THE WAR ROOM - Vote #01 - Most Annoying NHL Fan Base

Spike.com recently decided to list what they considered the Top 10 Teams with the most annoying fans.  Two NHL teams made their list...Montreal at number nine, and Vancouver at number five.  While the reasoning behind their selections was questionable, it prompted Peter Berce to ask who constitutes the most annoying fan base in the National Hockey League?

We went to the phones, and solicited email, and the results are below:

The Most Annoying Fan Base in the NHL belongs to the DETROIT RED WINGS.

2.  Toronto Maple Leafs
3.  Washington Capitals
4.  New York Rangers
5.  Pittsburgh Penguins
6.  Montreal Canadiens
7.  Anaheim Ducks
8.  New Jersey Devils
9.  Buffalo Sabres
10.Boston Bruins

Six other NHL clubs garnered a vote or two during the show.

As for the reasons a large number of people chose the Red Wings' fan base as the most annoying, it appears that a healthy degree of jealousy was involved in the reasoning, as nary a caller/emailer presented a nuanced argument.  Most spoke of having to put up with over-the-top Detroit fans invading their arena.

The same reasoning was applied to the fanatical followers of the Toronto Maple Leafs, though most contributors pointed out that at least the Red Wings have won a handful of Stanley Cups in the recent past, which means the Leafs' fans blind devotion makes no sense whatsoever.

The run-and-gun Capitals came under criticism for having maybe the most sensitive fans in the league, fans that cannot stand even a solitary person daring to speak a discouraging word about the Caps.  No surprise that practically every Penguins fan who contributed to the show chose Washington fans as the most annoying. Caps fans retaliated and helped place the Pens fifth.

"The War Room" can be heard every weekday at 11 am Eastern (8 am Pacific) on NHL Home Ice.

- Mick Kern and Peter Berce

Back in those (mostly) innocent days when I was a kid, one sports story that worked its way through my Grade Four classroom was the sordid tale of a couple of New York Yankees pitchers that swapped their entire families.  Not just their wives, but also their kids and their dogs.  No word if the furniture was thrown in, or if there was a set-of-dishes to be named later.

Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson were solid pitchers for the Yankees, but to a bunch of nine-year-old growing up in suburban Edmonton, these guys were as famous as Reggie Jackson or Catfish Hunter.

It was just plain weird what the southpaws did, never mind what your personal morals may be.  Sure, it was the early 70's, and the hangover from the technicolour Sixties was upon us, but this went beyond wife swapping.  To this day, I still scratch my head at the notion.

Hockey, being a mostly conservative sport in almost every aspect of that definition, has never publicly had the same arrangement, though you hear stuff sometimes you can't repeat, though no doubt someone is squirreling it all away for a future tell-all book.

So it comes as a complete shock to me that former Edmonton Oilers' owner Peter Pocklington reveals in, what else, his new book, that at one point during the early 1980's, two National Hockey League teams almost went all Kekich/Peterson, and pulled off the most outrageous trade in the history of sports.

Having obviously squirreled away a ton of inside stories over the years, along with a map of where all the bodies are buried, Peter Puck has grabbed the attention for his new book he hoped he would by revealing that he worked out a deal with Toronto Maple Leafs' legendary owner Harold Ballard that would have seen the two men swap teams.

Swap teams.  Completely.  Which means the fine folk of Edmonton would have been saddled with the complete roster of the early 80's Maple Leafs, just in time to watch the young guns of the Oilers emege as one of the greatest teams in NHL history.  The trouble is, those young bucks would have been hoisting all those Stanley Cups dressed in Maple Leaf blue.  Worse, the city of Edmonton would have had Ballard within their city borders.

Apparently, for whatever reason, Ballard changed his mind and the entire thing was scuttled.

The mind is boggled at the implications of such a wholesale trade, if it had been allowed to proceed.  Since such a possibility reads like science fiction, let's put on the Spock ears and follow the changes that would have occurred to our timeline, if that deal had actually gone forward.

