The Seal is for Marksmanship and the Gorilla is for Sand Racing

Estragon: I can't go on like this.
Vladimir: That's what you think.

Last week Hockey Night in Canada reached out to the Blogosphere, inviting Tom Benjamin, Greg Wysnyshski and Paul Kukla to appear in place of the usual suspects on the "Hot Stove Lounge" segment.

For some reason, prior to their interview with Ron McLean, Scott Morrison, managing editor of Rogers Sportsnet, weighed in with the standard reservations about these online blogger types: bloggers passing themselves off as NHL insiders coupled with the lack of professional accountability means confusion for hockey fans. The only thing lacking from Morrison's paint-by-numbers intro was a warning that the upcoming bloggers were likely to appear pant-less via satellite from their mothers' basements.

Unsaid by Morrison was what type of warning the CBC should post to their screen before the likes of Al Strachan and Mike Milbury speak, or how Don Cherry goes to air on a seven second tape delay so the CBC can excise any of Don's more, um, creative commentary.

Morrison's solution? Some sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on blogs.

Accountability

Morrison does raise a good point about accountability, it is absolutely essential in gathering and transmitting quality information and building any type of a readership or following.

Sometimes that accountability is immediate and interactive: as is the case with almost every blog where communication is two-way, transparent, and pretty much instantaneous.

Sometimes accountability is re-active: in the case of Howard Berger, it took a law suit from Sean Avery to reveal that Avery did not in fact trash talk Jason Blake about his cancer. Team 1040 in Vancouver The Province terminated Dave Pratt's contract when bloggers pointed out he borrowed some content originally penned by Rick Reilly (of all the sources to rip-off, that's like an aspiring jewel thief getting busted for robbing a dollar store).

And sometimes accountability can wait: say for example when Howard Berger files a somewhat made up report about the Leafs hiring a new executive; Bruce Garrioch's files any story that involves the word "trade"; that time Steve Simmons broke news that Mats Sundin required career threatening hip surgery; or when Oilers reporter Jason Gregor cribbed some content from Sports Illustrated.

Frankly, the concerns about professionalism and accountability coming from Morrison are a bit rich as they were expressed the same week that Sportsnet ran a clip of one of their reporters using an umpire's least favourite ten letter word. The widely distributed video is the epitome of professionalism (at least none of the panel giggled) and the video clearly displays the Sportsnet brand seal of approval.

Morrison will be pleased to know that the reporter in question, Roger Millions, didn't pass himself off as an insider, but he has been suspended for a few days by Executive Producer Mike "Tell him I'll throw him $50k and an EP credit" English. That said, Roger Millions' punishment is a strange form of accountability when you consider how many people in the chain of command made an error in letting that tape get to air: editors, runners, directors and the producer of the segment. but it will be interesting to know if Morrison agrees with his employer's decision not to take any disciplinary action against Millions or any of the crew responsible for that wonderful ten letter word being broadcast on the air.

Beyond Hindsight: Re-examining the Record

There's at least one another form of accountability that Morrison didn't touch on that I'd like to add and that's re-visiting the public record.

When the Sharks came flying out of the gate to start the season, Todd McLellan was routinely celebrated by sports journos around the NHL. Implicit in much of this coverage was the questioning of Ron Wilson's effectiveness as a coach in San Jose, especially his handling of Patrick Marleau and the Sharks' failure to make any headway in the post-season.

McLellan certainly got Marleau going, but the Sharks are down 2-0 in the opening round of the playoffs. If they're eliminated by Anaheim, does anyone want to guess at the over under on those same reporters filing some sort of clarification re. Wilson v. McLellan? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the opening line starts at 1 1.5 and doesn't move much.

Sticking with the west coast, when Kyle Wellwood started the season with 11 goals and three assists in his first 20 games he was the talk of the league. Many reporters, seeing Wellwood's hot start, openly spoke about the Leafs' mistake in waiving him.

Unfortunately for the Wellwood booster club, the hefty Canuck centre went on to record just seven more goals and six assists in his remaining 55 games, finishing the season with a disappointing 18G and 9A good for all of 27 points. It's called regression to the norm and most blogs saw it coming.

Since accountability is such a big deal for the media, I'm looking forward to the many columns and hours of air time that will be dedicated to pointing out Wellwood's decline.

Seal of Approval?

