Actually, It's All Good

There will be those who interpret today's announcement that Ian Penny has left the troubled NHL Players Association as the latest disastrous development for the union. Not really.

In fact, this is good news. It follows last week's news that a four-player committee had been struck to investigate all the nonsense that has occurred at the NHLPA over the past six months, a sign the players were finally cluing into the fact they'd been effectively hoodwinked by a coup d'etat thinly disguised as the supposedly necessary departure of executive director Paul Kelly.

Penny overreached. Emboldened by the support of figures like departed union ombudsman Eric Lindros and advisory board member Ron Pink, not to mention current ombudsman Buzz Hargrove, Penny decided as general counsel he could not or would not work with Kelly, and was part of the group that actively sought Kelly's ouster.

Once he found himself crowned interim executive director, he discovered the way in which Kelly was dumped (at 4 a.m. in the morning) brought all kinds of grief to the union, and he was poorly equipped from a public relations standpoint to either rally the support of players or deal effectively with the media storm. Getting booted off a crucial conference call last week, with Sidney Crosby the final voice, effectively destroyed Penny's authority and legitimacy.

He had to go, and Hargrove and Pink should follow suit as soon as possible. Only then, with a clean slate, can the union start to rebuild. The next step will have to be a tweaking of the union's constitution, which is filled with so many checks and balances that it was inevitable that power struggles would result. The advisory board needs to go, and the ombudsman position needs to be redefined. The union cannot function going forward without changes to the structure.

Once all this happens, and the four-man committee is able to explain to their colleagues what exactly happened, two very good choices will be available to the NHLPA.

One, they could bring back Kelly. There is a remote scenario at best, but a plausible one. The union would not suffer public embarrassment if the players decided Kelly was unreasonably dealt with and deserved a second opportunity. It's just common sense that judging the man on how he performed while surrounded by people dedicated to undermining his authority was unfair, at best.

Second, Glenn Healy could be the next leader of the association. He knows the union inside out, and perhaps it's time that the players select one of their own to lead them. Healy's not a labor lawyer, but you can hire those people at a hourly fee.

There will be those who will suggest the union needs a brand new face, and that may be true. What's unfortunate is that in Kelly, Healy and Pat Flatley, the players had excellent people and good leaders, but were somehow convinced to push them all out the door.

Going Up, Going Down

Viktor Stalberg needed a kick in the butt. Or so it looked.

So he's back down in the minors, and Jiri Tlusty is up. Again. One more time.

There's three possible reasons why Stalberg hasn't been nearly as effective in the regular season as he was in the pre-season.

One, exhibition hockey isn't anywhere close to regular season hockey, and Stalberg isn't good enough to be an NHL regular, at least not yet.

Two, he got self-satisfied and figured all the hard work was done once he'd earned an NHL roster spot.

Or three, getting rocked by Ottawa's Anton Volchenkov in the third game of the season and suffering a concussion has left the young Swede unable to perform at the same level he showed in September.

My guess is No. 2, but all three are plausible.

Assuming Stalberg isn't still dinged, this is in general a very good way in which to deal with young players who are dealing with the inconsistencies that come with youth. It probably would have helped Nikolai Kulemin last year. It might still help Luke Schenn this year.

But the Leafs have to somehow get rid of the perception that having youngsters go up and down between the NHL and AHL is somehow demeaning to those players, or punishment.

It's called player development. Look at how well Darren Helm played for the Red Wings last year in the playoffs after spending most of the year in the minors. Moreover, you want your kids to be hungry to stay in the NHL, not complacent.

Which brings us to Tlusty. Uppermost in the minds of Leaf management is trying to understand why Tlusty is so effective in the AHL - six goals in eight games this season - yet a shadow of that player against NHL competition.

The belief here is that he might not be a good enough skater, and therefore simply unable to get to the places he needs to get to in order to be an effective offensive player.

The Leafs front office and coaching staff, however, don't believe that. They seem to think Tlusty is good enough, but for some reason gets freaked out by the bright lights of the ACC. The concern internally is that if they can't get to the root of this, a very talented player will end up in Carolina or Phoenix or L.A. and flourish there, away from the media and fan pressures of Toronto.