It should be noted that the pebble in the pond, check that, the giant boulder in the pond that the Oilers-Leafs swap would have been to the rest of the NHL would have had far-reaching implications, that would still be felt to this day.

The Edmonton Oilers would have moved years ago, if that deal had materialized.  Most likely, the Houston Oilers would have had to wait until the death of Ballard, and the battle over his diminished estate had been settled, before they could finally concentrate on the business of hockey, and during the 1995-96 season, Houston would win the Stanley Cup.

The Quebec Nordiques would still be in the league, though they never would have ended up with goaltender Patrick Roy, and thus, to this day, the Nordiques still would not have won the Stanley Cup, and there are still concerns about building a new arena.  There are whispers the team may move to Kansas City.

Roy would remain with the Montreal Canadiens, though head coach Mario Tremblay would have lost his job as a result.  The Canadiens would make the Cup Final in 1998, losing to the Detroit Red Wings.

The Nordiques would not have been in position to draft Eric Lindros first overall in 1991; that honour went to the Edmonton Oilers, who had earlier traded the rights to the New Jersey Devils for Tom Kurvers, and it was the Devils who took Lindros first that year.

Lindros would thrive in the Swamp, and he never suffered a concussion from that devastating Scott Stevens open-ice hit, as they were on the same team.  Lindros would retire as a member of the Devils, having won three Stanley Cups, in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

A young Peter Forsberg would captain the Philadelphia Flyers to the 1995 Cup.

If Pocklington had ended up with his young team in Toronto, he would have most likely made a ton of cash over what he realized in Northern Alberta.  Even with his business problems that existed in other industries he ran (Gainers Foods), Peter Puck would have not needed to cash in his depreciating asset known as Wayne Gretzky.  Even if he later broke up the Boys On The Bus, odds are Bruce McNall would have been exposed as a charlatan by then, which means the Great One doesn't end up in L.A, after winning five Cups with Toronto.

Let's say, instead, Gretzky is traded by the Leafs to the Rangers.  It is he, in 1994, that hoists the Stanley Cup over his head, as the Broadway Blueshirts end their 54-year drought.

As for the Kings, they continue to flounder, though the NHL props them up financially.  As a result, there isn't a mad rush to pan fool's gold in the U.S. south, meaning that the likes of the Anaheim Ducks and Florida Panthers never come-to-be. 

The NHL still would expand to Ottawa and Tampa, though the Lightning are moved to Minnesota, and that's where they win the Stanley Cup in 2004 over the Flyers.

The Thrashers and Predators never see the light-of-day, though Penguins' owner Mario Lemieux threatens to move his team to Nashville if he doesn't get a sweetheart arena deal from the city of Pittsburgh.

The league is impressed with the Nashville bid, and promises to consider expansion to Tennessee, and Kansas City, in the near future.  Canadian billionaire businessman Jim Balsillie, by now a personal friend of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, is often mentioned as the owner of a Nashville NHL franchise.

No-one ever hears about William Boots Del Biaggio.

The Islanders still need a new arena, and threaten to move to Hamilton, which Pocklington blocks.

The Winnipeg Jets still move to Phoenix, as the NHL is emboldened by the relative success of the Houston Oilers and Dallas Stars, though even in this alternative timeline, the Coyotes still lose a ton of money.

The North Stars have moved to Dallas, setting up a great rivalry with Houston, but overall, the NHL have dipped a tentative toe into the expansion waters, instead of diving in headfirst, and ending up with the fractured neck they have now.

Which only goes to prove that in every scenario, no matter how bleak, no matter how wacky, there is always a sliver of hope.

Makes me wish Ballard didn't get cold feet.

- Mick Kern

On the way home from Gretzky's restaurant in downtown Toronto this afternoon, I passed by Legends of the Game, one of the better sports collectible stores in the city.