As for Morrison's assertion that the average viewer needs some sort of pre-approval filter or seal of approval to better discern quality on-line materials, I'm not so sure. Is it really that difficult to separate the good stuff from outlandish content like, oh I don't know, rumours of Malkin being traded to the Kings?

In the age of twitter and instant access to information the application of a seal of approval seems so web 1.0 (if not earlier) to me.

Perhaps Morrison should dust off his Amiga, fire up his 2400 baud modem and surf the net for himself. He might learn that the average consumer doesn't need a "Toronto Sun" logo to know their content is weak. By consuming just one or two pieces from the likes of Simmons and Loewen the average reader will pretty much know all they need to about the quality of the content under that banner.

Consider that the Toronto Star's seal of approval fell on Garth Woosley's latest gem of a column stating that Brian Burke is like Harold Ballard. Sure he is.

I mean, they're both carbon based life forms. They both have a surname that starts with "B" (wait, this is uncanny). They both like the media spotlight and they both work for the Maple Leafs (how has no one noticed this before?!? Get me 500 words stat!).

It's not like one is a widely respected hockey man who helped build several successful franchises, won a Stanley Cup and is heading up a nation's olympic hockey program and the other was a bit of a crank who did time in jail for tax fraud, estranged key players from the franchise, swung some of the worst trades in hockey history, sold or destroyed most of the franchise's historical monuments, never came close to post-season success and paid out an undisclosed sum as part of a sexual molestation charge.

No, as per Woosley, Burke and Ballard might as well be twins.

Woosley also claims "Ballard can still be found at the root of many of the problems that have plagued the franchise for its past 42 years in the Stanley Cup wilderness."

Yup, that's right, a man that's been dead for 19 years, that's seven general mangers, two owners and eight coaches later - is certainly at the root of the problem for the Leafs - if by root you mean the far distant, disconnected past.

I Don't Want a Seal, I Want Someone to Ask a Decent Question

The only thing professional sports reporters offer that blogs, message boards, and twitter feeds can't is access to the players, coaches and executives of the NHL. Surely there's rich, rewarding content there just waiting to be mined; however, as technology lets the fans listen in to each post-game media scrum and press conference, it's become quite clear that most reporters can't or don't know how to mine it. And until they learn to do so, a mythical golden seal isn't going to change anything.

Post-game Leafs - Sabres

I missed the winning goal because an Elvis impersonator was in our section. Clearly this was the highlight of the night, if not week, for everyone within 20 feet of me as they all decided to stand up, turn their backs to the game, and yell at Elvis in hopes of getting a t-shirt of some sort. The good news (bad news?) is, I only had to wait all of a minute for a chance to see the Sabres score another goal. Great.

In addition to the love for Elvis, the row I was in also featured a portly teen who felt the need to imitate Larry the Cable Guy while yelling a the Leafs. Other high lights from this young Chunker included him stealing sips of his dad's beer and calling the Leafs "Ladies" most of the night. And here I was worried that the awful music would be the low-point of the in-game entertainment.

Christian Hanson didn't look out of place. There was one occassion where he didn't chip the puck out on his wing, which led to a bit of a scramble, but on another Sabres rush he picked up the third man and did some nice work down low. I have all the scouting accumen of a dead squirrel, so I'm not sure where this kid fits on the talent spectrum but he didn't stand out as being a liability. It was also nice to see him get a shot to get the Leafs back into it late in the game.

A tip of the hat to the ACC A/V crew. It's amazing that they can get a replay up and onto the scoreboard in mere seconds. One of my biggest complaints when watching the game at home is how long it takes TSN/Sportsnet/CBC to roll the tape so we can get a closer look at what happened - it's like the TV folks are slower than Jason Allison skating in sand.

The big sponsorship push tonight was President's Choice green products. To show us just how much President's Choice treasures the environment, all 20,000 fans in attendance were given coupons printed on non-recycled high-gloss stock that soon filled the hallways and garbage cans between the ACC and Union Station. Nice work Loblaw Corp. Next time, to demonstrate your commitment to the environment, perhaps you could hand out low-efficiency incandescent light bulbs or leave a bunch of PC delivery trucks covered in pro-environment signs idling in the parking lot for the duration of the game.

Those who took the over in the Tragically Hip song count were wise folks. We counted at least four selections from the Hip and I'm sure I tuned out at least one or two others.

Leafs are idle until Saturday. It's a good thing they were scheduled to play back-to-back games and then given a three day break.

