KHL Kickoff Set For Wednesday

Ahh, ’tis the season, my friends.

September is nearly ten days old and the NHL pre-season is mere weeks away.  The Winnipeg Jets have finally unveiled their new threads for the coming season, and, thankfully, we get regular season hockey in the form of the Kontinental Hockey League.

This upcoming KHL season is all about revenge for Atlant, the team that will kickoff the season against their new found rivals from Ufa.  With fresh faces in Kovalev and Zherdev, some see Atlant as the front runners for the Gagarin Cup and the ultimate revenge, a championship, after a five-game defeat at the hands of Salavat Yulaev Ufa.  Ufa, however, has retained the services of Erik Ersberg and some believe the play of the young Swedish netminder can once again lead Salavat back to the top of the mountain.  With talent from back to front in Ufa — Alexander Radulov up front, Oleg Tverdosky on the back end and the aforementioned Ersberg between the pipes — it is hard to believe that the defending champs will go down without a fight.

Regardless of who fans believe will win opening night, all signs point to this being the most competitive KHL season since the league’s inception in 2008.

In concert with the opening ceremonies and the Cup presentation to the home fans in Ufa, the KHL has released a season preview video.  As Dmitry Chesnokov astutely pointed out this morning, the video bears a striking resmeblance to the NHL’s “History Will Be Made” television spots.

But what history may be made in the K?

Does AK Bars Kazan get back to the top and assert themselves as the KHL’s first dynasty in capturing their third title in four years?  Will Chekhov play a game without taking a major penalty?  Or, better yet, can Alex Kovalev play, with heart, every shift?

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Along with the beginning of the season, and sticking with a theme that will be very prominent on this site in the weeks to come (more on this later), Cycle Down Low presents you with the odds, from betting site BWin, for the 2012 Gagarin Cup:
SKA St. Petersburg — 7-2
Salavat Yulaev Ufa — 5-1
AK Bars Kazan — 11-2
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl — 7-1
Avangard Omsk — 8-1
Metallurg Magnitogorsk — 8-1
Dynamo Moscow — 15-1
Traktor Chelyabinsk — 20-1
Atlant Mytishchi — 20-1
CSKA Moscow — 25-1
Spartak Moscow — 40-1
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod — 40-1
Severstal Cheropovets — 50-1
Sibir Novosibirsk — 50-1
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk — 50-1
Dynamo Riga — 60-1
Dynamo Minsk — 60-1
Lev Poprad — 100-1
Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk — 100-1
Barys Astana — 100-1
Vityaz Chekhov — 300-1
Metallurg Novokuznetsk — 300-1
Amur Khabarovsk — 300-1
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg — 500-1

Of all the teams listed, the biggest surprise is the tough odds given to Atlant.  With the additions they have made, it’s beyond surprising that they’ve not been given better odds.  On top of Kovalev and Zherdev, Atlant also made the move to sign Branko Radivojevic to add depth and a bit more scoring up front.  Radivojevic, who has spent his three seasons in the KHL with Dynamo Moscow, has put up 129 points (42-87) in 159 games over those three years.

SKA, right at the very top of the list with 7-2 odds, looks outstanding at all skater positions but their goaltending, if it falters, will be their downfall.  Jakub Stepanek’s numbers last season were good enough to put him amongst the upper echelon of goaltenders in the KHL, but one has to wonder if his showing in the Euro Hockey Tour could be a sign that his number from last year were somewhat of a mirage.

Sticking with strange odds, it is almost comical to see an “expansion” team, Lev Poprad, garner better odds than a quarter of the competition in their first season.  Receiving permission to play in the KHL last season, the Slovakian Poprad has had an interesting off-season in anticipation of their first season in one of, if not the, top leagues overseas.  Lev has signed a slew of North American talent, namely AHL defensemen Grant Lewis and Jordan Sigalet, as well as looking to other Euro leagues to bolster scoring, with former NHLer Ladislav Nagy fitting that bill (NHL Totals: 435GP, 115-196-311).