They're hoping the Lee Stempniak treatment will work on Tlusty. Basically, with Stempniak, the club has showered praise upon him for his work ethic and effort and conditioning and repeatedly told the veteran winger they believe that he can get back to the level when he was a consistent scorer in the NHL.

Even when the points weren't coming early, the message was the same. Now, the points are starting to come and Stempniak, for the most part, has been the club's best forward.

So that's the plan with Tlusty. Make him feel the organization believes in him and hope that rids him of the yips.

SpinPlus: The Leafs after 10 games

Weekly Mail Bag

Oh, Toronto can be a quirky sports town, if only for the very different way in which the different teams are perceived and handled by the sports media.

Just look at the announcement two days ago that Paul Beeston had, after a long “search” for a new Blue Jays president, decided that he was, in fact, the best man for the job. This was wildly heralded as a good thing, at least partially a reflection of Beeston’s success in baseball more than 15 years ago and the deep, loyal contacts he has throughout the Toronto sports media. He’s a friendly guy who has a lot of friends.

But remember back in 1997 when Ken Dryden pretty much did the same thing? Dryden was president of the Leafs and after conducting a search for a new general manager, chose himself. For this, he was widely mocked, as was the organization. People rolled their eyes at his inability to find a real hockey person to take the job. Interestingly, and you rarely hear this said, the Leafs went on to have a fair bit of success during Dryden’s tenure, although mostly after he handed the GM reins to Pat Quinn.

So why the two standards? Beeston fires J.P. Ricciardi and hires Ricciardi’s right hand man rather than going outside the organization, then hires himself to be president.

But you don’t see one negative or even mildly critical word.

Had Richard Peddie done the same maneuver, he would have been scalded in criticism. Guess it shows that with Beeston and Cito Gaston, the Jays organization believes it can just keep selling the past.

Interesting. Now on to this week’s mail bag:

Q: Watching the Leafs lately, it seems like they're all waiting for someone/something to come in from the outside to save them, rather than stepping up themselves. Everything seems to be "when Toskala gets better" "When Gustavsson heals" "When Kessel's ready". Even this summer it was all about the new players coming in rather than the existing ones doing more. A few years ago when they barely missed the finals and Sundin was out with a broken arm, McCauley and Roberts stepped up. When Sundin was out with an eye issue a year or two later, Lindros filled in. And if you look at Edmonton now, they have mostly the same lineup as last year but are suddenly figuring out that it's up to the guys in the room to win. Is it just that the current Leafs don't have that extra gear or are unwilling to go deeper to succeed?

Mark Harwood, Los Angeles

A: I think what you’re seeing is a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs for a long, long time and doesn’t believe in itself. In Toronto, becaue of the heavy media focus on the Leafs and the NHL, that attitude can manifest itself in players playing not to be noticed rather than to be noticed, and therefore hoping some other player can deliver the big moments. For years, this seemed to be the case with Wendel Clark, and the mantra over and over was that it would be better when Wendel got back from whatever injury he had. Well, it usually didn’t. To me, that’s the great fear with the Kessel situation, that he’ll show up next week or soon thereafter and be expected to be an impact player immediately. I would imagine it would be a month before you really get to see any consistent play from Kessel, and maybe into next season before the Leafs really understand what they have in this player. What we know for sure is that good teams overcome injury problems through depth and performance from players further down the depth chart.

Q: Goaltending. Everyone loves to blame the goalies. Why is that? I'll bet that if we were to get Brodeur or Fleury or even Luongo, they would look just as "average" as Toskala, McDonald, Pogge and even the Monster. There are five other members of this team people, and there is plenty of blame to share for these losses. How many 2 on 1's and breakaways can one team give up and expect a tender to stop. I know that the goaltending has had some weak moments but to evaluate them based on goals rather than the play causing the goal is ridiculous.

In my opinion, we need to look at our "truculent" defence core and re-evaluate Brian Burke's concept of a tough team because it isn't working. They are too slow on the back end and there is no fire power up front. Even when Kessel gets here, who is he gonna play with in order to produce the kind of offence Leafland expects?

What do you think Damien?

Paul Knipe, Brantford, Ont.

