Still the best name you can name

I keep reading about the NHL schedule, and frankly I’m bored. When all this schedule talk first started earlier this season, someone (I think Damien Cox, if not, I’m sorry) wrote a column at ESPN.com to the effect that if all we can complain about is the schedule, maybe the league’s doing something right.

I tend to agree with that sentiment. Nobody seems to talk lately about the fact officiating has become much more consistent. Big hits are a big part of the game again, and the play is much more physical. All while maintaining a pretty good amount of open ice for playmakers.

And in case you missed it, the playmakers are doing their thing. The fact remains there is more top-end talent in the NHL today than at any other point in league history. For every guy that played in Dallas this past Wednesday, at least two other guys had legitimate claims to spots on the All-Star rosters.

Beyond that, coaches are opening the game up and letting their offensive guys play. Nearly every team in the league is forechecking aggressively, so while scoring is down a little, scoring chances are still abundant.

So while some writers think their media credentials give them free reign to criticize the game in whatever way they see fit, this one is more interested in enjoying the game.

While talking heads from sports networks are eliminating the Florida Panthers from playoff contention in the middle of January (since everyone knows six points in the standings is insurmountable), the Panthers are actually preparing for the return of one of the game’s premier players (Todd Bertuzzi), and are poised to make a good run at the playoffs. In fact, all but four teams are within 10 points of a playoff spot coming out of the break.

While writers mourn the loss of Hockey Day In Canada, I say a four-game day featuring Montreal-Boston at 1 p.m., Vancouver-Minnesota at 4 p.m., Toronto-Ottawa at 7 p.m. and Calgary-Edmonton at 10 p.m. would probably be even more fun than the regular slate of three games.

While purists are worried about Reebok’s aesthetic vision of the NHL, players are excited to be faster, cooler and safer in their new equipment.

While injuries knock big names out of line ups, guys you’ve heard of (Ray Whitney, Yanic Perrault, Sean Burke), guys you haven’t (Maxime Lapierre, Jan Hejda, Travis Zajac), and even more hot-shot rookies (Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Anze Kopitar) are coming up with big performances every night.

And while the Pittsburgh Penguins face a very uncertain future, they’re the most exciting team in the league. No matter where this group of young men plays, they are on the verge of becoming the kind of team my friends and I will tell our kids about the way dads have told their kids about the Maple Leafs of the 60’s, the Canadiens of the 70’s, and the Islanders and Oilers of the 80’s.

Hockey is the best game you can name, and fans know that.

If the league wants to grow and expand its fan base, the writers and so-called fans and defenders of the game need to stop criticizing everything about it. It’s hard to make new fans when nobody is talking about the great games, great people and great stories offered up in every rink, every night.