I've had a problem watching the Detroit Red Wings this year: that the local broadcast by Fox Sports Detroit has become completely awful.
The past few years I've subscribed to hockey packages that allowed me to watch any team's broadcast and learned the various nuances of many teams' local broadcasts. So I feel like I have some idea of what makes a local hockey broadcast good, average, or mediocre.
This year I didn't subscribe to any of those packages or subscribe to the cable package that provides the NHL Network and thus am relying on NBC Sports and Fox Sports Detroit for my NHL hockey. And as far as Fox Sports Detroit is concerned, it hasn't been anything worth watching. In fact, I've put the games on mute several times.
Here are some of the problems off the top of my head:
The Intermissions
The panel of Johnny Kane, Darren Elliot, Manny Legace, sometimes Chris Osgood, and even once Dave Coulier has not been very good. Local intermission talk is often mediocre for local broadcasts, so I can manage that even if this intermission panel has been pretty low bar. Plus the intermission is a time for productivity anyway.
However, Fox Sports Detroit has been doing live look ins of their intermission this year. They literally turn on the cameras on the host and commentators/analysts as they talk about what to talk about next or are just having a random conversation. Maybe it was funny and quirky the first time. But it seems to happen twice each intermission, and is awful. I'd honestly rather watch a commercial.
Plus/Minus
I've been a hockey fan since the 90's. Even then, broadcasters regularly talked about how plus/minus wasn't that great of a statistic as it can be completely random due to luck and being such a small sample size. Two decades later it's absolutely irrelevant apart from fantasy hockey leagues that still use it and that you can find it on the NHL's website, where you can find just about any statistic. There are many better stats that do what plus/minus was supposed to do such as Shot Attempt Differential (a,k.a. Corsi or Fenwick). Nobody talks about plus/minus anymore.
Nobody except for the Red Wings, that is. Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond discuss it multiple times every game, usually when talking about how great of a player Dylan Larkin is. There are so many other and better stats to tell us that Dylan Larkin is a special player. It's ridiculous.
It should be noted that this isn't just Fox Sports Detroit here though. The beat writers that cover the Red Wings also use plus/minus as if it were still a relevant statistic. But that's another story.
Ken Daniels Doesn't Fact Check
There were two instances in the December 5th game against Nashville where Ken Daniels stated something as a fact, when it in fact was not true.
The first was when discussing Nashville forward Cody Hodgson. Daniels said something along the lines that Hodgson was bought out by Buffalo because he didn't want to play there anymore. That's simply not how/why buyouts happen. Players get bought out because the team decides they would rather pay the player and suffer a cap hit for the player to not play for them than have the player in their lineup.
The second was when talking about the rookie scoring race. Daniels repeatedly stated that Larkin was second in rookie scoring, while Arizona's Max Domi was first. This completely ignores the fact that both players are behind Chicago's Artemi Panarin. Maybe he meant goal scoring, but then he forgot to mention that New York's Oscar Lindberg was at the time tied with both players. You can find this information right on the NHL's site.
Mickey Redmond Talking about Fighting
Look, this is a bit of heated topic right now. But the facts are that fighting is diminishing in the NHL largely due to the fact that we now know some of the very serious dangers of repeated head trauma.
The other day though Mickey Redmond got excited over a fight between Brendan Smith and Arizona's Kyle Chipchura. Redmond's an old-time guy and he likes fighting. Okay. But then he showed a fight between Bob Probert and Tie Domi, asking rhetorically multiple times, "Isn't that good stuff?"
You can find the comments beginning at the 3:59 mark of this YouTube video uploaded by awood40.
The problem isn't that Mickey (and Ken Daniels) got excited about the fight. The problem is Mickey suggesting that Bob Probert's fight was good stuff.
Bob Probert died of heart failure at the age of 45 in 2010. He drank heavily (not sure if it was ever diagnosed alchocolism) and used cocaine. His brain was donated to science after his death, and it was discovered that he suffered from CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma. It's unknown how much of Probert's problems were due to the disease, but easy to speculate. You can read more about it here.
The bottom line is that it's not a happy story at all, and looking at some of the things that led to the tragic ending and cheering about them seems distasteful at best and repulsive to me.
The Bottom Line
The Detroit Red Wings have been a fascinating team to watch this year.
For the first time in ten years, they have a new head coach who is quite young but brings with him an impressive track record. They have a teenage rookie who looks like a star. They still have one of the most exciting players ever to play the game in Pavel Datsyuk. Detroit still calls itself HockeyTown. They have a lot of young and exciting players breaking into the league or developing into go-to guys. They struggled to begin the year, but have been dominant recently.