A: Couldn’t disagree with you more. Goaltending is, like pitching in baseball, the most important position in the game. Give the Leafs one of those top goalies you mentioned and they’d be a much improved team. It’s just a fact. Scuffling around with uncertainty between the pipes is the worst situation for any team. Look at the spectacular difference Craig Anderson is making for Colorado. By contrast, Philly knew they were taking a gamble with Ray Emery, and so far they remain a so-so defensive team. Obviously team defence matters, but great goaltending means so much.

As far as the Leafs’ “truculence,” none of their brawnier types are on the blueline, really, unless you look at Mike Komisarek or Garnet Exelby as some kind of enforcer. I do think they’re a little slow, which is probably why Luke Schenn is playing far less and Jeff Finger isn’t playing at all.

Q: A few weeks back you made mention of Ron Wilson's curt demeanor with the media. I was wondering how you would rank all the past Leafs coaches you've covered. Use any criteria you wish aside from overall record (too obvious). Thanks

Michael Nestlehut, Harper Woods

A: Well this is going to be fun. I have personally dealt with nine Leaf head coaches over the past 20 years, although George Armstrong was only around for a matter of weeks after I came on the beat in 1989.

If I were to rank them in order of how easy they were to deal with on a regular basis and how willing they were to fulfill the media end of the job, they would go in the following order; Mike Murphy, Paul Maurice, Pat Burns, George Armstrong, Nick Beverley, Tom Watt, Ron Wilson, Doug Carpenter and Pat Quinn.

Murphy was outstanding, Quinn viewed every reporter/columnist as the enemy except for those willing to suck up to him. Burns would bully you if he could but genuinely liked people in the media. Wilson is somewhere in the middle of this spectrum, generally available, sometimes really helpful but generally not overally impressed with the I.Q. of media members.

Q: Hey Damien! You hear coaches and even media types tell us about he should play in the minors as he has lots to learn or that "he is still learning". What does this mean? I mean, these players have been playing the game now for years and years and yet they still don't know how to play? The game itself and the concepts don't change from the OHL to AHL to NHL. Positional playing and the like = same. Only thing to learn is how to play with your linemates and you can't do that in the minors. I don't get it how these players who have played so long can be so lost. The game is the game is the game.

Ron Gillespie, Listowel, Ont.

A: Sorry, Ron, but I don’t agree. In fact you talk to players in their thirties and they’ll tell you how they’re still learning how to play the game. Mathieu Schneider, to me, is a great example. He was a much better player at 35 than he was at 25. It’s about maturing as an athlete and a person, about taking care of your body and mind, about learning when urgency is required and when to sit back, about being able to read the attack in order to defend and correctly seize the moment on offence. The game does, in fact, change drastically from the OHL to the AHL to the NHL, and its not just that it gets faster. What people should understand is that there are no bad players anymore by the time you get to the NHL, no players who aren’t fit or can’t skate, at least in relative terms. Finally, experience allows players to handle the pressure of being a pro. Athletes gain all these skills gradually as they play, and some never really grasp them at all.

Q: Damien, I meant to submit this question last week but assumed that someone else would. Since no one did, I hope that you still find it relevant.

I am surprised that no one mentioned Don Cherry’s recommendation last week that Wilson institute a trap so that the defence plays to their strengths and gains some confidence while cutting down on the shots that the goalies have to face. I am not a big fan of the trap and think that the trap in minor hockey stifles the development of young players. However, it seems like the trap may be a good fit for this Leafs team. Other than the obvious goaltending issues it seems like the most glowing deficiencies so far has been the defence running around trying to do too much. Might the more confining role of the trap help?

Stephen Sems, St. Catharines, Ont.

A: Well, sure it might. But I think this has to do with a longer term vision of Brian Burke and Ron Wilson. They don’t want to play that way and so see no value in being a trap team now and trying to become an aggressive pursue-the-puck squad later. Frankly, I wouldn’t really want to watch them as a passive trap team either. But most teams play a version of the trap depending on the situation, and clearly Wilson’s team has been having problems with communication and positioning in the defensive zone.