All in all the KHL has seemingly established a certain level of competition that, quite frankly, was not there last year.  I think it would be a great surprise to see any team, even at the peak of their playing ability, go on a run similar to Avangard’s 18-game winning streak last season.  With much of the deck shuffling from last year, it appears that it really could be anyone’s game… unless you’re Vityaz, Novuokuznetsk, Amur, or Avtomobilist.

“The Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway”

The Red Wings and Amway took their relationship to a new historic level Thursday when it was announced that the Ada, Michigan-based company will be a presenting sponsor of the Original Six club for at least the next three seasons.

The direct quote above, one taken right from the official website of one of the NHL’s most storied and high-class organizations, has had me in complete disarray today.  Next season, the Detroit Red Wings will no longer be that.  They will no longer be merely the Winged Wheel, the most successful Detroit sports team in the history of Michigan sports, they will instead be branded — bound by a contract — to an organization that has, by all accounts of those within the state of Michigan, has disgraced the state.

The new deal will see the Wings and Joe Louis arena plastered with the Amway logo, the implications of which have already been felt with just a few simple keystrokes and a visit to the aforementioned internet home of one of the classiest organizations in all of sports.  The Amway logo, clear as day, in the upper right hand corner of the splash image that introduces the website to all visitors.  The Amway logo, attached to one of the most recognizable symbols in the entire game, anchoring the Red Wings emblem.

 

A portion of the splash image from the Red Wings official website. The Amway logo has already made it's presence felt.

In an in-depth blog post over at Hockey Independent (It’s a long read, but worth your time), the entire framework of the contract is laid out along with some tongue-in-cheek analysis of the statement released by the Red Wings themselves.

Some of the better comments pertain to how the partnership is going to allegedly increase the fan experience at games, only to fail to mention a single way that it will do so aside from the placement of the Amway mark rink wide.  On top of that, the author of the post at Hockey Independent, Gordon, goes on to thank everyone for their support of himself and Justin Verlander in their 20-win season, a jab at Steve Lieberman, VP and Managing Director for Amway North America, who, in a roundabout way, linked the successes of Amway to those of the Red Wings.

Although sullying the name of the franchise and the sanctity of the Red Wings logo with that of Amway is an alarming act in and of itself, it can also be said that it breeds the fear that this could be the direction the league is going.

As a Winnipeg resident at the time of the Jets return mere months ago, it was ever apparent that one of the main hurdles that those in the city were worried about was the idea of corporate sponsorship.  Where would the money come from?  What would the impact be on the team?  Would there be enough money to make the team sustainable?

Now, with this deal and a few notable others this off-season, it is becoming apparent that the next stage for the National Hockey League and it’s thirty franchises is the integration of corporate sponsorship on not only a business level, but an on-ice and visual level.

There was great uproar last season when the Chicago Blackhawks pasted patches of Giordano’s pizza chain on the front of their jeresys, and again some words to be had about the Florida Panthers selling the naming rights to the ice surface inside the BankAtlantic Center.  That’s right, not the building itself, the ice.  The Florida Panthers sold naming rights to frozen water.  Thank you, Lexus.

For the North American sports fan, the idea of teams selling their jerseys for marketing space is so foreign and heavily opposed.  The comparison that is often drawn is that of the international game, where teams throughout Europe and Russia sell the branding rights to almost every inch of space on the jerseys.

The advertising on hockey jerseys outside of North America has reached an almost absurd level.

Admittedly it was before I had any cognitive recognition of what the playing surface looked like, but if you can recall so far, there was a time when on-ice ads were a laughable idea.  Above and beyond that?  A time when not only was the idea of selling advertising space on the surface seemingly impossible to fans, but space on the boards.

When we look at the game today, there is not a single spot on the boards not reserved for promotions of some sort; be it movies, television, restaurants, or local businesses, every space is taken.  The ice?  Four spots, all within the neutral zone, all taken up by the images of those who have bought the space and the right to have their brand be forced down your throat at the drop of every puck.

If this method of gaining profit continues, it can only be a matter of time before we see the first ad appear on the front of a professional jersey.  It is something no hockey fan wants to see, but it has to feel like the dawn of a new day is upon us — and I for one do not like the feeling of impending brand punishment that this new day is bringing with every passing season and every new money making scheme thought up.

