As part of my new approach to Drive In '77, making it more personal, I will be blogging about the NHL and hockey in general every Wednesday. So let's drop the puck!!
Doughty Face
As much as we like to talk about free agent signings and trades, the drama behind hold outs is even more enticing. This season it is all about the Los Angeles Kings and Drew Doughty. Reports vary, but essentially Dean Lombardi and the Kings are offering him a long term contract that averages about $6.8 million a year. This would put him as the 4th highest paid D-man in the league and on par with Anze Kopitar as the highest contract in team history. Doughty apparently wants upwards of $7 million instead and is working out with a junior team in London, Ont. I've seen London and I've seen the toyota Sports complex where the Kings practice. I'm gonna have to go L.A. on this one!
The thing is, and I expect to get flamed by King fans everywhere for this, that Doughty, as talented and skilled a player he's been, is still only 21. That means upside. That means he should... should get better. D-men are much like goaltenders, they get better with age. The prime for defense is right in the 28 to 34 range. Even if he plays out the offer on the table, he will just be coming to that golden age. Think about the greats like Lidstrom, Stevens, Langway, Bourque, Neidermayer, Chelios, these guys all played and played well late into their careers, into their 40s! Experience is earned, not given. Chara could not have led a team to a Stanley Cup 5 or 6 years ago and neither can Doughty. He's just not there yet with the best defensemen in the league. Analysts want to say he is because of his numbers, but there is no way, in my book, that Doughty is a Top 5 D-man in the NHL today.
In order to consider this young star in the Top 5, who do you leave out? I mean, you wanna argue Top 10, I'll listen, but otherwise your telling me that a relatively untested D on a team without any banners under his watch, is better than Chris Pronger, Shea Weber, Dion Phaneuf, Dan Boyle, Keith Yandle, Christian Ehrhoff, Mike Green, Chara, Duncan Keith, Kris Letang, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kiklas Kronwall, Brent Seabrook, Lubomir Visnovsky, P.K. Subban, Kevin Bieksa or his own teammate Jack Johnson? Is my point made? The NHL is littered with talented D, most of whom have more experience and more playoff success that Drew Doughty.
It's simple math and the Kings are making a great offer to a young player and that player has a crappy agent telling him to holdout. I would argue it is too much, but if they can afford it, and they're willing to bet on his continued potential, then Doughty is an idiot to let $200k, more than I've made in the last decade, a year get in the way of what could be a terrific season for an up and coming club. Drew, ditch your agent and sign the bloody deal.
Shark Tank'd
The other weird situation popping up this week is the case of my beloved (and aggravating) San Jose Sharks vs. Bad Boys Bail Bonds. God, I hate those Bad Boy Club t-shirts. Seriously, could that little rat faced no neck logo get any more annoying? I actually saw a dude with that tattooed on his arm and he'd pose like the guy when you asked him about it! But I digress.
What's happening in San Jose is Jeffrey Stanley, the owner of the bail bonds company, has a block of seats behind both benches at the Shark Tank and likes to have him and his guests wear his company's shirts to the games. With TV coverage etc. this can be viewed as either shrewd or taking advantage of a situation. He's getting a certain level of advertising from the placement of his shirts in the arena after all. Now, the Sharks have issued a new policy that prohbits ticket holders from using their tickets to promote their business. Stanley is pissed and consulting lawyers.
Honestly, I can see the reasoning behind the idea of the new policy. It's about abuse. I can guarantee that if some guy bought tickets behind home plate at Yankee stadium and wore the same shirt with his business logo on it every night, he would be talked too. I think the issue here is the frequency and volume of the shirts. If everyone in his group is wearing them 41 games a season, then clearly he is using the tickets as a means of advertising. I doubt he would adhere to the same dress code if his seats were in the upper bowl. But it is a slippery slope and it will come down to equal and clear enforcement.
Regardless of where you fall in the argument, the mistake the Sharks are making is in the delivery of the message. The email in the article is hot and cold and seems to hint at making an example of Stanley, or at least singling him out. Did all season ticket holders get this email? I don't know, damn economy forced me to give up my seats three years ago... grumble. But like my theoretical Yankees example above, I would imagine a personal phone call about their concerns would be more in line with keeping a season ticket holder happy and coming to a more responsible conclusion to the problem.
There is also an implication of "payback" because he cancelled his one year of advertising he purchased from the club last season. One year of $70,000 for a penalty box ad. Seriously? Do you think an NHL franchise A) has a problem getting advertisers and B) gives a shit about losing $70k from a bail bonds company? Not one bit. It's also not a an issue of freedom of speech. FOS is about the ability to speak your mind without repercussion. Stanley is speaking his mind about the situation, good. It is not about the freedom to advertise which he may or may not be trying to do with his shirts. Of course, we all know he is right? The Sharks are just handling it all wrong.
That's about it for my first Hockey Humpday. It's been great watching the preseason even if I did watch Owen Nolan's last shift in the NHL. I'll miss ya Buster!! One of my all time favs for sure. I'll never forget witnessing that called shot in the All-Star game. What a moment! The good was seeing Evgeni Nabokov back on NHL ice, even if that Islanders jersey looked a little strange. Enjoy your hockey week everyone, I'll be back next Wednesday to spout my unsolicited opinions!
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