Q: Good job as usual in reporting on the latest NHLPA goings-on. I have a comment and a question for you. First off, good for Shawn Horcoff in calling the NHLPA executives (Penny and Hargrove in particular)to account. It sounds like Horcoff has actually taken the time to familiarize himself with the NHLPA constitution. Too bad that other players (player reps included) don't seem to have done the same.

My question is this (and it's nothing new, regrettably): why is it that the NHLPA, unlike any other trade union I can think of, refuses to push for measures to protect its own from physical injury? I'm thinking of things like mandatory face shields, pushing severe punishment (ie, long suspensions or outright bans for those offenders who repeatedly hit from behind or do other flagrant acts in an attempt to injure, etc. etc.) Most unions I know of would fight hard to ensure their workplace was as safe as possible for workers, yet the NHLPA seems to be stuck in a 1950s time warp where "The Code" prevails. I just don't get it. Thanks.

Reg Sackmann, Toronto

A: Yeah, I don’t really get it, either. I guess that’s the culture of hockey, and really, this isn’t a true union, is it? These are independent contractors who all sign individual contracts with the same company, the NHL, for vast sums of money. So their attention to the details of workplace safety aren’t going to be the same as they would in a regular union. Moreover, there are many NHL players who differ on the definition of what’s safe. For example, many believe fighting keeps the game safe. So while they may care, they may differ on how to fix the problem. Finally, while popular analysts like Don Cherry keep telling the hockey world that more violence, less equipment and more lenient officiating would produce a better game, there are going to be very few hockey players willing to buck that attitude and attract the scorn of Cherry and his supporters.

Damien Cox answers your questions in The Spin, only at thestar.com. Click here to submit a question.
**Note: please follow the link above to send a question to Damien. Questions posted in the comments section may not make it to the mailbag. Thanks.**

SpinPlus video: Cox on Leafs' first victory

Troubling Times in Anaheim

ANAHEIM

The Maple Leafs, quite obviously, were a lot more concerned with getting their first victory of the season than helping sell hockey in southern California.

But as the boos rained down on the hometown Ducks last night at a half-empty Honda Centre after a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the visiting Leafs, it was certainly time to take notice on the impact the recession and a variety of other issues have had on the Anaheim franchise.

At one point, the Ducks had sold out 78 straight games, including the entire 2007-08 season that followed their Stanley Cup triumph over the Ottawa Senators. That streak ended early last season, and since then there’s been a decline in attendance at Anaheim home games, although the Ducks still boast a strong season ticket base of 11,500.

The recession hasn’t helped any of the U.S. teams, particularly those in the southern states. Second, as many markets have shown, in three-quarters of the NHL’s American cities the fans don’t come unless the home team is winning.

Right now, the Ducks are one of the worst teams in the league after off-loading great chunks of contractual commitments and experience over the past year.

Thirdly, the competition in this market is ferocious these days. As the Ducks started their season, they were going up against USC football, playoff baseball teams in Los Angeles and Anaheim, and the opening of training camp for the defending NBA champion Lakers. Having the nearby L.A. Kings get off to a strong start isn’t helping.

When Brian Burke ran the Ducks, he established a team personality in which Anaheim bullied as many teams as possible, killed off tons of penalties and scored just enough to win. These days, the Ducks aren’t quite as tough without Chris Pronger on the blueline, and as they showed last night in giving the Leafs 11 power plays and five power play goals, they aren’t quite as effective killing off the penalties.

“It hasn’t been an issue up until tonight,” said Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle afterwards. “The frustration level goes with the lack of success we’ve been having. When you start to see players like Saku Koivu and Scott Niedermayer in reaction mode, then you start to question if we are putting ourselves in a can’t-win situation. Was our attitude and frustration getting the better part of us? I’d have had to say yes in some of those instances.”

Including a loss to Columbus on Saturday night, the Ducks have surrendered 12 goals in their last two home games and are one point out of dead last in the west. It wasn’t that long ago that the Ducks were drawing crowds of less than 10,000, and even winning the Cup hasn’t made this market any less vulnerable to competition, economic downturns or losing.

The Leafs, needless to say, weren’t too bothered about the boos or the size of the crowd. Afterwards, head coach Ron Wilson praised rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson for making some significant stops early, including one splendid stop on Erik Christenson just six minutes in with the game scoreless.