It's always great to see the Leafs live. My very first Leaf game was a 3-3 tie between the Sabres and Leafs back in 1975 or '76 at MLG (I still have the ticket stub somewhere in the basement).

I wonder if the ACC has the same aura of wonder for little kids that MLG held for me growing up. I was thinking it would be cool to skate on the ACC ice, but it would have been an out and out magical thrill to skate down at MLG...maybe it's just a matter of time. The ACC is only ten years old, perhaps in another thirty or forty years it will have created enough memories and special moments to give it the historical presence that was associated with going to a game at MLG.

I also posted live from the game, which you can read here: pre-game; the start of period 2; and thoughts after 40 minutes.

Live from the ACC: After 40 Minutes

Some thoughts after 40 minutes down at the ACC...

It always struck me that the best thing for the Leafs this year was to play hard, develop their kids and lose a lot of one goal games. Leafs still have a chance to go three for three tonight, although I'd be most impressed if they came out flying in the third. Been a bit of a "meh" game so far. As much as I want a higher draft pick, I'd love to see Cujo and the Leafs get the win.

No Leaf wants to go to the front of the net tonight and it's killing their PP. Be nice to see the Leafs acquire a big body that will create some traffic in front.

Stajan is softer than a roomfull of those little white kittens that shill toilet paper.

To err is human, to make a big save is canine. Cujo looked awful - way too deep in his net - on the sabres first goal but has made a couple of beautiful stops tonight.

I've always hated those "make noise" and "Clap hands" interstitials on the scoreboard but they work. The fans sit on their hands until one of these digital prompts come up and then we all clap and cheer on cue. Sad.

Over under on Tragically Hip songs at the ACC has to be three if not four. They get played a lot. Sadly, no music from Chixdiggit yet.

Live from the ACC: Start of period 2

8:09 - biggest cheer of the game so far was a trivia contest that resulted in a big mac give-away for everyone in attendance.

Further sign of the economic downturn: during the first intermission they held a race with remote control cars on the ice, there was a coloured car to represent each section of the stands. The gold car didn't even get off the starting line.

Bad jersey alert: there's a couple near us wearing Afinogenov jerseys. Her's is an old-school blue and gold, his is the slug white.

Another guy nearby is in a royal blue corduroy 1994 New York Rangers Stanley Cup Champ jacket. Guaranteed to repel all single women within 100 feet.

Leafs just hit the ice, time for period #2...

Live blog from the ACC

I'm going to see if I can post some thoughts live from the game at the ACC. Not sure if the technology will work here...


It's officially a recession if not a depression as I'm watching this game from comped seats in the purples, not the lower bowl of sushi and suits...the McDonalds pre-game skater was a goalie and it was off the unintentional comedy scale seeing a kid in goalie pads trying to skate laps carrying a flag.

Leafs have an all-North American starting line-up with 5 of 6 guys hailing from Canada (Hanson is the only non-Canadian).

The ceremony for May was great, classy move to have Red Kelly on hand, as well as Kris King and Rob Ray. Funny to see May giving everyone big hugs. May's mum mouthed a big, "Oh wow!" when Michael Burgess was announced and sang her lungs out to both National anthems.

ACC is quiet as a morgue so far...isn't Stajan and roughing an oxymoron? Crowd really wanted a penalty shot on the Vanek penalty...

What if Don Cherry were an animated French Canadian?

A big shout-out to Awful Announcing, who wonders if Don Cherry and Barry Melrose inspired characters on a new episode of the Simpson's. In addition to two characters who look remarkably like those infamous mouth breathers, the whole fighting debate is summarized in a six second blurb (00:07 to 00:13).

Here's the clip:

History Lesson Part II (Our team could be your life)

Funny, when the Leafs go a on a run and beat a bunch of also rans the company line in papers and across the airwaves is, “This team cant’ even lose right.”

The Leafs beat a contender or two and the same big juicy brains tell us the other team just didn’t show up or had an off night.

When the Leafs get bombed in back to back games (I turned off last night’s match at 4-0; no sour grapes here but how was there no goaltender interference call prior to Higgins goal?) it’s a sign of 40 years of systemic failure, short sighted quick fixes that never worked and the senility of Cliff Fletcher.

At least this season will be over soon and all eyes will turn to the draft, which reminds me of one of my all-time favourite NHL draft stories.