Over the past decade, an obscene amount of my cash has found its way into the store's till, thanks to my feverish pursuit of McFarlane sports figures.  That madness has thankfully come to an end, as the 400 plus plastic figures have taken over my basement.  Like a museum, at best only 20 per cent of my collection is on display at any given time, owing to space restrictions.

Still, the urge to collect sports stuff is strong, and on this day, I decided to duck in and pick up a few packs of hockey cards, just for old times sake.

Back in the days before media guides and the internet, hockey cards were my conduit to the magical world of hockey statistics.  They were cheaper than a subscription to The Hockey News, and nobody I know of ever played scrambles with a newspaper.

The trouble with hockey cards began in the late 80's, when suddenly the likes of Upper Deck began to get into the business, and the mass production of hockey cards flooded the market. Everyone became a speculator, as card prices went through the roof.  The get-rich-quick approach to hockey cards effectively chilled the market for the longest time, and not surprisingly, the bottom fell out, and a lot of people were stuck with boxes and boxes of worthless cards.

No longer was it the domain of kids, looking to get a card of their favourite player.  Now the market belonged to middle-aged men who were looking to hold onto whatever vestige of their youth remained.

I fit that description to a T, though I never collected to make money.  My hockey card days date back to the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee set and my growing love for the game.  And no, my mother never threw out my cards, though my Dad tried a few times.  I still have them all.  I may not have much to leave my son, but he'll inherit all my hockey and baseball cards.  Yup, he'll be one grateful kid.

Every so often, I'll pick up a pack or two of different sets, just to take a look at what they look like, and for the thrill of cracking open a pack, and seeing who you get.

On this day, I laid down thirty bucks, not including tax, for twelve packs of the resurrected O-Pee-Chee line. Their 2009-10 set consists of 600 cards, which means, if I were to never get doubles in a pack, it would take me $250 to collect the entire set, and we all know the world doesn't work that way.  During my pursuit of the entire set, I'd be saddled with doubles and triples of the likes of Ryan Callahan or Chris Kelly, instead of Alexander Ovechkin.  The cost of piecing together a complete set would be considerably more than $250.

I could go on-line and circumvent the entire collecting experience, and order the set already put together, but what fun is that?  An internet search turned up a store that will sell you a unopened box of 36 packs for 75 dollars.  That's still only 216 cards, well short of 600.

Besides, any sports card collector knows there's more cards to a set than the advertised number.  There's something known as insert cards.

Ahh, insert cards, the crack cocaine of card collecting.  The 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee set, owned by Upper Deck, who know a thing or two about squeezing extra cash out of you, boasts a number of subsets, including something known as Quad Jerseys.

Whatver the heck that is, you have a 1 in 144 chance of getting your hands on one of these suckers.  Must be a variation on the tired old worn jersey theme.  You know how that works.  Athlete enters a room, puts on his sweater, they take a few pictures, and ten seconds later, he takes that one off, and puts on another one.

Representatives from the card company pounce on the discarded jersey, scurry off with it to some secret location, and proceed to cut it into hundreds of pieces, which are mounted on cards, and inserted into packs as premium cards.

I have a couple of MLB jersey cards that I stumbled across while piecing together the 2008 Topps baseball set, a Mariners' pitcher, and someone else.  Apparently those cards made quite the impression on me.

When I cracked open my dozen packs, I should have ended up with 72 cards.  A quick count reveals I only have 71.

Was I ripped off?  The wife would say so, but she'd say that even if I ended up with 71,000 cards for my thirty bucks.

What happened is in one pack, I only got five cards, as one of the cards in that pack was printed on thicker card stock.  It's a rather sharp looking "Canadian Heroes" card featuring a black-and-white photo of Mr. Hockey.

Numbered CBH2, this Gordie Howe card is a keeper, and the best thing about it is the stats on the back.  They extoll Howe's three goals and four assists he had in eight games during the Canada-Russia series of 1974.  The forgotten series.  The series where the best from the World Hockey Association went up against the Russians, a scant two years after Paul Henderson and all that drama.

