Crossing the line, or are ‘hot mics’ to blame?
Granted, Miss Manners bolted from the rink long ago, hands clasped tightly over her aching ears, so the vile words Matthew Tkachuk directed at Tomas Nosek late in Game 2 of the Bruins-Panthers series were nothing new, especially at playoff time. Hockey can be a crude, nasty business. What’s fairly new on the scene is the installation and use of hot TV mics located squarely in shouting range of the bench area, and the ESPN microphones captured Tkachuk’s words for the viewing/listening audience to hear. For those who missed the bon mots, sorry, they can’t be repeated here in a family newspaper/digital platform.
Later in the series, after Tkachuk and Linus Ullmark engaged in their onice kerfuffle late in Game 4, your faithful puck chronicler asked Brad Marchand if he felt Tkachuk’s words days earlier with Nosek had crossed the line.
Marchand immediately placed blame on TV (he broadly used the term media) for what happened.
“I think the NHL and the media outlets have crossed the line by allowing those mics to continue to play,” he said, “and try to go down to listen to what is said on the bench while that is going on. There is a reason guys don’t want mics on the bench and that’s why.”
The best/safest practice would be to keep the microphone feed muted during the live broadcast. Once an editor/ censor reviewed it, then it could be played back, provided there is enough time to roll replays. The TkachukNosek confrontation, each of them yelling at the end of his bench, came in the last two minutes of the Panthers’ 6-3 victory. Chances of rolling in a replay were diminishing.
“They’re going to take advantage of it at some point, and they did,” noted Marchand, referring to the broadcast entities. “Regardless of what is said by Tkachuk or by other guys, there should never be an instance where a mic picks up any of that stuff. What’s said on the ice and what’s said on the bench . . . that’s the way guys play, especially at playoff time. And the fact that the media outlets allowed that to happen, it’s very disrespectful to the agreement we have in place.”
One bit of comic relief came when ex-NHLer Ray Ferraro, stationed between the benches, noted to broadcast partner Sean McDonough that the onice officials would be wise to resume play as soon as possible before big trouble broke out.
“Yeah,” offered a wry Ferraro, noting he fired a few epithets in his playing days, “we’re not splittin’ the atom down here.” Overall, added Marchand, the hot mics are “going to get guys in trouble and it’s not fair and it’s not right.” As to Tkachuk’s choice of words, just “part of the game,” said Marchand.
Well, no one should be surprised to learn here that a career newspaper guy isn’t going to disagree with limiting the access and power of TV (if anyone can even imagine such a thing). Marchand is 100 percent correct on that point, one that will have to be revisited by the league, players, and broadcast partners over the summer, if not sooner. Sooner would be better, because summer leads to amnesia, and 15 playoff teams that are too hurt to talk about anything, and one team is left nursing the mother of celebratory hangovers.
As for the content of Tkachuk’s words, your faithful puck chronicler felt they crossed the line, that they were too personal, too close to a man’s soul.
And I get it, all’s fair in love and war, and whatever it takes in an attempt to get guys off their game for a chance to be the one that carries the Stanley Cup out of the building.
But at what cost to self-dignity? What cost to the game’s profile and NHL brand?
The issue of intrusive microphones can be fixed, and that’s the good news. The content of Tkachuk’s words, and the underlying character they reveal, are only for him to repair.
Bowness didn’t hide his feelings
Rick Bowness was a new-age coach long before the new age dawned. His patience and willingness to listen to players was evident when he was named the bench boss in Boston in the summer of 1991, and led largely to his quick dismissal when old-school general manager Harry Sinden dumped him after one season and replaced him with Brian Sutter.
So it was out of character to hear Bowness unload on his depleted Jets Thursday night when they were rubbed out by Bruce Cassidy’s Golden Knights in the clinching Game 5 of their Round 1 series.
Bowness, 68, has coached more games than anyone in NHL history. In his brief postgame news conference, lasting a little more than 60 seconds, it sounded like he was delivering a message as much to the front office as the roster.
The “lack of pushback” he witnessed from his squad, noted Bowness, left him “disappointed and disgusted.”
Ouch. Working these days in Manitoba, maybe some of that ever-blunt Alberta Sutterism has rubbed off on “Bones.”
