HBO has selected the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings as the featured teams for its 24/7 documentary next season. A large reason for the appearance of a Canadian team on the U.S.-based show, says John Collins, COO of the NHL, is the ratings success of last year’s Stanley Cup Final between Boston and Vancouver.
“The historical view had been you need two big U.S. markets in any of these games to pop a number,” says Collins. “In this case the best hockey won out. It was so compelling people forgot about their own teams and joined in. It opens up an opportunity to do more with NBC and HBO to make them less reliant on U.S match-ups. It also allows us to go back to our Canadian partners and go ‘See? It can work’. It led directly to scheduling Toronto and Detroit for the Winter Classic in 2013.”
The appearance of the Maple Leafs on 24/7 is a no-brainer for ratings as Leaf Nation would tune in to see Brian Burke mow his lawn. But let’s be honest, the best Canadian team for TV purposes would be the Vancouver Canucks (the most hated team in the NHL for many) against Detroit or Chicago or Boston. Postseason fame is what fuels interest, and Toronto hasn’t seen a playoff game since Paul Martin was Prime Minister. Vancouver, meanwhile, has played a number of bitterly contested series since 2009.
Maybe the Leafs pick up Roberto Luongo or someone else vaguely interesting this summer. Maybe Brian Burke loses it (again). Otherwise it’s a snooze for all but the most hopelessly smitten Buds fans. What’s the headline? What Red Bull hat does Dion Phaneuf wear today? Imagine instead the bile when Alex Burrows, Maxim Lapierre or Ryan Kesler appear a the United Center in Chicago or the TD Centre in Boston. Better TV by a mile.
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Honour Crimes: In his essay in last Friday's Globe and Mail, Ken Dryden talked about when respect governed NHL players’ treatment of each other on the ice. Dryden cited an incident in which Detroit legend Gordie Howe warned Johnny Bower of Toronto “Look out, John, I’m behind you” as he approached the future Hall of Fame goalie from behind.
Many have criticized Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s current vice-president in charge of player safety, for allowing too much cavalier behaviour by unrepentant players this season. It might surprise some that Shanahan cites the same standard of civility when making his own judgments. In an interview with Usual Suspects, Shanahan described the “live and let live” standard he used as a player - and which he applies in his current post.
Talking about a controversial hit earlier this season when Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg hit Columbus’ Nikita Nikitin from behind (and was ejected from the game as a result), Shanahan relied on his own experience as a player going into the corner against a vulnerable defenceman.
“This is one of those things where you had to play it to feel it to get it,” Shanahan told us in his New York City office. “Those plays don’t happen all the time. To me, when I went in the corner (as a player) and put my hand on the guy’s back it was my way of saying ‘I’m here’. Sometimes with a guy who’d played with you you’d do that and yell ‘Heads Up! Coming through’.
“Because Nikitin got hurt there was an immediate uproar. But when I looked at the video I said I think (Zetterberg) has got his hand on his back, but Nikitin blows a wheel. It looks like he was pushed, but to their credit, the Columbus player and GM said (Nikitin) didn’t get pushed, he fell, So the major penalty (assessed to Zetterberg) was rescinded. That’s an example where what looks like a shove is a different thing.
Source: The Globe and Mail
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