NAVEL-GAZING IN NAPLES

This week the league's General Managers are congregating in Naples, Florida to discuss among other things; the state of the game, the CBA, and hopefully, the swapping of players.

To me the meat market portion of the shin dig is secondary to the general needs of the game at large.

Hull and Jackson

Here are four topics of discussion that demand the 31 Managers attention. (The Jackson/Hull co-habitation bumps it from 30 to 31...Everything's bigger in Texas)

1. Television - Someone needs to take the lead and explain the need for GMs and their coaches to stop throwing the Heisman at TV.

Putting a microphone on a goalie or having a camera in a dressing room, or giving accurate injury reports, or divulging lineups, or any other reasonable access requests should not be met with cries of competitive imbalance or the self-centered, "How does that help us win?"

Its TV guys - not a prostate exam. And this is the NHL - not the NFL.

Our sport actually needs to cultivate exposure and do things that might be outside the comfort zone.

If you do anything, agree with the people in TV and sign off on stopping the game more often, and if need be, for longer durations. It would help immensely in showing and selling the breakneck fast game you have had a hand in molding, and it wouldn't turn the contests back into plodding bore-fests as many of you seem to fear.

2. Goalie Equipment - Show some backbone and do your homework. The gear a lot of the netminders are wearing is for "protection" like HGH is for "injury rehabilitation". Trim the leg pads to 10" in width and limit the height of them in accordance to the height of the goalie. Contour the body armor. And shrink the pants so they no longer dwarf that barrel the Barrel Guy at the Denver Bronco games wears.

I guess yesterday they agreed to form committees on this very subject, so bravo.

3. The Instigator - It has been obvious that the league can't possibly police the games from an ivory tower in New York or a video room in Toronto so why not allow the combatants to do it themselves?

Its not like its a new concept. There was a time when backstabbers and yak-monkeys either refrained from indulging in their petulant behavior - or paid the price.

Its either do away with the farcicle instigator rule, or trim the roster size down and eliminate the trolls that start all the shenanigans in the first place.

4. Russia - A Russian Super-League is looking more and more likely, and when it becomes reality many of those exciting, talented Ruskies (and some from other European countries) won't be crossing the pond to play in the NHL. (This has actually already started. Plenty of young Russians, including some from the Stars stable, have either snubbed playing here in the first place or have bolted mid-season. And the 2007 entry draft was almost void of Russian talent due in large part to the lack of a transfer agreement)

So with an eye on this new horizon, start pouring more energy and draft picks into good ole North American boys. I doubt they'll view a stint in the AHL as purgatory as their comrades from abroad have come to see it.

And another thing, just when did Siberia become a more attractive destination than Salt Lake City?!