“It’s the same crap we saw in February,” he added. “As soon as we were challenging for first place and teams were coming after us, we had no pushback. This series we had no pushback.”
The Knights owned a 4-0 lead in Game 5 before Kyle Connor (assisted by ex-Bruin Blake Wheeler) potted the lone Jets goal. A push had to come from the likes of Pierre-Luc Dubois, Adam Lowry, Mason Appleton, Nik Ehlers, Connor, and Wheeler. But . . . flatline.
The Jets were without injured key contributors Josh Morrissey (76 points from the backline this season) and forwards Mark Scheifele and Cole Perfetti. All big hits. But with such little push, going back for months, the front office will have to consider moves.
Dubois, a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, brings a $6 million cap hit to the bargaining table. He delivered 27 goals and 63 points, but GM Kevin Cheveldayoff might have to let him walk, or work a trade. Wheeler, 36, has a year left at $8.25 million and can invoke a clause that allows him to be dealt to only one of five teams.
“There’s got to be pride,” said a frustrated Bowness. “You’ve got to be able to push back when things aren’t going your way. [The Knights] were the better team in the regular season. They were the better team in the series.”
What makes change all the more difficult for Winnipeg is location, location, location. It’s in Winnipeg.
“Great hockey city,” noted one longtime GM. “But players don’t want to go there. It’s on every guy’s no-trade list. By comparison, Winnipeg or Buffalo . . . guys think of Buffalo like it’s Paris.”
Lack of buzz over openings
Another GM or two could be shown the door this coming week, based on the first eight teams booted from Round 1.
For now, the coveted openings remain in Pittsburgh, Calgary, and Philadelphia, where ex-forward Daniel Briere has held the interim tag in the post-Chuck Fletcher era.
The Flames, who had a mutual parting with Brad Treliving, have obvious in-house candidates in Craig Conroy and Brad Pascal, a former University of North Dakota defenseman (and onetime Sabres draft pick).
Flames ownership is expected to cast a wider net than Pascal and Conroy, the latter of whom became a fan favorite in his many seasons as a Flames center. He likely would carry the fan vote, while Pascal, with a lower public profile, could be a more astute administrative fit.
Buzz around all three hires has been surprisingly quiet, possibly because media coverage and fan interest typically wane when teams fail to qualify for the playoffs. Fans focus on sweaters with names on the back rather than the tailored suits in the front office.
“I’ve been a little surprised that no one’s called to ask about any of our people,” said one GM whose team made the playoffs. “But we’re still in it, which could be why no one’s asking. And there could be more shakeout if another guy gets let go.”
Watching from a world away
Roman and Miluse Lauko, whose son Jakub has shown increasing confidence on the Bruins’ fourth line during the playoffs, recently returned to Czechia after their two-week visit to the Hub of Hockey.
Now back in their small village (population 150) outside Chomutov, northwest of Prague and on the German border, they’ve been watching their son’s games via live broadcast of the NHL beamed in from North America. Puck drops for many of the games in Boston and Sunrise, Fla., were around 2 a.m.
“They’ve been going to bed around 9 o’clock, sleeping 2-3 hours, then watching the games,” said the 23-year-old Lauko. “Then they go back to bed around 5 a.m., sleep a couple of more hours, and then start their day.”
It’s a little easier on Miluse, who is now retired, than Roman, who has worked the last 25 years for HC Litvinov, in Czechia’s top pro league. He fills the dual role of equipment manager and traveling secretary.
Little Litvinov has delivered a slew of players over the years to the NHL, including Ivan Hlinka, Petr Svoboda, Jiri Slegr, and Robert Lang. The Bruins drafted Lauko after his two years playing for Chomutov, and following the pandemic he briefly played for Karlovy Vary before resuming his career in North America.
Once back home in the offseason, said Lauko, his first order of business will be to send his folks on vacation. Maybe, say, Switzerland?
“It’s nice there,” he said, “but I want to put them on a beach, get some sun, so maybe Italy or Turkey.”
Meanwhile, he plans to stay put in their home near Chomutov.
“I told them, ‘When I come back, I’m going to buy you a vacation,’ ” Lauko said. “Yeah, and I’m going to throw a big party . . . when they’re away!”
If not for his angelic smile, you might think that’s a bit of risky business.
