ON THE MARK.

AN OPEN APOLOGY TO GREG MILLEN.

Years ago, while listening to The Fan radio in Toronto, I heard two hosts discussing the Toronto Argonauts and how much they hated the guy who did their radio play by play.   Since I was the one who did radio play by play for the Argonauts, I paid close attention.   The two hosts, both of whom I knew personally,  were ripping me to shreds ON THE AIR.   I was shocked. I felt like crying.   No matter what they thought of me, a colleague in the same business, they should've kept it to themselves.   Cutting up an athlete who makes millions or a coach who can't win is part of the raison d'etre of a commentator.  Taking pot shots at a contemporary is, to me, unprofessional.  You'd never hear a doctor talking about another M.D. that way, at least not publicly.    
      That day, I promised myself I would NEVER slag another broadcaster.  Not on the air.  Not in print.  Not on Facebook or Twitter (even though they hadn't been invented yet.  But last night I broke that promise and I want to apologize to Maple Leafs color commentator Greg Millen, who teams with Joe Bowen on most TV games.   After Phil Kessel had scored to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead over Florida, they showed 3 or 4 replays of the goal (it was a beauty) and Millen said "Kessel was desperate for a goal.  He REALLY needed that one".    Now, normally I would consider that to be a fair comment for a guy who was slumping,  but Kessel was NOT desperate for a goal.  His scoring slump had long since been broken, the team was playing well and I thought Millen was being overly dramatic.   Since I was engaged on Twitter for most of the game, I felt I HAD to say something, so I typed out a " Huh? What is Millen talking about?" tweet and hit "send".   Big mistake.   While I felt better for getting it off my chest, I started wondering how Millen would feel when he read the tweet.  (I don't know if he has or not).  Then, some of my Twitter followers chimed in that he was having a bad night, or that they would rather hear another commentator alongside Bowen.   Some of it was nasty, and it was all because I broke a promise to myself.
       Fans can criticize players, coaches, managers, other fans and yes, commentators.  But commentators can not stick it to other commentators. Players rarely, if ever, criticize other players.   Even after they're retired, you'd be hard pressed to find a former pro athlete who takes shots at another.  Oh, it happens every so often in tell-all books or even in trash-talking tweets, but there is generally a professional respect for someone in a similar position.  So, even though I never worked with Greg Millen, I consider us to be broadcasting contemporaries, and therefore apologize for making a critical remark about him in public.  Next time, I may type out my complaint, but I definitely won't hit "send".
     Of the 7 NHL games played last night, four of them ended in shutouts.  Ilya Bryzgalov, Mike Smith, Peter Budaj and Ben Scrivens all looked like a combination of Jacques Plante and Marty Brodeur in their primes.  On Saturday February 9th, of the 11 games played, 4 ended in shutouts and four more saw the losing team score just once.    Is the goaltending that much better in the NHL these days?  Or is it that the shooters aren't as good?  Maybe a combination of both.   So far this year, and the season is only 16 games old, 25 goalies have recorded shutouts.  Pekka Rinne and Mike Smith each have three shuouts, which would translate to 9 shutouts in this 48 game season.   Were this a full season, you're talking about 16 shutouts to lead the league.  That's a lot of goose eggs. 
     Last year, there were 176 shutouts over the entire season.  Jonathan Quick of L.A. had 10, or one shutout in every 7 starts.   Brian Elliott of the Blues had 9 shutouts in just 36 starts, or one in 4.   Obviously, the number of shutouts a goalie records has largely to do with the defensive system his team plays.  Marc Andre Fleury of the Penguins had just 3 shutouts last year in 64 starts, or one every 21 games.  This year he has none.  Chalk it up to the Penguins offensive-minded style, which expects Crosby, Malkin and company to outscore their opponents every game. 
      Yes, the game of hockey has changed, but is it for the better?  We crave more scoring, so why aren't we getting it?   Last year Steven Stamkos (60) and Geno Malkin (50) were two of only four players to score 40 or more goals.  By comparison, in the 2005-06 season, the goal scoring leaders were:
Cheechoo (56), Jagr (54), Ovechkin (52), Kovalchuck (52) and Heatley (50).  Six more players that year had over 40 goals.   Where were the good goalies that year?  In the two seasons from '05 to '07, 28 players finished with 90 or more points.   In the past two NHL seasons, just 8 players have topped the 90 point mark.   Maybe it's time we made the nets bigger.   As much as I like shutouts, I like scoring a whole lot more.