October 8th Column

Hello, gentle Around the NHL reader. Welcome back. Am I the only one who felt like the Hockey Summer went longer than usual this year? Then again, I'm a Devils fan. Everything kinda felt longer this summer. Oh well. Here are some of the things you can expect from "Around the NHL" this season...

First of all, we'll be looking to do more interviews than last season. Bloggers, broadcasters, former NHL players. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who currently doesn't lace 'em up is fair game for me. Also, I'd love to do a mailbag once in a while this year. Please, send some questions my way at SMLepore@comcast.net. Finally, and this is a big if, I'm looking to broadcast a radio version of the show on the internet. That's a big if, but it'd be a lot of fun if we could pull it off. Anyway, on to some good ol' fashion random observations to begin our second season...

There were two things that impressed me in a big way over the opening four days of the season, and the first one was Mike Comrie and the Islanders' performance against Buffalo. This proves two things to me. One: Hilary Duff clearly puts out, at least for a Mercedes Benz she does. And two, either the Islanders are much better than anyone thought, or the Sabres royally suck without Briere, Drury, and to a lesser extent Zubrus. This team just looked lost, and a Ted Nolan team will always be opportunistic and work harder than a team clearly without direction. Could Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier be in some serious trouble in Western New York? Knowing that it's only two games into the season, the Sabres have an interesting schedule during the month of October. It features a bunch of teams (Atlanta, Washington, Toronto, Carolina, Florida) that are looking to use the Sabres as a barometer for where they are as a team. It may show more about this Buffalo squad than it does about them.

The other thing I enjoyed watching this weekend was the Chicago Blackhawks home opener against Detroit. While they didn't sell out (the cavernous United Center seats 20,000 just for hockey), the place was jumping with 18,000 riotous 'Hawks fans whom, despite the Cubs playing at the same time, came out and went nuts, praising Patrick Kane, Nikolai Khabibulin and the Indian Head, and chanting "Detroit Sucks" at every chance they got. When Robert Lang scored on a wicked little wrister in the third period to tie the game, the place nearly went nuts. It proves the adage that has held for quite some time while the Hawks have, for lack of a better word, sucked: People in Chicago want to root for this team, they just need a reason. With all due respect to William Wirtz, the reason may be the dawn of a new era following his death.

Let's talk more about crowds. Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Carolina, the Islanders, Rangers, Dallas, Minnesota, Florida, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and all six Canadian teams sold out their home openers. Detroit, Colorado, Nashville, Washington and the aforementioned Chicago did not. What's going on in Detroit and Colorado? As many have stated in the Detroit media and the Red Wing blogosphere, there is a definite disconnect between the Wings and their fans. While the Avs non-sellout can be attributed to the Rockies playing on the same day, the Wings definitely have some work to do to bring "Hockeytown" back to hockey relevance.

In Washington lately, they've been promoting the Capitals as "The Cool Alternative," which have featured promos such as a girl getting a Capitals tattoo on her back (unfortunately, it's not a tramp stamp). What else is next: Alexander Ovechkin taking in a Hinder concert? Olie Kolzig and Niklas Backstrom hanging out at raves? Or even worse: Glen Hanlon hanging out at raves? Promoting your team as something different to do is great, but you know, have girls doing something actually cool in their commercials to promote it.

From the "I can't believe this" department: Seven goaltenders currently make more money per year than Martin Brodeur. One of them is Jose Theodore. The more you know...

Full marks to Keith Jones and John Buccigross for penning "Jonesy, Put Your Head Down and Skate," the biography of the former Capital, Flyer and Avalanche and current NHL On VERSUS studio analyst. The bio is a hilarious tale of a regular guy, who played hockey at somewhat low levels just for fun, whose training regiment included KFC instead of BALCO, who still made the NHL at some point. If only they could bring out this sense of humor in Keith on Hockey Central...

Speaking of Hockey Central, it -- along with the entire NHL On VERSUS -- debuted with a doubleheader on Wednesday. I like some of the things they're doing. Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk did a good job of taking a summer's worth of information and packing it in to a 3-hour broadcast, while still following the action. I'm still not sold on Joe Beninati as a national commentator, but Daryl Reaugh is flat-out awesome. Anyone brave enough to admit having a mancrush on Ian Laperriere's game is worthy of high praise. The studio show is finally showing signs of turning into to something somewhat interesting. I liked their first intermission segment with Keith Jones challenging Roberto Luongo's assertion that he'd retire if the nets were bigger. While he's no Don Cherry, "Hockey Central" needs someone who can give you an honest opinion about whatever might be going on in the league that week. Having Bill Patrick, a veteran broadcaster, in the studio should help that along. However, Brian

Engblom needs to find something better to do with his time. He is just not very good at what he does.

Finally, I'd like to talk about the abomination that has been the Anaheim Ducks schedule so far this season. How in the name of common sense can you explain a team playing on another continent on Sunday, then giving them three road games in four days afterwards? There's a reason the Ducks are 1-4 this season. Meanwhile, the LA Kings, the other London participants, managed to get a week off between Sunday's game and their home opener Saturday night against St. Louis. Fret not, Anaheim fans: the Kings still managed to lose.

-SFM-

Steve Lepore is a writer for SportsFan Magazine.