Kukla's Korner Hockey
Entries with the tag: espn
Afternoon Line
by Alanah McGinley on 12/04/08 at 01:59 PM ET
Comments (3)
“I am very, very excited about coming back home to ESPN, where I have had so many great years. I look forward to analyzing people being fired, rather than being the guy fired.”
-- Barry Melrose via The Daily Gazette
In his return to the network, Melrose will be joining Matthew Barnaby.
Filed in: NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: barry+melrose, espn, matthew+barnaby,
NHL is Overly Criticized
by Alanah McGinley on 10/27/08 at 02:53 PM ET
Comments (2)
From ‘The Carulli Critique’ at the Sporting News:
The NHL is by far the most heavily criticized major sport in North America. Major TV networks (ahem, ESPN) and casual fans everywhere don’t think twice about taking cheap shots at hockey. They’ll talk about how fighting is a disgrace, how there’s consistently an on ice attack every year, or how the NHL is embarrassing because they’re on a network that isn’t shown by many major cable networks. That’s about the extent of the criticisms that anybody has about hockey, and the only legitimate one is about some violent on ice occurrences, but even that is pretty rare. It may seem frequent because the only time ESPN cares about showing the NHL is when something controversial happens.
Filed in: NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: espn, media,
Adding Up Ovechkin
by Alanah McGinley on 10/01/08 at 12:21 PM ET
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Alex Ovechkin was modeling for the cover of ESPN Magazine a few days ago. In the aftermath, ESPN came up with a simple equation…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: alex+ovechkin, alfred+e+neuman, espn, mad+magazine, media,
Barry Melrose vs Tampa Fans
by Alanah McGinley on 08/21/08 at 02:31 PM ET
Comments (1)
From Craig Custance at the Sporting News,
SN: What was the reaction in Tampa from fans when you were hired?
Melrose: A lot of people there were still mad at me for 2004. Supposedly, I made derogatory remarks about Tampa Bay. If people remember you saying it, it doesn’t matter if you said it. That was fun. [...]
SN: So what did you supposedly say in 2004 that has fans in Tampa so riled up?
Melrose: That Tampa didn’t have a chance (in the Stanley Cup final), not nearly as good as Calgary. That was nuts—I picked Tampa Bay. I don’t know what was going on. If they think you said it, you said it.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Tampa Bay Lightning | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: barry+melrose, espn, hockey+fans, media,
Things Learned in Ottawa at the Draft
by Alanah McGinley on 06/25/08 at 10:22 AM ET
Comments (5)
From Elena Bergeron and Sarah Turcotte at ESPN Magazine,
9. If it weren’t for silly trades, the draft would last 10 minutes. The first round took 90 million hours, because GMs insisted on brushing by tables like a chesty cocktail waitress.[...]
10. We need to start calling ourselves The Worldwide Leader, Except in Canada. No one knows what ESPN is in Ottawa. We had to tell people we were “the TSN of America.” They probably thought we were making it up to meet Mike Fisher.
11. Canadiens are nice to everyone—except Ray Emery. The Sens’ decision to place Ray Emery on waivers during the draft kind of soured things for us.
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Entry Draft | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: espn, nhl+entry+draft,
Osgood on Jim Rome
by Alanah McGinley on 06/12/08 at 09:48 AM ET
Comments (5)
Yesterday, Chris Osgood spoke to Jim Rome on ESPN.
Video below:
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: chris+osgood, espn, jim+rome,
Tampa Bay Gong Show
by Alanah McGinley on 05/26/08 at 07:09 PM ET
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From Eric Duhatschek at the Globe & Mail hockey blog,
A more intriguing story is what will happen next in the organization if and when the Oren Koules group completes its purchase of the team from Palace Sports & Entertainment. The assumption is that Koules will then ask Feaster to replace his current coach, John Tortorella, with Barry Melrose, the ESPN analyst and coach of the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings team that went to the 1993 Stanley Cup final. Koules is from Chicago; he played junior hockey in the Western League, for a time in Great Falls and then in Medicine Hat. That’s the connection to Melrose - that and the fact that because of his ESPN platform, Melrose may be one of the most recognizable faces in hockey south of the 49th parallel, even if he hasn’t coached in more than a decade and the game has changed in so many dramatic ways since he last worked behind an NHL bench.
