WWW, The Blues And A Sobering Realization

There was a reference yesterday by Greg Wyshynski (aka Puck Daddy) of an Adrian Dater article from the Denver Post. The theme of Dater’s piece was the slipping attendance in Colorado and around the NHL could have something to do with the advent of HDTV. His premise is why spend a lot of dough to watch a game in person when the at home viewing has gotten so much better. 

It’s an interesting take on the attendance woes around the league. 

My view has been the ticket pricing is too lofty in most places. In a thriving economy people will spend freely but now many fans especially those with families can not afford to go to NHL games. 

The HDTV slant would make more sense if a hockey telecast was done with similar  standards of an NFL game. Most hockey arenas don’t utilize enough cameras and there is a vast difference in the production quality from location to location. High definition helps a lot but there is so much action away from the puck that is missed by the TV audience. 

A bad memory probably surfaced for those in Chicago which read Dater’s comments. They would have recalled past Blackhawk management’s adage of why give away what can be sold. 

Yesterday an image of Bill Wirtz flashed into my head. Mr. Wirtz had a smile from ear to ear and was telling everyone who would listen … 

….I told you all never disrespect the season ticket reservation holders…. 

Taking into account what happened over the years with the Blackhawks the recipe for disaster begins when a team’s season ticket sales began to drop. 

The corporate season ticket holders don’t disappear all at once. They go little by little and once they are gone they usually stay away for a long time. So if you start to notice the lower bowl seats being unoccupied in your local arena be on guard. When business folk can’t even give the seats away they eventually cancel. 

When that occurs the red ink really starts to flow. 

The turnaround here in such a short time is a rare exception.  

To go from 3,400 season ticket holders to close to 14,000 in one year is amazing. To accomplish that feat, as the Blackhawks did without even making the playoffs the previous season, is almost a miracle. 

Hawks and Blues 

The St. Louis Blues skate into town after claiming a hard fought victory over the Calgary Flames last night. The Blues have had a difficult season. They have played very poorly at home and most of their top forwards have had trouble scoring. 

According to comments form Blues analyst Daren Pang on  XM 204 yesterday, their penalty killing has been very strong and the goal keeping has been good for the most part. The St. Louis power play has been dismal and they have had sporadic efforts throughout. 

The Blues have scored 78 goals this year, one better than Carolina which has the lowest total in the NHL. 

Blues defenseman Erik Johnson, who missed all of last year, is off to a great start and is the team’s leading scorer. Johnson is fine young player but he probably shouldn’t be leading the team in scoring. 

In Pang’s opinion the next week or so is a crucial time for the Blues. They passed their first test last night and will most likely be a tough opponent for the Hawks this evening. 

The Blues are somewhat similar to the Flyers, both teams  have underachieved and can’t really blame it all on injuries. 

Philly is different though, as they have already fired their head coach so now the next shake up will be trading players. If the Blues don’t turn it around soon they will likely shuffle the deck too. It would be difficult to fire Andy Murray who was in the running for coach of the year last season but stranger things have happened. In any event that talk has been going around for awhile. 

Murray and Rick Tochett in Tampa appear to be on the hot seat. 

If one of them were to lose his job there is an assistant coach in San Jose who has a good track record with younger players. Firing the head coach is not always the answer as the Flyers seem to be finding out.  But what happens more often than not is the head coach goes before  players. 

Former Blackhawk head coach Trent Yawney deserves another kick at the can as he helped develop some of the Hawks young stars. Someday another franchise will realize he could make an excellent head coach. Yawney paid his dues in the AHL and deserves another crack at being an NHL head coach. He never really got a fair shot in Chicago. Yawney did have a short stint playing in St. Louis so maybe he would be considered there if a head coaching spot becomes available.

Joel Quenneville will continue to shuffle lines and also switch around power play personnel. He has a difficult task as not having a true second line center is a problem which won’t go away. Patrick Sharp has been doing a decent job at filling in at center but the Hawks offense is more potent when he plays at wing. 

Coach Q. also appears intent on finding another point man for the power play. 

He has been using Sharp there and at times Dustin Byfuglien instead of Brent Seabrook or another defenseman. Funny, but it appeared to me Seabrook was getting his shot through from the point as much as others but now he hasn’t had much power play ice time. Evidently there is a need for Q. to audition other point men….??? 

I expect Cristobal Huet to get the start tonight. 

He will need to defend his crease and have another top effort for the Hawks to defeat the Blues. The boys form St. Louis could be tired but they are in desperation  mode so they will be dangerous. 

Al’s Shots 

The Lightning did take some liberties with Hawk forwards the other night. So the question of acquiring a heavy weight enforcer naturally comes up. 

There is some sense to that thinking but… 

The Minnesota Wild must lead the NHL in concussions this season. Derek Boogard is still considered a bad dude.  Having a big tough bruiser on the roster might help prevent some cheap shots but so far it hasn’t helped the Wild to avoid serious head injuries. 

Right now with the inconsistencies demonstrated by officials and league hierarchy a team which doesn’t experience some concussions is just very lucky. 

On the trade rumor front not much has changed. 

Sharp is in demand and the Hawks are still shopping Barker but it is doubtful anything happens before Christmas. 

One fact should be realized,  although it is an unpleasant thought for many Blackhawk fans. 

It has been mentioned that the salary cap could increase around a million dollars for next year because of the strength of the Canadian dollar. Certainly not bad news for the Hawks but they still need to clear a bunch of cap space. 

There is no way this entire team can stay together next season. There will be significant changes. 

That would hold true even if Brian Campbell’s huge contract was traded. There is a lot of cap space which needs to be cleared before next season. Much more than Campbell’s seven million dollar cap hit is needed to go elsewhere. 

The chances of trading Campbell during this season are extremely unlikely. As much as Campbell is a whipping boy he does supply a lift to the offense. Without him the Hawks would have to change their style of play and there is no need for that to happen now.

Unless the team goes into a prolonged skid Stan Bowman has time on his side.

Bowman won’t rush to make the pot right because too much for this season is at stake. Until Dave Bolland’s injury comeback date is known,  Bowman may just wait things out. That is unless a trade offer can’t be past. 

Center Matt Stajan is playing well and Garnet Exelby finally had a strong game the other night. But Toronto has revitalized their playoff dreams so they could be cautious to change anything now. 

I have recently watched the Senators play a couple of times and there whole defensive corp looks slow.  Actually Cam Barker looks faster then most of the Ottawa dmen. Maybe that is why they are rumored to have an interest. 

There is no one currently playing for Carolina that seems to fit here. Ray Whitney does have an expiring contract but he isn’t a center and Joe Corvo is still out with an injury. 

If you want to look for team which will be trading someone soon I would look east. 

The Flyers have changed their coach and now some players will be moved unless they turn things around quickly. Their bomb last night versus Pittsburgh could mean changes are coming very soon. 

Braydon Coburn has an expiring contract but he won’t help the Hawks score more goals, but the Flyers big defenseman might keep a few more out of the net. 

blackhawkswin@comcast.net