The truth about hitting in the NHL
December 16, 2009 · 26 Comments
Rogers Sportsnet’s Doug MacLean made a revealing point on Hockey Central this week, one that is never raised by other TV hockey analysts, probably because they just didn’t know.
Amid all the hand-wringing concern about a crackdown on cheap shots — full chorus now — “taking the hitting out of the game,” MacLean, quoting NHL vice-president Colin Campbell, noted that there’s never been as much hitting in the NHL as there is today. It’s not even close.
Campbell and his staff viewed some 1970s footage after which they concluded they’re likely to see more hitting in one shift today than in a full game from the 1970s. You’d reach the same conclusion if you watched some film from the 1960s. Not a great deal of hitting. But, you know, the game was entertaining and people loved it.
That’s why it’s just hilarious to hear the NHL establishment fretting about what awful damage to hockey a ban on cheap shots or even fighting would do. The answer is it would do nothing to hurt the game. It would give the NHL some credibility.
It’s also worth stating that if a professional sport needs to condone, even encourage fighting and cheap shots to survive, it doesn’t deserve to survive.
Journalism at Fan590: Here’s another example of the broadcast journalism employed at the Toronto all-sports station where Nelson Millman is general manager. This six-minute infomercial disguised as an interview was with Saul Korman, the Toronto clothier who has been advertising on the station for years. The “questions” were from that crack team of Don Landry and Gord Stellick. Examples of the hard hitting queries:
Stellick: “What’s going on in men’s fashion right now?”
Landry: “How long have you been at this location, 569 Danforth?”
Stellick: “You drive a good bargain, whether you’re the consumer. You drive a good bargain as the seller . . . Nobody’s better connected.”
Yep. Riveting stuff.
Jim Kelley’s fight: We reported almost two months ago that John Shannon had replaced Jim Kelley as the semi-regular co-host of Bob McCown’s Fan590 afternoon drive. It’s worth pointing out that Kelley was not pushed out of his job. His departure was necessitated by illness. He has pancreatic cancer. It’s not terminal, but he’s in a fight. We wish him all the best.
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Oh yeah. Lets take hitting out of hockey. There was no hitting in the 80's and 90's was there? Oh wait. Wendel Clark. Brian Glennie. The Islanders. The Flyers. Scott Stevens. I wish guys like Houston would stick to talking about baseball and leave hockey to hockey fans. And by the way, check the TV ratings. Whats at the top? Gee, hockey. Case closed.
Been a while since you were heard. What happened to you? Had a little trouble crawling out of the rock you were hiding under?
What a cogent statistical analysis. Thanks Rick.
Saul was also on 640 am today with John Oakley. Guess he is making the rounds.
Bill
It is reprehensible that you would not only publish personal and private information regarding Jim Kelley, but not bother to even contact him about it.
If you had, you would have learned that Jim had compelling reasons for keeping it private, at the very least the specifics of his illness.
But I guess that would have required the use of those journalism ethics you, ahem, espouse.
Shame on you.
Patrick Grier
sportsnet.ca
Mr. Grier,
The news about Jim Kelley has been on street for some time now. Don't blame Bill Houston for "leaking" the information. You may want to look a lot closer to the Rogers Campus and start plugging the holes in the dike.
And for you to say "shame on you" is just the pot calling the kettle black. You career has been tabloid journalism with the Sun and now with Sportsnet. Both institutions have a low standard of ethics and journalistic integrity.
So Patrick, since when does the media care about personal reasons for keeping information private? Is this a courtesy extended only to media brethren?
As Kelley pointed out on Prime Time Sports last week, William, you are a slime bucket for publishing this without even calling Kelley first to see if it was okay to publish.
Even the dirtiest fo journalists will call their subject to give them a heads up first before publishing something so personal. Kelley reports the news, he isn't the news itself. Even if he were, this is a show of disrespect for anyone, let alone someone of Kelley's stature.
Shame on you William. I hope you will call Jim to apologize and publish it here.
unless you can confirm that the Nelson comment actually came from the person in question you might consider removing it. He might be (understandably) offended at having such a poorly worded and reasoned response falsely attributed to him.
The transfer of expert journalism from The fan 590 to Sportsnet shouldn't be a problem for Nelson Millman. Sportsnet already has the worst sports journalism on the airwaves. To move the weak 590 experience to the weaker Sportsnet should actually improve it from horrible to terrible. Can't watch this station it's so bad. I cancelled my subscription for all 4 feeds after the Kypreos Danton debacle. Not to mention they think watching Bob MaCowan talk on the radio is "good television" Who would actually pay for this stuff. .Journalism,oh my gawd give me a break! This place needs a revamp from top to bottom. No programming and no personality! just brutal!