“That one, at the time, I thought, ‘Here we go, they’re up one nothing just like that.’ But he found a way to make the save,” said Wilson.

Gustavsson made 25 saves to secure his first NHL win.

“For the team, it was big to get the first win,” he said. “Everybody can stop talking about it and move on and try to get the next one. For myself, it was a big step for me to get my first NHL win. I’m really happy about it.”

He said he’s still adjusting to the North American game.

“You have to be ready all the time for shots, shots from everywhere, and it feels like the shots are coming from closer here than in Sweden,” he said.

The Leafs pelted Jonas Hiller with 39 shots, many of them during power plays.

Lee Stempniak played more than 22 minutes to lead all Leaf forwards, while Luke Schenn’s ice time continued to shrink, down to 10:03 last night.

Niklas Hagman had seven shots on goal and scored three times.

SpinPlus Video: Cox on Leafs in Anaheim

SpinPlus Video: Leafs practice in Vancouver

Thursday Mail Bag

By this time next week, the Maple Leafs will either have won a couple of hockey games and ended their terrible slide or they’ll have slipped even deeper into the large hole they’ve dug for themselves in October.

But I really don’t believe they’re this bad. Moreover, even lousy hockey teams usually feature a player or two that either excels amidst the mediocrity or plays so selfishly that they’re able to rack up some good numbers.

Right now, there’s not a Leaf having a decent year, let alone a good one. That has to end at some point.

More important, sometime during the upcoming five-game trip, one or both of Vesa Toskala and Jonas Gustavsson will be back in the net for the Leafs. While Toskala hasn’t been good this season, he’s better than Joey McDonald, and Gustavsson offers a real possibility that the Leafs might own a true No. 1 goalie if they can ever get him healthy.

So by this time next week, the Leafs may have a win, their goaltending may be coming back together and somebody, either a forward or a defenceman, will have started to make a positive impact.

That’s all progress. Unless, of course, none of it actually happens.

Now on to this week’s mail bag:

Q; Damien, with the Leafs going 6-3 in the pre-season using all the "younger guys" - I know it was only pre-season - but their team game on both sides of the puck was more exciting and the effort (hustle) was there game in and game out. (I enjoyed watching them, now not so much). I think the time has come for Burke to forget about the contract issues he has and bring back the "Young Guns". Let's see what they can do for the year and if we end up in last place we still have Phil Kessell (not a bad first rounder). Please Mr Burke let's reload the guns and restart the hunt.

Mark Pettigrew, Kitchener, Ont.

A: Well, for starters, I think you’re going to see all of those younger players as the year progresses. In fact, Tyler Bozak has already played, Viktor Stalberg is on the roster and Christian Hanson is working on his game in the AHL. If you’re referring to Nazem Kadri, it was clearly the smart move to send him back to the OHL. All you have to do is look at the struggles Luke Schenn is having this season to understand being rushed as an 18-year-old often causes a lot more problems than seem evident at first.

That said, I think, Mark, that people should also understand clearly now that the pre-season has only a passing resemblance to the regular season. So successes in September don’t necessarily translate into successes in October and beyond. Really, going 6-3 in the pre-season meant nothing, which also means that evaluating players solely on how they played in those games doesn’t make a lot of sense either. Stalberg deserved to make the NHL roster, but he’s not quite the same scoring star anymore now that he’s facing live bullets, is he? Making decisions based on those exhibition tilts rarely helps.

Q: Hello Damien. I was just wondering how a team that went 6-3 in the pre-season can look so bad a mere few weeks later. The Leafs were really very good in the pre-season as we saw, and it's about more than just winning. The team was in synch, they were skating, hitting, and fights were far more spontaneous than staged. Could the OT loss to Montreal have broken the confidence of a team so soon? Or is this just a case of the world's worst slumps all happening at once? Should they just bring up half the Marlies' roster and see what happens? I am at a loss, and I follow this team very closely. Your thoughts?

Joe Scott, London, Ont.

A: To some extent, I already answered this, suggesting that far too much is made out of pre-season results. I mean, you have to look at the opposition roster as well, and its rarely truly an NHL calibre squad. You can’t be fooled by that.

