Great Gretzky Vintage #3

"Eat your breakfast and don't forget your lunchbox." When my mom said this to me every school morning, she was talking about these things. A little Aspartame never hurt anybody... I don't think. Found these pics on Ebay where a Gretzky fan could spend 25 grand on cardboard we used to throw in the garbage on a weekly basis in the 80's.

Great Gretzky Vintage #2 ... Mr. Big

When I was a kid in the early 80's, I would consume anything that had The Great One's image on it. Pro Stars Cereal, Neilson Instant Chocolate Milk Mix, Malted Milk, and of course, the grossest of them all... Mr. Big chocolate bars.

Gretz added a wholesome image to junk food wrappers, but in a time when people smoked in grocery stores - even your grandma - Mr. Big's didn't seem so bad for your health back then.

Gretz took his sponsorships seriously. He wasn't shy wearing a Mr. Big golf shirt next to his hockey hero and one of the greatest of all-time, Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe.

Get 'em into you, kids.

Great Gretzky Vintage #1

There is no end to Gretzky memorabilia. I love this stuff.

Black Aces All-Star Game Vintage

When I was a kid, I absolutely loved the All-Star Game - up to a point.

I'd get all cranked up on soda and stand glued to the spot during the player introductions, always the most glamourous part of the game. In the 80's the "glamour" consisted of bare lights, a rousing 80's keyboard anthem and miles of bad hockey hair. By the end of the first period I'd be in the basement pretending I was Wayne Gretzky and winging tennis balls off the washing machine, the game itself forgotten.

As a time capsule, here's the 1980 All-Star Game player introductions at the brand spanking new Joe Louis Arena in Motor City. Of note, this is Gretzky's first All-Star Game and Gordie Howe's last.



The Skills Competition was like every kid's dream to watch and remains better than the game itself. Here's the breakaway competition from 2002.



Let's go with the shooting accuracy comp in a random year - 1996 - which has all the big names you can think of, plus Brendan Shanahan as a Hartford Whaler being blown away by Mark Messier going 4 for 4.



The 1991 All-Star game may be the most memorable in the past 25 years. Held in Chicago Stadium during the start of the Gulf War, the anthem before the game was a complete madhouse and the roof almost came off the old building.



The following video showing highlights of that 1991 weekend is typical of the production values that the NHL employed at the time - full-on cornball. But there's still good stuff in here, particularly Phil Esposito letting off some kind of flash-bomb taped to the end of his stick during the old-timers game. And you thought Ovechkin's hat and glasses trick was flashy?



Of course, we have to end it with Owen Nolan's called shot against Dominik Hasekin 1997 (with glowing puck). This video shows his last two goals of the hat-trick with the big moment coming about 50 seconds in. Still one of the best things I've seen in a hockey game.



Hope everyone enjoys the All-Star weekend here in Ottawa for the first time.

Wayne Gretzky's Rocket Hockey

Forgot all about this old beauty that's been collecting dust in my closet. When you get that metal puck going, it's insanely fast and crazy, as can be seen about 20 seconds into this You Tube clip.



The 80's ad. "Batteries not included because they're NOT NEEDED".

Fan vs Athlete: The Lessons of Patrick Roy and Jason Spezza

I don't necessarily want to revisit the worn topic of Senators fans booing Jason Spezza, which boiled over to the point where a mutually agreed trade out of town became a very real possibility this past summer.

But there's more to this story than the local skirmish it caused. Something that goes to the heart of all spectator sports and the increasingly strained relationship between fans who feel entitled to express themselves freely (believing that money has bought them that imaginary right), and the athletes who feel entitled to work in an environment that's free from constant hostility (believing they've worked all their lives for that right as well).

It's extremely rare to hear an athlete admit that the reaction of the crowd has gotten to them. Modern athletes almost unanimously claim that booing fans don't bother them, that their inherent professionalism acts as a wall against any negativity thrown their way by the beer soaked inhabitants of the upper stands.

They almost always trot out the tired line that "fans pay good money so they have the right to do what they want".

