HockeyDirt.com

2009 NHL Awards

Chaka Khan?  Really?  Chaka Khan is the star the NHL picks to "headline" their 2009 awards show?  The same Chaka Khan whose biggest hit - "Tell Me Something Good" - came in 1974, the year Denis Potvin won the Calder?  Robin Thicke?  

Why didn't the NHL put in a call to Mike Fisher and Mike Comrie.  The two Mikes are dating legit A-list stars Carrie Underwood and Hillary Duff.  Surely Carrie and Hillary could have been persuaded to sing or even lip-sync a couple of tunes in Vegas and add some recognizable glitz to an otherwise star-unstudded (except for the players themselves) night.    

Whose idea was it to give Jeremy Roenick a leading role in the awards show?  JRo was a great player and he gives a pretty snappy interview but he is unable to read a teleprompter.  Scotiabank must be ecstatic that he's renamed the Fan Fav Award the "Fab Five" or the "Fun Four" award or something.  Kirk Muller suffers from the same affliction.  Presumably the NHL decided that CBC announcer Ron McLean, the host of last year's awards, is a nobody in the US.  Bring Ron back.  Did anybody else think it was weird and kinda awkward to have Mark Messier present the Mark Messier award? 

On a more positive note, the awards went to all the right people.  Jean Beliveau was classy and gracious, as was Datsyuk.  Tim Thomas was funny and genuinely emotional about winning the Vezina.  Ovechkin was himself - always entertaining.  Zdeno Chara appears to have taken public speaking lessons from Ken Dryden.  Pat Burns looked great in presenting the Jack Adams to Claude Julien.  

Shame on Crosby

Shame on Sidney Crosby and a few other members of the Pittsburg Penguins for disrespecting the Red Wings.  I guess Lebron James is their role model. 

After being defeated by the Penguins in game 7, the Red Wings gave the Pens a few minutes to celebrate the win.  The Wings then lined up for the traditional handshake.  Sadly, Crosby and few other Penguins were too busy celebrating to notice that the handshakes had begun.  By the time Crosby did join the line many of the Detroit players had already come to the end of the line and headed for the dressing room.  This left Crosby to shake the hands of a couple of players and some members of the Detroit training staff.  Shameful, and a mockery of what the CBC announcer described as one of the greatest traditions in sport.  In case Sid or any other members of the Pens are curious about how thew whole handshake thing works here' a video of the 2008 postgame handshake.  Not surprisingly, every member of the victorious (and classy) Red Wings managed to get to the line in time to shake the hand of every Penguin player. 

Update: NHL.com has posted a video of the handshake. Take a look - it confirms that Sid wasn't in the lineup until late. Nick Lidstrom led the Wings line and he even waited for some Penguins to get in line, but Crosby was very late arriving and by the time he did get in line Lidstrom, Draper and many others had peeled off.

Update 2:  Kris Draper has confirmed that Crobsy missed shaking hands with a bunch of Red Wing players, including Lidstrom.  

"Nick was waiting and waiting, and Crosby didn't come over to shake his hand," Draper told an Associated Press reporter a couple of hours later as he was leaving Joe Louis Arena.  That's ridiculous, especially as their captain, and make sure you write that I said that!"

Crosby has attempted to clarify what went on.   

"My intentions were to shake hands," Crosby said. "That we didn't wasn't me trying to avoid it. "That's the last thing I'd want to do. By no means was I trying to avoid shaking the other team's hands. "I think it's important to do that."

Crosby is still missing the point.  The issue is not whether or not he intentionally delayed joining the line in order to miss Lidstrom - nobody has accused him of that.  It was his job, his obligation to get in line promptly, to show respect for his opponent and to uphold the wonderful tradition of sportsmanship that the post-Cup handshake represents.  Crosby did not fulfil this obligation. 

Oh Dany (Heatley) Boy

Alexei Yashin.  That's the first thing that entered my mind when the new broke that Dany Heatley is seeking a trade from the Ottawa Senators. 

For those who have forgotten, Yashin held out for a new contract not once, not twice, but three times before the Senators were finally able to ship him to Long Island where he proceeded to alienate a whole different group of fans. 

Apparently Heatley doesn't like the role he was given by Cory Clouston, the coach the Senators brought in after the Craig Hartsburg experiment failed.  Under Hartsburg, Heatley usually lined up beside Jason Spezza and averaged a little under 21 minutes a game.  Clouston experimented with different line combinations and frequently split up the Spezza -Heatley duo and Heatley saw his minutes dip by about a minute a game.  Clouston also shook up the Ottawa powerplay and rewarded the speedy, hard-working Ryan Shannon with time on the first PP unit, at Heatley's expense. 

Fans are more than a little disappointed that Heatley appears to have soured on Clouston after only 30 games.  Heatley's move comes just a year after he signed a massive, long-term contract.  Last year Heatley earned an eye-popping $10 million and he still has 5 years left with Ottawa at $37.5 million.  

Heatley is a proven goal scorer who should be relatively easy to move.  When the Senators unloaded Alexei Yashin they got Jason Spezza and Zdeno Chara in return.  Ottawa fans are hoping that GM Bryan Murray can pull off similar swap for Heatley.