The Athletic

I am really liking the broader NHL coverage, such as LeBrun's article yesterday on the example of the four final teams and the need for cap balance (no player left who makes more than $8m??) Scott Wheeler did a good, long piece on what goes into the draft ratings which I liked. There have been a lot like that over the past few months. But it's also great when you want a quick line on a Ranger game from the other team's perspective.

Carp is still there for geezers like me and others who had cleared kindergarten in 1994. He whips out obscure historical references that I get and he was around for - sometimes closer to 1972 than 1992 - and has a pretty deep understanding of the organization. Shayna delivers the numbers in a fairly formatted, predictable fashion and I think that makes them a good tandem. I can get more of the personalities and the sweat and stink of the room from Carp, but sometimes more actual information from Shayna. To his credit, Carp beat Brooks to definitively saying that JD was coming. I got the sense that they worked together in the day and he just called him, but don't know that for sure or whether he will have any better long term line into the nerve center than Brooksie. But could be interesting going forward.

Brooks gives the same ole schpeal

Carp pretends he’s got insight

Shayna has numbers but no substance or insight

Their best beat writer is Collin and he doesn’t know a thing about hockey

Rangers bloggers circle-jerk eachother on the same WRONG opinions

It’s a rough era for rangers fans.

It seems to be easier to get ex-players, coaches, or others with deep hockey knowledge to go in front of a camera and talk (a la NHL Network) than to get them to write for publications. Seems like broadcasters are more likely to come from the game, while beat writers either come from journalism school or learning on the job and rising through the ranks. It's definitely a different craft. Josh, who are a couple of your favorite hockey beat writers (Phil excluded) and what makes them so?

On the baseball side, the Athletic has Jim Bowden (ex-GM) and Dale Murphy (borderline Hall of Famer), but they don't report on a team day in and day out.

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No one, these days. I need behind the scenes stuff, or good dirt. Brooks is the only guy putting that out, but he always uses it to skew some random personal vendetta against a player. I don't need a summary of last nights game, or random guess as to why some basement blogger thinks Staal was benched in the 2nd period because of a blue graph the found on google images.

I miss the old days of Zipay, Cerny, Gross, Dellapina, Spector

League wide I stick to Kevin Allen or the TSN guys.

No one, these days. I need behind the scenes stuff, or good dirt. Brooks is the only guy putting that out, but he always uses it to skew some random personal vendetta against a player. I don't need a summary of last nights game, or random guess as to why some basement blogger thinks Staal was benched in the 2nd period because of a blue graph the found on google images.

 

I miss the old days of Zipay, Cerny, Gross, Dellapina, Spector

 

League wide I stick to Kevin Allen or the TSN guys.

I agree with this entire post. There are no insiders left reporting, and very few who just report on the facts, and thats in all sports. The days of good sports journalism are gone, and thats because today, nothing is a secret.