No Canadian team advanced beyond the first round in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. The rest of the spring was about the Toronto Raptors.
The offseason was about the long list of unsigned restricted free agents (RFAs). Mitch Marner (Toronto) and Brock Boeser (Vancouver) came off that list around the start of the preseason. Matthew Tkachuk (Calgary) signed yesterday with the Flames. Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor are prominent no-shows for Winnipeg.
Dustin Byfuglien did not report to training camp for Winnipeg. Winnipeg Jets fans were concerned about thoughts of a possible early retirement. The Jets suspended Byfuglien (not a bad thing) since a suspension relieves salary cap pressure.
Calgary and Edmonton pulled off the James Neal/Milan Lucic trade. Neal, who could score everywhere but Calgary, takes his horrible contract north to Edmonton. Lucic, who was tough and could score in Boston and Los Angeles but couldn't score in Edmonton, goes south with his horrible contract.
As slow as Lucic has been, I was shocked to find out he's only 31. Edmonton gets the advantage in the deal in our book because Neal has shown upside in other cities. Good luck to both players and teams.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators had a large trade. The Senators traded defencemen Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur, forward Aaron Luchuk, and Columbus' 3rd-round pick in 2020 NHL Draft to Toronto for defenceman Nikita Zaitsev and forwards Connor Brown and Michael Carcone.
Roberto Luongo retired. The story could be about his legacy as a Canadian goalie and time spent in Vancouver. We can reflect on that 3 years from now. Luongo could have gone on Long Term Injury Reserve (LTIR) but chose retirement.
Luongo — @Strombone1 on Twitter — walked away from the last 3 years of his contract with Florida. Choosing retirement saved Florida some money. The decision not to pick LTIR costs the Vancouver Canucks a $3.03 million salary cap hit each season for the next 3 seasons. Luongo hasn't played for Vancouver since 2013.
The Canucks did Luongo a favour by trading him to the witness protection that is Florida. Now the rebuilding Canucks will pay a huge penalty.
Bob Cole goes out in style after 50 years of Hockey Night in Canada
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CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
Coaches and GMs
- Ottawa went with Toronto assistant D.J. Smith to be the new Senators head coach. Smith will be familiar with the Maple Leafs who went northeast in the offseason.
- Dave Tippett is the new coach in Edmonton. Tippett replaces Ken Hitchcock, who filled in for Todd McLellan. Tippett's new boss is former Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland.
I’d like to issue the following statement. pic.twitter.com/UXkEYflmvf
— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) August 28, 2019
Broadcasting
- Nick Kypreos is gone. Kypreos pretended to break news on the Saturday update as if he was a journalist. He would stir things up not to be useful but to be at odds. He was that awkward friend forced into the Saturday chairs. Rogers Sportsnet could find someone more annoying but at least it won't be Kypreos. Brian Burke and maybe Chris Johnston would be an improvement and in the running for the Saturday night chair.
- Doug MacLean, John Shannon, and Scott Morrison are also gone from Rogers Sportsnet. Doug MacLean and Shannon were fairly useless but not as annoying as Kypreos. Morrison is a real loss. I remember him well from when he was at CBC, where he was underutilized. Morrison could find a home at TSN. There was very slim hope that Rogers would replace Bob Cole. Rogers continues to claim money troubles.
- Denis Potvin retired from broadcasting. Though Potvin worked mostly in southern Florida, he did Ottawa Senators TV games with Dean Brown from 2010-2014.
- Jim Hughson will be honoured with the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in the Hockey Hall of Fame in November.
- On the U.S. side, NBCSN is making permanent the switch of Brian Boucher for Pierre McGuire on the #1 team with Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk. The U.S. channel put Boucher on the top team during the regular season but not the playoffs last season. McGuire is not nearly as good as he used to be but on 3 hours of sleep and a scenario where McGuire forgets what city he is in, he is leaps and bounds ahead of Boucher. This is the same channel that put Mike Milbury in the booth with the Toronto-Boston series, making that series unwatchable with the sound.
Other notes
- Hockey Day in Canada will take place in Yellowknife, NWT on February 8.
- The Calgary Flames will eventually have a new arena but the Saddledome will still be around for awhile.
We have vigorously covered the NHL for years at CanadianCrossing.com. As a former sports journalist before I started this blog, I certainly like covering the Canadian connection to the major sports. I also enjoy covering the sports media beat.
Covering the NHL beat has become more about frustration than joy. The NHL favors the U.S. teams over the Canadian teams. The Canadian teams self-implode due to fanatical pressures. There are too many destinations where players want to go that have lower taxes and fewer pressures to play hockey in those markets.
The NHL has insisted on keeping teams in non-viable markets such as Carolina, Florida, and Arizona while letting a jewel such as Centre Videotron lay dormant in hockey-crazy Quebec City. The Quebec Nordiques would do the NHL proud.
The media pressures are mounting. The NHL Network treats its schedule with the level of secrecy devoted to nuclear codes. NBCSN has kicked up the number of telecasts but not the quality. Rogers complains that fans don't know which channel to find the games but the company creates that confusion. Rogers shafts the CBC on the number of in-game promos.
The idea was that any of the 7 Canadian-based NHL teams would snap the long-running streak of zero Stanley Cup champions in Canada since 1993. The Chicago Cubs World Series losing streak reached 108 years. The Canada NHL streak feels longer with 7 teams involved.
The officiating in the Stanley Cup playoffs disappears but selectively. The Don Cherry lovers can pick on this thread: watching playoff hockey is frustrating when the rules no longer exist and/or enforced only at specific times for specific teams.
We will be glad to cover specific events such as the Heritage Classic in Regina or Hockey Day in Canada (if it's on U.S. television) or the few times Hometown Hockey makes it on the U.S. screen. We will release monthly schedules for NBCSN, ESPN+, and the NHL Network. We can even cover CBC promos at the next monthly update.
Otherwise, we need to take valuable resources and cover the world of Canada in more fruitful ways on CanadianCrossing.com.
We know this news will upset some fans and make other fans happy. We will have details next week on the changes to our NHL coverage.
Twitter capture: @RealKyper
logo credit: NHL
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