Apparently, there has been quite a controversy around a song produced by a Calgary Sports Radio Station, the Fan 960. The song, called “GOAL”, is a parody of the song “Lola”, performed by the Kinks, and was written the day after the Oilers were beat 10-2 (worst home loss in Oilers History) by the Buffalo Sabres on January 26, 2009.

I found it quite humourous how upset some fans were when they heard it. NHL Message boards and forums lit up with Oiler fans commenting on how “classless” this was. I am not sure where these so-called “fans” have been for the past 25 years, but in case they’ve been living in a bubble, might I remind them of the rivalry that exists between these 2 teams. Seriously. Get over it.

From a biased Flames fan perspective, I found this to be tremendously amusing.

For your listening enjoyment!

(Compliments of Fan 960)

So I’ve given you some time to think about your ideal NHL without clouding your thoughts with my own. Now it’s time to let you know how I think it should be. Let’s go!

Player safety

The NHL has been crowing a lot lately about how they will make decisions that are in the best interest of protecting their players. I’m going to call them on this one, simply because there is still an insistence on keeping touch icing.

Ask Marco Sturm or Kurtis Foster what they think of touch icing. We’ve seen Iginla and Regehr both have scary falls into the boards as a result of this rule as well. Broken legs and sprained ankles are easy to shrug off as a result of a fast and physical game, but it’s only a matter of time before we see a more serious head or neck injury as a result of this rule. The NHL is the only hockey I ever see that maintains this rule (although I realize there are still others); if the IIHF and the CHL can manage with no-touch icing, why is the NHL so adamant on keeping this rule?

With regard to player safety, I would also:

• grandfather mandatory visors into the league
• adopt the OHL’s helmet rule for fighting
• crack-down on players not tightening their chinstraps (if you can fit more than two fingers between your chin and the strap, it isn’t tight enough)

Gameplay

I’m of the belief that the NHL has improved immensely under the new standard of officiating that has been enforced since the lock-out. I think this could be further improved upon by increasing the size of the rink to the International standard. We’ve got an extra referee on the ice now, and bigger, faster players than we used to have. Opening up more space for them to move around out there would make the game more free-flowing, and, in my opinion, more exciting. Opening up that extra space makes it that much more difficult to successfully employ a stymying defensive strategy.

On that note, I’d also like to see more 4-on-4. I’m not a real lover of the shoot-out anyways, so why not play a longer overtime at 4-on-4? Especially on a larger ice surface, I doubt we’d see many games go beyond 10 minutes of overtime anyways. I’d even like to see 4-on-4 overtime adopted for playoff games.

Standings

I’ve made my thoughts on this one known here before: I hate 3-point games! Every game should have the same impact on the standings. That’s why I would endorse a 3-point regulation win and only 2 points for an overtime/shootout win, while the loser still earns a single point. It doesn’t make sense to me that all wins are created equal while all losses are not.

Uniforms

Don’t let the Canucks design their own uniforms anymore. Seriously, they’ve subjected us to enough already.

The Draft

This is the selfish WHL fan in me talking, but bump the draft to 19 year olds. Let the kids play another year in junior hockey. For the most part, I think we’ll see better developed players, and less guesswork for the scouts and GMs on draft day.

Playoffs

Let’s go back to playing out of your division in the playoffs. Remember the 80’s where the Flames were always playing the Oilers, Kings, and Canucks in the playoffs? That’s how real rivalries are built. There’d need to be a bit of divisional re-alignment to facilitate that, or perhaps some type of wild card system like the NFL uses, but I think the fans would appreciate those match-ups, and it would inject that much more excitement into the post-season.

The Schedule

Hack it down to 70 games. Each game means a little bit more, and we can finish the playoffs before the CFL season starts.

Salaries

My economics classes tell me there’s nothing wrong with NHL salaries, since they are what the market will bear; however, I love Bob McCown’s suggestion that rather than earning a dollar value salary, each player earns a percentage of his team’s salary. Teams would then be rewarded financially for each win, thereby increasing each player’s pay incrementally over a reasonable base salary. Check out McCown’s Law for the full description of how this system would work.

This is my great fantasy. I doubt we’ll ever see any of it happen, but if we do, I’ll be happy to take credit for it.

This is an interesting article about the Flames and their intentions on Curtis McElhinney.
(Steve Macfarlane, Calgary Sun)

Your thoughts?

NHL Trade Deadline: March 4, 2009.

With that said, what would you try and accomplish on or before the NHL Trade Deadline? What would you like to see happen?