I think that as an organization, they should want as many eyes watching their product as possible. Having at least an average local broadcast would go a long way to helping with that.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
2015/2016 NHL Season Prediction: Central Division
Here are my predictions for the placement in the Central Division, which I consider the best division in the game:
1) Minnesota Wild
I really think this could be the year Minnesota puts it all together. They have been a decent team the past two years, and with Dubnyk and the continued development of young players like Granlund, Coyle, Brodin, and Dumba; I think this will be the best team during the regular season. They have four lines that can score, and three defensive pairings that are quite good. This team will surprise a lot of people.
2) St. Louis Blues
St. Louis should be the best team in their division, but then they went and traded T.J. Oshie for a worse player in Troy Brouwer. They also brought back head coach Ken Hitchcock for only a year, which isn't much a vote of confidence. This team will be good, but I think they will suffer a bit from the lack of direction.
3) Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago has shown they don't run away with the division ever, but are close to unstoppable in the playoffs. I think once again they'll find themselves without home ice advantage, but comfortably in the playoffs.
They do have a lot of distractions with the Patrick Kane mess and waiving Bryan Bickell, but this team is just too good to perform lower than this.
4) Dallas Stars
A lot of people are really high on Dallas, and they will be a really fun team to watch. Their goaltending and defense should be better and I think they'll be a wild card team, but don't see them being a top three team in the division.
5) Nashville Predators
Nashville has a legitimate star goaltender, the best defense in the league, and a good group of forwards. However, they are weak at center with Mike Ribeiro and Mike Fisher as the top two pivots. I think that will end up hurting them.
And on a personal level, I can't believe they brought back Mike Ribeiro. With the Patrick Kane mess, this got overlooked but is almost as ugly.
6) Colorado Avalanche
I don't like what I've seen from Patrick Roy as an NHL head coach, and honestly it's more likely that Colorado finishes last in the division. But this team just has so much young, high-end talent that I can't see them being last.
7) Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a good team, and were a playoff team last year. They should be better as a team this year. However, the play in the toughest division and their goalies over-performed last year. This is a team with bad goaltending unless they find room for their AHL starter. And having one weakness in the Central Division could ruin a team.
1) Minnesota Wild
I really think this could be the year Minnesota puts it all together. They have been a decent team the past two years, and with Dubnyk and the continued development of young players like Granlund, Coyle, Brodin, and Dumba; I think this will be the best team during the regular season. They have four lines that can score, and three defensive pairings that are quite good. This team will surprise a lot of people.
2) St. Louis Blues
St. Louis should be the best team in their division, but then they went and traded T.J. Oshie for a worse player in Troy Brouwer. They also brought back head coach Ken Hitchcock for only a year, which isn't much a vote of confidence. This team will be good, but I think they will suffer a bit from the lack of direction.
3) Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago has shown they don't run away with the division ever, but are close to unstoppable in the playoffs. I think once again they'll find themselves without home ice advantage, but comfortably in the playoffs.
They do have a lot of distractions with the Patrick Kane mess and waiving Bryan Bickell, but this team is just too good to perform lower than this.
4) Dallas Stars
A lot of people are really high on Dallas, and they will be a really fun team to watch. Their goaltending and defense should be better and I think they'll be a wild card team, but don't see them being a top three team in the division.
5) Nashville Predators
Nashville has a legitimate star goaltender, the best defense in the league, and a good group of forwards. However, they are weak at center with Mike Ribeiro and Mike Fisher as the top two pivots. I think that will end up hurting them.
And on a personal level, I can't believe they brought back Mike Ribeiro. With the Patrick Kane mess, this got overlooked but is almost as ugly.
6) Colorado Avalanche
I don't like what I've seen from Patrick Roy as an NHL head coach, and honestly it's more likely that Colorado finishes last in the division. But this team just has so much young, high-end talent that I can't see them being last.
7) Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a good team, and were a playoff team last year. They should be better as a team this year. However, the play in the toughest division and their goalies over-performed last year. This is a team with bad goaltending unless they find room for their AHL starter. And having one weakness in the Central Division could ruin a team.
Monday, October 5, 2015
2015/2016 NHL Season Predictions: Atlantic Division
I'll be posting a prediction for each division this week, if only because it's fun to look back on. I'm going to do the divisions alphabetically, so it'll be: Atlantic, Central, Metropolitan, Pacific. So, without further ado, here are my Atlantic Division predictions:
1) Tampa Bay Lightning
It was no accident that Tampa Bay went to the Stanley Cup Finals. This is a team that dominated possession throughout the year and has bona fide superstars in their prime in the likes of Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. While the line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, and Ondrej Palat likely can't repeat their success; this team should only be better with Jonathan Drouin making an impact.