Loose pucks
One of the everlasting story lines of the playoffs: the kid who comes out of nowhere to make a big impact. Leadoff hitter this year is the Kraken’s Tye Kartye. A 21-year-old winger, Kartye signed with Seattle more than a year ago as a free agent out of junior hockey (Sault Ste. Marie) and spent all this season with AHL Coachella Valley, popping for 57 points in 72 games. On Wednesday, in his NHL debut, his first career goal broke a 1-1 tie with the Avalanche and put the Kraken out front for good in a 3-2 win — and a 3-2 series lead over the defending Cup champions. The 5foot-11-inch, 200-pounder went undrafted after a low-production first season at Sault Ste. Marie, then delivered better than a point per game for the next two years there before signing with the Kraken. “A year ago,” Kartye told reporters after his debut, “this was my wildest dream.” . . . While on the subject of Sault Ste. Marie, Kraken GM
Ron Francis grew up there and also played his junior hockey with the Greyhounds, leading to his pick at No. 4 by the Whalers in the 1981 draft. In life before Internet radio, Francis’s father would have to drive to the top of a hill in the Soo, turn on his car radio, and take in every second of Chuck Kaiton’s
play-by-play call of Whaler games . . . Just as the Bruins waited for David Pastrnak’s stick to run hot vs. the Panthers, the Rangers were in a more dire waiting game with Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. They combined for 68 goals in the regular season. As of Friday morning, they had a collective postseason scoring line of 0-4–4. And the Blueshirts were in a 3-2 series deficit with the growing-more-confident Devils . . . Not a good look: Maple Leafs GM
Kyle Dubas, understandably frustrated in thefishbowl of a world that is Toronto hockey, exchanging epithets with Lightning fans during a game this past week at Amalie Arena. It’s not easy to tune out the hateful yahoos, many often fueled with alcohol, but GMs and players alike have to remain above it all (things not taught at GM University). Cameras caught Dubas above it all, from his spot in Amalie’s press box/ suite area, engaged in an F-word flurry with someone in the stands. Wonder if someone in the stands reminded him the Leafs are looking for their first Cup since 1967 . . . Good pal Dave Stubbs,
ex-of the Montreal Gazette and resident historian for nhl.com, penned a fine piece recently on ex-Rangers great Vic Hadfield, key member of the Goal-AGame (GAG) line with Jean Ratelle and
Rod Gilbert. They were a part of the Rangers team that the Bruins dumped in the 1972 Stanley Cup Final in six games, which was the closest Hadfield and Gilbert came to a title. In his Bruins days, Gentleman Jean got two more cracks at it, making it to the Cup Final in 1977 and ’78, only to be dumped by the Canadiens. Hadfield lamented that extensive stomach surgery a couple of years ago prevented him from attending Gilbert’s funeral in the summer of 2021. “It really bothered me that I couldn’t say goodbye to Rod,” he told Stubbs. “We’d known each other for over 60 years. I couldn’t sleep for three days when I got the word. I couldn’t function.” In that 1971-72 season, the GAG line was the first in NHL history to have all three members pot at least 40 goals — Gilbert (43), Ratelle (46), and Hadfield (50) . . . Leading scorer for the Devils through five games against the Rangers: ex-Bruin Erik Haula
(3-2–5), the 32-year Finnish forward flipped to New Jersey last summer for Pavel Zacha. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald
felt he needed a secure hand at the faceoff dot, and Haula delivered, winning 54.2 percent of his 1,057 drops. An unrestricted free agent in July, Haula has played for five teams over the last four seasons and could be headed for No. 6. As steady as he’s been, the Devils have a wealth of young forwards that need more playing time (and some raises). Fitzgerald also will have to spend to keep UFA Timo Meier, added at the trade deadline in a major swap with the Sharks. Meier flatlined (0-0–0) in the first five playoff games with the Devils
. . . Proud son of Montreal, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery brightened up on Thursday when someone in the press corps brought up the name of exRed Sox skipper Terry Francona. “Expos, first base, great hitter!” chimed in Montgomery. Francona, then 22, broke in with the Expos in 1981 and was a career .274 hitter over 10 major league seasons, but he never made more than 296 plate appearances. So “great” may be a stretch, albeit another example of Montgomery’s undaunted power-ofpositivity attitude. The guy could make
Eddie Bressoud out to be a Gold Glover.