If Tampa shows signs of being a gong show, how will Vincent Lecavalier respond to ongoing attempts to sign him to a what could amount to a lifetime contract extension? He might just ask that negotiations be put off until everything settles out between the old and new ownership groups and he can see how the front-office shapes up.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Tampa Bay Lightning | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: barry+melrose, espn, john+tortorella, oren+koules, vincent+lecavalier,
Report- Return To ESPN In The Hands Of The NHL
by Paul on 12/12/07 at 03:21 PM ET
Comments (5)
from Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated,
The door is open, then, for ESPN.
According to an ESPN source, the network could be interested if it saw a fit in terms of cost and content. The network would require playoff hockey and one night of exclusivity during the regular season. “It’s totally in the NHL’s hands,” the source said.
As one media critic expressed it, does the NHL want to be No. 7 on ESPN or No. 1 on Versus? The league does indeed receive more loving care from Versus than it did on ESPN, despite the half-hour show ESPN2 used to give it nightly, but its absence from the cable heavyweight has taken hockey one step further from the national conversation.
Filed in: NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ESPN,
NHL Needs ESPN
by Alanah McGinley on 12/06/07 at 11:43 PM ET
Comments (8)
From Kevin Allen at USA Today,
One of the most powerful forces in the NHL today is an organization that owns no standing in the NHL. And therein lies the problem.
ESPN has become the big elephant sitting in our room, only in this case everyone is talking about it.
The lack of a television deal with ESPN is now the No. 1 gripe in hockey today. Players complain about it. General managers complain about it. Coaches complain about it, and fans truly complain about it in most vulgar terms.
Filed in: NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: espn, media,
Barry Melrose Apologizes to NJ
by Alanah McGinley on 11/06/07 at 06:24 PM ET
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From the AP,
ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose apologized Tuesday for negative remarks about the area around the New Jersey Devils’ new Prudential Center arena.
In a video segment posted on ESPN.com last week, Melrose described the recently opened arena as a “beautiful new building” but added, “Don’t go outside if you have a wallet or anything else, because the area around the arena is just horrible.”
Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker and Municipal Council President Mildred Crump took exception to the remarks and called for Melrose to apologize.
“All of us make mistakes, but it’s a shame when it’s at the expense of 300,000 people,” Booker said, referring to Newark’s population.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: arenas, barry+melrose, espn, new+jersey+devils,
Buccigross, Roenick and Some Top Plays
by Alanah McGinley on 11/06/07 at 12:18 PM ET
Comments (2)
From John Buccigross at ESPN,
Last Friday afternoon, I was sure of two things:
1. You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever see me in a pair of Crocs.
2. Jeremy Roenick would never say no to anything media related.The first will forever hold true. But, much to my surprise, while Roenick was answering your e-mails over the phone, he told me that media exchanges like this will be few and far between this season.
STOP THE PRESSES!
Video below features ESPN’s Top Plays of the Week:
Filed in: NHL Teams, San Jose Sharks, NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: espn, jeremy+roenick, san+jose+sharks,
Bettman Mentions ESPN
by Paul on 10/06/07 at 07:46 AM ET
Comments (1)
Garry Bettman was in Atlanta last night and answered a few questions regarding the game, the Thrashers, etc…
from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
Q: What do you see ahead as far as TV deals?
A: We have great partnerships with NBC and [cable network] Versus. ... There have been reports that ESPN is interested in us. ... I do believe our current partners will be in the picture long-term. Whether or not there is an opportunity to have another partner is something we’re always open to looking at.
more from Bettman…
Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Business of Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: espn, gary+bettman, media,