In the summer of 1983, the St. Louis Blues had been sold to a Saskatoon investor just weeks before the draft, but the move was vetoed by the NHL Board of Governors. Due to the late timing of the veto, the Blues were without an owner, GM, and coach. They were represented by an empty table at the 1983 NHL entry draft (remarkably, the table was smart enough not to take three Belleville Bulls in the early rounds of the draft). As it was reported in an old Leafs program:

Throughout each round of last summer’s entry draft at the Montreal Forum, NHL executive Vice-President Brian O’Neill would turn to his right, face a large table with a St. Louis Blues logo in the middle and ask 10 empty chairs if they’d like to select a player. Unfortunately, furniture does not communicate very well and O’Neill was forced to continue on with the next order of claim.

I posted that blurb over at uber-Leafs site Pension Plan Puppets a week ago and was urged to send an email to the guys at St. Louis Blues Game Time to see if they could provide more backstory or some additional details. Perhaps JFJ got an early start as a GM and had traded away every St. Louis pick in the draft?

It turns out they were just about to post a detailed entry all about the Blues and the 1983 Entry Draft. They were kind enough to send me an advance copy (bloggers write in advance and scheduled postings?!?)

Written by Jeff Fahrenkrog, here's a taste of what was going on with the Blues in 1983 and why they had no picks at the entry draft.

On January 12, 1983, Ralston Purina Company (RPC) told a stunned St. Louis community that it had received a purchase offer to buy the Blues from a Saskatoon based company known as Batoni-Hunter Enterprises, Ltd. Batoni’s President, Bill Hunter, was one of the founders of the World Hockey Association in 1972, and an owner of the WHA’s Edmonton Oilers before they joined the NHL in 1979...the Blues players first became aware of a possible move on December 7, 1982, on a road trip in Edmonton. There, representatives from the Saskatchewan Board of Trade were circulating detailed pamphlets entitled, “Saskatchewan in the NHL.”

That must have been one cold tractor drive from Saskatoon to Edmonton back in December 1982. I'd love to get my hands on one of those brochures...

On May 18, by a 15-3 vote, the NHL Board rejected Ralston’s sale to Hunter’s group. Among other things, the NHL felt such a small Canadian outpost had no chance of being self-sustaining or financially viable. This decision effectively ended Coliseum Holding’s bid for the Blues and the club’s transfer to Saskatoon. It also insured three months of chaos...Ralston inflamed the situation even further on Jun. 3, with its announcement that “it had no intention of remaining in the hockey business and no intention of operating the team next year.” Accordingly, they were “tendering” the Blues to the NHL “to operate, sell or otherwise dispose of in whatever manner the league desires.” Once the league decided what to do, RPC stated that it expected the NHL “to remit any proceeds from a dissolution or sale to the company. If the league decided to operate the team, Ralston expected to receive fair value for the franchise.”

Huge lawsuits, strange profits, and amazingly a full roster of Blues players emerged from the chaos.

It's a great story and even though it’s a beautiful Sunday out there, I’d recommend heading over to St. Louis Blues Game Time later today to read the full version. It’s always nice to know that one team out there once had a draft situation that was worse than those that led to Luongo, Kurvers, Raycroft…

What's the post title about? Click here to find out.

The Frogren is also cursed (that's bad)

One last word on Jonas Frogren (sorry).

I wanted to assemble a bit of timeline of how this situation went from a dispute over the interpretation of the CBA to the loss of a 4th round draft pick some nine months later.

Here are the key dates:

July 7 - The Leafs sign Jonas Frogren to a 2-year, $2.1M contract
July 10 - The NHL rejects Frogren's contract (a must read piece by Kevin McGran at the Star that pretty much nails every step of the Frogren saga that was to come. Seriously good stuff.)
July 11 - Expectation that the case will be grieved and resolved by autumn
August 7 - The NHLPA confirms that are grievance the NHL's decision to reject the contract
August 10 - The Hockey News looks at the Frogren situation and sits on the fence, "both sides are right to an extent."
August 11 - Frogren allowed to play under contract while the grievance is underway
November 8 - ESPN reports that if the Leafs lose the arbitation hearing they can simply re-sign Frogren to an entry level SPC
November 14 - The Globe and Mail reports the Frogren greivance is settled prior to the hearing taking place
April 1 - NHL states Leafs must forfeit 4th round pick and pay $500K fine for Frogren signing

I understand how both sides interpreted the CBA and their relative positions, but what I don't understand, and what I'd love to know, is what agreements were reached at the mid-November settlement? I'd also love to know how, five months after reaching an agreement, the NHL can apply sanctions against the Leafs...30+ journalists following this team and all we have are more questions.

