Reviews Have To Be Better

I know the final score wouldn't have been less lopsided had the goal been counted, but I'm still baffled how Cole Perfetti's shot that ended up in the glove of Jordan Binnington wasn't ruled a goal. With the Jets trailing 3-0 and on the power-play midway through the second period, Perfetti's one-timer seemingly was saved by Binnington, but reviews showed that the puck may have crossed the goal line while inside Binnington's glove. The long delay upheld the no-goal call on the ice despite several angles seemingly showing Binnington's glove behind the post with the puck in the pocket of the glove. In the end, the no-goal call was upheld by the Situation Room in Toronto and the Jets and Blues resumed play with the 3-0 score in favour of the Blues intact.

Again, I'm not here to debate whether it was a goal or not. That debate can be had on another day, but I am here to discuss the lengthy process it takes for the NHL to determine whether or not the call on the ice was correct. It took the NHL more than four minutes to decide that there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the call on the ice, and that break seemingly took the life out of the building until the call was upheld. Why on earth did it take more than four minutes to make that call? What could possibly be discussed?

The NHL really needs to adopt what the KHL does for its review process. This makes so much more sense in how it's done.
As you can see in the clip above, the referees ask to see the various angles on the play so they make the final call on the play. The two referees work together to determine the correct call, the angles they use to make the call arevisible on the broadcast, and the discussion the two officials have allow you to understand what they're seeing and why they're making the call. Everything is transparent with respect to these decisions at the Spengler Cup. That's how the NHL should be doing reviews so everyone knows why the call was made.

The officials shouldn't just stand around while Toronto replay after replay back in the Situation Room. The two referees should be making the call as they see fit on the ice based on the video evidence available to them. All Toronto should be doing is sending the different angles to the monitors or iPads or whatever technology is made available to the officials for review. All interpretation and discussion about the call should be between the two referees on the ice.

If the process was more transparent, Jets fans may have heard why the officials denied the goal. I get that the reasoning would still be "there was not enough conclusive evidence to determine that the puck crossed the line", but at least there would be clear evidence as to which replays the referees were using and the discussion between them about the call. Why is this so hard for the NHL?

The Hubble Telescope is taking pictures of stellar events that are light years away. The Mars Rover is sending high-definition pictures back to NASA. We have developed the electron microscope and we can put cameras virtually anywhere on the planet. The one thing we can't do? Get a definitive answer or a clear picture on whether a puck crossed a goal line or not. It might be time for the NHL to fix that.

If they aren't willing to develop that technology, the least the NHL can do is make the review process more transparent because I still don't know how the Jets weren't awarded a goal when puck was inside Binnington's glove and behind the goal post. That seemed obvious, but I guess the only thing that I do know is there's enough conclusive evidence to prove that NHL video review is terrible.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode 657

The Hockey Show, Canada's only campus-produced radio show that strictly talks hockey, is back tonight with another busy show as the first week of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs is in the books, teams and leagues aren't slowing down with news, and many thing have happened. You'd think that the NHL would take a day or two off from generating headlines outside of the eight playoff series they're running, but the news came fast and furious this week as eliminated teams began clearing space for new bodies. Lots of people were sent packing which is the result of missing the playoffs, but some of these seemed either premature or completely unwarranted. In any case, our hosts will look at that tonight on The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT!

Tonight on the show, Teebz and Jason will chat about the circus known as the New York Rangers as Peter Laviolette was fired, Chris Drury was re-signed, and JT Miller hit the links. They'll also discuss the Seattle Kraken seeing Ron Francis move up, Jason Botterill move in, and Dan Bylsma move out. They'll talk about Lou Lamoriello not having his contract renewed on Long Island, Jim Rutherford making another mess in Vancouver, another team popping up in Vancouver, the court case surrounding the 2018 World Junior team began, and Team USA released the first 18 names of players heading to the IIHF World Championship in Denmark. Oh, and there were some hockey games played too! In short, it's a ridiculously-busy show so settle in and get ready to move fast 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, you have options! The new UMFM website's online streaming player works well if you want to listen online. We also recommend Radio Garden if you need an easy-to-use online stream. If you're more of an app person, we recommend you use the TuneIn app found on the App Store or Google Play Store. 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! And because both Teebz and Jason are on the butterfly app where things are less noisy, you can find Teebz here and Jason here on Bluesky!