Some numbers to consider:

Calgary Cap Space remaining for 2008-2009: $2.65 million (Keep in mind that the number crunchers are forecasting a Team Salary Cap of around $52 million for 2009-2010; The 2008-2009 Salary Cap is approx. $57 million)

Expiring Contracts for 2008-2009:
Forwards:
- Michael Cammalleri ($3.35 million; UFA)
- Todd Bertuzzi ($1.95 million; UFA)
- David Moss ($550,000; UFA)
- Andre Roy ($550,000; UFA)
- Marcus Nilson ($1 million; UFA)
- Jamie Lundmark ($660,000; UFA)
Defence:
- Adrian Aucoin ($4 million; UFA)
- Adam Pardy ($500,000; RFA)
- Anders Eriksson ($1.5 million; UFA)
- Rhett Warrener ($2.35 million; Injury Retirement)
Goalie(s):
- Curtis McElhinney ($500,000; RFA)

I’d like to see the team replace Curtis McElhinney… nothing personal, but I’d like to see a veteran goalie who can win games, that’s all… (How about another former Keenan goalie in Ed Belfour? Okay, maybe not… Calling Roman Turek?!) With Adam Pardy deserving of a decent wage hike to around $800,000/yr, I’d say let Aucoin walk and use the savings along with Eriksson and Nilson to pay the raises of Moss, Cammalleri and Bertuzzi… The Flames will have the same defence core with Vandermeer replacing Aucoin and they have good prospects that can fill in the needed forward positions.

For full Salary information, you can go to this link below.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=CGY

Always a pleasure.

I’ve said it before that the Flames need to upgrade this part of the team. I can’t fathom any other reason besides financially that Curtis McElhinney is still serving as the number 2 Goalie in Calgary. The team spent $500,000 last year for Curtis Joseph and got quality backup goaltending with 3 wins in 9 appearances… This year, McElhinney is still trying to get win No.1 as an NHL goalie and looked overly mediocre in his 6-2 loss to the Avalanche.

Just some stats to consider…
Philippe Sauve & Brian Boucher 2005-2006 (11GP 4W-5L, 4.11GAA, .873Sv%)
Jamie McLennan 2006-2007 (9GP 3W-5L-1OTL, 3.60GAA, .895Sv%)
Curtis Joseph 2007-2008 (9GP 3W-2L, 2.55GAA, .906Sv%)
Curtis McElhinney 2008-2009 (5GP 0W-2L-1OTL, 3.70GAA, .892Sv%)

My main argument over replacing McElhinney is simple… winning games. He hasn’t. The games he has started this season so far include Columbus (L, 3-1); Detroit (OTL, 4-3) and Colorado (L, 6-2). The previous backups didn’t have the stellar numbers you would want but at least they won games. I don’t know too much about Sauve and Boucher but watching “Noodles” McLennan in interviews and what not, he was considered by many in the Flames dressing room as a ‘glue’ guy, someone like Conroy who keeps everyone together… Cujo came in with a wealth of experience that garnered the respect of the dressing room but I haven’t read too much as to what McElhinney brings besides trying not to let his butt get numb during games while Mikka the workhorse goes about playing close to every game.

In all fairness, he doesn’t play a lot but neither did the other guys working behind Mikka. The Vancouver Canucks made a play for Jason LaBarera and have now sinced waived Curtis Sanford (sent to Manitoba in the AHL). The Penguins and Oilers swapped backups in Garon and Sabourin. Can the Flames make a splash for a proven winning backup? The Toronto Maple Leafs had a gem in Scott Clemensen (in the AHL last year with the Marlies) but let him leave via free agency and he’s carried the New Jersey Devils to 17 wins in 28GP…

How would McElhinney fare given the chance with the Flames in 28GP? I’m not convinced he could keep the Flames atop the Division, if he were given a chance like this, God Forbid!

Available Goalies for Darryl Sutter to consider? Martin Gerber OTT (recently sent down to the AHL); Curtis Sanford VAN (recently sent down to the AHL); Kevin Weekes N.J.; Olaf Kolzig TB; Marc Denis MTL (Playing for Hamilton in the AHL) and even Jason Bachashihua COL (Playing for Lake Erie in the AHL).

Your thoughts?

Always a pleasure.

To get things started…

Today’s NHL is not without it’s holes but overall it’s a great game right now… With that said, I have a few things I would love to see changed or modified… off the top of my head…

Let the Ridicule or Praise begin!

1) HOME ICE ADVANTAGE… Being a fan of Sports Architecture, I love the idea of every baseball field being different giving the home team a certain advantage having 81 games to play at home (Boston has the Monster, Wrigley the Ivy and Comerica the distant outfield walls. For the NHL, I would like to see a framework of Rink Dimensions so any team can build their rink from a Standard NHL size to as big as an IIHF size rink (for European based teams like Detroit, build a bigger arena). Further to this, the characteristics of the rink in terms of design should benefit the home team… Bench colours, Goal colours (instead of the standard red, black posts for the Flames… Green for the Canucks…etc.), Rink trim colours…etc.

