Hockey: As is always the case, the Toronto Maple Leafs are taking the front page of most hockey sources right now. It isn't because of major events like the signing of a draft pick or reaching an agreement with some under the radar player from over in Europe. Nope, the status quo remains; the Leafs are front page news because Tomas Kaberle has is no-trade clause coming back into effect at midnight (EST) tonight. Because of this earth shattering event, the hockey must keep constant tabs on exactly what Burke is saying, have opinions from Kaberle, and must back months and months into archives to bring out a single quote from either expressing "displeasure" or "unwillingness" to stay in Toronto.
ESPN, TSN, CBC, and Sportsnet all have front page news for Kaberle. The only major exception is on ESPN, which is using the day as speculation central, and is including the likes of Kovalchuk and Niemi in the mix. Interesting, out of the 4, ESPN is the only non-Canadian site. I understand that the Leafs are the NHL's most popular team (theoretically speaking, of course; there is no evidence to support that the Leafs are more popular then any other team), but does the whole NHL universe need to know what the Leafs are doing on a day-by-day basis? Is the hockey world made better because the Maple Leafs have constant coverage on every event, happening, or non-happening? The simple answer is 'no'.
Recall back to June: it is the day after the Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup. I awoke the next morning to do my usual look on TSN for some of the specifics of the cup win, thoughts after the game, interesting stats, and what-have-you. I loaded up my browser and directed myself to TSN. I was floored: there, in the middle of the tsn.ca/nhl was a big picture of Tomas Kaberle with a caption referring to if he's going to stay or go. I was shocked. Hockey reporters did everything they could to suppress the urge to talk about Toronto throughout the second season (as has been the case for the past 4 years), but the day after it was done the kids just couldn't wait anymore. This example illustrates how confused Canadian reporting is on hockey. It doesn't matter which network you're watching, at some point in their year that network will open the debate 'is centric focus on Toronto necessary?' Time and time again you will hear some punched up, inflated bullshit to describe how it might be good; however, the final consensus on the matter is a direct "no!" So, we have groups of reporters and analysts stating that this is bad, but there is no change.
Here's another example: an independent arbitrator recently ruled that the Kovalchuk deal was invalid. This prompted the league to review several major contracts, notably the Cauncks' Luongo. I looked around for opinions by the team and Luongo and could not find any. Did anyone think to look into that? Try to ask Luongo about what this might mean? Of course not. Vancouver is not Toronto, thus Vancouver doesn't get the additional in depth look at team happenings. If it isn't clear already, this is a major issue. There is a lot of debate around long term, front-end loaded contracts. Any further ruling by the league will be precedent setting. Why are we not hearing from the players about the impact it would have on them and the team, possible reimbursement for the teams if a contract was voided, or what would happen to those players if they had their contracts torn up? None of this has anything directly to do with Toronto. The response? Cover something else about Toronto.
Until Toronto is doing groundbreaking work, making the playoffs, and is showing success, this coverage is undeserved. The only coverage we should be seeing is a mix of pessimistic/fatalistic outlook for the league's worst team over the last 5 years and the optimistic torch bearing of those who believe that Toronto might turn it around. Both should be mixed into the pack of other team analyzing. The league is not in fantastic shape with a number of teams hemorrhaging money. Fuller coverage of each team will spur more interesting for those teams. That might not increase the fan base immediately, but as kids get turned onto hockey and start to follow some of the reporting on it, they might be able to choose another team. Supporting your local team is fine, but what about supporting a league with a bad leg?
On a related note, Kaberle isn't going anywhere. Burke wants something very, very specific. Mostly, a guarantee that Komisarek will be healthy for the entire season. No trade can give him that.
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