Tonight, Teebz and Jason talk firings, more firings, hirings, making messes, getting bigger, keeping quiet, and much more exclusively on 101.5 UMFM and on the UMFM.com web stream!

PODCAST: April 24, 2025: Episode 657

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Competing Against No One

Congratulations to Vancouver who officially became the seventh city where a PWHL franchise will operate. Vancouver seems like a safe bet for the PWHL when it comes to expansion, and it allows them to potentially establish a more national identity if they honestly had a smart, well-structred expansion plan. But that's where this expansion celebration ends because it seems clear that the PWHL is expanding into Vancouver just to say they're a national brand rather than being contained mostly in the northeast corner of the continent. While I don't have a problem with the choice of Vancouver, I do have an issue with expansion in general in Year Three of the PWHL's existence when there are franchises who clearly are not self-sustainable. If they can't own those markets, expansion seems wholly irresponsible.

I have made it clear on this blog that at least two of the six current PWHL frnachises aren't pulling their weight when it comes to sustainability thanks to their lower attendance numbers than what seems ideal. Expanding into the market that showed up for one game also shouldn't be a game-changer for the PWHL without significant market research. The catch here is that the PWHL has time to ramp up both efforts since they are competing against no one.

This isn't anything against Vancouver who showed up with incredible numbers during their Takeover Tour stop. 19038 people came out to see the PWHL play their one game at Rogers Arena, and now they'll move into the PNE Coliseum where the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Blazers, and Vancouver Giants all played in their histories. It currently seats 16,281 people for hockey, and the PWHL will be its primary tenant once the City of Vancouver and the Pacific National Exhibition board approve all the upgrades they've promised to make.

Assuming that all goes well, the Rink on Renfrew will see hockey action for potentially 15 games next season as the PWHL moves in and works to establish a footprint in the city. For as encouraging as it is to see the PWHL bringing U11 teams out to announce the expansion, the great Vancouver area has a multitude of women's hockey teams that don't receive the support that the PWHL is targeting. That's not to say that they won't hit 5000 fans per game, but women's hockey being supported in and around Vancouver doesn't have a long and storied history with the local teams.

The NWHL's Vancouver Griffins were the first professional women's team in the modern era to play in Vancouver, and they boasted players like Nancy Drolet, Cammi Granato, and Shelley Looney on their roster between 2000 and 2003. Former UBC Thunderbirds star Courtney Unrah got her start there as a 15 year-old, and Norwegian scoring sensation Julia Berg was part of the team in their inaugural year. In short, they had some star power, but costs eventually did the Griffins in as attendance numbers were often "friends and family".

The UBC Thunderbirds, the Delta Hockey Academy, and the North Shore Warriors all play in front of sparse crowds all season long. When you consider the success that UBC has had over the last five seasons including sending one player to the PWHL, you'd think they'd get more fans in 2024-25 than 224 people per regular-season game and 240 people per playoff game, yet that number hasn't changed significantly since 2019. In fact, it went down after 2017-18 when it reached its average high of 304 fans per game. Not good numbers.

People will say, "Yeah, but these are the best players in the world so it will be different," so I challenge any casual fan to name two players on the Minnesota Frost not named Taylor Heise or Kendall Coyne Schofield. That's not to say that the Frost won't be a draw in Vancouver when they visit, but star power is what brings the fans out to the rink. Getting 5000 fans to pour into the PNE Coliseum on a Tuesday night when you don't care about the second team makes selling that game a lot harder. With weekends being eaten up with girls' hockey of all ages, PWHL Vancouver is falling into the same trap that the other six teams face: marketing the team and league better.

Cary Kaplan, the president of Cosmos Sports & Entertainment, told CBC News about the CWHL's collapse in 2019,

"There is no obligation for an eight-year-old girl or an eight-year-old boy or a 40-year-old man or woman to go to a hockey game. The responsibility is on the team and the organization, and they haven't invested in themselves," Kaplan says. "I think the good news is it's not about women's sports or women's hockey. It's about the wrong business model."

Show me where the PWHL business model is different than the CWHL business model outside of Mark Walter's immense wealth because I can't see it. Kaplan told CBC that "every successful league in North America is built on a franchise model where corporations or individuals own teams. He says teams need ownership groups that are committed to women's hockey and are willing to maybe lose some money," and yet we now have a seventh team owned by Walter. Again, show me the differences between these two leagues.

