Faceoff Factor

You asked, we answered

Mike Adams | National Hockey League

Jul 25, 12:51 PM | Hype this story!

Look at what this week’s mailbag turned up—questions from around the globe.

Mike, do you think Craig Patrick feels vindicated by the recent success of the Penguins?—CP, Tampa

No, and why should he? The guy almost single-handedly destroyed this franchise through his ineptitude in drafting and developing players through the mid and late 90s. The only way he could possibly feel vindicated is if he can say with a straight face that he knew guys like Craig Hillier, Milan Kraft, Robert Dome, and Konstantin Koltsov were going to be busts, and that he drafted them in order to make sure the franchise fell into the abyss in the early part of this decade. But somehow, I’m guessing that’s not the case.

But what about the Pens’ horrid financial situation, you ask? I will grant that finances played a big role in the Pens dropping to the bottom of the standings. Money issues forced them to deal off Jaromir Jagr and Alex Kovalev, and lose several others to free agency. But Patrick got a pathetic return for Jagr, and got basically nothing for Kovalev. I don’t blame him for the latter, as they were in “survival mode” by then. But the Jagr deal was a killer.

The fact remains, though, that if they had drafted and developed better players through the 90s, they could have at least maintained a respectable team before the lockout. Of course, the downside of that is they wouldn’t have been bad enough to be able to draft Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby. So it all worked out in the end. But I seriously doubt that was the master plan when they drafted Craig Hillier.

What do you think of the Kontinental Hockey League?—Russian Nurse

Nurse, I think it’s a bit of a threat to the NHL. I think the NHL will still attract the top talent—guys like Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin. The types of players to whom the KHL will be attractive are the Aleksey Morozovs of this world. You know, the guys that have some talent, but whose style of play (some liken it to ice dancing) is not conducive to the smaller North American rinks. That type of player will be able to draw a far larger salary in the KHL than they could dream of getting on this side of the pond (especially with Mike Milbury no longer being a GM).

Guys at the end of their careers might also migrate back to Russia, guys like Jaromir Jagr. The KHL might hinder the flow of young Russian players into the NHL. Teams might be more hesitant to draft Russians unless they are sure they are going to come over here. So, in those respects, the biggest impact might be on depth. You probably won’t see as many Russians at the bottom of depth charts. Much to Don Cherry’s delight, those spots might well be taken by North Americans now.

Which of my sons do you think will touch the Stanley Cup first?—Frantisek Hossa

We can only hope it’s Marcel, or my keyboard might explode trying to type ######’s name.

Where should I play this season?—Mats in Sweden

Really, now, do you think I give a horse’s patoooty where you play? What is it with you Swedes? Can’t you ever make up your minds? First there was Peter Forsberg and the daily rumors of where he was going to play last year. And, oh, by the way, he really helped the Avs, didn’t he? And now you. One day it’s Vancouver. Then Montreal. Toronto. New York. Or maybe you’ll retire. Do you just like to see your name in the paper? Just wake me when all this is over and tell me what your decision is already.

Mike Lange or Paul Steigerwald?—Ted, Pittsburgh

That one’s easy, Ted. You gotta go with Mike Lange, as over 90 percent of respondents in a recent Post-Gazette poll did. Great balls of fire, Ted, 90 percent of fans prefer him to the boring and inane Steigerwald. I don’t even have to be there to believe it. I just called Arnold Slick from Turtle Crick and he told me all about it. Fox should have gotten 5-10 for taking him off the air. I felt cow-kicked. I mean, how much fried chicken can you eat? Listening to Steigy is like having my back scratched with a hacksaw. Or shaving my face with a rusty razor. Bringing back Lange would be great for the tavern industry, as you would have many more customers buying drinks for Sam’s dog. Now, I suppose you might argue that with training, Steigy will get better. But you can’t teach a pig to sing.

Look, Fox has given us more moves than Mae West in justifying why Steigy has the TV job, but it just doesn’t fly. Mike Lange got bored with TV announcing his last couple years, but who wouldn’t have, watching that dreck on the ice? Ratings have skyrocketed, but anyone who thinks that’s because of Lange’s ouster hasn’t been paying attention to what goes on on the ice.

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building.