But anyone with an ounce of logic can see the defense mechanism a mile away. Athletes are just as sensitive as the rest of us. Don't buy the line for a minute.

So do fans really have the right to say anything they want? How far does that extend?

The first relevant quote here is from Ken Dryden's famous book The Game:

I am a professional, paid to do my job no matter the circumstances. ... I do only what I can. And by buying a ticket, does a fan acquire a right that a fan in the street has not? Opportunity, yes; access, yes; but any greater right? Does he acquire license to abuse me any way he likes, to say what he won't say to anyone else, anywhere else? Is that what I'm paid for, like a lightning rod, to stand in the place of everyman and attract and purge the resentments from his life? Am I supposed to take it and feel nothing? Is that all part of the game?

Maybe, the author quoted below, Michel Roy, father of Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, puts it more plainly, but no less importantly:

There's a difference between criticizing an athlete's poor quality of play and vilifying the athlete. Some spectators, for whom hockey is a release, fail to make that distinction. They take revenge on a third party for frustrations they are suffering at the hands of a boss, a spouse, a teacher, a colleague, a friend.

The context of Roy's quote (taken from his excellent book, Winning: Nothing Else)  is from the 1995 trade of his son Patrick, from the Montreal Canadiens to the Colorado Avalanche. During that season, inexperienced coach Mario Tremblay seemingly had it out for Patrick from the beginning, which culminated in Tremblay embarrassing the goalie by not pulling him during a 9-1 drubbing at the hands of the powerhouse Scotty Bowman-led Red Wings (Tremblay also had a near hysterical hatred of Bowman from when he toiled under the legendary coach as a player for the Canadiens in the 70's). When Tremblay finally pulled Roy (and after the goalie had stood up to the jeers of the hostile fans by raising his arms after a routine save), all hell broke loose on the bench as the goalie marched up to Team President Ronald Corey and said he had just played his last game for Montreal.

The Montreal fans and the rookie GM Rejean Houle were all too happy to comply with Roy's impulsive wishes and the club even hired a public relations firm to skew the media message, making Roy out to be the bad guy, similar to what Peter Pocklington tried to accomplish with the Wayne Gretzky trade less than ten years earlier.

The fans, despite having watched Roy deliver two near-miracle Stanley Cups in ten seasons that were totally dominated by either the Oilers or the Penguins, had a love/hate relationship with the goaltender and opinion at the time was largely supportive of the trade, logic and loyalty be damned.

Of course, we all know how that turned out for the Habs and their fans (many of whom would be loathe to admit supporting the trade in a revisionist history lesson, much like Senators fans won't admit to wanting Daniel Alfredsson out of town during a slump early in the 2006-2007 season).

Roy went on to win a Stanley Cup that very season in Denver and added one more for good measure in 2001. The Habs meanwhile, never really recovered from the disastrous trade and the even more disastrous hirings of Houle and Tremblay (neither of whom had any experience in their jobs prior) to run the franchise. They are only now getting back their respect around the league after a Cinderella-like playoff run thanks to another red hot goalie, Jaroslav Halak, who they then turned around and traded to the Blues this summer. Oops.

The Montreal fans seemed to have learned their lesson and likely know what got away from them this time.

Perhaps down in Ottawa, the fans have pulled themselves back from the brink of running their best offensive player out of town, and maybe saving themselves ten years of grief looking for another one to replace him.

Ottawa 3 Toronto 2

With the entire city on pins and needles, waiting to see how Pascal Leclaire would react after a rough stretch of games, the young French netminder made a statement against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making 30 saves and a few hair-raising ones late in the 3rd period to preserve the comeback victory.

To be honest, it was a must win game, not only for the Senators, but for Leclaire as well.

If the Leafs had managed to sneak one out on the road, the outcry would have been nasty. Not only did Leclaire restore a bit of his reputation, he also eased the burden on some other non-producing Senators players who surely would have felt the wrath of the fans and media if they dropped an important game to the inter-provincial rivals.

But it wasn't all champagne and roses for Leclaire. He still looks like he's living in the wild west sometimes, sliding around in his crease and often finding himself in strange positions far from his net. Yet, his reflexes and athleticism served him well tonight, as he never gave up on a play, especially when the scene turned scrambly late in the third with the Senators barely hanging on.