What I'm getting at is that the PWHL is now juggling seven balls at once with no focus on any of them. Selling professional women's hockey was never the problem, but marketing it properly has been the downfall of the original NWHL, the WWHL, the CWHL, the PHF, and it's now bleeding into the PWHL. Kaplan's comments from 2019 stand as a stark reminder of why the CWHL fell and why the PWHL seems to be working itself into another unsustainable business model.

"People look for things to do on a Friday or Saturday, but if you don't know there's a women's hockey game you're not going to go. And then once you go what's the effort on the league side to make sure it's an amazing event?" Kaplan says. "You can say it, 'But it's great hockey.' That's not enough."

He's entirely right. When the Winnipeg Jets were lamenting season ticket numbers falling last season, they spoke to their market and heard that the games weren't fun. The hockey was awesome, but there wasn't enough fun stuff to see and do at games for people to justify spending NHL money to see the Jets when the games could seen on TV. Why would fans spend money for a poor experience?

The Jets invested a pile of money and effort into making the game experience that much better, and fans began to return to games this season. Hockey is a form of entertainment, so people have to enjoy their time at the game for them to re-invest in that entertainment. This is what the PWHL keeps missing: while the hockey is excellent on most nights, the experience simply isn't there for casual fans.

No one can juggle seven balls and focus on each one exclusively. Or, in the PWHL's case, juggle seven teams and focus on the individual markets for each of the teams. At some point, the PWHL needs to realize that they're making all the same mistakes they made before, and it's costing Mark Walter money as they rush to expand into cities without owning their current markets first. Start selling the franchise rights to these seven teams so the teams can focus on their local markets and sponsors while the league focuses on league business.

Again, it's hard to take this league seriously when PWHL's executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer tells reporters, "We want to build a long-term sustainable league, and part of that is having more than six teams based on a region. We need to be past [being] a regional league."

The problem with that statement is you're always going to be a regional league if the marketing is centralized and not market-specific. Five of your six franchises play in the same timezone, there's nothing west or south of St. Paul, Minnesota until Vancouver makes its debut, none of the Takeover Tour games were remotely close to me and a handful of other major centers, and the marketing for all games was abysmal at best. Local reporters did a good job talking to players from those Takeover Tour cities to try and build hype, but the PWHL seemingly did as little as they could to build excitement in those cities. That's New York-based marketing, I guess.

Congratulations to Vancouver on getting a PWHL franchise as that city seems like they're ready for the opportuity, but it honestly wouldn't have mattered if this expansion opportunity had gone to Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Los Angeles, or Calgary. With the PWHL owning the franchise and not being immersed in the seventh market they operate a franchise, the marketing for this team will be mediocre at best. I wish that wasn't the case, but the league will rely on fans and local media to build the hype for this new team.

Assuming there's an eighth team coming this summer, the PWHL would be wise to get out of its own way by selling the franchise rights to the eighth team to a local investor. This would allow the league to build a little capital so it can explore how to divest itself of the other seven franchises in order to make the league run much more smoothly. They can make the claim that they're looking out for the best interest of professional women's hockey, but the first two years seem to be indicating otherwise with the same steps taken as before.

Expansion should be exciting in most tales, but this one might be cautionary if Vancouver is being brought into the PWHL in an effort to boost revenues for the league to offset losses experienced in current markets. Obviously, I don't have any access to the league's books or accounting, but I think it's safe to say that both the Sirens and Fleet may be operating in the red as opposed to the black. If the league is expanding to minimize losses, expanding is a mistake.

This league needs to figure out what it wants to be: a professional league with franchisees who operate with far more knowledge and skill within their local markets or a glorified community center league who pays all the bills while trying to generate enough revenue to cover those costs. Right now, it's the latter on a much more macro scale which only makes the problems bigger when they arise. That's why trying to add revenue via two new expansion teams to cover losses doesn't make sense - the losses still exist, and there's certainly potential for further losses if those expansion franchises start slowly.

The PWHL had a blueprint they could have followed as the NHL owned the "Original Six" markets they played in from 1942 until 1967. Time allowed them to stablize the franchise, market the stars, and build a fanbase in those six cities as the individual franchises marketed players and games in their own unique ways. Like the NHL during that era, there is no competition for the PWHL in this era. They are the only professional league on the map in North America, yet they're rushing expansion to justify some weird perception of being a national league rather than a regional league.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the PWHL is competing with someone. It's not competing for talent or markets or fans, but it's competing against itself because it continues to make the same mistakes that the CWHL has made previously. Having some of the same people in charge of the PWHL who ran the CWHL into the ground means that there aren't new ideas for how to make it work better, so, for better or worse, the PWHL will either figure this out soon or potentially face disaster if Mark Walter decides to stop funding the league.

