Please, I Beg You, Stop

I want to start this article by saying I have nothing against the people of Raleigh, the city of Raleigh, or the support shown for the game played tonight between the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes outdoors on the yardlines of Carter-Finley Stadium. It seems like everyone showed up early to take part in some tailgating, they were well-behaved throughout the day, and they cheered loudly for their team when they took the ice in their garish black uniforms. The fans in Raleigh are proving that North Carolina is hockey country, and that speaks volumes about the work done by the Hurricanes in North Carolina to grow the game. Maybe Raleigh deserved a Winter Classic?

Regardless, the 2023 Stadium Series game between Washington and Carolina looked like the image above, and we really need to stop having these games for a couple of reasons. The first - and perhaps, most obvious - reason is that more outdoor games makes the Winter Classic less special since it seems there are teams playing outdoors at all points in the season, and we need to look at this seriously. The second is due to the horrific jerseys these teams wear, and I will not apologize for this stance despite me likely able to write a hundred paragraphs on the subject.

We'll focus on frequency, though, and I'm not sure why the NHL has devalued their own product so much. The Winter Classic was THE EVENT every year that hockey fans had to watch. The first one in Buffalo in 2008 that featured the Penguins and Sabres was exceptional in its delivery with the snow falling, the teams playing to a 1-1 tie through regulation, and was capped off by a Sidney Crosby shootout goal when he was still the NHL's most marketable star. The annual event has been to many places since, but I'm not sure any of them have captured the same aura that surrounded that game.

There have been 13 Winter Classic games since that first one in Buffalo, and we've seen all sorts of historic venues host the games - Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Michigan Stadium, and Notre Dame Stadium as examples - but too often the same teams have appeared in these games or they've returned to a city that has already hosted the game once. The repeated teams and locations hasn't helped sell the game any further, but it was still fairly unique in that there were no other outdoor games on the schedule. Until 2014, that is.

Since the first Stadium Series game took place in 2014, there have 12 Stadium Series games played! As you can see, cramming 26 outdoor games into 15 years - and that includes the lockout and pandemic years - is a good way to take the shine off the marquee annual event that was created for January 1 by the NHL. And to make matters worse, a lot of the Stadium Series games feature teams that have already played in a Winter Classic!

While I'm sure that tonight's Stadium Series game was special for the people of Raleigh, but I'm done with outdoor games for a while. There's zero mystique left when it comes to playing outdoors, and the players often look like clowns with their ridiculous uniforms. Can it be saved? I will grant that the outdoor game at Lake Tahoe in 2021 is something of which I'd like to see the NHL do more because it feels like old-time hockey with kids skating on a pond, but the only way to save the outdoor games at major stadiums is if the NHL follows the advice contained within three words: less is more.

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Washington Capitals by a 4-1 score tonight, so the hometown fans went home very happy from their first NHL outdoor game in their state. Carolina moved to 1-0-0 in outdoor games while Washington falls to 3-1-0 after the loss tonight. It looked like a good time for all who were in attendance, but this writer feels that we need less outdoor games to have more interest in them. With 2024's Winter Classic already having been announced with the Vegas Golden Knights visiting the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Park, we'll see what Seattle can do to try and salvage an event that feels like it's quickly losing steam.

Less is more when it comes to making outdoor games into can't-miss events. Otherwise, they just become another game on the schedule.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The O'Reilly Factor?

I don't think many people will fault Kyle Dubas for his latest attempt at tweaking the Toronto Maple Leafs so they have all the right tools for the postseason. Over the years, he's made deals for big names, he's added grit with role players, he's overhauled the blue line a number of times, and the goaltending carousel has seen puck-stoppers of all varieties stand in the blue paint. If Dubas thinks a player will help a team, he's not afraid to throw caution to the wind to make a deal that he feels will improve the club despite the club's finish every season being short of the goal he promised. Today's trade, while impressive in its details, could finally push Toronto to heights not seen since 1967, but it's hard to overlook his more glaring needs.