The best card I pulled from the dirty dozen packs was an autographed Henrik Sedin card.  Numberd S-HS, it has a blue ink signature of the big Swede, protected by some plasticky film.

Now we're talking.  This must truly be a premium card.  Maybe I can pay off my mortgage.  A quick look at the back of the plasticky package wrapping, adorned with a drawing of Wayne Gretzky circa 1979, reveals that you have a 1 in 216 chance of landing an autographed card.

Okay, not so rare, but still far from a common.  I wonder how many of these babies Henrik signed.  And how do I know he really signed it?

The back of the card promises it is the real thing, declaring the autograph "was signed in the presence of a company representative", or it was sent from Henrik, and certified by someone on his street, maybe his mom.

The thing is, how do they know it was Henrik that signed it?  Maybe it was Daniel.  When the Upper Deck representative made his way to Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, maybe he mixed up the twins.  Maybe Daniel signed it as a practical joke.  I must remember to bring the card along with me next time the Canucks play at the Air Canada Centre, and get on-the-spot confirmation that Henrik indeed signed it.  Trouble is, I'll probably end up asking Daniel.

I debated displaying the autographed card here at home, but quickly realized my five-year-old son would probably take it with him to school, and trade it for a couple of Pokemon cards.

The majority of my 71 cards were of the common variety; a few star players mixed in with the pluggers.  The most interesting card from a visual standpoint is the Pascal Leclaire card.  He's resplendent in his red Ottawa Senators jersey, staring at the camera like its picture day at school.

Sure, a boring pose, but it stands out in this set, as the rest of the cards are all standard action shots.  The trouble is, the image fills the face of the card, great for getting a look at the dude's face, but lousy for projecting any perspective.  I would have preferred if a number of the cards in this set utilized different perspectives.  Give me some variety.

For thirty bucks, I want to be entertained.  With the exception of my Sedin autographed card, the Howe card, and a really cool Legend card of Terry O'Reilly and one of Bobby Orr, I might give the rest of them to my kid, and see what he can get for them on the open market at school.

- Mick Kern

UPDATE: Sal Barry of puckjunk.com had this to add to the article...

"Regarding your Sedin autograph--nice pull. You might want to quit while you are ahead. However, that is known as a "sticker autograph", meaning Sedin autographed a sheet of clear stickers, and then the sticker was peeled and stuck onto the card. Most autograph collectors hate sticker autos, preferring what they call "hard signed autos"--meaning, the player actually signed the card.

The problem with sticker autos? Many times, some Upper Deck employee either puts them on upside down, or on the wrong card. Personally, I don't mind the sticker autographs--just so long it is of the right player.

Sal will be on The War Room every Thursday morning at around 11:45 eastern time to talk hockey cards, and other hockey collectibles.

Predictions are for fools, so we're among good company then.  On Thursday, October 1st...the first day of the 2009-10 National Hockey League Season...the good listeners of The War Room (11 am eastern weekdays) weighed in with their predictions.

Unlike other shows and publications, we distilled the predictions down to three key points:

1.  Which team will win the 2009-10 Stanley Cup?

2.  Which player will win the 2009-10 Hart Trophy?

3.  Give us one wacky and/or out-on-a limb prediction.

After careful tabulating of the data, we have posted the results below for your persual.

Peter Berce - Sharks, Joe Thornton, Mike Keenan hired by an NHL team

Mick Kern - Hurricanes, Evgeni Malkin, Lightning make the playoffs

Mike Ross - Flyers, Alex Ovechkin, Balsille buys an NHL team

Gary of landsharkhockey.net - Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Canucks miss the playoffs

Gerald of Southern CA - Red Wings, Jarome Iginla, every team in the Central Division makes the playoffs

John - Sharks, Pavel Datsyuk, John Tavares gets 100 points

Andrew in Wisconsin - Sharks, Mike Green, Avalanche finish first in the Northwest Division

David in New Jersey - Lightning, Vincent Lecavalier, USA wins the Gold Medal at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games