There were a few yanked collars when Phil Kessel skated over the blueline and put a bullet past Leclaire in the first period. The initial reaction was probably "he should have had that one" but Kessel is one of the few pure goal scorers in the game today and sometimes nothing is going to stop a shot like that.

But it will be the important saves late in the game that everyone will remember. Leclaire stopped half of the shots (15) in the third period alone, which was really a carry over from a rip roaring last 5 minutes of the second where the two teams traded chances, hits and crowd momentum. For a while there, it felt like the rivalry of old.

Mike Fisher continued his excellent season and was one of the standouts on a Senators squad that had virtually everyone going. Even Alex Picard, the oft criticised defenseman.

When the 1st power play unit was squandering their opportunities, Picard came on with the 2nd unit and kept it simple by taking a pass from Chris Campoli and putting it straight at the net where Milan Michalek tipped it past Vesa Toskala for the tying goal. I've been giving Picard a ton of heat for his poor play but you have to tip the hat when someone does a good job as well.

Another one of the standouts for me was Chris Kelly. He ended up -1 but I see a player who is excelling in his role as a fourth line centre, despite the probability that he expected to be higher in the pecking order coming into the season. Along with Jarkko Ruutu and Shean Donovan, that fourth line just seems to have perfect chemistry and they are a threat at both ends whenever they go over the boards.

Perhaps it's just a cumulative effect of seeing Kelly embrace his role over the past few weeks, but I thought he was one of the most important players on the ice for the Senators tonight.

With the victory, the Senators give themselves a 10 point lead over the Leafs in the standings and keep themselves in the middle of the pack for a playoff spot.

Realistically, with the uneven results they've been getting, the Senators are in a decent position right now. They can afford to tread water for a little while longer, hoping that their offense starts to take off again and their power-play gets its act together.

Black Aces Senators 3 Stars

1. Pascal Leclaire
2. Mike Fisher
3. Chris Kelly


NOTES

Just one more reason for Clouston to dress Shean Donovan every single game: his first shift.
It was a thing of beauty, enough to bring a tear to Don Cherry's eye (if he didn't despise the Senators on general principle). For those of you who saw the shift, you know exactly what I mean. He followed that up with a great rest of the game....... Jesse Winchester also showed why he's being wasted as a healthy scratch in the first period. He landed a huge hit and then wins a scrap with Jeff Finger on the same shift. I thought Winchester had a great second half of the season last year and solidified his place on the team. You hate to see a guy lose his role because of an injury but unfortunately, that's what happened to Winchester here. I'm not saying there's an easy solution. I'm also a believer in Peter Regin and to a lesser extent, the speedy and skilled Ryan Shannon. But you have to find a way to get Winchester and Donovan on the ice every night. They have speed and they can hit with the best of them...... That was painful to see Alex Kovalev do the double-clutch when he was given the puck right in front of the net on a Sens power play in the first. The puck ended up bobbling away. It's just not happening for Kovie right now. Yet I'm still convinced he'll end up having a positive effect before the year is out. He's just too skilled to be snakebitten for so long..... Kovie did make a nice play when he fed Fisher for the winning goal. Smooth as silk.....

Even more painful was watching Colton Orr do a hammer job on fan favourite Matt Carkner. The ex-Ranger heavyweight Orr stunned Carkner with a couple of rights and the Sens defenseman, who hasn't lost a fight yet this year, couldn't recover. It did not end amicably either. Both fighters were chirping angrily after that one. But Carks will live to fight another day. The old maxim: it's not how many you win, it's how many you show up for. Yet no one wants to lose like that on home ice, especially against the Leafs. I feel sorry for the next guy who has to go up against Carks. It could get ugly......

Hard to believe a lot of people here in town wanted to see Chris Neil leave. Imagine he was causing the ruckus he did tonight for the Leafs instead of the Senators? Don't laugh. It came close to happening.....