Using a three-team setup in order to make the salary acquisition work, the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari, and the rights to Saskatoon Blades forward Josh Pillar from St. Louis in exchange for Toronto's first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, the Ottawa Senators' third-round pick this year, Toronto's second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette. In order to make the salary cap requirements fit, the Blues will retain 50% of O'Reilly's salary while the Leafs dealt their fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to the Wild for thw Wild to absorb 25% of O'Reilly's salary as well.

This deal, which sees O'Reilly come to Toronto on an expiring contract, goes completely against what Dubas said one week earlier. When asked about making a deal that involved first-round picks or blue-chip prospects, Dubas replied, "In regards to rentals, I can't see that happening. But with regards to other options, I don't think you say no off the hop to anything, but those are very important pieces to us, now and in the future."

After making this deal, the Leafs now have no first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, no second-round picks for the next three years of drafts, and a conditional third-round pick in 2023 that could be plucked away by Arizona as part of the deal that sent Nick Ritchie to Arizona. So exactly how important are those draft picks if Dubas continually makes deals that involve them?

On paper and on the ice, this deal does make Toronto better. O'Reilly is a heart-and-soul kind of guy who does all the little things right when it comes to winning games. He finds offensive spots for scoring chances, he's defensively responsible, he goes to the hgih-traffic areas, he can play on special teams, and he's a key faceoff guy. He'll leave everything on the ice for the Leafs when it comes to getting maximum effort, and that the kind of player who can will a team to victory if everyone follows his lead.

Acciari makes the bottom-six guys in Toronto better as well as he can check, skate, and has shown the ability to score. I'm not certain what role he'll be asked to fill for the Leafs at this point, but his versatility should give the Leafs some flexibility when it comes to deployment. He did score 20 goals in 2019-20 with the Florida Panthers and he has ten goals already this season, so he'll give the Leafs some punch where they haven't seen a lot this season.

Where this deal doesn't make a lot of season is from the blue line back to the net for the Leafs. No one is ever going to accuse the Leafs of not being able to score, and they current sit tied for seventh-overall in total goals-for and are eighth-overall for goals-for per game. Defensively, the Leafs have also shown some ability as they've allowed the sixth-fewest goals-against this season and are tied for fourth-overall for goals-against per game. Perhaps I was wrong in that they don't need help in the defensive zone?

I'll admit it's hard to see those numbers when one considers that there isn't a big-minute, puck-moving defenceman in Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, Mark Giordano, and Timothy Liljegren, nor is there a shutdown-type guy in any of those four names either. As we all know, playoff hockey changes from regular season hockey, so it will be interesting to see how Sheldon Keefe deploys these guys in the playoffs against Kucherov, Point, Stamkos, and Hedman.

With Matt Murray going on LTIR today as well, the Leafs appear to be shutting him down until the playoffs roll around, meaning they're pinning their hopes on a revigorated Ilya Samsonov and some spot duty by Joseph Woll at the moment. No one will fault Samsonov's regular season numbers this season as he's 19-6-2 with a 2.31 GAA and a .918 save percentage, but one has to wonder if this is 2020-21 Samsonov where he was 13-4-1 with Washington on the strength of a 2.69 GAA and a .902 save percentage before Boston beat him in three overtime games in the playoffs.

One could make the case that Murray is the Leafs' starter come the playoffs, but that too seems foolish based on Murray's career statistics against Tampa Bay where he sports a 4-4-2 record, a 3.01 GAA, and an .895 save percentage. In contrast, Samsonov is 2-0-0 against the Lightning in his career with a 2.52 GAA and a .911 save percentage. Comparatively, Andrei Vasilevskiy is 14-9-2 against Toronto with a 2.50 GAA and a .922 save percentage. If the playoffs are about defence and goaltending, the Lightning - Toronto's virtually-assured first-round opponent - win that comparison easily.

