NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 12, 2020
The league is exploring selling ads on players’ helmets, the Red Wings trade Dmytro Timashov to the Islanders, a Wayne Gretzky rookie card made history and an update on Guy Lapointe’s health in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman recently reported the NHL is looking into selling ads on players’ helmets. The idea was brought up during Wednesday’s Board of Governors’ meeting.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Traditionalists will howl in protest but ads on jerseys and helmets was an inevitability. COVID-19 just hastened the process. The NHL is a business and always on the lookout for revenue opportunities. The hit to hockey-related revenue brought about by the pandemic necessitates exploring this option.
Detroit Red Wings trade Dmytro Timashov to the New York Islanders (NHL Images)
NHL fans have long accepted ads on rink boards and on the ice. As long as it doesn’t turn the players into gaudy skating billboards like some European leagues it shouldn’t be an issue.
MLIVE.COM/NEWSDAY: The Detroit Red Wings yesterday traded winger Dmytro Timashov to the New York Islanders for future considerations. Timashov, 24, is a restricted free agent who played five games with the Wings last season after they claimed him off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This is the first trade of an NHL player since Oct. 12, when the Vegas Golden Knights shipped defenseman Nate Schmidt to the Vancouver Canucks.
Keep an eye on the Wings in the coming weeks once the start date for this season is officially announced. MLive.com’s Ansar Khan suggests this move leaves the Wings with sufficient salary-cap space to take on an expensive expiring contract from a cap-strapped club if that team includes a high draft pick. GM Steve Yzerman has indicated he could acquire another player before the season begins.
It’s an interesting move by the Islanders, who are pressed for cap space with Mathew Barzal to re-sign. Newsday’s Andrew Gross points out Isles GM Lou Lamoriello knows Timashov from their days with the Leafs. Perhaps Lamoriello will sign the winger to a cost-effective contract that can be buried in the minors if necessary without denting the Isles’ limited cap space for the upcoming season.
THE SCORE: A 1979 mint O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card set a record by becoming the first hockey card to surpass $1 million in an auction. The card was sold on Thursday for $1.29 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As the report indicates, The Great One is still setting records over 20 years after his retirement.
NHL.COM: Hall-of-Fame defenseman Guy Lapointe has been declared cancer-free following aggressive treatment for oral cancer earlier this year. Lapointe spent 13 of his 16 NHL seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, winning six Stanley Cups.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best wishes to “Pointu” in his ongoing recovery.
Vas-y Pointu!
If Lou can sign Timashov to a cost effective deal that doesn’t effect cap, then I’ll assume Detroit also could’ve. Not that Detroit wasn’t already considering adding a player from a cap strapped team, this doesn’t make it more likely. Speaking of which, they took on Staal from Rangers. Still waiting to see what “future considerations” are heading to NY. Maybe Isles send directly to NYR
We have two of those Gretzky rookie cards; oddly enough my wife had them before we met.
Not mint for sure; but fair condition
If Mint condition sold for $1.29 M; willing to accept $1.25 M 😁
Ads on helmets…. not a fan but accept that it is inevitable
No thank you please re ads on jerseys 🤬😡👎
The logos on the jerseys are already the teams advertising a business on their jerseys.
And more can be made by selling ad space to other businesses and companies outside of hockey.
For sure. I was directing that towards traditionalists who would argue for the sanctity of the game. There isn’t such a thing.
Understood.
It’s not about the game, for me, as it has no direct effect on it. However the ads on jerseys are a detractor from the game IMO, and looks brutal. I won’t buy another jersey if additional corporate logos are added. Yes it’s a business but quit being greedy.
Fans accepted diving, reduced hitting/fighting, ads on the boards, the shoot-out – all thanks to the European influence. This was inevitable … and don’t kid yourself, once the door is opened – and they see the financial benefits from having ads on the jerseys – they WILL eventually look exactly like those gaudiest European sweaters.
Right on Icebear.
Pay no attention to George O who I cant decide if he is more arrogant or ignorant but its a helluva race leaving intelligent at the starting block.
If people make it known they hate ads on jerseys and stop buying them if they do we can prevent it.
Sure they can Wendell.
Decide? Hell, it’s apparent you have trouble deciding which side of the bed to get out of. Clearly, your delusions of grandeur are the only things keeping you on the safe side of sane.
Inevitable yes, desirable, no.
European jerseys have so much crap them that the team logo becomes lost in the blur of other logos.
