Mike Heika

Archive | E-mail

Much of the e-mails for the past week or so have revolved around the fans' difficulty in trying to watch games on television.

I really do feel for you, because I know how frustrating it is.

But I have some bad news – I'm not sure it's going to get any better. What Stars fans must deal with is a web of cable and satellite providers who are having to make difficult economic decisions every day, and the bottom line is that hockey does not make much money for TV people.

The Stars' ratings are up to start this season, but they typically fall in the 1s and 2s. Baseball, basketball and college sports do much better. So when DirecTV has to make a decision on how much it wants to pay for Versus or whether or not it wants to put Versus in a certain package, it asks what kind of money it can make and whether or not viewers will pay for that kind of package.

When Dish is asked to put an additional 20 Stars games (or Blues games) on and pay Fox Sports for those games, it asks itself if it will make money or lose money on that investment.

Quite honestly, I believe some carriers would rather risk losing a couple hundred subscribers rather than pony up extra money for something they feel won't be worth it in the long run. And that's what you viewers have had to deal with lately.

The reason the Mavericks or Rangers are usually in HD and the Stars aren't, I believe, is that the Stars are a lesser priority. If a provider has only a certain amount of HD trucks available, they have to prioritize. Hockey falls at the bottom of the list because the ratings don't justify it.

If you were making the decisions, you would probably do the same thing.

The Stars are pushing hard to get all of this resolved, to get all games to all fans and to get all games in HD, but it's not an easy process. The bottom line is they sold the rights of their telecasts to Fox Sports Southwest, and FSSW is trying to negotiate deals to make that investment in the Stars profitable.

The irony of this whole mess is that the reason the games aren't high priority is because not enough people watch them. Yet, if the networks and providers continue to make the games more difficult to watch, then how are they ever going to improve their ratings?

Will it all be fixed going forward? Well, the media seems more and more far-reaching each day with more and more opportunities to push programming, so my guess is it will. But don't try to compare the Stars to the Mavericks, Rangers or college sports when you are looking at their television situations, because nobody in positions of power is.

On to the questions:

Q: I am already getting tired of the excuses, and the season is only three weeks old. Last night's effort against the Kings was appalling. There was no spark. And rather than looking to improve, the establishment starts right off by saying we need Ott?!

Razor was giving them a pass during the broadcast because of the number of games and the travel recently. WRONG. These guys are professional athletes. They know the schedule. They have been around hockey their entire lives. Travel is as much a part of the game as penalties. Deal with it. Be ready to play. I expect to see these guys full-go all the time. This expectation has to be set now. We start letting little stuff generate excuses then we will be hearing them and others all year. I will not allow that this year.

And the injury argument is lame as well. Someone is out. Bring in one of these fast skating young guns. Ott is a good player. Not a great player. If we are to hook our wagons to him for the season, we are toast. Modano should have retired. He is taking the spot of a younger player. Same with Jere. They will be on and off all year. Best to let them go. Mike has meant a lot to our team over the years and I respect him for it. But everybody becomes a liability at some point. Nobody is protecting him like FrankenHatcher used to in the old days and he is fragile. (I am fragile as well, but I work behind a desk.) If Marty cannot pull his weight, I have no problem starting Alex! Same with Ribeiro. He likes a slow game, well then trade him to a slow-playing team or get him to step it up. Giving him the "A" should be a sign what we expect.

No more softshoe. Stop making excuses. Get more physical. Skate full bore each shift.

Andrew W.

HEIKA: More of a venting than a question, but we appreciate your passion, Andrew. Obviously, there are things such as guaranteed contracts that get in the way of cutting people, but I understand your frustration. While I understand the attention to detail that fans can have for themselves and can demand of their sports teams, I also think it can be a difficult way to enjoy a sport that is supposed to be there for entertainment purposes. And I can promise you that having that much venom for this particular team is probably going to make it a long season.

But I also know that people like Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells and even Ken Hitchcock lived by the theory that they didn't really enjoy winning that much, they just really hated losing. So maybe that's exactly what kind of attitude the Stars need right now.

Q: Do you think someone like Michael Peca would be a good addition to this team, considering he remains unsigned? Consider the following:

-Veteran leader, captained 2 teams

-2 time Selke winner

-known as an ace penalty-killer and faceoff specialist

-Is a pest and one of the hardest hitters in the NHL

-465 points in 864 games

I think he could really add some character to a very underwhelming bottom six forwards on this season's Stars team. And I think he would take a very cheap contract at this point, just to be playing again.

Matthew M.

HEIKA: Hey Matthew, he could definitely help, but my guess is that would take minutes away from players like Fabian Brunnstrom and Tom Wandell, and the organization obviously wants those players to get minutes. Plus, what happens when (if?) Mike Modano, Steve Ott, Jere Lehtinen and Brad Richards are all healthy?

I like Michael Peca, but I just don't think the Stars are in the market for another center right now. They believe they have that role filled with people like Steve Ott, Toby Petersen and Brian Sutherby.

Q: Marty Turco has been horrible. If Alex Auld is going to come in and win for us, then we need to tell Joe Nieuwendyk that the stars need to look into sending Turco to Allen or Austin and bring up a youngster that wants to prove himself.

It was a BIG MISTAKE trading Mike Smith to Tampa Bay.

John C.

HEIKA: Hey John, I can appreciate your frustration with Turco, but I also realize that Mike Smith or Dan Ellis (or Manny Fernandez even before the other two) has not been perfect in net, either.

I think we all get so focused on the goalie and believe that anything is better than what the team has.

Turco is 1-2-3 with a 2.41 GAA and .909 save percentage, and many have said he has been horrible this year.

Ellis is 2-1-1 with a 2.79 GAA and .903 save percentage.

Smith is 0-2-2 with a 4.08 GAA and .864 save percentage.

Smith also has concussion issues that could bother him for the rest of his career. Fernandez is an unrestricted free agent and has not signed with a team yet.

I'm just saying that the grass is not always greener.

Q: What's wrong with Brad Richards? Why is he not playing and why haven't we heard more about this? What's his exact injury and when will he be back in the game?

Melissa

HEIKA: Hey Melissa, the NHL's injury policy is that they really only need to inform people if a player is going to be in a game or out of a game and whether he has an upper body injury or a lower body injury. The coaches and GM have pushed for that policy, and it is a policy that is endorsed by the highest league executives.

Richards has been battling a sore groin since the start of the season, we have found out this week, and now he needs to rest it to make sure it gets better. But even in the game against Chicago on Saturday, when Richards had a setback, he still played more than 16 minutes and was in on key shifts at the end of the game. That's why it's so difficult to tell when a player is hurt or not. They all walk around with ice bags on after the game, and they all play through pain or soreness. Sometimes, though, the pain starts to get to be too much or they start to do damage that could keep them out for a while.

Richards could probably play if it was a playoff game, but the team is being smart and trying to let his injury heal so it won't be a nagging problem all season.

Q: Do you pick the three stars in the arena at every home game?

Ashlee

HEIKA: No. That is rotated between several members of the media. I probably pick once in every four or five home games. I do select three stars for the paper after each game, and those are often different than the three stars selected in the arena.

I know some fans don't like that policy and would like to have the three stars in the arena as the officially posted three stars in every article. I personally think the three stars are a fun way to debate over who had the best game, and having different three stars adds to the entertainment value and the debate.

It's a lot like having a DH in one baseball league and no DH in the other. I know the lack of uniformity drives some people crazy, but I kind of like having the differences for entertainment purposes.