As stated above, the best thing this league can do for its own longevity and success is to get out of its own way.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Best Russian In The Game?

Officially, I am proposing that the helmet to the left becomes the new logo for the Vegas Golden Knights if they show up in Game Three with the same effort they showed tonight. I can't recall a playoff game in recent memory where the Vegas Golden Knights have had the game taken to them in T-Mobile Arena like the Minnesota Wild did tonight. Outside of a handful of chances early, the Wild legitimately disarmed and dismantled the Golden Knights from the nine-minute mark through to the end of the first period. When the carnage finally stopped for an intermission, the score was 3-0 for the Wild and the Vegas fans were silent and stunned as Minnesota erased any "sweep" talk in showing they could skate with Vegas!

I don't know what it will cost Minnesota to keep Kirill Kaprizov in Minneapolis/St. Paul, but an eight-figure average annual value on the next contract seems appropriate considering how he's raised his game in the first two games of this series. Tonight was another masterclass in Kaprizov showing he distributes the puck, but consider the following highlight from Game One. This pass is ridiculous.
Kaprizov spots Matt Boldy on the left side and changes his slapshot into a slap-pass while his stick is in the air, setting up Boldy for the Wild goal. That kind of vision and skill where he can make a perfect tape-to-tape pass after winding up for a slapshot is why Kaprizov will get big money on his next contract with whatever team can afford it.

Fast-forward to tonight, and Kaprizov and Boldy deliver again with Kaprizov saucering a pass that may be illegal in several countries.
That pass went virtually went from the Minnesota blue line to the Vegas blue line without even a wobble, and Boldy picked it up as it landed flat against his blade. That kind of pass is only made as perfect as it was by a handful of people in the world, and it got the Wild started on this night as they went up 1-0 on Boldy's goal.

"That might have been the best pass I've ever seen," Boldy told reporters after the game. "Like, I didn't have to do much. He's a special player, obviously. You see all the plays he makes, how hard he works, but for him to have the poise and to make that pass right on my tape, it was unbelievable."

I'm taking nothing away from the likes of Artemi Panarin and Nikita Kucherov who have their own bag of tricks when it comes to scoring, and they score often enough that players have to be aware of them when they're on the ice. The difference is those two Russian players play in more offensive systems than what Minnesota employs, and yet Kaprizov has hit the 40-goal plateau three times in four seasons. He had 96 points last season when no other player on the Wild hit 70 points. It seems clear that Kaprizov is an offensive talent.

What people seem to forget is that Kirill Kaprizov was the fifth fastest active player to reach 300 points, reaching that mark faster than both Nathan MacKinnon and Leon Draisaitl. He was the Calder Trophy winner in 2020-21 when he entered the league at age 23, and all he's done since that time is spill ink on scoresheets. Staying healthy has been a challenge for Kaprizov, but if this is what he looks like when he's playing at 100%, every team should be on notice.

As Minnesota comes home for Game Three, he should see some better matchups away from Vegas's more defensively-minded players. That could allow him to improve on his five points in a big way, but it should be noted that Kaprizov also has seven blocked shots through the opening two games of the series. If anyone thinks he's just floating near a blue line or avoiding the defensive side of the game, the Wild would disagree wholeheartedly. As it stands after tonight's game, Kaprizov is tops among all NHL forwards when it comes to blocked shots, and he trails leader Devon Toews by three.

It's not out of the question to say that the Wild will go as far as Kirill Kaprizov takes them, but I'm sure they'd proclaim that it's a team-first mentality in the locker room. Regardless of what is said, Kaprizov is making statements on the ice with his skill as shown in the highlights above, and it's hard not to be impressed with how good he's been on both sides of the puck. No one is saying he's in line for the Conn Smythe Trophy at this point by any means, but he's starting to make a case if the Wild can get that far in these playoffs.

