Ron MacLean returning to HNIC
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
herman said:
Wouldn't be possible to do both really. I'd rather have him doing colour, and hopefully with Healy out that makes him their go-to guy there.
hockeyfan1
New member
Al14 said:
I think Dave Hodge was one of the best there was.
As for Maclean, he's probably the best we continue to have now.
Strombo? He went from the entertainment world, (for which he was one of the best with the show he previously hosted), to the sports world. Quite a difference between the two genres. Strombo excelled in the former not the latter.
WhatIfGodWasALeaf
Active member
herman said:
He and Friedman would be the dream team.
Ideally, I'd have Johnson doing color on every Leafs game and then have him and Elliott go back and forth in between periods, kinda like how TSN has Ray Ferraro chime into the studio segments while he is between the benches.
hockeyfan1 said:
I really don't know what Rogers' problem is in any of this.
They were the ones who knew Strombo's work, his approach and his on air persona and hired him because of it. Strombo delivered exactly what was expected of him.
Perhaps they should be dismissing the person who misunderstood the marketplace when Strombo was hired since that is where the fault lies.
I realize I am in the minority here in liking Healy but the fact is that in cliche yes man industry, he expressed a more independent point of view that most do. Exiled to a perch between the players benches was not the best deployment for Healy. I prefer Healy to Kelly and Nick but that is not a major point. As for John Shannon, well here is a television sports director that was dumped out of that world after years of being the angry guy in the truck only to be gifted an on air job by his friends at Rogers. Yet he remains despite these changes.
My real gripe is that once again Rogers has missed the bigger picture.
Ratings were never going to rise of fall based on the presence of Strombo -- and most certainly not based on who was chirping occasional comment from between the players benches -- and to think that moving these pieces around will cure the ratings slide is risible.
Ratings are down because Canadian hockey teams as a group are miserable, boring and only marginally watchable.
One of the first rules of economics is scarcity.
Rogers ignored that rule and provide hockey seven days, often with multiple games alight on multiple channels. When there is an overabundance of a product, particularly one of low quality, that product becomes a commodity. It is no different than when Montreal opened the Bell Centre. Suddenly seat availability soared and getting tickets ceased to be the big thing it had been when the Forum held several thousand fewer customers.
Certainly the multiple panels with different combinations of participants did not help, but to blame the personalities and not the people who dreamt up the format that management bought into, is ridiculous.
Naturally with no Canadian teams in the playoffs, ratings dropped and advertising targets were missed. Perhaps the geniuses who overpaid for the hockey rights monopoly should be called to account rather than throwing others overboard.
Based on this latest move (among others) I cannot agree with TBLeafer's assessment that the "think-tanks over at Sportsnet" are "finally starting to grow a brain.
The people who set this format up are still calling the shots.
Bullfrog said:
I can generally tolerate one "Kypreos" type person, but when he was sitting in the middle of Healy and Doug MacLean it was just unbearable.
disco
New member
This is great, I missed Ron being in the thick of Hockey Night. Partly nostalgia (I'm 36 and grew up on Ron) and partly he's just a great broadcaster who knows his stuff. It wasn't broke in 2014. Scott Moore was the one who handpicked Strombo with a mandate to draw in new viewers. IMHO, it was a step down, no disrespect to George. I just prefer a classic broadcaster speaking with authority and gravitas on Saturday night.
I generally found myself not going out of my way to watch CBC on Saturday and the playoffs (I only have a laptop). Mostly because I feel Jim Hughson is behind the play too much on big moments (ex. "battling along the boards"... as puck is going in the net) and Craig Simpson's colour is rather elementary. I find Mike Johnson is sharper with better insights. I'll be coming back a lot more now.
I generally found myself not going out of my way to watch CBC on Saturday and the playoffs (I only have a laptop). Mostly because I feel Jim Hughson is behind the play too much on big moments (ex. "battling along the boards"... as puck is going in the net) and Craig Simpson's colour is rather elementary. I find Mike Johnson is sharper with better insights. I'll be coming back a lot more now.
Kin
New member
Interesting article about the Subban trade, Strombo decision and how it relates to an ongoing cultural divide in hockey:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pk-subban-ron-maclean-nhl-culture-wars-1.3660938
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pk-subban-ron-maclean-nhl-culture-wars-1.3660938
bustaheims
Active member
It's the internet, people. Never read the comments.
Al14
New member
Nik the Trik said:
Culture war in the NHL???????
PK was traded because Habs management thought he was overpaid and that he had some serious defensive shortcomings to his game. They also didn't like his ocassional negative interactions with his teammates.
They traded him, before his no trade clause kicked in, for Shea Weber when the trade was presented to them. Right or wrong decision, that is the situation, not because of some sort of culture war.
Again, JMHO.