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If you follow hockey odds, you’ve witnessed the departure of several iconic 1990s players of late; Joe Sakic is gone, we lost Jaromir Jagr the year before…and, soon enough, we’ll say goodbye to Jeremy Roenick. After Hull left, Roenick took over as the unofficial mouth of the NHL. I’m not talkin’ ambassadors; I’m talking opinionated guys who ruffle a few feathers and tell it like it is. Now that Roenick’s on his way out, who can take the mantle and become the NHL’s answer to Shaq? Don’t say Sean Avery. He’s too mean-spirited and all about shock value, so I don’t like his hockey odds of taking over the role. Martin Biron? He’s mouthy enough, but he doesn’t have an audience. Who cares about Biron? Jason Spezza’s chatty but a bit too benign. So who? Well, I don’t know if I have a winner yet, but a few names have potential. Maxime Talbot is a colorful character in Pittsburgh and is very respected. Two blueliners in Toronto also have potential – Mike Komisarek and Luke Schenn – but they still have a ways to go before they’re as colorful as Roenick or Hull. Maybe we simply haven’t met the new Mouth of the NHL yet. Time will tell |
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You know the hockey odds news has slowed significantly when the top story of the week is about a demotion – not a firing, a demotion. Hockey odds pundits, other GMs and, reportedly, players are up in arms over the Chicago Blackhawks’ demotion of Dale Tallon to Senior Adviser of hockey operations (isn’t that Scotty Bowman’s position?), or some mumbo-jumbo position like that. Taking over GM duties is Stan Bowman, son of Scotty. No surprise there. But why the uproar over Tallon’s dismissal? It’s not like they fired him. He still gets a (probably) six-figure job with the Hawks. Yeah, he helped build them into the hockey odds contender they are today, but he also narrowly escaped one of the biggest GM blunders in NHL history when he filed his restricted free-agent signings too late. It’s an honest mistake but still one that can’t get totally swept under the rug. Most importantly, Tallon himself seems fine with the move. He said he’s not offended at all and seems happy to stay with the team. So why are other people fighting his battles for him? Like Hawks management said and, like Tallon said, he’s 22 years older than Stan Bowman. Maybe he was becoming stressed or struggling to keep up with the new salary cap rules. Who knows? Either way, Tallon seems fine, so we really should apply our hockey odds debate energy elsewhere. |
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In a few months, we’ll find out if the Monster will boost Toronto’s hockey odds as much as he’s supposed to. The 24-year-old Swedish goaltender was widely regarded as the best puckstopper outside the NHL before Brian Burke and the Leafs nabbed him for a one-year deal. Reportedly, he’s a special talent – big and athletic, but also smart and technically sound. The big question hockey odds followers should ask, however, is whether or not he’ll adjust to Toronto life. Playing in Sweden may bring more pressure than we North Americans think – after all, don’t they care more about their hockey there than people do in Florida, Atlanta and Nashville? – but nothing can prepare a player for the media circus of Toronto or Montreal. It helps that Gustavsson has reportedly gotten some mentoring from Swede and former Leaf Borje Salming, but I’m sure he’ll face an adjustment period. The media scrutiny will be endless – in many ways, it already is with him. Maybe Leaf fans should expect him to be a bit nervous in goal during his first few starts. Also, it’ll be interesting to see how Gustavsson handles the physicality of the NHL. A goalie, you ask? Well, he’ll see more traffic and venom in his crease than he’s used to. However, I think he’ll be fine in that regard – he’s a big guy and, thanks to Brian Burke, he has a mean group of customers on the blueline to protect him. Best of luck to the Monster – but the Leafs may want to temper their expectations slightly for the first half of next season. |
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