Manipulating a milestone

Neilson, Senators and NHL should be ashamed

I'm going to be careful about this because, like a lot of you, I'm a big Roger Neilson fan. The guy should be in the Hall of Fame. I would have said that long before he began his courageous and dignified battle with cancer two years ago, long before he had to stand in front of reporters and talk about myeloma and melanoma. Neilson said that whatever the form, it was all cancer to him. At last blush, he wasn't close to giving in.

I'm going to be careful about this because you may meet a lot of hockey people in your life but you won't meet more than a gloveful who love and care about the sport the way Neilson does. You're not going to meet anyone more devoted.

I'm going to be careful about this because Neilson is quiet and modest and thoughtful and honest and has a whole lot of other qualities you don't come across nearly as often as you'd like to in a business where hubris is what people revere.

I'm going to be careful about this because we're talking about Captain Video here, a hockey pioneer. Neilson is 67 and he was coaching NHL games a quarter century ago. He helped to shape the rules of the sport. He invented statistical categories. He's a hockey fan's man.

I'm going to be careful about this because, like you, I felt that quickening in my bloodstream, that yea-saying shot of glee, when I saw Neilson running the game from behind the bench in Ottawa last weekend.

I'm going to be careful about this but I'm going to say it anyway because it's true and because somebody should: Neilson coaching the Senators' final two games of the season was a sham. Ottawa coach Jacques Martin was upstairs watching the games as Neilson was temporarily elevated from his assistant's position.

The idea was to let Neilson, who had coached 998 career games with seven teams, reach the 1,000-game mark. Now he's among nine people who have accomplished this feat. Talk about getting it on the cheap. Those last two games were a gimmick and, as such, lessened the accomplishment not only for Neilson but also for everyone else who has achieved it.

This was a little like Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre's apparent dive at the end of the season, taking a fall so that New York Giants defensive tackle Michael Strahan could get his single-season record-breaking sack.

At least Strahan's record means something. Neilson didn't even need this. Are you telling me there's some great shame in having coached 998 games in the NHL? Are you telling me Neilson was less of a coach, less of a hockey immortal, a week ago? Neilson's career record is now 460-381-159. Are you telling me 459-380-159 is any less impressive?

The worst part is the way this fooling around was disrespectful to the NHL's regular season. The league, so inappropriately sanctimonious that it forbade Slovakian players to leave their NHL teams to play in the Olympics (the Olympics!), quickly signed off on the coaching carousel. Yes, it would have been bad p.r. for the league to deny Neilson, but it would have been the right thing.

And the Senators? Didn't they care about the integrity of their games? Ottawa lost its final game to the Maple Leafs, 5-2, with Neilson coaching. Maybe, and we'll never be able to determine this, the Senators would have won the game with Martin behind the bench. If they had won it, they'd be playing the Hurricanes instead of the second-seeded Flyers in the first round of the playoffs.

The Senators averaged 16,895 fans at the Corel Centre this year and sold out only six of 41 home games. If they want their fans to believe that regular-season games are meaningful, maybe the Sens shouldn't conduct coaching experiments while they're battling for playoff position.

I had to be careful about this because, like most of you, I'm a big fan of Roger Neilson. It's too bad he did himself such a disservice by accepting that two-game coaching stint. Maybe it's cold to chastise Neilson, but I'm guessing he'll understand. Last week's shenanigans notwithstanding, Neilson knows as well as anyone that sometimes you have to stand up for the game.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides every Tuesday at CNNSI.com.

 

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