Ruutu v Mitchell. Senators fight of the year? If not, then it's in the top 3. Ruutu is an underrated fighter and never seems to get overpowered.....

I may be in the minority here, but the Garrioch article concerning Alfie staying with the Senators for the remainder of his career should give fans pause. The striking revelation is not that Alfie wants to spend his last years in Ottawa - we already knew that because of the contract he signed - but it was that he left the door open to asking for a trade someday to a contender.

“I can’t see (asking for a move). Never say never. It could happen in the future, but I don’t think it’s probable.”

That's a direct quote. And I'm not blaming Alfie here. But it should open the eyes of some people who take the captain for granted. Some big name players have either asked out or walked away to free agency without shedding a tear of regret. If Wayne Gretzky can leave the Oilers, Alfie can certainly leave the Senators one day. If Bryan Murray can't get this team turned around in the next two years, we may be looking at a very uncomfortable situation for everyone involved. Just saying. ......

The Toronto media are certainly getting their shots in at the Senators. It should be noted that it was a Toronto reporter who solicited Alfie's response about one day asking for a trade. Then Mike Zeisberger couldn't help point out that the morning of the game, the Senators were far from having a sellout for the battle of Ontario. Those are two sensitive issues that Bytown reporters don't seem to want to touch very often........

I just picked up the Senators first ever media guide from 92-93 on Ebay for a measly 6 bucks. It's a great little piece of history (as are all media guides). For instance, you can find out that the original 2-D Senators logo (still the best) was designed by a man by the name of "Mr. Tony Milchard".




Also, for some reason, the Senators decided to forgo traditional pictures of the players and instead commissioned an artist to do really ugly and awkward drawings of every single skater. Has to be seen to be believed. Below is Brad Marsh and inaugural captain Laurie Boschman. Oh, the horror of it all!!

Saturday Notes

Now that Alex Picard is out of the lineup with a jammed wrist, call-up Brian Lee has a chance to show that he belongs in the Senators organization and to make management think twice about including him in a package for an established NHL power-play quarterback.

There is no doubt that the Senators have been disappointed in Lee this year after a poor training camp and an even worse stretch of games in the regular season that saw him get booted back to Bingo to get his game - and head - in shape.

After looking solid during his late season call-up last year, Lee seemed afraid of the puck and afraid of taking a hit in the new campaign and did nothing to stop the criticisms that Ottawa blew their 2005 draft where they chose Lee over the likes of Anze Kopitar, Marc Staal, the late Luc Bourdon, Ryan Parent and even Steve Downie.

Bryan Murray has since revamped his scouting staff after taking over from John Muckler and Brian Lee doesn't seem to fit the Murray mould. Not helping Lee is the fact that he only has 1 goal and 5 assists in 16 games with Bingo since being demoted. That's simply average and that's not going to get Lee a permanent spot in Ottawa.

I think that the team is already looking to the arrival of Erik Karlsson rather than waiting for Lee to suddenly transform into a saviour on the blueline. Lee is a player that the Senators might regret trading but he has some value right now.

It's up to Murray to decide if he wants to cash in on Lee now for some immediate help or be patient and play the waiting game.

I'm not saying it's a make or break game for Lee, but if he doesn't play well, he might not get a chance to do so in a Senators uniform again.

***

Also called up was Zack Smith, who has exceeded expectations and might be the most NHL-ready Senators prospect in Bingo if you listen to management. He leads the B-Sens with 9 goals and is 6th amongst AHL rookies in points. But the word is that Smith will only play if Shean Donovan is out with one of those ridiculous undisclosed upper-body injuries. If teams are allowed to get away without telling anyone what the injuries are, why do they even have to disclose if it's an upper or lower body injury?

Why can't they call an ankle sprain a concussion? If they are allowed to half-lie to the media and thus the fans, you might as well let them go all the way.

It's a joke.

***

I'm not sure if Luke Richardson is planning to shave off his team-bonding moustache now that he's been forced into retirement but is there anything more symbolic (and genuinely sad) than the idea of Richardson standing in front of a mirror shaving it off and knowing that he's crossed over to the other side?