With Murray being Dubas' guy, though, I don't expect the Leafs to make a deal for a netminder prior to the trade deadline, so they'll be staring down the likes of Tampa Bay and Boston with Murray and Samsonov as their top tandem. Defensively, Dubas could make a few more moves if he chooses, but finding a top-line defender or an NHL-calibre shutdown guy that has term without trading more picks will likely be difficult. One can make the argument that they'll be fine with their current defensive zone personnel - that could be true - but Dubas has never shied away from making a deal that he thinks will improve his team.

That's what makes this deal with St. Louis so puzzling - he paid a heavy price to get O'Reilly when it's been shown time and again that scoring in the playoffs has never been an issue for the Leafs. He likely could have made a deal for a solid playoff defender - Ryan McDonagh in Nashville? John Klingberg in Anaheim? - that would have been less newsworthy, but, if the biggest headline a teams makes is at the trade deadline, it's hard to justify giving up the assets that Toronto did in acquiring O'Reilly and Acciari.

I can't claim that Toronto didn't get better today. They certainly did, and the late evening trade was unexpected based on what Dubas had said earlier in the month. O'Reilly has shown that he can be a leader in helping the Blues win the Stanley Cup, and the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner certainly performs in the playoffs. Toronto will be a harder out in these playoffs with the addition of O'Reilly.

One has to wonder, though, if that "out" will again be in the opening round of the playoffs. While there's still time to do something, not addressing the elephant in the room once again may eventually be what ends up getting Dubas fired if his team fails to advance out of the Atlantic Division in the playoffs.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 543

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight on the UMFM airwaves with all the news, information, and discussion to bring everyone up to date on what's happening in hockey across the planet! There's also going to be a fun exercise, proposed by Jason, where Teebz and Jason give their opinions on a specific topic, and this one should be fun as it will reveal some biases towards specific teams. Tonight's episode will be informative, educational, and entertaining, so make sure you join us at 530pm CT!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason dig into the surprising collapse of Bally Sports' regional coverage of sports that affects 42 MLB, NBA, and NHL teams and how it will affect coverage of hockey in the US, they discuss the Winnipeg Ice still needing a permanent home, the Moose Jaw Warriors suspending four players while in a playoff race, Turkey making a hockey decision, the IIHF releasing the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship schedule, the return of defender Ian White to professional hockey, the Carolina Hurricanes and NHL supporting hockey in South Carolina, and we'll have some fun as Teebz and Jason throw themselves into the NHL trade deadline madness by discuss their ten-team no-trade clauses! The last part should be a good laugh as Teebz and Jason explain for which teams they wouldn't want to play, but you can catch all the chatter tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT on one of 101.5 FM, Channel 718 on MTS TV, or via UMFM.com!

If you live outside Winnipeg and want to listen, we have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player is pretty awesome if you want to listen online. If you're using an Apple device, the player doesn't seem to like Safari yet, so if you want to stream the show I'd recommend Radio Garden to do that as it works nicely with Safari. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. If you do use the TuneIn app, you won't be disappointed. It's a solid app.

If you have questions, you can email all show queries and comments to hockeyshow@umfm.com! Tweet me anytime with questions you may have by hitting me up at @TeebzHBIC on Twitter! I'm here to listen to you, so make your voice heard!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason chat about failing networks, unfulfilled promises, harsh lessons, tough decisions, who plays when, who plays where, a feel-good story, teams our hosts don't want to be on, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: February 16, 2023: Episode 543

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Need An Igloo

Having spent some time around Wayne Fleming Arena alongside the second tenant in the building, I can tell you that the WHL's Winnipeg Ice run a fairly well-oiled machine. Head coach James Patrick runs a tight ship on the ice and on his bench, Manager of Broadcast and Communications Brian Munz has a solid handle on everything going on with the Ice alongside veteran broadcaster Kevin Olszewski, and General Manager Matt Cockell and owner Greg Fettes have built a nearly-unbeatable team. Everything seems to be going well for the WHL's most eastern franchise, but there's one detail that everyone keeps asking about: when are they building their rink?

