Gallagher brought us a singular style
Hockey Hall of Fame honour is well deserved for a columnist who shone brightly in Vancouver
This is the power of Tony Gallagher. He pushed the musings and meditations on the world of sports back a day so he could be saluted properly.
• I had known Gallagher for a decade when I was hired by
The Province in 1998 and, in complete candour, I wasn’t optimistic we’d forge a good
working relationship.
For starters, we saw the world through a completely different lens as I had learned
in many barroom discussions with Tony and his good friend Al Strachan. We also had a different approach to the job, which was reflected in the way we wrote and the sources we cultivated. As I thought about working
with Tony, friction seemed inevitable. At the start, I wasn’t disappointed. I had read one of Tony’s more strident pieces and I’d wonder, “How can he think that?” I know he thought the same thing about some of my columns but as we settled into our roles, something changed. Those differences didn’t
detract from our work, our professional relationship or the sports section. In the end
it made them all stronger. The Province’s readers never had
to worry about reading formulaic, predictable copy. They got honest opinions from two different perspectives.
Tony, as it turned out, was also easy to work with, a pro’s
pro.
OK, it helped we worked different sides of the street but in almost 20 years at The Province, there was never a violent collision. It got to the point where we didn’t have to check
what the other was writing. We just knew the columns wouldn’t be alike.
At their best, that’s what
newspapers offer: Strong, independent voices that are born of different experiences and points of view. At least that’s the way it used to be.
The media landscape has since changed and those strong, independent voices have been reduced and marginalized. Tony’s was that voice in this market for over 40 years. It was stiletto-sharp. It was uncompromising. You didn’t know what you were going to get from day to day but you knew it was going to be something you didn’t get anywhere
else.
On Monday, he was named the Elmer Ferguson Award winner for journalism excellence, which means he’ll go
into the Hockey Hall of Fame. That is noteworthy but the real testament of Gallagher’s body of work concerns his home city.
In this dodge it’s easy to be
noticed in Montreal, Toronto, New York and the other big markets. But you have to shine a powerful light to be noticed in Vancouver, an outpost that is protected by a force field rising from the Rocky Mountains.
Tony did that and did it in a singular style. He was an original. It grieves me to think he
might be the last of a breed. • Onward. As much as the
NHL wants Las Vegas as one
of its hub cities, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see how they can set up shop in Sin City.
On Monday, Nevada announced it recorded its highest number of one-day infections since the COVID
19 pandemic hit in March. The numbers from Clark County, where Vegas is located, are equally alarming.
That leaves Edmonton and Toronto. All along the league has said the health and safety of the players are its top priority.
The two Canadian cities might not be their first choice. But it’s beginning to look like it’s their only choice.
• It could be the NHL will have to take a long hard look at the draft lottery after this season’s results.
To recap, Detroit, which
had the worst record in the NHL by a surreal 23 points, dropped three places in the lotto and Ottawa, which held the second pick by virtue of its own ineptitude and the third via the Erik Karlsson trade with San Jose, dropped to
third and fifth.
The result has been a louder outcry than when the Canucks dropped from the third overall pick to fifth in 2016 and second to fifth in 2017. Never mind the lottery has consistently produced skewed results since the league went to an expanded format in 2016. It now seems
the inequity of the system has registered with a larger audience. If the NHL is worried about
tanking, they can still limit the number of teams in the lottery or the number of places a team can fall. But the system isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. We’ve known that in Vancouver for a couple of years. Seems the rest of the league is starting to catch on. • And finally, it’s hard to
know what the criteria is for the Hockey Hall of Fame and a look at the list of inductees doesn’t exactly clear up the
mystery.
Bernie Federko, a good centre on a series of undistinguished St. Louis Blues teams, is in largely because he happened to play during one of the highest-scoring eras in NHL history.
Alex Mogilny, a transcendent talent who scored more goals per game in his career than Teemu Selanne, Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman, is still out.
Kevin Lowe, an above-average, stay-at-home defenceman who landed on the Edmonton Oilers, the most talented team of the post-expansion era, is in.
Sergei Zubov, a more talented, more productive player, is out. Dick Duff? Sure. Daniel
Alfredsson? Sorry. On it goes. The problem isn’t the selections, per se. The problem is so many players have been allowed in over the years the standard has been muddied beyond recognition. Player “X” is in and that’s
good for him. But, too often there is little to distinguish him from any number of other players. Look down the list of inductees and tell me Mogilny isn’t better than at least 10
players who are in the hall.
He should be in, but where have you heard that before.