He's had a great career and it would be especially nice if the Senators organization honoured him with a video presentation similar to what they did for Wade Redden at their next home game.

I know he was only with Ottawa for a year and bit but he's a homegrown player and it would be a classy move by the Senators.

To be honest, I'm getting the chills just thinking about it. But then again, I'm the guy who cried like a little boy when the Rangers retired Mark Messier's number. And when they brought him back from Vancouver. And when he started crying at Gretzky's Ranger retirement. Basically every time he has to try and get through a press conference.

Did I ever tell you that Mess is my favourite player of all-time?

***

Richardson was involved in a nasty confrontation while with the Leafs when Minnesota North Star Dino Ciccarelli was criminally charged after hitting Luke over the head with his stick in 1988.

One of my favourite quotes of all-time came from Dino describing his brief two hour stint in jail after being found guilty.

"The first thing I saw was a big fat cop eating a jelly donut. Then I stood around signing autographs for the other poor guys in there."

Check out a series I ran last year of Classic NHL Quotes over the years right here.

***

Sergei Samsonov scored the overtime winner for Carolina against Philadelphia last night but it was only his second goal of the season.

It's been a long time since Samsonov and Joe Thornton came into the league together with Boston after being taken only 7 picks apart in the 1997 draft. After Samsonov won the Calder trophy as best rookie while Thornton struggled to a 3 goal, 7 point performance, some were saying that Samsonov would turn out to be the real superstar.

Boston cashed in on Samsonov's potential at just the right time. As part of the package from Edmonton, they got the Oilers 2nd round choice who they used to pick Milan Lucic.

That might be one of the reasons (along with the Dustin Penner mistake) that Kevin Lowe was pushed out of hockey operations into the President' s role earlier this year.

***

Speaking of the Flyers, their throwback 3rd jersey's are the nicest in the league next to the Oilers and the Islanders vintage sweaters.

I really love the vintage all-white nameplates too.

Sean Hill - The Great One

Anyone remember this night?

Alfie's rookie year in Ottawa, Gretzky's last year in L.A. and Sean Hill's epic masterpiece of a game. He capped it off by feeding Gretzky a few skin hammers.

For one night, he was the greatest...

Don't Burn Your Retinas - Vintage NHL Commercials

Here's a quick collection of the good, the bad and the ugly of NHL advertising, whether it's ads by the league itself or prominent NHLers doffing products for other companies.

Let's start it off with the abhorrent crew of New York Rangers from the 70's doing a Vidal Sasson ad. Phil Esposito, Ron Duguay, Anders Hedberg etc. Utterly revolting yet compulsively watchable.



Tastes Great Mom!


Can I See Some ID Please Rob Ray


Adam Oates As A Sleazebag Nice marketing move.


You Don't Have To Be Sweet To Be Good Hextall crushes a paper puck.


Go To Hell Shanahan You Freak


Mess and Gretz


Gretzky and puppy dogs

Gretzky Associates Himself With Worst Band in Music History

Say it ain’t so Wayne! That was one of the many headlines across Canada when Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky was traded to La La Land in August of 1988. It could apply now as well.

Gretzky is making an appearance with poodle rockers Nickelback in their new video for “Rockstar”. As if this song wasn’t bad enough (don’t they already have a video for this?), now we have to endure one of Canada’s greatest icons being associated with Canada’s biggest musical embarrassment to date, and I’m including Celine Dion and Our Lady Peace.

Other celebrities included in this stinker are Gene Simmons of Kiss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., psychotic right winger and killer of defenseless animals Ted Nugent (the Nuge!), as well as Grant Hill and a few other has beens.

As if being caught up in a mind blowing gambling scandal thanks to his buddy Rick Tochett and coaching the dreadful Phoenix Coyotes wasn’t enough to further devalue the Great One. Now he is on videotape lyp-synching moronic lyrics written by perma-goatee Chad “Rockstar” Kroeger and his band of rich poseurs putting out music that is so produced and compressed with 35 separate guitar tracks that it sounds like it was played by a vending machine computer. But I guess the kids want what the kids want – corny ballads and weak rock anthems.