In terms of the current losing streak, most teams will have a streak like this during the season. It’s just magnified when it happens right out of the gate. Look at New Jersey. The Devils lost six straight in late March/early April last year, but they were still a 106-point club. The Leafs simply haven’t had NHL calibre goaltending for most of the season, and that colors everything. That said, where’s the effort? Where’s the urgency and the desperation? People wonder about why this team doesn’t have a captain, a designated leader. I wonder more about whether there are too many players on the current roster that can’t be led.

Q: At the start of the season I agreed with the "competition" philosophy instilled by Burke and Wilson but now I'm starting to think, is it really that beneficial?  Competition is great but job security is also great.  These players look too tense out there, reminds me of a fugitive always looking over their shoulders, eventually they will make a mistake. Your thoughts?

Justin Minks, Toronto

A: I don’t see tension. I see uncertainty, confusion and players stepping outside their areas of responsibility and making errors. Much of this is caused by the goaltending problems. You see Mike Komisarek running around because he’s getting little help from the forwards and knows if he even allows a shot on his goal, it may go in. Internal competition on any team is always a good thing, doubly so on a club like this on which so few have accomplished much if anything at the NHL level.

Q: RE: the NHLPA. Gretzky seems to have some time on his hands and does have some clout. Was he active in the PA as a player, and would he be of any help to this ship of fools?

Steve H., Sudbury, Ont.

A: I can’t imagine Gretzky would want any part of this. Moreover, Glenn Healy has made it clear that the current administration headed by Ian Penny seems to believe Gretzky did not contribute significantly to the health of the union during his playing days. Why would Gretzky want to help these morons?

Q: Love the blog and perhaps the only independent view on the Leafs in the city. Last year, the Leafs could have sent Schenn back to junior after 9 games and not have it count towards service time for free agency. 

Is that option still available?  Could they send him to the Marlies now and if they keep him their all year, save a year of service time?  If so, I have to think that would be the best thing for everyone.  The kid is game, but physically and mentally a step slow in the NHL and that is not a knock on him, considering he's 19 and not supposed to be ready.  To put him with his peers where he can develop under less pressure this year and get tons of special teams minutes seems like the way to go regardless of whether the Leafs think they can make the playoffs this year.  Surely Exelby and/or Frogren can do no worse than what Schenn has shown so far at the NHL level.

James Hodgins, Stouffville, Ont.

A: Yes, they can send him to the Marlies. But it would still count as a year on his existing contract. See, that’s another problem with elevating 18-year-olds so quickly. They become free agents by age 25. So while Colorado, for example, can understandably be excited that Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly have made the grade so early, both will be free agents at 25. How does that help a team trying to build its way back to contention? Moreover, what does it gain? The Leafs weren’t going to win the Cup last year with Schenn and the Avs aren’t going to win it this year with Duchene and O’Reilly. Colorado, at least, has attendance concerns, and so it can argue it needed these young faces to start winning over fans again. But the Leafs have no such concerns. They just did it to try and prove they’d picked well in the June draft by sacrificing picks to move up and grab Schenn. It’s not exactly blowing up in their faces - Schenn is still a very good prospect - but the down side of the decision is now becoming clear. And he’ll be a free agent at 25. But I would indeed have him in the minors now. The kid has a lot to learn and needs to feel as though he can be a dominant player, just like he was in junior.

Q: Damien,
Your comments on 'The Reporters' with respect to the in-game entertainment at Leafs games was dead on! Thank you for being my voice. I've been to many games at many different rinks around the league and I can tell you that the Toronto 'show' is a national embarrassment. I mean seriously, this is supposed to be the heart of hockey and you go to a Leaf game and you want to fall asleep. In, addition, they try to dumb down the audience during breaks with loud rap music and cheesy giveaways where the audience just sits there dociled out of their minds and stare at the big screen. Somehow they need to bring back some tradition.

You go to a Rangers game and it's awesome compared to this. Please be more vocal on this topic. This is hockey mad Toronto and we should represent so much better.

