and topics from the first week of "big boy" hockey at training camps throughout the National Hockey League...



A couple of indications at the interest in the NHL as we all get back
to work. The Bruins opener on October 5th against the Montreal
Canadiens is completely sold out. So much, for a night at least,
for fans showing their displeasure with the lockout by staying away
from the games. Last night, over 4500 fans showed up at Boston
University for the team's annual Black/White scrimmage. The
biggest ovations were for Captain Joe Thornton, defenseman Jonathan
Girard (returning after a life-threatening automobile accident) and the
public address announcement that the Bruins had signed goaltender
Andrew Raycroft. We're all very excited about having hockey back,
but when news of Sidney Crosby's three assists, IN A SCRIMMAGE GAME, is
the lead item on TSN's front page maybe we all need to take a slight
step back. Let's see --- first overall draft pick, playing for
and with Mario Lemieux, living in Lemieux's house, and having your
scrimmage statistics make national news. We're not putting any
pressure on the kid, are we?



Have you been taking notice of the new goaltender's equipment in the
practices and scrimmages so far? I think I noticed it in the
glove and blocker more than the pads, although all pieces are
noticeably smaller. Goaltenders are still so large that I
certainly didn't see any gaping holes for forwards to shoot at.
Over the last several years there has been a sea-change in the NHL, and
some of the games better athletes are now between the pipes. Gone
are those old days of sticking the fat kid in your shinny games in net
because he couldn't do anything else. I think the equipment
change is a good idea, but don't look for a large shift in league-wide
goals-against-averages based on smaller pads and gloves.



Brian Leetch made an interesting observation to me. He said he's
probably getting out of the game at just about the right time, before
every player in the NHL is 6-04, 240 pounds with 5 percent body
fat. I was standing on the ice at Boston University last night,
doing player introductions, and Leetch's comments really struck
me. It's the rare player who is under 6 feet tall and 200
pounds, and some of the players today are looking more and more like
National Football League stars.



I get a real kick out of people making pre-season predictions at this
stage of the proceedings. I spend half of my free time still
trying to digest the various teams' rosters, and now even those
pre-season rosters are undergoing changes due to early injuries
(Philadelphia) and late signings. I don't know for sure who will
be skating on Joe Thornton's wings, but I'm supposed to figure out
which team will win the Stanley Cup?



The signing of Andrew Raycroft yesterday got me thinking about training
camp holdouts. Name a player who missed an entire NHL season last
year, who can sell himself, his family, his fans or his teammates on
the idea that a lengthy holdout is a good idea. The new CBA
insures that if you don't have a contract by December 1st, you have the
pleasure of sitting out another season. If you're a young,
promising NHL player (like Raycroft) tell me what your real options
are? A few players and agents have yet to figure out that there
is a new economic reality in the National Hockey League, but the first
player who actually misses a second season due to holding out deserves
a job on the assembly line at the Ford plant. The final Bruins
holdout is Nick Boynton, another young and promising player, but even
he has to admit he simply doesn't have the kind of negotiating leverage
that players used to have. If Nick is asking for $1.9 million and
the Bruins are offering $1.75 million (probably pretty close to being
true), how does he justify sitting out? The answer is, he can't,
which is why he'll be at practice within the next few days.



A final note on the shootout. The NHL is doing the right thing in
having a shootout and showing it to fans at the end of every pre-season
game. The Bruins showed it to fans last night at B.U. If I
might make a suggestion to the league that would improve it even
more. Starting now, and continuing throughout the season, make
helmets optional for the shootout. Any player who wants to take
his off (and I think most would) should be allowed to. Fans love
the shootout already, but they would like it even more if they could
actually see the faces of their favorite players. And that money
shot for Sportscenter would be that much better. Just a thought.

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