Please Wayne. I’m begging you. I still have tons of respect for everything you’ve done and the hours of joy I had watching my beloved Oilers in the 80’s. I even tolerated watching you make an ass of yourself on All My Children and watched that Saturday Night Live episode you hosted, not once, but twice! I struggled through your thousands of commercials telling me to buy trucks and take Tylenol and wear Roots. But this! I can’t tolerate it. Nickelback is out to destroy rock and roll as we used to know it. Can’t you see. They pretend to be like Nirvana but they’re really just a weak version of Foreigner with distortion pedals, bad haircuts and goatees and grade 2 poems masquerading as lyrics. Please Wayne! Don’t make me hate you.

Celebrating 19 Years of Peter Pocklington Being An A-Hole

It's almost like every kid who was a hockey fan in the 80's has had a similar moment. All over the internet, people are rekindling horrible memories of Wayne Gretzky being traded by Peter Pocklington to the L.A. Kings 19 years ago today. I might as well chip in.

I still have the front page clipping from the Ottawa Citizen where I learned that my hero was leaving the Oilers. I only had two favourite teams then - the Oilers and the Red Wings. The Red Wings were terrible at the time but the Oilers ruled over everybody. I actually started crying. Like a freaking baby. It was almost like losing a family member. Seriously. How could this disaster happen?

Basically because Peter Pocklington was a heartless capitalist. He owned the biggest meat packing plant in Alberta and proceeded to wage a war with his employee's union by bringing in replacement workers during a strike in 1986. This ego-driven war eventually crippled the business and Pocklington decided to cash in on Wayne Gretzky. It was that simple. He needed money and he sold the greatest player to ever live to future convict Bruce McNall. Nice move. He eventually had to sell the Oil after threatening the entire community by saying he wanted to move the team to Houston.

The craziest part of the story to me is the underhanded tactics Pocklington used to move Wayne. Nobody in the hockey department wanted to trade Gretzky. Gretzky himself was planning on raising his family in Edmonton. But Pocklington floated the idea to Gretzky's father and then, worst of all, allowed McNall to meet with Wayne in L. A. During this meeting, Pocklington called McNall's office and pretended not to know that Wayne was there. McNall put Pocklington on speaker phone where he went into a tirade against Gretzky. This then spurred Wayne into asking for a trade thereby allowing Pocklington to claim to the media that it was Wayne who wanted to be moved. Bullshit.

McNall and Pocklington obviously set this up in such a way that Wayne would have no choice but to ask for a trade.

And so we sit back and celebrate Peter Puck in all his infamy.

Trivia: After the Oilers won their first Cup, Pocklington gave his players the traditional Stanley Cup ring. Only problem was, the diamonds were fakes. Gretzky and some of his teammates actually had to pay to have the fake diamonds replaced with real ones! Now that's class!

Top Tens: Who’s On Thin Ice In 07-08?

1. John Ferguson Jr. – General Manager – Toronto Maple Leafs

No one has been so precariously close to the edge of being fired than JFJR. You have to feel sorry for a guy who is being undercut by ownership in a very public attempt to bring in a “mature hockey advisor” to oversee JF’s work. Talks with ex-Ottawa GM John Muckler seem to have cooled so maybe ownership is scratching the idea for now. But what remains is a very fragile situation where the team is headed nowhere quickly without recourse to rebuild due to some very heavy contracts to the likes of Bryan McCabe and Pavel Kubina. Everyone knows the team needs to rebuild, even Ferguson himself. But he may not be around to help.

2. John Stevens – Head Coach - Philadelphia Flyers

John Stevens seems like a man with no clear personality. He is stoic and icy but not in a Scotty Bowman way. It just doesn’t seem right for him to be in charge of a newly revamped Philly squad with (now) huge expectations. It may be unfair to say, but some guys just seem like career assistant coaches and that’s what strikes me about Stevens. After spending a ton of bucks in the offseason, Flyers fans are going to be frothing at the mouth for a winning team. If they get off to another slow start, look for Paul Holmgren to bring in a more experienced guy. Mike Keenan would have been ideal.