Is he the best Russian-born player in the game right now? It's hard to argue against that assertion, but it's clear that he'd be in the conversation. With magic hands like he's shown in the first two games of this series, Las Vegas may want to ban him from casinos because he's heloing the Minnesota Wild beat the odds in this series!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Game Two Thoughts

I'm not saying that St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer poked the bear by remaining on the ice to prevent Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele from being the last player off the ice in warm-up, but when Scheifele barked at Hofer to get off the ice you had to wonder if that fired up Scheifele. Neither player will admit to this being a factor in the Jets' 2-1 victory over St. Louis tonight, but Scheifele scored and had an assist while playing gritty and hard-nosed all game. The edge he showed made him effective every time he was on the ice, and the thought of Hofer annoying Scheifele in warm-up suddenly seemed like it could have been a catalyst to Scheifele's performance tonight. In any case, Winnipeg is up 2-0 in the series.

I get that tonight's game may have been the best game of the season by a large margin for Logan Stanley, but we need to temper the enthusiasm for Stanley's physical presence. Yes, he was very good at picking his spots tonight, but it was one game. Did Logan Stanley earn a shot to play in Game Three? Absolutely. But let's tone down the building of statues for #64 until tonight's play becomes more regular. One game does not make him a Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

Stanley's play was definitely part of the larger effort shown by the Jets defenders who had an outstanding game. I liked Josh Morrissey's spicy play where he was good offensively, threw a few big hits, and showed great defensive responsibility. Dylan DeMelo and Dylan Samberg were their usual steady selves, keeping the Blues to the outside and limiting chances. Neal Pionk had a strong game as he was jumping into plays and into passing lanes to break up plays, and Luke Schenn was a mountain of a man for the Blues to get around, climb over, or make their way past. That was solid Winnipeg defence.

There seems to be a lot of chatter on social media about Connor Hellebuyck's game and how he hasn't looked sharp in the first two games, and I'd like to say that those opinions are wrong. Has he stolen a game from the Blues at this point? No, but he hasn't had to yet either. Yes, his .897 save percentage is 28 points lower than what he posted in the regular season, but you know that Hellebuyck will see that number and immediately want to improve upon it. Giving him motivation to be better won't be an issue. He'll find it.

The stars have been very good for Winnipeg as well. Scheifele, Connor, Perfetti, and Lowry have done some excellent work in generating chances and putting pucks on net. Iafallo, Niederreiter, Tanev, Barron, and Anderson-Dolan have been the nose-to-the-grindstone, "Charlie Hustle" players that the Jets have been adding who can play 200-foot games, add some physicality, and contribute a little offence. Vladislav Namestnikov has shown the ability to stick-handle in a phone booth, but I'm waiting for that offensive flair of his to appear. He and David Gustafsson have had their chances at the offensive end, but neither has been able to dent twine yet.

The one player who has concerned me up front is Mason Appleton as he looks lost on some shifts. I know that he was supposed to be doing what Brandon Tanev is currently doing on that line - hard forechecks, physical play, and causing chaos - but he has not looked comfortable since Nino Niederreiter was moved to the second line and Tanev was bumped up to the third line. He did give a puck away tonight that forced him to make a great recovery to prevent a goal, but something is off with Appleton's game right now.

While the Jets' power-play numbers are decent and certainly can be improved, it's the penalty-killing that needed some focus. It did bounce back with a good effort tonight, but a 57.1% efficiency is nowhere close to where the Jets want or expect to be. There were some positives seen as the Jets killed three of four penalties in this game, but this is one area where the Jets needs to shut down the Blues. Giving up power-play goals in a tightly-checked series is how the Blues can find their way back into the series.

The difference, if one takes away the empty-net goal in Game One, is one goal in each of the games. Winnipeg will tell everyone they don't mind winning those one-goal games as that's their type of hockey, but opening up a two- or three-goal lead at times would be nice. St. Louis hasn't looked out of any game, though, and a bounce here or a deflection there could have them tied 1-1 heading home.

The series will shift to the Gateway to the West on Thursday as St. Louis looks to continue their winning ways at home. The Blues boast a 24-14-3 regular-season home record, including 12 consecutive victories as the Enterprise Center has been unfriendly to visiting teams. Both sides will tell you that no one worries in the playoffs until they lose a home game, but Winnipeg will look to take a stranglehold with a third-straight win in this series after winning both games in St. Louis in the regular season this year.

St. Louis may be singing the blues if this series continues in Missouri in the same way that it played out in the Manitoba capital. The Jets have looked solid in opening up a two-game lead, but it seems clear that both sides know that this series is far from being over.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!