A layperson's look at Frogren and the CBA

Maybe the Leafs should just avoid players named Jonas.

The NHL has fined the Leafs $500,000 and a 4th round draft pick for signing Jonas Frogren to a contract that went over and above an entry level SPC.

To review, last summer, the Leafs signed Frogren to a creative contract that MLSE believed was in compliance with the CBA.

Based on my reading of the CBA, I'm pretty much guessing those sections are, Section 9.1 c:

a Player who at the time he was drafted was playing for a team outside North America or who meets the qualifications set forth in Article 8.4(a)(v) (a "European Player") who signs his first SPC at ages 25-27 shall be subject to the Entry Level System for one (1) year. A European Player who signs his first SPC at age 28 or older is not subject to the Entry Level System under any circumstances.

Section 8.4(a)(v):

a Player age 22 or older who has not been selected in a previous Entry Draft and shall be eligible to enter the League as an unrestricted Free Agent pursuant to Article 10.1 (d).

And section 10.1 (d):

Any player not eligible for claim in any future Entry Draft pursuant to this Agreement and not on a Club's Reserve List shall be an Unrestricted Free Agent. Further, any Player eligible for claim in the Entry Draft, but who was unclaimed, shall be an Unrestricted Free Agent subject to the provisions of Section 8.9(b).
(ii) Each Player referred to in subsection (d)(i) above shall, during the period of his Free Agency in accordance with Section 8.9(b), if applicable, be completely free to negotiate and sign an SPC with any Club, and any Club shall be completely free to negotiate and sign an SPC with such Player, without penalty or restriction subject to the provisions of Article 9 of this Agreement, if applicable, and without being subject to any Right of First Refusal, Draft Choice Compensation or any other compensation or equalization obligation of any kind.

As Frogren was indeed a European player, playing outside the NHL, who was 28 years old, without a previous SPC, it could be argued that he was not restricted to the limits of an entry level SPC. That's the position that the Leafs, the NHLPA and Frogren's agent Don Meehan took (and which the Leafs and Meehan stated to the media last summer).

Unfortunately for the Leafs, the NHL disagreed. From what I've been able to gather, the league argued that Frogren was to be considered a "defected player"

Under section 10.2 b of the CBA:

Definition of "Defected Player." For purposes of this Agreement, "Defected Player" means any Player not unconditionally released:
(A) who, having had an SPC with a Club, the provisions of which, including the option clauses in a 1995 SPC, have not been completely fulfilled, contracts for a period including any part of the unfulfilled portion of his SPC, with a club in a league not affiliated with the NHL or with any such league (both of which are hereinafter referred to as an "unaffiliated club") or with any other professional 32 hockey club to the exclusion of the said Club or its assignee; or
(B) who, never having been under contract to any Club, but as to who the NHL negotiation rights now or at any time hereafter shall reside in any Club, has contracted or shall contract with such an unaffiliated club.

I'm presuming that the NHL argued that Frogren had not fulfilled his contract with an unaffiliated club (in this case Färjestads) in an unaffiliated league (the SEL).

Unfortunately for Toronto, the NHL disagreed and the NHL won.

I think it's grossly unfair and incredibly simple to paint this situation as any type of incompetence on the part of the Leafs or Cliff Fletcher.

The Leafs, their lawyers, the NHLPA and Don Meehan all agreed and argued that given his age, draft status, and heritage Frogren was an unrestricted free agent who was not limited to an entry level deal.

Despite the findings and the punitive measures (the loss of the 4th round pick sort of stings, but really, what's $500K to MLSE?) I hope the Leafs continue in their efforts to be creative and to seek out alternative means of getting more draft picks and more talent into the organization.

**UPDATE**
This post attempts to explain the how, but I didn't touch on the why.

It should be noted that Frogren used the bonus money in his contract with the Leafs to buy-out his contract with Färjestads. Had Frogren not had contractual obligation to the SEL I'm presuming the NHL would not have sought sanctions against the Leafs.

Again, this is all just guess work on my part - if anyone finds some answers to this in the media, please put a link in the comments.