The Hockey News September 14, 2015

IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THE BILLY JOEL SCHOOL of philosophy and tend to love things just the way they are, good on you. Loyalty is an admirable trait, traditions are important. That reality, however, doesn’t apply to hockey. Sure, you can claim to be a purist and rail against change, but the concept of permanency in the game is fallacious. Alterations to it began before Howie Morenz could skate and have been a constant ever since. And we’re not just talking tweaks. The brand that was played when the NHL and its predecessor, the NHA, emerged in the early 20th century, is worlds apart from what we see today, which will be markedly different 25 years from now. If virtually all had remained status quo since 1910-11 – the first year of…

THE ISLANDERS’ MOVE FROM suburban Nassau County to Brooklyn, New York City’s largest borough, means more than a new venue in a new town for the up-andcoming club. It also has serious implications for the franchise’s existing Long Island fan base and presents an opportunity to develop a new one. What is little known, however, is that the move ushers in a unique business model for owner Charles Wang and his partners, Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin, one that offloads the team’s back-office operation to the Barclays Center staff. Essentially, the Islanders no longer administer or control their own business operation, a highly unusual situation. The agreement to move the franchise includes the provision that the arena pays Islanders ownership an annual sum to play at Barclays Center and, in exchange, Barclays…

PuckJunk.com Trading card company Score received a license to make hockey cards in 1990, and it looked to hockey’s future when hiring a spokesman to hype its new product. Instead of opting for a current NHLer, they scooped up junior league phenom Eric Lindros, signing him to an exclusive endorsement deal. Lindros was still a year too young to be eligible for the NHL draft, and only Score could issue cards of him until he played in the NHL. The last card in their inaugural 1990-91 set was this “Future Superstar” one of Lindros, showing the future first-overall NHL pick with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals.…

Homerism ain’t what it used to be. That’s good news given what we now know about how one NHL official nearly tainted the first Art Ross Trophy race in 1948. Of course, controversies back then typically involved Montreal’s Maurice Richard, who unwittingly became the first of only two NHLers to record an unassisted hat trick. Unfortunately, his never should have counted. Richard’s linemate Elmer Lach was battling Rangers center Buddy O’Connor for the scoring crown in March, 1948 during their last game as opponents at Madison Square Garden. O’Connor had 57 points, Lach 56, and each had two games left. With the Canadiens up 4-3, the Rangers pulled goalie ‘Sugar’ Jim Henry. Twice in the final minute Lach won faceoffs in the Canadiens zone and passed to Richard, who empty-netted both. Instead…

Gary Roberts had a surprise for his players when they started training with him again this summer. It wasn’t a sleek new machine, a powerful new superfood or a funky new core exercise. It was far more scientific. As his NHL clients returned to his gym in Toronto – Steven Stamkos, Connor McDavid and James Neal among them – Roberts had each player’s DNA tested. An ex-NHLer himself, he understands a player’s mindset when it comes to training and knows he prefers to be shown, not told, what to do. “What I like is that a player is going to see his own DNA,” Roberts said. “You can tell them something, and they won’t clue in, but if they actually see their results, they say, ‘S---, my DNA doesn’t lie.’ ” Among…

TOMORROW’S NHLERS WON’T resemble Robocops, but they will take off quicker and fly on the ice with lighter, streamlined skates, sticks and protective gear. The future New York Rangers will probably look more the like the Power Rangers, with a dash of Speed Racer. Equipment will help players maneuver more naturally and perform better. And despite the reduction in bulk, gear will be more protective to compensate for faster shots and harder impacts. New materials and technologies handed down from the aerospace industry are already propelling the evolution. They’ll be more prominent as the composites and foams that make a Boeing 787 Dreamliner lighter and fuel-efficient land in the sporting goods industry. Those new materials will be deceptively rugged. Besides absorbing and channelling collisions and stress, they’ll be tuned to help players…