While we as fans must all be aware that the ultimate goal of almost every owner, in the modern day especially, is to turn a profit and begin to see a return on their investment, we must also hope that they can find it in their green hearts to keep something sacred, leave this stone unturned, and save us from ruining the beauty of the hockey sweater streaking down the ice.  The blue and white of the Maple Leafs, the blood red of the Detroit Red Wings, the orange, blue, and white of the Oilers; these are colours fans — a family of puck crazy men and women — identity themselves with.

Let’s save ourselves from relinquishing our identity to that of Motorola and Google logos and the days of skating advertisements.

We can only hope this isn’t the direction that the game is going, but if it is, I’ve got some ice cubes in my freezer than BMW can have the naming rights to for a couple hundred dollars.

– JPDC

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The Season is Upon Us

Although I am certain my readership — now the two or three people who will see this link pop up via Twitter or Facebook and take the time to read it — has not suffered from an extended hiatus, I am glad to say that I have come back with some sort of defined dedication to continuing this blog now that the season’s grasp is about to take ahold of all those who call themselves hockey nerds.

With September, we begin to see the news of training camp rosters, last minute tryout contracts, and predictions for the year to come.

On Cycle Down Low, September means a bit more; along with NHL training camp beginning, it gives way to what is almost the beginning of the fourth Kontinental Hockey League campaign, and a season of great change it is sure to be.  Some of the league’s talent has shifted, some of the spending has risen and some fallen, and Vityaz, well, they are the same old Vityaz, goons and all.

While this post states the obvious — yes, the season really is right around the corner — it is also my statement that this blog is back, up and running, and going to be full steam ahead.  Let’s get into the corners and keep our elbows up.  Expect more soon.  As in, later today.

Free Agency 2011: The 5 Most Intriguing Goaltenders Available

While most teams have their goaltending set, there are a few where the position is in question; Colorado comes to mind, Washington has two young goaltenders who don’t seem quite ready to make the jump, and there’s a big question mark in Phoenix after the trade that saw Ilya Bryzgalov head to Philadelphia.

Ilya Bryzgalov was going to be the most sought after free agent goaltender, but Philadelphia secured his rights from Phoenix and signed him, taking him off of this list

Over the last few seasons, goaltending has become an interesting position in the way teams have addressed their situation.  In the past two or three seasons, there has been a culture shift towards the mid-priced, young player with high hopes that he’ll be able to get the job done, as opposed to overspending on that upper echelon player, like the money spent on Tim Thomas, Roberto Luongo, or the aforementioned Bryzgalov.

This year, coming off a playoffs that just saw the Vezina winning goaltender also hoist the Stanley Cup with a series victory over the Vezina runner-up, we could see that shift back.  Bryzgalov already started things off on the upper-end of the price scale, signing a nine year contract with the Flyers that will seem him get paid over $50 million throughout his tenure.  With a few other notables available, it could be an expensive year for a team looking for a starting goaltender.

Here is Cycle Down Low’s list of the Top 5 Most Intriguing Goaltenders:

Free Agency 2011: The 10 Most Intriguing Defensemen Available

Christian Ehrhoff is one of the brightest stars among the NHL Free Agents and could be looking to cash come July 1st

Yesterday, Cycle Down Low looked at who is available to help bolster your teams front lines in hopes of making a run at Lord Stanley’s Mug this upcoming season.  With the Free Agent market set to open on Friday at noon, there will be teams looking to solidify the backend of their rosters and fill the holes in their D-corps.

Unlike the forwards, the talent pool for defensemen is a bit deeper.  Most fans often want to see their team acquire a D-man who will give them immediate impact on the score sheet and completely overhaul their teams defense — a cornerstone defenseman.  This pool does offer some very good top pairing defesemen, but they will most likely get slotted in at the two-four spot on the teams depth chart.  Respectable for a player that you’ll merely have to throw money at, blindly, in hopes they turn out, right?  Right.