2) GOALIES… I don’t mind the equipment size but I’d like to see those NO-GOALIE zones removed because that plays to strengths of Goalies who can stick handle and the pace of the game picks up… I also like to see Goalies who can’t handle those areas get stuck and look foolish on the goals they give up… I’d also make a “No Check” zone for Goalies around the net but if they leave this area, it’s open season for skaters to check goalies… seeing the Swedish Goalie in the World Juniors with his ‘entitlement’ attitude of skating wherever he wanted without consequence sickened me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrH0ukdOG-c 

(For a good montage of clips, click above… Jacob Marcstrom of Sweden is in Sean Avery Category)

3) PLAYOFFS… Simple but a game changer… Top Eight teams from each conference, with the top four point-getting teams ranked 1-4 (Division leaders guaranteed a spot in the top 4).

4) ALL-STAR GAME… Any sport, the fans are given too much say for a starting lineup. EAST: Crosby; Malkin; Kovalev; Komisarek; Markov; Price… WEST: Kane; Toews; Getzlaf; Niedermayer; Campbell; Giguere… ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS??? As distressing as this is, the Media seems to have a good grasp on who should start with the Coaches/GM adding the rest. The Fans should have a say in who participates in the Skills Competition. My Picks? EAST: Crosby; Malkin; Ovechkin; Markov; Streit and Thomas… WEST: Thorton; Datsyuk; Getzlaf; Boyle; Rafalski and Backstrom…

For a read of the NHL Official Rule Book, please go to the following link.

http://www.john-gates.com/popups/rules/index.htm

The amount of debate in the NHL right now on a variety of potential rule changes has gotten me thinking: what would the ideal NHL look like?

Obviously there are going to be wide and differing opinions on this question if it is presented to different people, so, I’m presenting it here to different people. Bring me your wide and differing opinions!

I’d like to invite my fellow CalgaryFlames.net bloggers to post their own thoughts here. If you aren’t a CalgaryFlames.net blogger, you can email me at schrojo@gmail.com and I’ll post the insightful comments in another post in a week or so.

So, have at it? Want to change the rules or equipment? Maybe the buildings. Even the culture of the sport is fair game. I’ll post my own here soon!

Wow, what a game! The Calgary Flames hand the San Jose Sharks their first regulation home loss of the season. In fact, it’s the first time the Sharks have lost in regulation in the Shark Tank since February 14 of last season (that is truly unbelievable). This game was intense and had everything you would expect from two of the premiere teams in the NHL. It felt very much like this game was being played in May.

Watching the Oilers vs. Wild game just prior to watching the Flames vs. Sharks was like watching a WHL pre-season game prior to an NHL playoff game.

I don’t recall seeing a Flames squad with this much confidence. They seem undaunted. They are calm, cool, and collective in any situation and don’t seem to panic when they fall behind by a goal or two. This speaks to the maturity of the club and the fantastic job being done by the coaching staff.

Curtis Glencross (one of the phenomenal off-season pickups by Sutter) was incredible at both ends of the ice in the game. It’s unfortunate that his name didn’t show up on the score sheet - he very much deserved a point or two tonight. I am curious to know what the Oilers management was thinking when they let this guy go. It was also nice to see Phaneuf get that monkey off his back. A hard working goal and a game winner to boot.

Kipper continued his stellar play tonight. His confidence level seems to be rising exponentially along with the rest of the team. After his shaky start to the season, he has really picked up his game. He leads the NHL with games won and is now 4 games ahead of Nabokov in second place. I know Kipper really likes to play a ton of games, and he seems to be handling the pressure fine. I only hope he can continue to perform at this level while playing so many games.

This weekends games should be amazing!

Thoughts from tonights game at the ‘Dome…

It was a messy game by both teams as players blew tires (falling) and the Flames just couldn’t get it out of their own end.

Harvey the Hound was quite busy busting his drum and making my section jump three times like a gun was going off…

Flame fans know good Hockey and tonight they knew both teams played like the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I think Kipper made the team look better than they really were…

Keith Tkachuk got sandwiched between two Flame players and played dead…

The officiating got worse as the game wore on…

Curtis Glencross scores Calgary’s first goal, but it was on his own net… hey, what goes around comes around as the Blues’ Jay McKee scores on a nift crease pass by David Moss on his own net…

No Bertuzzi, which meant that Jim Vandermeer got back into the lineup as a forward and was ejected on a misconduct penalty in the second period… Welcome Back Jimmy!

I was actually impressed with the way Andy Murray is having this undermanned Blues’ team play… pesky and annoying hockey a la Ken Linsman

Funny Stat… Kipper outscores Iggy (Mikka with 1A and Iggy with no points) It’s amazing to see that the Flames no longer rely on Iggy the way they used to because of this years balanced scoring.

I’m thinking that it was the 4 days off that lead to the sloppy play tonight because their skating, shooting and overall play seemed off in the timing department.

Mike Cammalleri has some moves! Great one on Barret Jackman for his 2nd of the night!

Looking ahead… an Away then back to back Home and Away games this week, I have a good feeling that Calgary can hand San Jose their FIRST home regulation loss, but need to be careful of letting down their play against Phoenix when they come home and they’ll face a hungry Avalanche team who is improving their play as of late.

Always a pleasure!