Sticks, Pucks, and Slap Shots: An NHL Preview

September 22, 2006

by Jonathan Carlson

A chill is creeping into the air. To most people, that chill signifies the start of another exciting, head-bashing season of NFL football. To some, it triggers the memory of something different. Something colder and faster. A distant memory of a blade scraping the smooth ice and a puck hurling through the frozen air of an arena packed to the brim with screaming fans. It is the memory of the National Hockey League.

Unfortunately, it is a memory that is quickly fading from the national consciousness. Once a staple of the American winter, the NHL has now tumbled to the edge of obscurity. People just don’t care anymore. There are too many teams in too many states that just weren’t meant for hockey. I mean, let’s be honest. What possible use does the state of Florida have for a professional hockey team? Most people down there don’t know the difference between an ice skate and a martini.

Yet as it stands, Florida has not one, but two teams playing in the NHL. There are also franchises in Nashville, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta. If you’re a fan of any of these teams, please don’t take this personally, but they just don’t make much sense. Not only are these regions not at all conducive to the sport, but they, along with pitiful expansion teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets, make for a system that is just too large for the amount of talent available.

There simply aren’t enough quality players to fill 30 professional rosters. As a result, the talent pool is diluted and the end-product is decisively mediocre. Can you imagine the quality of play we’d witness if the NHL went back to the days of the Original Six (read: Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, and New York)? Even a league with only 15 teams would be far superior to the current system.

Yet, at this juncture, such a concept is entirely unrealistic, so league officials have looked to correct the (many) other flaws in the game in a desperate attempt to bring their fans back to the rinks. They’ve created new rules to speed up the game, discourage the “trap” defense, and increase scoring. They’ve also toughened up on penalties in order to cut back on fighting, which is, in my opinion, a mistake, as fights were really the only things keeping the fans interested over the past few years. Perhaps the most noticeable change is the birth of the shootout, developed to ensure that every game will have a winner rather than risk the possibility of ending in a tie.

The jury is still out as to whether or not these changes will be good for the game. After watching their implementation for the first time last season, I’d have to say that they actually worked pretty well. The game was certainly faster, and the shootouts were generally exciting, if not sometimes annoying, but there was still something missing: passion. Fans have the capability of being so incredibly passionate and connected to the teams that they sway the outcome of a game. That type of dedication is now very rare in hockey, but it is absolutely essential if the sport wants to survive.

From a personal perspective, I would be thrilled to see the NHL return to prominence. Believe it or not, I was a Bruins fan before I was a Red Sox or Patriots fan and I’ve always loved the game. In recent years I’ve traded my black and gold jersey for the grass of the Fenway outfield and the Foxboro 50-yard line, but I think it’s time to at least think about returning to the ice. There is something truly exhilarating about watching a forward fly across the blueline on a breakaway or watching a goaltender stand on his head to make a spectacular save. It’s not a perfect sport, but it’s a beautiful one, and I’d like to take this time to encourage each and every one of you to give it a chance. If you don’t like it, fine. At least you made the effort. But if you do enjoy it, you may have discovered some of the passion that has been deep in hiding for the past decade.

In any event, having gotten that little soliloquy out of the way, and hopefully having hooked a few of you into the world of the NHL, I think it’s now appropriate to focus in on the upcoming season and what it has in store, particularly where fortunes of the hometown Boston Bruins are concerned.

While it looks as though perennial contenders like Detroit, New Jersey, and Ottawa are in position to continue their dominance, there are many more question marks than certainties leading into the 06-07 season. Will Carolina be able to defend their Stanley Cup championship season without the formidable presence of defenseman, Doug Weight (signed by St. Louis) on the blueline? Will Ottawa be able to withstand the loss of big-man Zdeno Chara to Boston? Will the Maple Leafs be able to return to their once consistently elite form without a proven number-one goaltender? And speaking of goaltenders, what on earth were the New York Islanders thinking by giving below-average backstop, Rick DiPietro a 15-year, $67.5 million contract?

That may be another issue entirely, but with the high percentage of free-agent turnover that took place this offseason, there is sure to be significant change in the balance of power in both conferences. Look for previously elite teams like Dallas to take a dive in the standings while other teams make a run at reversing previous failures (Pittsburgh, anyone?).

What about Boston, you ask? The truth is that until they take the ice, nobody’s entirely sure about this team. They’ve overhauled their entire system, firing general manager, Mike O’Connell, as well as head coach, Mike Sullivan, replacing them with Ottawa’s former assistant GM, Peter Chiarelli, and one-time head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, Dave Lewis. They’ve gotten rid of franchise icons like Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov, along with other notable players like Nick Boynton, Hal Gill, Andrew Raycroft, Brian Leetch, and last summer’s free-agent bust, Alexei Zhamnov.

With such a complete dismantling of the roster, one might be inclined to believe that there’s no way to successfully rebuild the team in one season. Yet the replacements that new management has brought in are rather intriguing.

Leading the pack of new faces is Zdeno Chara, the 6 ft. 9in., 260 lb defenseman who helped lead Ottawa to multiple playoff appearances not only because of his exceptional strength and skill, but also because of his invaluable leadership and work-ethic. Look for him to be the heart and soul of the new Boston team. Joining him is elite forward, Mark Savard, who is penciled in to be the playmaking number two center the Bruins lacked last season. Other newcomers include veteran defenseman, Paul Mara, consistently solid right wing, Shean Donovan, and promising rookie forward Phil Kessel out of the University of Minnesota. Add these names to the core of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Boyes, Marco Sturm, Glen Murray, P.J. Axelsson, and Brad Stuart, and you start to have a very promising, young group of players. As far as goaltending, while there is not yet an official number-one in place, both Hannu Toivonen and Tim Thomas have outstanding talent. Expect the younger, more athletic Toivonen to break camp with the starting job, but if he falters even a little, Thomas will be more than ready to jump into the fray.

While nothing is set in stone, at the very least this should be an interesting season of hockey to watch. There are new faces, new team dynamics, and the game is at a point in its history where it is constantly evolving and attempting to become the powerhouse it once was. Will this be the season where it finally succeeds? Probably not. There are still too many hurdles to overcome. But if hockey can even approach the level of excitement and fan enthusiasm that it saw in the 60’s and 70’s, that will be a step in the right direction.

So for now, sit back and enjoy the electricity that is the National Football League. But when the winter months roll around, take a few minutes away from the gridiron to glance at the National Hockey League. It might not be pretty, it might not be thrilling, and it might not even be good. But beneath the clutter there is a raw beauty that is rarely seen in sport, and when it finally breaks through the surface again, you’ll want to make sure you’re ready for whatever happens next.