With that, let’s look at the ten most intriguing defensmen in the UFA pool:

Free Agency 2011: The 10 Most Intriguing Forwards Available

Pittsburgh fan favourite Maxime Talbot has most likely played his last game in a Penguins uniform, but where will he be next?

Throughout the middle of the week, Cycle Down Low will be taking a look at the pieces your favourite team may be after to bolster their line-up for the upcoming season.

While the Restricted Free Agent pool is home to some of the most amazing talent this year — Steven Stamkos comes to mind — the Unrestricted Free Agents have some players that could ultimately boom for the team of your choice.  Although 2011 seems to be a down year for free agents, which more often than not has a direct correlation to some of the potential pickups getting a vast overpayment, it does have several players that could have an impact.  While the cream of the crop is obvious, there are a few bottom-six players that could take a team from standing on the outside right into the thick of things.

Today Cycle Down Low looks at the Forwards who could bring the most to any club this year and put them one step closer to the Stanley Cup:

A Quick Word on the Upcoming NHL Free Agent Pool

On July 1st of 2010, free agent defenseman Sergei Gonchar inked a three-year deal worth $16-million.

July 1st, Canada day to those of us up North, is only four days away and while it signals another year as a Nation on this globe, it also signals another year of bargaining with professional hockey players and bolstering of the NHL lineups.

While last years free agent class was said to be lacking, there are even more who believe the upcoming year has even less to offer.  The offensive talent, aside from the few and far between which are upper echelon, will be relegated to third and fourth offensive lines and second-tier specials teams units.  Penalty-killing and faceoff-winning will be the strong suit of those that are picked up in and around the free agent frenzy, and as such it will be a wealth of depth talent that is most likely acquired.  While these cogs are important, they will not be the flashy moves that every fan base seeks to make on July 1st, nor will they be the ones that will be critically analyzed until the season begins.

Defensively, the possibility remains that there could be some unforeseen talent that lies beneath the surface of bottom three defensemen, but the truth of the matter is that most of the acquisitions will be of exactly that — bottom three defensemen.  While the talent pool may be increased by the chance that certain defensemen — Vancouver’s Christian Ehrhoff comes to mind — may not be re-signed before going to free agency remains, it can all change with a flick of the wrist and the inking of a deal.  The big name defensemen, one of which is already off the board with Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa re-upping for five years with the Canucks, will certainly find homes as soon as GM’s can get them to.

When it comes to between the pipes, the question is not what the free agent goaltenders will earn, but rather where one will land, that one being Tomas Vokoun.  Many teams currently sit a healthy ways away from the Salary Cap floor (just ask the Panthers… Oh hi, Mr. Campbell, didn’t see you there) and won’t be able to make it without an addition or two of the exorbitant financial calibre.  A deal to Vokoun, a goaltender who is certainly going to command a decent raise from the $5.7 million annual Cap-hit he was making ($6.3 million salary last year), will have to range in the $7 million dollar area, especially after the deal inked by Coyotes cast-off Ilya Bryzgalov that saw him become the highest paid goaltender when it comes to average salary.

Make no mistake, a big splash in this off-seasons free agent pool could be the move that puts a team over the top, but it will not be the move that takes a team from pretender to contender.  If you are a fan of a team that is on the outside looking in, you will need a strong showing from those already on the roster if your team is to make that Stanley Cup push.

That, or get those offer sheets ready.

 

- JC

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What Could Realignment Mean for the NHL?

Gary Bettman, along with the NHL's Board of Governors, have reportedly been talking about the possibility of realignment for the 2012-13 NHL season

Over the past week, and just days succeeding the NHL’s Board of Governor’s meetings, the story had broke from multiple sources that the NHL is looking at what would be a drastic realignment of their current divisional and conference format.  Many of the reports, including those from the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch and ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, have stated that the NHL is looking for a format that would separate the two conferences into four divisions.  On the heels of the Atlanta Thrashers move to Winnipeg, and the Jets subsequently taking on the role of the fifth team in the current format’s Southeast division, the current format has put the first-year team into a travel nightmare.