3. Kevin Lowe – General Manager – Edmonton Oilers

He put his ass on the line this summer, enraging the elite cabal of NHL general managers by throwing around ridiculous offer sheets. He did snag Dustin Penner but we must remember that he traded Ryan Smyth because of money and then offered him even more bucks when Smyth was a UFA. It’s a good thing Smyth didn’t end up going to the Flames or there would have been hell to pay. Then he trades the last remaining heart and soul Oiler, captain Jason Smith and pisses off his remaining roster in the process. If, as rumoured, new ownership comes in to Oil country, Lowe could be on his way out, especially if Joni Pitkanen and Dustin Penner tank the way Joffrey Lupul did. Stay tuned.

4. Tom Renney – Head Coach – New York Rangers

At first this choice may seem stupid but things can change awful fast in the Big Apple. Glen Sather is not one to sit and wait out a crisis. The Rangers have been built to win this year with both Scott Gomez and Chris Drury coming on board. Sather will be super sensitive to the notion that high priced free agents always flop in NYC and he will not hesitate to dispatch Renney back to the pile if things don’t work out.

5. Craig MacTavish – Head Coach – Edmonton Oilers

Mac T is a good coach but he might fall victim to the whirlwind that Kevin Lowe has created. Lowe could fire Mac T if the Oil fail coming out of the gate (to save his own ass) or more likely, exit along with Lowe in an ownership change.


6. Ron Wilson – Head Coach – San Jose Sharks

Ron Wilson has a history of burning out the teams he coaches. He gets good results in his first few years but diminishing returns thereafter. Witness Anaheim and Washington in the 90’s. Unfortunately, the Sharks have underachieved in the playoffs and there are now hints of a sour relationship between Wilson and once-franchise player Patrick Marleau. This does not bode well despite the fact that Wilson got an extension on his contract. He might get one more year but he had better win in the playoffs or it will be obvious that his players have tuned him out.

7. Jacques Martin – General Manager/Head Coach – Florida Panthers

Mike Keenan was shown the door because he did not see eye to eye with his coach Martin. That’s not surprising since both men are stubborn to the point of self-destruction. Keenan engulfs the castle in flames with his antics but Martin does it in a more sly way. He doesn’t change, no matter the circumstances. Much like Roger Nielson before him, he’d rather lose 2-1 than win 6-5. Now that he is running the whole organization, he has stocked up on his favourite hockey players - defensively responsible Europeans – and has shown no willingness to let his players free from the neutral zone trap system. Jay Bouwmeester would be getting way more points on any other team but now he’s turning into Charlie Huddy with faster legs. Martin must make a push for the playoffs or he could be looking for work very soon.

8. Doug Risebrough – General Manager – Minnesota Wild

It is now time for the Minnesota organization to reward its fans with some high-calibre, exciting and winning hockey. It’s not Doug’s fault that his best player, Marion Gaborik, has a wonky groin but he still has to take responsibility for the Wild being an average team in the same time frame that the Nashville Predators turned into a contender. How long can he keep his job? Honestly. Him and Jacques Lemaire have been there forever and all they have created is a lesser version of the New Jersey Devils. Maybe the Wild need some fresh ideas.

9. Wayne Gretzky – Head Coach – Phoenix Coyotes

I know, I know. Nobody is going to fire Wayne Gretzky. But he might decide to step down if the Coyotes go into the tank once again. Everybody wants him to do well, including myself. But maybe it’s not in the cards. He might be more suited to management.

10. Nashville Predators

Now that William “Boots” Del Biaggio has a huge slice of the team, the Predators are still in danger of relocation. Granted the fans have shown a huge willingness to buy tickets during a crisis situation but what happens when the fear goes away. Boots has an arena in Kansas City ready to go and he has the money to buy out the other investors at any moments notice. I like the fact that Gary Bettman stuck up for the city of Nashville and their hockey team because a league should stick by its franchises, even in the midst of a shiticane like the Preds just went through. But too many people have been trying to rip them from Music City. Until further notice, the Preds are skating on thin ice.