The Collective Bargaining Agreement reached to start the league back up again after the 2004-2005 lockout is kaput after this season, and understandably people are worried. The NHLPA successfully bucked the GMs on the issue of realignment earlier this season, and many viewed that instance as the opening salvo in a potentially long and drawn […]

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Sidney Crosby in a Penguins jersey on television. He returned to the lineup temporarily in November in a masterful performance (two goals, two assists) against the New York Islanders. Unfortunately, the excitement was short lived — Crosby began to experience concussion symptoms again, and thus began again an […]

Jeremy Roenick is not afraid to give his opinion. It doesn’t matter if he has a huge audience or not, chances are fairly good that his mouth is open. Since being hired as an analyst by NBC Sports a few years ago, JR has had a bully pulpit to say, roughly, whatever he feels like. […]

It’s amazing that in this day and age movements like these are necessary, but the You Can Play Project is proving that the rink is no place for bigotry. Patrick and Brian Burke have both taken up the cause of acceptance in sports of gay athletes, and the fact that it’s coming from such a […]

Previously on Puck Drunk Love, I brought a story by the New York Times to light about Even Kaufmann and his experience being a Jew playing hockey for the German national team. Hockey, along with family, has helped Kaufmann heal in regards to the Nazi perpetrated Holocaust against the Jews. Now in Israel, hockey’s helping […]

The media in any hockey town is there to do two things: report on the news and interpret the news. The amount of reporting and the amount of interpretation differs on the size of the market and the appetite for hockey news. Toronto, as the center of the Hockey Universe, is obviously going to have […]

It’s rare that I watch the general managers’ comments after the NHL trade deadline’s come and gone. When the Thrashers were in town, I was usually too irritated to want to watch; with the Blues, they never do anything huge anyway, so there’s no reason to tune in. This trade deadline, however, I was interested […]

It’s an impossible concept for most people to understand: how do you forgive someone for doing something unforgivable? Not what has become the traditional unforgivable, like maybe someone taking your promotion at work, undermining you in some way, or taking something of value from you. No, unforgivable as in the most pure definition of the […]

I brought up 30 Rock earlier this month regarding NBC and their hockey coverage as an example of fantastic PR for the league. I’m a huge fan of the show — most of my friends have told me I’m a real life Liz Lemon, and I’m not sure how to take that — and have […]

Evander Kane is an excellent young hockey player. He always has been, from his time with the Vancouver Giants to his Matt Cooke knockout punch. He is also 20 years old, and playing in a market that is absolutely insane with happiness regarding the fact that they have an NHL team again. It’s understandable that […]

More intrigue in the Phoenix Coyotes sale, and by “intrigue” I mean random happenstance that concerns Jeremy Roenick. As mentioned on Puck Daddy, he was interviewed on local Phoenix radio show “Calling All Sports With Roc And Manuch” regarding the future of the Phoenix Coyotes. He mentioned he was talking to other people who might […]

Soon, this will be what the the media scrum looks like around Thomas post-game.   I honest to God do not care about Tim Thomas’ political views. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and that’s fine — that’s what the nation is built upon. It’s always been my philosophy that both political parties should (in theory) […]

  EDIT: To clarify, I was talking about the NBC Game of the Week, not necessarily the NBC Sports Network. They did air a commercial for the network sometime early in the game. Here it is (and it’s pretty good): http://youtube.com/watch?v= XSgrL0ZPE_Q[/youtube]   For those who’ve forgotten, NBC signed a rather large partnership deal with […]

Do people really want this to go the way of the dodo? The fighting policies in place with USA Hockey are very, very dissimilar to the policies in the NHL. Direct and to the point, they call for removal from the current game and a suspension. Considering that the length of NCAA seasons are just […]

Oh, come on. How do you not market a guy like that? With the close of another successful All-Star weekend, the NHL proved yet again what their advantage is over the other professional sports leagues: working as a team. It might sound trite, but the old phrase “there’s no ‘I’ in team” is something that […]