The current format, which features six divisions (Northwest, Pacific, Central, Northeast, Atlantic, Southeast) consisting of five teams and three of these divisions in each conference (East and West), is not without flaws and the NHL is very aware of this.  Situated in the Western Conference, both the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings are located within the eastern time zone thus playing the majority of their contests outside their natural zone.  On top of playing outside their natural zone, the Red Wings and Blue Jackets have to deal with the fact that televising their games and drawing viewers is made more difficult by having to broadcast the games outside of the ideal time — between 6:30 and 7:30 pm.  Additionally, they will play home games either half or a full hour later than teams within their own division.

Many had believed that realignment was going to be transpire because of the relocation of Atlanta.  It was thought Winnipeg would be shifted to the Western Conference with one team moving back to the Eastern Conference to even both Conferences at fifteen teams a side.  That said, there are very few who believed it would be taken to this extreme.

But what will the realignment do for the National Hockey League?

Florida Panthers do not Qualify Niclas Bergfors, two others

Late this afternoon, Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel (@hfialkov on Twitter) broke the news that the Florida Panthers and GM Dale Tallon had made the decision to not tender qualifying offers to Niclas Bergfors, Byron Bitz, or Steve Bernier.  The move, a surprising one for a Panthers team that is scratching and clawing to make their way to the salary cap floor, will leave the three players as unrestricted free agents heading into July 1st.

Niclas Bergfors (11) is rubbed out by Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (8)

Although the move, for Panthers fans, may seem the right one, it raises some questions about former first round draft pick Niclas Bergfors.

Bergfors, the 23rd selection of the 2005 NHL entry draft by the New Jersey Devils, was said to be one of the big bargaining chips that was needed from the Devils in order to complete the trade that saw Russian superstar Ilya Kovalchuk head to the Swamp.  In the trade that took place in February of 2010, the Devils shipped off Bergfors along with prospect Patrice Cormier, defenceman Johnny Oduya, and a first-round selection in the 2010 entry draft for Kovlachuk and young defenceman Anssi Salmela.

Should the Jets Fly Again?

It’s no small story that in the past week a group of businessmen under the title of True North Sports and Entertainment (TNSE) finalized their purchase of the Atlanta Thrashers from the Atlanta Spirit Group.  While the purchase was met with great jubilation in the city of Winnipeg and the buzz in Manitoba’s capital has been palpable, there has been an underlying question that has flown under the radar.

Mark Chipman was the focal point for the effort of True North Sports and Entertainment bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg. (Image: Canadian Press/Dave Lipnowski)

Winnipeg, which was once the host of the WHA and NHL Winnipeg Jets, had lost a team in 1996.  The story has been run over a thousand times since the purchase of the Thrashers and all that lead up to it, but a brief — and I mean brief — refresher is as follows: no sturdy ownership, struggling Canadian dollar, Richard Burke and Steve Gluckstern purchase the team, and Jerry Colangelo (the now former owner of the Phoenix Suns) convinces Burke and Gluckstern to agree to let the team move south to help fill out his building in Phoenix.

Just as the story of the Jets demise has been beaten into the ground, so has the tale of how the Phoenix Coyotes have turned from a new franchise with earning potential in a large market — the sixth largest television market in the US — to one of the most desolate buildings in the entire league.  The team, now under NHL ownership and sunk deep into a black hole of debt, is still struggling to find someone willing to take the ownership reigns and give the team some sturdy ground to stand on.  It was all but a certainty the team that had once left, the true Winnipeg Jets franchise, would be making its way back to the prairie hub which it had left fifteen years earlier.

Though, while to most it seemed the most logical of decisions, it was not to be.  The NHL, with the backing of the City of Glendale to cover up to $25 million in losses, kept the team in Phoenix, citing that it didn’t want to relocate any of its franchises at the time.  However, just a handful of days succeeding the decision not to relocate the fiscally drowning Phoenix franchise, news broke of the Atlanta Thrashers possible sale and lead to what would subsequently be the purchase by TNSE.