James in Maryland - Penguins, Evgeni Malkin, Maple Leafs finish 4th in the Eastern Conference

Mike in Jacksonville - Penguins, Evgeni Malkin, Rick DiPietro playes 70 games for the Islanders this season

Darren in Pentiction, BC - Sharks, Joe Thornton, Jim Balsille buys MLSE

Marty in Boston - Bruins, Dany Heatley, Maple Leafs regret trading for Phil Kessel

Monica in Minnesota - Sharks, Marian Gaborik, Emery doesn't finish the year with the Flyers

Mike in San Jose - Sharks, Alex Ovechkin, Sharks win the Cup

Nicholas in DE - Flyers, Alex Ovechkin, Kings make the playoffs

Chad in PA - Penguins, Rich Nash, Sean Avery wins the Lady Byng

Mike in Ohio - Sharks, Alex Ovechkin, Montreal Canadiens make the playoffs

Red Wing in Illinois - Penguins, Jonathan Toews, Coyotes make the playoffs

Jason in Ottawa - Bruins, Eric Staal, not one NHL coach will be fired this season

Harlan in Scottsdale - Hurricanes, Jeff Carter, Coyotes make the playoffs

Zach in Detroit - Blackhawks, Alex Ovechkin, Brett Favre leaves football for the NHL

Cal - Canucks, Zach Parise, the Marian Hossa curse continues

Jake - Sharks, Joe Thornton, the Red Wings miss the playoffs

Jeff in Timmins, ON - Flames, Scott Gomez, Calgary win the Cups

Andrew in Victoria, BC - Canucks, Roberto Luongo, Brian Burke gets fired in Toronto

Kevin in Buffalo - Hurricanes, Thomas Vanek, Thomas Vanek dominates

Eric in Pittsburgh - Penguins, Zach Parise, the Marian Hossa Curse continues

---------------------------------------------------------------------

So, what have we learned?  Well, most of you are certifiably insane, but we already knew that, and frankly, that's alright.

2009-10 STANLEY CUP CHAMPION:

San Jose Sharks - 8 votes
Pittsburgh Penguins - 6 votes
Boston Bruins - 3 votes
Carolina Hurricanes - 3 votes
Philadelphia Flyers - 2 votes
(5 other teams received 1 vote each)

2009-10 HART TROPHY WINNER:

Alexander Ovechkin - 6 votes
Evgeni Malkin - 3 votes
Joe Thornton - 3 votes
(15 other players received 1 vote each)

WACKY or OUT-ON-THE-LIMB PREDICTIONS:

Maybe the wackiest prediction came from Mike in Jacksonville, who says goaltender Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders will play in 70 regular-season games this season...or maybe Chad in PA, with Sean Avery winning the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

Thanks for your participation.  Remember, you can always reach us at warroom@nhlhomeice.com

And, of course, you can call us at 1-877-645-6696 on The War Room, which is on NHL Home Ice XM 204/Sirius 208, 11am Eastern/8 am Pacific, every weekday.

- compiled by the crack research staff of The War Room, Mick Kern and Peter Berce

Forget Wayne Gretzky resigning, or Theo Fleury being released, or Colton Orr actually getting to play in the NHL.

From where I stand, the most shocking news throughout the hockey world this past week was the revelation that Dave Hodge has a pulse, musically speaking.

The iconic talking head will forever be linked to Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts in my mind, and the damn Toronto Maple Leafs.  Apparently I'm not alone in that association, as Hodge told the National Post newspaper here in Canada that he's avoided going out to music concerts for the longest time, because he didn't want to spend the evening answering questions.

Or, to be more precise, answering one solitary question.

When were the Maple Leafs going to win the Stanley Cup?

Can't say I blame him.  A person in the public eye such as himself registers with us, the great unwashed.  We have a fleeting moment of recognition when we cross paths, and if there's time, we have a handful of seconds to connect, in some awkward fashion, with said person.