Damn. I didn't know about Jim Kelley's illness. I wish him all the best as I've always enjoyed his views on hockey, as they were a nice change from the usual stuff most of the hockey writers in Canada spit out.
You can't really be serious about having a sponsor on a morning radio show before the holidays?
EVERYONE does this…as Mike K said.
You just sound sour William.
It's a good point made by MacLean – the game is far more physical now than it has ever been. In fact, all elements of the game have changed. It used to be that there were only a couple of shot blockers on a team. Today, if a player doesn't block shots, he is considered to be soft. Ditto on shooting – it used to be that a couple of guys on each team could really shoot the puck. Now ALL of them can rifle the puck. Goaltending has been revolutionized – if you watch some footage from the 70s, you will hardly believe it is the same position.
And, yes, the overall quality of play is far better. That goes right down through minor hockey also – I watch local Peewee and Bantam "A" sometimes, and these kids are all far better players than we were back in the day. They skate better, shoot better, and have infinitely better coaching. Anyone who longs for the hockey of "the good old days" isn't watching very closely , or isn't being very honest with themselves.
This six-minute infomercial disguised as an interview was with Saul Korman, the Toronto clothier who has been advertising on the station for years.
it's not anything disguised as anything else. it's an interview with an advertiser, which is a common practice this time of year.
most of your criticisms of the FAN's journalistic competence are on target. this one is not.
What's with the hatred of the Fan 590 and Nelson Millman in particular?
In fairness to Bill he is expressing his opinion about my alleged skills. This is the first time I have ever publicly responded to anything written about me. THE FAN 590 is all about opinion…that happens to be Bill's. I'm ok with it. As for Saul Korman's appearance, we do this every year. We program to men and men wear clothes. To give him 5 minutes out of the 168 hours in the week to talk about men's fashion isn't a big deal.
Not only that… The Fan is a talk station. The journalism station is on the other side of the floor. It's called 680 News.
Mr. Houston, I think you are carrying the criticism of the Fan590's journalistic standards too far. Your criticism of the McCown interview of Bitove is legitimate: the promotion of a business venture (Molson Canadian Hockey House) in the guise of a sports interview pertaining to the Vancouver Olympics was misleading. However, Saul Korman has no direct link to sports and they were giving time to a long-time advertiser who always comes at Christmas to drop off some goodies. There was no sports connection and therefore I can't imagine a listener thinking that they were hearing anything other than a friendly chat with an advertiser.
Roy, all due respect, but you're dating yourself just by mentioning "the trap."
It is a concern when guys gets a concussion from what some people see as a "hockey play." It suggests as good as the game is, the combination of the players' size and speed and the equipment has outpaced the size of the rink and ability to withstand such collisions. (This is why I feel 4-on-4 hockey is just a matter of time, not in 3 years, maybe in 20 or 30.)
As Mr. Houston says, there is a different mindset with body checking. Guys run at each other like football players, hitting to hurt (instead of hitting to cause a change in a flow or change of possession, like rugby players).
Shifts used to be much longer so players (who were smaller, slower and not as well conditioned) conserved energy to stay out for 2, 2 1/2 minutes. Equipment was primitive and there were no helmets. All of those elements have changed. The game is better off, but improvements are needed.
I am born in '68 and I have to say we have some of the most exciting hockey ever. Roy, thanks to cable we can see the good ol days and you know what? That game was slower, and less skilled than today. Yes there is more hitting, and fighting than then but also more creativity, and more speed, more power. A much better game than 10 years ago too. You should watch sometime, great game.
I wish all the best for Jim and his family.
Born in '42. I was like most Canadian kids and couldn't get enough of the NHL – I knew the names and numbers of every one of the 'original six'. It isn't just an oldtimer's memory that tells me it isn't anywhere near the same game today and nowhere near as entertaining. It's all about trap, plug up the offence and hit someone from behind. Too many big men playing on too many small surfaces. As much of as Leafs as I was, I always realized the value of the 'firewagon' hockey played by Les Canadiens was the key to the attraction of the NHL. Today, there's only a mild comparison with Ovechkin and Crosby. After a lifetime, I don't watch hockey anymore
Oh my God! I didn't know this. Best wishes to Jim Kelley–I always enjoy listening to him on Primetime.