Now that the sale has been finalized and is just in a brief holding pattern as it waits for the approval of the NHL’s Board of Governors, the ticket drive, the aptly named “Drive To 13,” is underway with an astounding 7,158 season tickets already being purchased.  With TNSE knowing full well that the 13,000 season tickets will be purchased before the June 21st Board of Governors meeting and three weeks until the NHL Entry Draft, the question that has seemingly slipped the mind of many is whether or not the team will retake its original moniker — the Jets.

While many in the city of Winnipeg have, without a doubt, already believed it’s predestined that the team will be called the Jets, there are still a fair share of skeptics, many of which believe the root of the doubt can be sourced to the ownerships unwillingness to release the name.  In not releasing the name — at least not until the completion of the season ticket drive — it seems as though Mark Chipman et al are trying to let the excitement of landing a franchise drive season tickets sales before the agony of changing the chants of “Go Jets, Go!” to something unfamiliar to those who believed in the return of not only NHL hockey, but the return of the Jets — their Jets.

But are these those Jets?  Are they the Jets of Hull, Hedberg, Steen, Hawerchuk, Khabibulin, and Selanne?
Are they the Jets that won three Avco Cups, but nothing more than the ownership of the original “White Out” in the NHL?

To ask that would be to ask if the Minnesota Wild are the same team that left Minnesota and headed south to Dallas and became the Stars, or if the Thrashers of yesterday are the same team that left for Calgary and remained the Flames.

Jets great Teemu Selanne is a giant part of the history of hockey in Winnipeg, but should he be associated with a new franchise?

While neither city, Minnesota nor Atlanta, adopted the name of the past, they didn’t make a mistake.  This was a new beginning, a blank slate and a chance at a brand new legacy.  Though the respective choices of Minnesota and Atlanta made sense due to the similarity — and, in Atlanta’s case, exactness — of the names of those which had previously left, Winnipeg should look to distance itself from what once was.

The Jets, albeit a name and a team that was cherished and embraced with the most heartfelt sincerity, had an NHL legacy laced with failed expectations and a penchant for coming up short.  While the fans were raucous and the product on ice was always on the cusp of achieving something greater than its eventual fate, it was a team that often left fans with a want for more.

Winnipeg has been given an opportunity to build something new, almost from the ground up, with a franchise that is in its infancy in the grand scheme of things.  The core group of talent is there to make a city that once hung its collective hat on the legend of “The New Boss” sing a new tune; Evander Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, Tobias Enstrom, and Zach Bogosian are just a few of the burgeoning stars that could help Winnipeggers close the book on what was a storied franchise, but a history that belongs with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Among the litany of reasons for taking up a new team name is just that; the history of the Winnipeg Jets is one that is also the history of the Coyotes.  Are we to believe that the Coyotes’ current franchise milestones will all be reset?  Do Shane Doan’s games played count as those played for two different franchises?  Are Hull and Steen to have their jerseys removed from the rafters of Jobing.com Arena and re-raised back in Winnipeg?

It would seem unjust to wipe a team of its history, as if to brush aside the fact that part of the background of the Coyotes is not to include their relocation from Winnipeg.  In re-naming the new Winnipeg franchise, which is all we can really call it for the time being, we would be creating a disassociation of all things Jets from the Coyotes which would not only wash the Coyotes of their history, but leave everything Thrashers to be forgotten.  Forgive what may be taken as crassness in the following statement, but the sad and untimely death of Dan Snyder can’t be forgotten just because Winnipeg wants to relish in past glory.  His name and his number are part of the history of the franchise the people of Winnipeg and TNSE have inherited from Atlanta Spirit Group, the city of Atlanta, and — as laughable as some may make this out to be — the fans of Atlanta Thrashers hockey.

Winnipeg has a chance to revitalize itself, let go of the past, and take on a new face, a new name, and new hope.  They have a chance at true contention, something the former Jets never seemed poised to do.  While the uproar of those who are outspoken supporters of the Jets name will create quite a stir, the Jets are gone, they moved to Phoenix, and they left a hole in this city.  Mark Chipman filled Winnipeg’s hockey void with the Manitoba Moose, and the city embraced them as best they could.  This should be no different.

The Jets may be gone, they’ll certainly never be forgotten, but now it’s time to look to the future of what can be for Winnipeg’s NHL future.

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