2) Detroit Red Wings
I feel like a lot of people don't realize that Detroit was a legitimately good team last year, warts and all. There's no reason to expect them to be anything but better this year. Jimmy Howard looks like he's back to form after struggling after an injury last year, and Petr Mrazek still looks like he could steal the starting job. The additions of Mike Green and Brad Richards both should help, while Tomas Tatar was one of the most under-the-radar dominant players last year. This should be a good team.
3) Montreal Canadiens
I really like Montreal's roster, especially after they acquired Jeff Petry at the trade deadline last year. And Carey Price could turn any team into a playoff contender. The problem for me with Montreal is that their head coach Michel Therrien has a track record of actively making his teams worse. He has his teams play as if they consisted entirely of third line grinders. It's no coincidence that Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup after firing him. Still, Montreal is too talented to slip into a wild card slot.
4) Florida Panthers
Things get interesting here. Florida was great after acquiring Jaromir Jagr, and in theory their young stars (Huberdeau, Barkov, Ekblad, Bjugstad) should just be better. Still, this won't be a high scoring team and the defense after the first pairing isn't overly inspiring. They'll battle for a wild card spot.
5) Boston Bruins
It's hard to see Boston missing the playoffs a second straight year when they still have Tuukka Rask and Patrice Bergeron in their primes. But their defense is an adventure at best. Chara is no longer the player he was, and after that you've got... Torey Krug? An injured and well past his prime Dennis Seidenberg? The forward group should be good, and I could easily see this team being better than Florida and getting a wild card spot. But I just can't put them there with that defense.
6) Ottawa Senators
Ottawa has a solid goaltender in Craig Anderson, a solid and young forward group, and a superstar defenseman. Still, I don't see this team making the playoffs again this year. They remind me of the Islanders two years ago when they missed the playoffs in between two years where they made it. Also, their defense is very suspect after Erik Karlsson.
7) Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres should be really fun to watch this year, and will likely score quite a bit. But the jury is out on their starting goaltender Robin Lehner, and their defense like other teams mentioned is very suspect.
8) Toronto Maple Leafs
Mike Babcock said this year is going to be painful, and there's really no way around that. This team more or less replaced Phil Kessel with a bunch of veterans trying to prove they still belong in the league. It'll be a long year in Toronto as they continue to rebuild.
1) Tampa Bay Lightning
It was no accident that Tampa Bay went to the Stanley Cup Finals. This is a team that dominated possession throughout the year and has bona fide superstars in their prime in the likes of Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. While the line of Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, and Ondrej Palat likely can't repeat their success; this team should only be better with Jonathan Drouin making an impact.
2) Detroit Red Wings
I feel like a lot of people don't realize that Detroit was a legitimately good team last year, warts and all. There's no reason to expect them to be anything but better this year. Jimmy Howard looks like he's back to form after struggling after an injury last year, and Petr Mrazek still looks like he could steal the starting job. The additions of Mike Green and Brad Richards both should help, while Tomas Tatar was one of the most under-the-radar dominant players last year. This should be a good team.
3) Montreal Canadiens
I really like Montreal's roster, especially after they acquired Jeff Petry at the trade deadline last year. And Carey Price could turn any team into a playoff contender. The problem for me with Montreal is that their head coach Michel Therrien has a track record of actively making his teams worse. He has his teams play as if they consisted entirely of third line grinders. It's no coincidence that Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup after firing him. Still, Montreal is too talented to slip into a wild card slot.
4) Florida Panthers
Things get interesting here. Florida was great after acquiring Jaromir Jagr, and in theory their young stars (Huberdeau, Barkov, Ekblad, Bjugstad) should just be better. Still, this won't be a high scoring team and the defense after the first pairing isn't overly inspiring. They'll battle for a wild card spot.
5) Boston Bruins
It's hard to see Boston missing the playoffs a second straight year when they still have Tuukka Rask and Patrice Bergeron in their primes. But their defense is an adventure at best. Chara is no longer the player he was, and after that you've got... Torey Krug? An injured and well past his prime Dennis Seidenberg? The forward group should be good, and I could easily see this team being better than Florida and getting a wild card spot. But I just can't put them there with that defense.
6) Ottawa Senators
Ottawa has a solid goaltender in Craig Anderson, a solid and young forward group, and a superstar defenseman. Still, I don't see this team making the playoffs again this year. They remind me of the Islanders two years ago when they missed the playoffs in between two years where they made it. Also, their defense is very suspect after Erik Karlsson.
7) Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres should be really fun to watch this year, and will likely score quite a bit. But the jury is out on their starting goaltender Robin Lehner, and their defense like other teams mentioned is very suspect.
8) Toronto Maple Leafs
Mike Babcock said this year is going to be painful, and there's really no way around that. This team more or less replaced Phil Kessel with a bunch of veterans trying to prove they still belong in the league. It'll be a long year in Toronto as they continue to rebuild.
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