It can’t get any more confusing regarding the league’s direction, it does. How else can you explain this?

2007 NHL ENTRY DRAFT TO BE HELD OVER TWO DAYS
The 2007 NHL Entry Draft will be held over two days, on Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, the National Hockey League announced today. The first round will be conducted Friday night and broadcast live on VERSUS in the United States and TSN and RDS in Canada, beginning at 7 p.m., ET. Rounds two through seven will take place Saturday and start at 10 a.m., ET.

So much for having draft parties. What was so bad about having it on a Saturday at noon? The diehards want to see that first round and will tune in. But why change to a Friday night during the summer? It makes no sense. But then again, does anything ever make sense?

I think the worst aspect is scheduling Rounds 2-7 from 10 AM on the next day. I guess there’s no coverage of it. What’s the point of having Versus if they’re not going to go that extra mile to give extensive coverage? This point has been driven home way too much already by myself, Steve and sensible writers who cover the sport. I am still wondering what good having the games on Versus thru 2011 is going to do. Are they going to make some improvements which will include more coverage? A pregame show would be a good first step. So would an interactive one hour NHL highlight reel show. Remember Cool Shots? That worked. It was half an hour and was a decent tune in. You had some cool features and it showed the players off the ice which is always nice for the fans. I think Steve already covered how he would improve the coverage a few days ago. We can only dream that that will become a reality.

I also have a question regarding The NHL Network. You remember that, right? What is the latest on when this network is going to be available across The States? And wasn’t there supposed to be some kind of agreement in place to make it available on Versus or am I not remembering correctly? I’d really like to know what’s going on with this because if you’re not going to give enough coverage on Versus, the NHL Network is a must for puck fans.

Now to two things:

1.Congratulations to Phil Housley on being honored by the Sabres prior to their game against Ottawa. He was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame. In his first seven-plus seasons of a brilliant 21-year career, the former 1982 sixth overall selection made the team out of High School and went on to establish a club record for Buffalo blueliners with 558 points (ranks 5th in Sabre history). For more on his career which saw the American finish with 1,232 points, nhl.com ran a special feature commemorating the honor:

Housley Enters Sabre HOF

2.ESPN’s John Buccigross had an interesting column this week on how to improve the game. Some of it is pretty controversial but the former NHL2Nite studio host backs up his points well and raises some good issues. Here was his take on the current state of the game:

Bucci’s Extreme NHL Makeover

And with that, I have to get ready for tonight’s NY Hockey Report. I’m sure Joe and myself will discuss the Rangers’ struggles. Gary will be calling in at some point live from the Islander game. They host the Flyers. Home team beware. The road team usually prevails.

You can tune into the show live tonight from 8:05 – 9 PM by going to the allinbroadcasting site and clicking on the NY Hockey Report link.

NY Hockey Report