NHL Insider

January 15, 2009

Winter Classic, All-Star Voting Problems and more…

Baseball and hockey have not a thing in common other than having a team within the same city.  Hockey of course competes on ice, while baseball is on grass… but on New Year’s Day hockey ventured to the confines of Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs for the playing of the 2009 Winter Classic.

For the second consecutive year, the NHL rang in the New Year with another spectacular outdoor game. Two of the “Original Six” teams, the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks ventured out on a cold, windy overcast day to give the fans an awesome game.

Though a sellout (43,000 plus) but some 30,000 less than last year’s contest in Buffalo, the game still provided the fans and players memories of a lifetime despite Detroit’s 6-4 comeback win.  Like in baseball, fans adorned the rooftops of houses on Waverly, clearly showing their support for their ‘Hawks.

While the hometown Blackhawks didn’t come out on top, NBC and the NHL sure did with its coverage.  The ratings were the best over-night regular season for the NHL in 13 years, a 12 percent increase over last year’s even in Buffalo.

The 2009 Classic earned a 2.9 overnight rating and a 6 share. Each overnight ratings point equals about 735,000 TV homes. Last year’s game featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres had a 2.6 overnight rating and 5 share.  In Chicago, Thursday’s game drew a national high of an 11.8 rating and 21 share, with Detroit second at 10.5 and 21.

2009 All-Star Game

The NHL paid homage to the city of Montreal by awarding them the All-Star Game in the year of their 100^th birthday – which shows great respect considering that Canada and per se Montreal is where it all began way back in 1909.

Over the years, there has been much criticism in regards to All-Star Game fan voting – not just in the NHL, but in other pro sports as well.  Fans have been accused of making the game a popularity contest versus a game of the best players.

In previous years, NHL fans did a pretty good job of voting the starters.  However, this year was another story and undoubtedly the most highly criticized.  Fans in several cities bulldozed their players to the top of the ballot box as only four teams are represented among the twelve starting spots – three Chicago Blackhawks and three Anaheim Ducks from the West, two Pittsburgh Penguins and four Montreal Canadiens in the East.

All-Star Fan Voting began on November 12^th, and when the early results were tabulated the six Eastern Conference starters all came from the Montreal Canadiens.  It was then, that rumors surfaced of ballot stuffing in Montreal.

News agencies started investigating as to why the totals were so disparagingly high for the Canadiens’ players while some star players and league scoring leaders such as Alexander Ovechkin or Evgeny Malkin were so off the distance.

The results of the investigation found that a user on a Canadiens fan site had urged people to vote using an automated program from Firefox – Greasemonkey, a Firefox extension.  This program allowed users to vote over and over and so the reason for the disparity of votes.

According to NHL voting rules, fans are allowed to vote, via internet and text messaging, as many times as they like but are prohibited from using automated voting machines.

“Use of automatic voting methods is prohibited,” says the NHL website. “The NHL will have in place monitoring procedures designed to prevent individuals from unfairly influencing the outcome of the voting by generating significant blocks of votes using technical enhancements.”

Jeff Carter and Alexander Ovechkin, tied for the league lead with 29 goals were added as All-Star reserves.

Once the can of worms was opened, the NHL quickly eliminated thousands of votes from Canadiens’ players, including 20,000 from Alexei Kovalev alone. The NHL took preventative measures and now the league claims that every real time vote you see has been cast by a real person.

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, fans were ticked off and decided that they would do something about the disparity of votes for their two stars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin.  Through numerous fan blogs, they began encouraging fans to vote and get Crosby and Malkin ahead of Kovalev and Koivu. 

By the time the next voting results were released in late December, Crosby and Malkin lead the Eastern Conference in voting ahead of Kovalev and Koivu – investigations into this turnaround came up clean as there were no signs of an automated program stuffing the ballots.

When the final results were in, the Eastern Conference starters belonged to the Canadiens’ and Penguins.  Absent were Alexander Ovechkin, Jeff Carter and a handful of others that were snubbed for a starting spot.

The Return of…

Mats Sundin contemplated retirement throughout the summer and into the first half before he opted to accept a very lucrative offer to play with the Vancouver Canucks.  Numerous teams including the New York Rangers sought out for his services.

The deal with Vancouver is for one-year, worth around $8.6-million – Sundin will earn nearly $5-million of that salary on a pro-rated basis.  The weird thing with Sundin’s signing, is that over the summer the Canucks had offered him a 2-year, $20-million contract… It’s nice to see that money isn’t everything.

Not long after Sundin’s return to the ice, the New Jersey Devils announced that Brendan Shanahan had agreed in principle to a contract and just today it became a done deal, worth $800,000 prorated meaning he’ll receive half that amount for the remainder of the season.  

