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January 28, 2000
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
An official dilemma
There are a number of hot buttons in the NHL these days, but none hotter than the quality of officiating. Just ask NHL executive vice-president Colin Campbell. He’s the one who gets the late-night phone calls from irate NHL GMs–and the number and intensity of those calls have been on the rise. Campbell’s challenge is to determine how much of the GMs’ venting is standard bluster-there have been officiating gripes as long as there have been officials–and how much is a legitimate reflection of a serious shortcoming that requires the NHL’s immediate attention. As a league employee, Campbell isn’t about say NHL officiating stinks. But as a former NHL coach and old-time hockey man, he isn’t about to say all is well, either. “We have a lot of really excellent officials, guys like Bill…
The more Ronning gives, the more Nashville needs
Veteran Cliff Ronning has done a little of everything for the Predators this season and he's going to be asked to do even more in the second half. The 34-year-old was the leading voice in his move to wing earlier this season so rookie David Legwand could center the line. But because Legwand broke his left foot in the 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting Vancouver Canucks Jan. 13, Ronning will likely move back to the middle for at least a month. The line, with Legwand between Ronning and Patric Kjellberg, had been the most effective grouping for Nashville this season. Through mid-January, the three had accounted for more than a third (37) of the Predators’ 104 goals. Ronning flourished on the wing with 17 goals in 41 games. He was on pace…
ESPN provides glimpse of things to come on TV
ESPN stood for the Education and Sports Programming Network one night in January and the NHL is the better for it. No matter how jarring some found the ESPN2 telecast that came complete with subtitles, the Chicago-Colorado game Jan. 9 was a hint of things to come in television and a generation removed from that awful glowing puck foisted upon us by Fox. Seldom before has such basic information been presented–the first graphics of substance detailed what a forward line is and where each man stands on the ice–and that offended some members of the hockey intelligentsia. Why? Primarily because what it is thought to say about NHL penetration of the U.S. market. That is, huge segments of the American audience have remarkably little grasp of hockey and that circumstance can…
Ducks desperately hoping power play will take off
The power play continues to be an albatross around the Mighty Ducks’ necks. The NHL’s most productive man-advantage unit last season has been one of the league’s worst this year. Through their first 43 games, Anaheim had just 17 power play goals. Only the New York Islanders, with 16, had fewer. “If you don’t have a good power play or at least an average power play, you’re not going to win many games,” said Ducks’ captain Paul Kariya. After averaging a power play goal a game last season-83 in 82 games–the drop-off has been dramatic for the Ducks’ offense. Anaheim has devoted practices to the power play and has tried to revive it with personnel adjustments. First-year defenseman Niclas Havelid has seen time at the point-with Kariya-on the top unit and forwards Jim McKenzie…
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