is this the year bettman finally gets lynched? the year that players finally realize composite sticks can cost you a game? the year don cherry has a coronary on camera?

Posted by thom from seattle on 01/30/08 at 03:20 AM ET

I’ve said it time and again...Crosby’s voice gets more robotic with every interview.  I’ll take Ovechkin’s broken English any day - at least he is genuine.

P.S - is this the year that Kelley Hrudey stops a puck?

Posted by Tyler from Sask. on 01/30/08 at 10:57 AM ET

I just read on-line that Roberto Luongo, who was supposedly spending quality time with his “fragile” pregnant wife, was spotted in a roadhouse in Florida drunk listening to the Jeff Healey band.

Please tell me it’s not true Mr. bigger than the all-star game.

Posted by T.R. Walker from Nanaimo, BC on 01/30/08 at 12:27 PM ET

Props to Luongo and Brodeur for skipping the ASG.  It’s a total waste of time for anyone with a family or any sort of non-hockey existence.  And it’s pretty sad if they don’t have anything else on the go.  Now, the young stars, with motivation to show themselves off, are way more interesting.

Posted by CheGordito on 01/30/08 at 12:57 PM ET

The parody version is a hoot.

RE: the original—I like the concept but even at the beginning of the season, it was very easy to answer a flat “no” to just about every question in it (not even “maybe” in most cases).

As the season has progressed, those “no” answers have become more and more firm. Continuing to ask if someone might score “50 in 38” when every team has played 49+ games just makes it outdated. Plus, when Gretzky scored 92 goals, it was largely due to the fact that he scored 50 in the first 38 games. Maybe they should have shot multiple versions. One to use early in the season, and others to use at the midpoint and closer to the playoffs.

Like I said, I like the “Live Every Shift” concept. They need to stick with the campaign and produce other spots with the same theme over a period of a few years (not necessarily with the players asking questions, but within the framework of “Live Every Shift").

When the league came back from the lockout, they had the “My NHL” campaign—which again, was not a terrible idea, but didn’t have the greatest execution. I thought they should have stuck with that concept for a while too, rather than abandoning it. In fact, when Georges Laraque left Edmonton and fans lined the streets to say goodbye in person (even though he was leaving as a UFA), I emailed the NHL suggesting they get that footage and use it to create the first in a series of “My NHL” ads that showed the truly special connection between hockey, the players, and the fans (other ads could have shown players sharing the Stanley Cup with fans, etc.). Instead, they dropped the campaign after producing a couple of spots that featured dramatic lighting and camera angles with actors instead of real players and/or fans.

Anyway, in spite of the gripes I may have about the “Live Every Shift” ad, it is far and away superior to the “I Pledge” one. IMO, pretty much everything the players “pledge” to do should be a given...and a few are downright ridiculous (I cringe every time I hear poor Alex Ovechkin say “make one-timers happen way more than once.") The worst thing though, is that it’s not really even promoting the league. It’s close enough in style and thematic content to the “Live Every Shift” spot that it could have easily been part of the same campaign. But it’s not. It’s selling frigging jerseys! It makes me wonder if the ad agency actually proposed two “Live Every Shift” spots, but someone at the NHL got the brilliant idea to tweak “I Pledge” to hawk jerseys instead. As an advertising professional for nearly 20 years, I can tell you there are few things worse than having a decent concept turned to mush by a “creative” client. BLECH!

End or rant (sorry).

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 01/30/08 at 01:10 PM ET

Thanks for the rant, YzermanZetterberg—it was educational, actually.

And it’s true, the NHL doesn’t have a great track record with its campaigns… though there are a few exceptions.

Their newest creative effort is something called “Roommates”, and the first two were just released. I’m not all that impressed with them, but hopefully the others upcoming (supposedly featuring players Luongo, Crosby, and Pronger) will be better.

We’ll see.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 01/30/08 at 05:55 PM ET