Hey, everybody.
I have some thoughts about hockey I want to develop more, so instead of forgetting them, I'll share them here.
Failure, in particular, has held my interest over the length of the off-season. As a Sabres fan, I'm well acquainted with its varieties. I want to explore the diversity of failure in hockey, whether it's in the games, the presentation, or the monetary side of things. The NHL as a whole, over the last two decades or so, has found itself often on both sides of the divide at the same time. The game's expansion into non-traditional markets in the US has made a handful of excellent franchises alongside a group of extremely problematic ones. The league has been the recipient of massive amounts of television revenue and increased exposure, but is still obscure enough for important issues of player health to go ignored by the (American*) media.
Focusing on the actual competition, there are 29 failures to one victory at the end of every season. We justifiably emphasize what the winners were able to accomplish. At the same time, there is a tremendous depth of narrative in analysing what happened to the other 29 teams. A summer has passed in which Toronto replaced a large chunk of its management structure to make use of contemporary analytic techniques, at the expense of the old boys network. Pittsburgh was this close to hiring Pierre McGuire, allegedly. There are many, many flavors of poor performance, idiotic planning, and near misses worth going over again.
Additionally, we're primed for a season featuring not one, but two 'generational' talents at the end of the line for the worst of the worst. There's a lot to play for, even when your team's out of it by Christmas, and there are a number of truly awful teams to compete for the prize.
That's about it for now. I have a few things I'm working on that'll be up when they seem okay. If you have anything you want to see, let me know.
Thanks,
Andrew
*I'm American, so you're not likely going to here much about Canadian media coverage out of me beyond laughing at funny voices and pleasant idioms.
I have some thoughts about hockey I want to develop more, so instead of forgetting them, I'll share them here.
Failure, in particular, has held my interest over the length of the off-season. As a Sabres fan, I'm well acquainted with its varieties. I want to explore the diversity of failure in hockey, whether it's in the games, the presentation, or the monetary side of things. The NHL as a whole, over the last two decades or so, has found itself often on both sides of the divide at the same time. The game's expansion into non-traditional markets in the US has made a handful of excellent franchises alongside a group of extremely problematic ones. The league has been the recipient of massive amounts of television revenue and increased exposure, but is still obscure enough for important issues of player health to go ignored by the (American*) media.
Focusing on the actual competition, there are 29 failures to one victory at the end of every season. We justifiably emphasize what the winners were able to accomplish. At the same time, there is a tremendous depth of narrative in analysing what happened to the other 29 teams. A summer has passed in which Toronto replaced a large chunk of its management structure to make use of contemporary analytic techniques, at the expense of the old boys network. Pittsburgh was this close to hiring Pierre McGuire, allegedly. There are many, many flavors of poor performance, idiotic planning, and near misses worth going over again.
Additionally, we're primed for a season featuring not one, but two 'generational' talents at the end of the line for the worst of the worst. There's a lot to play for, even when your team's out of it by Christmas, and there are a number of truly awful teams to compete for the prize.
That's about it for now. I have a few things I'm working on that'll be up when they seem okay. If you have anything you want to see, let me know.
Thanks,
Andrew
*I'm American, so you're not likely going to here much about Canadian media coverage out of me beyond laughing at funny voices and pleasant idioms.
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