Geddy Lee of Rush is a big-time fan of baseball, and when he's actually in Toronto, he's got prime tickets behind home plate for the Blue Jays.  I've witnessed a number of occasions where the famous bass player gets up out of his seat to get a hotdog, or leave early, or maybe just needs to take a leak, and invariably, he's got to negotiate an aisle full of well-wishers and dudes born in 1967 who wanna talk about how 2112 changed their lives.

From what I could see, Mr. Lee was always most accommodating with the fans.  Comes with the territory, though I'd imagine a number of times, he was thinking, "Man, I really gotta pee".

So it's completely understandable why Dave Hodge avoided the concert scene for all these years.  And we're not talking only those faceless, corporate big shows held at soulless locations such as the local hockey arena, or football stadium; we're talking some of the finer live music clubs in Toronto such as Lee's Palace or the Horseshoe Tavern. 

All cities have clubs such as these, and sadly, most hockey hosers wouldn't know about it, because most hockey fans have THEE WORST MUSIC TASTE.

It usually runs the gamut from AC-DC through to Led Zeppelin through to (shudder) Bon Jovi.  Even typing the name of that last band was difficult for me.  The other two bands have their merits, but are so mind-numbingly predictable.

Oh, and maybe some Guns N' Roses, and Metallica, and (double shudder) Nickelback.

Predictable, safe, boring.  Like watching the Minnesota Wild play.

If you attend a National Hockey League game, or a junior game for that matter, you can't escape it.  You are constantly bombarded with this aural crap at every break.

Most of my compatriots at NHL Home Ice are the same way, Scott Laughlin the worst offender of the lot.  No doubt he'll leap to his defence either on this website, or on-air, but I gotta give him this over the other hosers at work...at least Scotty listens to music outside of the narrow focus of rock or heavy metal.  The trouble is, if it wasn't a hit, Scotty ain't with it.

But each to their own; whatever gets you through the night.  Laughlin going on about Helix or bloody Van Halen doesn't hurt anyone, and frankly, the way I've always looked at it is like this...the more people want to pay good money to watch crappy commercial generic unimaginative pedestrian rock bands, the better chance I have of getting into shows of the far more interesting bands.  Again, each to their own.

Mike Ross, Mr. Morning Man, breaks up the Home Ice music monotony somewhat with his love of Sinatra, which is a welcome change from the rest of the motley crew at Home Ice...that's motley crew, not Motley Crue (triple shudder).

Still, it sometimes is a tad lonely when all around you think that good music is determined by the Grammy Awards.  So it's a welcome revelation when a co-worker shares at least a common approach to finding and enjoying interesting music.

Aron Papernick, aka the Paperboy (and say that with respect) fits that bill.  On the surface, the two of us don't share a lot of music in common - he's more a Q107 Toronto rock kind of guy - but he's knowledgable about music outside of the official Rolling Stone magazine version of things, and we both worship Bob Dylan.

From that starting point, there is a shared appreciation for music with some substance, some soul.  Paperboy admitted last year he finally really listened to London Calling, and now enjoys the album.

So...when I read that Dave Hodge, DAVE FREAKIN' HODGE, listens to the likes of fine bands such as Wilco and Drive-By Truckers, I had to read that paragraph over a few times, because that is such a departure from the usual hockey/sports fan.

Forget about flippin' the bird, I mean pen, at the CBC waaay back in the late 80's, this is gold.  The man is still relevant.

I'm much more accustomed to the likes of Pierre LeBrun, who proudly embraces his love for all things Def Leppard.

Def Leppard?!?  Metal light???  May the Gods of Valhalla strike us all dead rather than live in such a world.

Wonder if Dave Hodge was at the Wilco show last December, when the band from Chicago opened up for Neil Young at the Air Canada Centre?  At one point, front man Jeff Tweedy remarked to the crowd that there wasn't much that was more Canadian than to open up for Neil Young at a hockey arena.

Even though it sorely lacked the intimacy of a small club, Dave would have loved that pairing of artists. 

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

- Mick "I'm Not Alone Anymore!!!" Kern

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