That question was posed again today by Winnipeg Sun writer Paul Friesen who made the claim that the WHL team "could be on last legs in Winnipeg" thanks to its inability to even break ground on a WHL-suitable arena. As it stands, the Ice remain a permanent resident at the University of Manitoba facility for the foreseeable future, assuming that the team remains in Winnipeg.

There has been a deal in place when the team moved from Cranbrook to Winnipeg to build the facility alongside The Rink Training Facility in south Winnipeg, but a falling out between The Rink ownership and 50 Below Sports and Entertainment led to the agreement evaporating for the time being. Beyond that location, there has been speculation on various message boards and forums about where this new arena could be built, but nothing seems even close to being in the works when it comes to the Ice building their new permanent facility.

As Friesen wrote in his article today, "The league approved the team's move from Cranbrook on the condition Fettes and Cockell break ground on a new building within three years," and it's very apparent that the Ice haven't checked that off their to-do list. There had been a Winnipeg Free Press report written by Mike Sawatzky that the WHL had fined the Winnipeg Ice a considerable amount of money for failing to make good on that promise, and Friesen reported today that "a source confirms the WHL has already fined the franchise half a million dollars for failing to come through on that front". Both times this fine was mentioned, the WHL denied it had taken that action.

Where there's smoke, there's fire? We'll see, I guess.

As 50 Below regrouped following the split with The Rink, the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the planet which caused supply chain issues, postponement of games, and the cancellation of seasons. As Sawatzky wrote in his Winnipeg Free Press on November 26, 2021, "Fettes and Cockell have not commented publicly on how they plan to proceed, but WHL commissioner Ron Robison hinted Wednesday that building a new facility remains a priority."

If one were looking at comparable facilities for 50 Below's new venture, the closest options that they should consider would be either Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon or the Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières. Both arenas are a bowl shape with a concourse around the top, and both would fit the mold of WHL arenas in terms of smaller arena designs.

Merlis Belsher Place's blueprints would need to be expanded from its 2700-seat design to a WHL-standard 4000 seats, but the Colisée Vidéotron seats 4390 fans in its current design. Again, both would be suitable with some modifications if 50 Below needed an arena to copy. The cost of Merlis Belsher Place came in around $51 million while the Colisée Vidéotron came in at $60.6 million, so there's your price tag for what an arena cost prior to the COVID pandemic and the resulting supply chain shortages.

And that leads back to the question of where would they build the arena? With no land secured and time running out as per their promises made to the WHL that was part of the reason the team was approved to move, it seems as though the WHL in Winnipeg is facing another pivotal decision. While the improvements to Wayne Fleming Arena have been required in order to make things more palatable for WHL broadcasts and games, the fact that the attendance standard isn't being met and the revenue generation is likely far less than what 50 Below wants might drive the answer to emerge sooner than later.

We were introduced to the phrase "If you build it, he will come" in Field of Dreams, but it appears that 50 Below has the opposite problem. The fans are showing up for games, specifically on the weekends at Wayne Fleming Arena, but the facility simply isn't suitable for WHL action. The WHL is expecting a new arena to be built and the fans heard the promise made, but without a shovel in the ground the franchise is no closer to a new home than when Greg Fettes made the announcement of the Ice relocating to Winnipeg on January 29, 2019.

With WHL governors meeting this week, the situation in Winnipeg has become a hot topic among the 22 team executives and league executives. The league put their trust in Fettes and Cockell when they took over the Kootenay Ice, and they did so again when they promised to move the failing franchise to a new location that would feature a shiny, new arena. With promises gone unfulfilled, the league has a right to demand answers, but I'm not so sure that 50 Below Sports and Entertainment will have answers.

Despite all their on-ice success, there are cracks in the Winnipeg Ice now showing when it comes to their arena problem. If faith in the ownership group is melting among the league's executives, one has to wonder how much longer their patience will last when it comes to this arena problem. With rumours confirmed by Friesen's article today of "the franchise potentially relocating yet again," there should be real concern about the long-term vitality of the Ice in Winnipeg without that new rink.

