game in Stockholm or Prague. See if you arent amazed by the passion and intensity for "your" game over there.

6. White jerseys at home. Everyone is well aware that the league has gone back and forth on this issue over its history. Its time to go back. This is one more instance of little kicks at your average ticket-holder- blue (or whatever color your home team is) on white for 41 games gets pretty repetative. If the marketing wizards at the NHL somply cannot stand this, a simple solution is to do as the league did in its 75th anniversary season, and wear whites at home for the first half of the year, and dark at home for the second half.

7. Change the "Brian Campbell" rule and the goalie trapezoid. If a player shoots the puck out of the rink, its a faceoff deep in their zone, with no changes permitted. Simple, no discretion involved. Scrap the trapezoid. It didnt really have much effect on the game that I could notice. Seems kind of needless. Fewer rules are better than more.

8. Shorten the schedule. Another idea that simply makes too much sense. I dont care that the NBA has a similar schedule. There is way more wear in an NHL season. Despite the playoffs now only including half of the teams in the league, the regular season is still less meaningful than it should be. There is way too much attrition and passion in a typical hockey game for it to count as 1/82nd of your point total. Of course, the reason this doesnt happen is because it is a rare issue that the owners and PA agree on- they dont want it because it takes money out of their pockets. I say if they can suck up the financial hit they took in 2004-05, they can take this hit. Move to this format: 6 games vs your division (24) , 1 vs the other conference (15), 3 vs the other divisions in your conference (30). 69 game season. There are very powerful computers that can make nice, tidy, unbalanced schedules.

9. Change the way special teams' effectiveness is calculated. Currently, If a team is up a man for 9 seconds and doesnt score, they are 0-1 on the PP. Pretty silly, and leads to misleading percentages and ranks. The simple answer is to calculate goals scored per two minutes on the powerplay/penaly kill, similar to a pitcher's ERA. This would offer a much more realistic statistic regarding a team's PP and PK. Frankly, I'm not sure why this hasnt ever come up.

10. Add a "scudetto"-style patch. I doubt anyone reading this has ever heard of the Scudetto, but it is a small flag patch which goes on the jerseys of the Italian Serie A soccer league the season after their championship. After this initial season, they then usually then affix a star above the team crest, one for each title. After a team wins the cup, affix a little Stanley Cup patch on their jerseys for the next season. After that, add a star or some other annotation recognizing the franchise's championship history. Its a nice little touch, added recognition for champions, and in the current times of crazy player movement, its nice for fans to be able to identify with organizational success.

Ted Leonsis reads my blog

This blog has only been up and running for two days and it's already managed to court a little controversy. (Of course, said controversy was of my own doing and shouldn't be attributed the other contributors of this blog.)

Since Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Capitals, publishes his email address and claims to respond to all the messages he receives (I'm operating under the assumption that it's actually him responding and not an employee), I occasionally email him to get his thoughts on possible trades and the like.

Anyway, I made the mistake of copying some of his recent emails onto the blog, and shortly thereafter received a not-so-happy email from him mentioning that he noticed what I had done. He was right - I shouldn't have publicized his emails on the blog. Out of respect for Ted, I have since taken all the posts down.

But before I sign off, I want to make a few things clear:

-First, and most important of all, I think Ted Leonsis is a good owner. I've written this directly to Ted, and I mean it sincerely: he's as engaged an owner as the NHL has (or any other league has, for that matter), and there need to be more team owners like him. I felt bad for him when the Caps didn't sell out it's two most recent home playoff games, which were against the Lightning in 2003 (the first of which I was at - I was out of town for the second). And I was impressed when he invited a fan to sit in his box after the two of them had gotten into an altercation at a game a few seasons back. That showed a lot of class. Honestly, I really like the guy.

-Second, it's pretty cool that Ted read my blog. Of course, I'm sure he monitors the use of his name in cyberspace, but it's cool nonetheless that the crap I'm writing came across his computer screen.

-Third, and I've said this to anyone who will listen, I think the Caps are going to win the Stanley Cup in the next three to five years, and I think a large reason that's going to happen is due to how Ted, GM George McPhee, and coach Glen Hanlon have been managing the team. I love how well the Caps gelled at the end of last season. I love the way they've been drafting. I love the fact that they're not wasting money on the Jagrs of the world. And I'm genuinely excited about their future.

So Ted, if you're reading this, shoot me a line and let me know what you think about my prediction for the Caps. And let me know if you're still mad at me. It would suck to have the most accessible owner in pro sports not respond to my emails.

Quiet in the theatre or it's gonna get tragic

This is the inaugural post of the Dartmouth 02 NHL blog. We're dedicated to two things: 1) discussing the comings and goings of the hockey world and 2) discussing the exploits of our ongoing 30 by 30 road trip to all NHL stadiums. Let's get this party started (Datsyuk-on-Turco style)