Shanahan, who turns 40 later this month, returns for his 22^nd NHL season and his second stint with the Devils.  New Jersey selected him with the second overall pick in the 1987 draft.

Shanahan played his first four seasons with the Devils, scoring 88 goals in 281 games, before he signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Blues.  As compensation, the Devils received defenseman Scott Stevens, who helped them win the Stanley Cup three times.  Shanahan later helped the Detroit Red Wings win three Stanley Cups.

With the return of Sundin and Shanahan, could we eventually see comebacks from Peter Forsberg, Jaromir Jagr and Claude Lemieux? 

Peter Forsberg’s name always seems to pop up when it comes to making comebacks, but recent injuries and various ailments that he’s endured aren’t likely to disappear as time goes on. 

If Forsberg does return, it's unlikely that he will do so for any team other than the Avalanche, with whom who he has won a pair of Stanley Cup titles.

Jaromir Jagr sort of threw his hockey helmet onto the rink when he said he’d consider be a rental player.

Jagr, who is one point shy of 1,600 for his NHL career, played his last four seasons with the New York Rangers before signing a lucrative two-year deal to play for Avangard Omsk in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

The Kontinental League is experiencing some very serious financial pains as the result of the international financial crisis.  Jagr at the KHL’s All-Game last week mentioned he’d be very interested in returning to play for the Rangers or Penguins.

43-year old Claude Lemieux has been away from the NHL for more than five years now, but back in December he officially became a member of the San Jose Sharks organization. Lemieux signed a one-year, two-way contract and is currently playing in the AHL.  Whether or not Lemieux returns to the NHL with the Sharks is anyone’s guess, but GM Doug Wilson hopes it happens.

When the Sharks signed Claude Lemieux, it gave them the ability to go into their system for a player that has won four Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy (Postseason’s top performer).

“I didn’t go into this thinking I’d be on the top line or dominate or lead the team in playoff scoring, but I still think I can bring a lot as a role player,” said Lemieux.

The Edmonton Journal says that Lemieux would likely be called up after the March 4^th trade deadline when the rosters expand, which I happen to agree with.

A Little of this and That

Columbus Blue Jackets rookie goalie Steve Mason, who’s made 71 straight saves against the Capitals in two of his six shutouts this season, should be on standby to play for Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo on the West All-Star team if Luongo’s groin troubles don’t clear up in time. Mason will be at the Young Stars game in Montreal.

What’s the big deal about Jarkko Ruutu gnawing on Andrew Peters’s finger in a fight?  Like it’s never happened before?

In the ‘89 Stanley Cup final, Montreal’s Claude Lemieux was looking for a little finger food in a scrap with Calgary’s Jim Peplinski. “I didn't know they allowed cannibalism in hockey,” said Pepper.

Chris Chelios says that when he was with Montreal, he took a chomp out of Tomas Sandstrom’s finger against the Los Angeles Kings one night.  “He tried to gouge my eyes. Natural instinct to bite him... broke the skin, blood, the whole works.  He was one of the most hated guys in the league back then,” said Chelios.

Dan Boyle had his wrist sliced by a falling skate at his locker stall last year in Tampa, but is into safety now. “I leave my skates on the floor after every practice and game, said Boyle. Somebody else can hang them up.”

Greg Logan of Newsday reports the NY Islanders have a agreed to a one-year, $500,000 prorated contract with goaltender Wade Dubielewicz, who had played part of this season with Ak Bars Kazan of Russia's KHL after failing to land an NHL contract last summer.

Pete Pelegrin from the Miami Herald reports Florida Panthers defenseman Cory Murphy cleared waivers on Tuesday, leaving the Panthers 30 days to decide what to do with him. He could remain with the Panthers, be demoted or given his outright release.

TSN.CA reports Vancouver Canucks goalie Curtis Sanford cleared waivers today and will be demoted to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

TWINCITIES.COM John Shipley reports Minnesota Wild GM Doug Risebrough has not only declined to discuss the contract situation of goaltender Niklas Backstrom but also to discuss if the club even wants him back.

The Dallas Morning News Mike Heika wonders what moves, if any, the Stars will make to improve themselves in the second half of the season.  He doubts they’ll move prospects, draft picks or young players or absorb a lot of salary.  Heika notes there are some options available such as Atlanta’s Matieu Schneider or possibly LA’s Sean O’Donnell, and also wonders if they’ll bring in a veteran backup for Marty Turco.

If you like this column, Althea also writes the MLB Insider, the Rays Corner and Lightning Nutz and Boltz all while serving as VP of Sports for NutzMedia.  Listen to Althea on NewsTalk1220 -WSRQ Sarasota and TBSNRadio510.com Sunday's, live from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm as Althea Co-hosts "Speaking of Sports" with Ted Fleming.