If nothing else, perhaps Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell should listen to the voice from Field of Dreams and "go the distance" when it comes to getting an arena built in Winnipeg.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

A Valentine's Day Gift

Make no mistake that I care not for the Roman feast known as Lupercalia that took place from February 13-15. Reportedly, Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on February 14 during this feast over the course of his reign that may have led to the martyrdom thanks to the Catholic Church. Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticized the day in their works, and handmade paper cards were the gift of choice during the Middle Ages - something on which Hallmark has since capitalized. Today, though, saw a beautiful gift delivered by Apple TV+ as the return of one of TV's most popular shows was officially announced.

If you haven't seen any episodes of Ted Lasso, now would be the best time to start watching the first two seasons of the iconic Apple-NBC collaboration about the quirky, off-beat soccer coach played by Jason Sudeikis. You can't just jump into this series without knowing about Ted Lasso for whom the series is named, Coach Beard, Nathan Shelly, Leslie Higgins, Jamie Tartt, Roy Kent, Dani Rojas, Rebecca Welton, Sam Obisanya, or Keeley Jones. These characters breathe so much life into the series that one has to start at the beginning to take it all in and experience the growth these characters show on the screen!

The third and final season of the series will officially start on March 15 as per Apple's announcement today, and it seems AFC Richmond is poised for all sorts of drama and comedy based on the teaser released today that should have fans believing in Ted once more.
For those asking, Sudeikis already confirmed at the 2021 Emmy Awards that Season Three will be told over the course of twelve episodes. All of the main characters will be returning for Season Three, and fan favorites Dr. Sarah Fieldstone and Trent Crimm, formerly of the publication "The Independent", would be returning with larger roles in the third season as well. In short, any and all loose ends sound like they'll be tied off quite nicely by the writing team of Bill Lawrence, Sudeikis, and Brendan Hunt.

Sudeikis, it seems, is quite content with the three seasons to which all have committed, but didn't close the door on possibly extending the life of Ted Lasso beyond the final episode of the third season.

"The story that's being told, that three-season arc is one that I see, know, and understood," the former SNL player explained to Entertainment Weekly in June 2021. "I'm glad that they are willing to pay for those three seasons. As far as what happens after that, who knows? I don't know."

It should be noted that there will be two major cast additions as For All Mankind actress Jodi Balfour will portray a character named "Jack" who is described as a "charming venture capitalist," and Girls' Becky Ann Baker will portray Ted's mom during this third season. It should also be noted that the Apple TV+ series secured the rights to be able to show and use the names and logos of real English Premier League teams this season, so expect to see and hear more references to real teams against whom AFC Richmond will take the pitch. Those additions to the sitcom will be front and center in Season Three.

Putting it all together means I am beyong excited for the return of Ted Lasso to my television screen, and whatever plans anyone had for me on March 15 can be cancelled right now. I have enjoyed this series since its debut, and the warmth, honesty, and fantastic storytelling contained within the episodes has made this "must-watch" TV for me. I don't geek out on television shows very often, but I'll re-arrange my schedule to squeeze in an episode of Ted Lasso.

As much as this is a hockey blog that should have a hockey story occupying this space, an announcement regarding a new season of Ted Lasso is something for which I'll gladly bump a hockey story. The new season starts on March 15, and I'll be anxiously awaiting that day for the next month. When people talk of the greatest television shows ever - Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Seinfeld, and all the others - Ted Lasso has certainly earned its place among those shows in this writer's opinion.

When it comes to Valentine's Day, I don't get excited for the observance. It's an over-commercialized day for selling candy, chocolate, and cards, and one should be showing their loved ones the same effort given today on every day. However, an announcement for a new season of Ted Lasso on this day is a Valentine's Day gift I will wholeheartedly support no matter what. Ted Lasso is, in my opinion, that good.

Until next time, "go out like Willie Nelson — on a high!"