If team logos aren’t part of the “sanctity of the game” then what, exactly, is? Have a look at the Swedish elite league’s jerseys:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=Swedish+elite+hockey+jersey&iax=images&ia=images
Also, ask yourself why Team Canada Olympic jerseys have no advertising on them. And yes, I know, the NHL is a for profit league but my point is, Chrisms, it also speaks to sanctity, or propriety or if you prefer just the clean look of a jersey with your team’s logo prominently and proudly displayed.
Just one more thing the game is going to lose.
The second an nhl team slapped their logo on a t shirt, a mug, a hat etc and sold it the notion of sanctity was tossed in the terlit.
As far as aesthetic appeal… that’s a separate argument. Some of those euro jerseys a butt ugly.
Oh, and Wendell, as to “ignorant” and lack of intelligence, I never did “book” the certainty that Pietrangelo would be a Leaf. At least, not until he’s 40 anyway. But I wonder how many of your loyal “followers” did book it?
@Wendel .. easy answer to your question … arrogant know it all.
That’s rich – coming from the vile mouth of a prime a-hole … gotta get friends and allies wherever you can, eh Eddie?
You and Wendell are proof of the back-end of the old adage “great minds think alike … but fools seldom differ.”
We could actually have a lot of fun with this. Viagra ads on the crotch. Preparation h ads on the butt.
Chrisms, THAT would be a welcome diversion for “slow” days here. Can you just imagine any of these products being advertised on jerseys or the boards?
https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=funniest+product+names&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOlu7W08jtAhWkwFkKHT3LAhsQjJkEegQIAhAB&biw=1472&bih=705
Wow. I was behind a Plumber yesterday in traffic and his number was 1-800-poop911
Chrisms, that reminds me of one of the best slogans I’ve ever seen. On the side of a septic tank truck: “We’re number 1 in the number 2 business”
Nice
If you were using logos that fit the teams the “ one and done “ from footlocker would work great for this leafs team
I think ads on players IS the line, and we are about to cross it. Once we do, ads on Jerseys are inevitable. So tell yourself whatever you need to choke this one down, but it’s like saying “It’s OK to go 10 kmh over the speed limit, but 15 is unacceptable”
You’re kidding yourself.
I always say this game is becoming Soccer…
Tell that to Wendell … if he’s not too busy organizing a Toronto “boycott” to be used if they do go down that road in order to show their displeasure.
It won’t be long before the media begins referring to them as the “blue & white … and red, and orange, and yellow and green ….”
Well, George and Chrisms, if team merchandise looks brutal, sales will go south and where’s the advantage there?
I agree with whoever said that ads on helmets and sweaters take away from watching a game.
Can’t ever see buying any of that stuff.
Could we have some hockey please?
I don’t think Chrisms and I were suggesting we LIKE it – we – or at least I anyway – simply believe it’s inevitable. Once they weigh the difference between advertising revenue and that of merchandise sales and the former offers the greater return, it will happen.
But even then, just because the on-ice product will be festooned with strategically-placed ads doesn’t mean the sales of team jerseys to the public have to carry the ads. That way they get the best of both possible worlds.
And if anyone thinks fans – in large-enough numbers to worry the league anyway – will stay away from the games (when fans can return in numbers) in protest, they are only fooling themselves. There will be an adjustment, some will bleat and owners/stockholders will be “ka-ching” happy, as will the NHLPA if they can negotiate a slice of the pie in some fashion.
I agree that fans won’t stay away. The NHL is looking down the road and the generation that’s coming is ok with ads and politics everywhere. They won’t flinch.
Old school guys (like myself) are going to be turned off even more, but I think we are already much less interested, so the NHL doesn’t weigh our opinions equally with the younger gens…
Exactly!
Yup
Advertising a club crest on a club sweater, and advertising a automobile manufacturer or a financial institution on a club sweater are two different things.
I’m against it as a purist, but I understand it as a businessman.
I certainly don’t have to like it, or even support it, by purchasing another sweater for my closet.
They’ll make their choice and we’ll make ours.
Drop le puck.
Oh, and best wishes on a healthy recovery to Mr. Lapointe. Truly one of the greats of yesteryear.
As a traditionalist I don’t even like the ads on the boards or on the ice. Was a time you didn’t need names on a players sweater as fans knew every player in the league.
Making players into walking billboards does beg the question of whether it would spark sales in North America or turn people off.
Ads on helmets becomes ads on sweaters and skates, sticks it will never end.
It’s almost impossible to recognize players in Europe and that is where this is heading.
There has to be another way for them to drum up revenue like plastering the outside of their arenas with ads, plastering the walls, bathrooms, urinal cakes.
Coming soon- Santa plastered with ads