Darren Burton, Toronto

A: Thanks Darren. Maybe I just see too many Leaf games, but what I see in terms of the in-game entertainment is nightmarishly bad, often boring and frequently juvenile. It’s another expression of MLSE’s contempt for the customer, but as long as the customer continues to buy, why would MLSE possibly change?

Q: Hi Damien,
Can I ask what is the deal with the 16, 17 year anniversaries for Toronto teams?  First with the Blue Jays, and now, watching the Rangers game last Saturday, the Leafs feel the need to honour a team that accomplished what exactly? 

Being a passionate Toronto sports fan, I could maybe understand the Blue Jays celebration, as they actually won something, but the Leafs?

Everyone else is already laughing at us Leaf fans, and it certainly isn't going to get better with these celebrations of "almost" great teams, that came close to having a chance to win something.

Last time I checked, there was no Dean's list, or honours award for a C student.  I can't wait for 5 years from now, when we see Gary Valk and Travis Green paraded out, for helping get one win over the halfway mark to the Stanley Cup in 2001.

David Taylor, Calgary

A: On one hand, I agree with you. Moderate accomplishments should not be treated like monumental achievements. I think the Leafs hit rock bottom in this regard several years ago when they feted Tie Domi for his 1,000th NHL game. At the same time, I don’t mind an ex-Leaf dropping the puck or being acknowledged at a home game in a small way. Players should feel special to have worn the jersey. I just wonder why the only highlight these people seem to have of Felix Potvin is a fight he once had with Ron Hextall.

Damien Cox answers your questions in The Spin, only at thestar.com.

Click here to submit a question.
**Note: please follow the link above to send a question to Damien. Questions posted in the comments section may not make it to the mailbag. Thanks.**

Changes Afoot

Only player apathy, it would appear, can save Ian Penny and Buzz Hargrove from losing their tenuous grip over the NHL Players Association.

A resounding majority of player reps voted last night by conference call to install a investigative panel of four veteran NHLers - Nicklas Lidstrom, Rob Blake, Mark Recchi and Chris Chelios - to look into the events of the past two months that have made the union the laughingstock of the hockey industry.

Included in those events was the early morning putsch in Chicago in late August that saw executive director Paul Kelly fired, and quickly resulted in the departure of senior executives like Glenn Healy and Pat Flatley.

However, while between 17 and 19 of the 22 teams represented on the last night's call voted in favour of the new committee, by the union's constitution the resolution did not pass because 25 teams were not involved and therefore there was no official quorum.

"It's really discouraging," said one player. "Guys have to understand this is important." Those in favour of the new committee have several days to try and get 20 votes in favour of the new committee, at which point it would be established. If more teams can't be persuaded to either participate or vote in favour of the new committee, it will die.

Penny, who took over as interim executive director after successfully leading the coup that resulted in Kelly's ouster, was asked to remove himself from last night's call and, after some discussion, he reluctantly did so. The players also declined to hear from baseball union boss Don Fehr, preferring instead to have a players only call.

Penny has made his opposition to this new committee known, and now has several days to try and sway the votes of various player reps. Still, this was the latest in a series of internal votes that have gone heavily against him, and it appears the five-year contract he received in June will also be reviewed.

Penny has declined requests for interviews from the Star.

Hargrove, the union's ombudsman and unofficial spokesman since Penny took over, appears on the verge of being dismissed, but he wasn't fired last night.

After allowing various more junior union members like Andrew Ference and Matt Stajan of the Maple Leafs to take influential roles in the firing of Kelly, it's noteworthy that the association seems to now be inclined to put its faith in the hands of more senior players like Chelios, Blake, Lidstrom and Recchi. Lidstrom's involvement is pivotal and there have been few influential European players involved in the union's affairs in recent months.

Ference was the loudest player voice in the room when Kelly was fired at 4 a.m. that infamous day in Chicago, but he has already announced he is stepping down as Boston's player rep. Stajan has consistently backed Penny and said the union was right to fire Kelly.

Chelios, meanwhile, was set to lose his position as Detroit's player rep on Oct. 31st because he is currently not on the Red Wings roster. This will keep him involved, and he was one of the most dogged opponents of former executive director Ted Saskin before Saskin was fired for spying on players emails.

That's not good news for Penny either.