Although hockey is peerless when it comes to in-game thrills and drama, it must be admitted, that the NHL does not have much to offer in terms of excitement away from the rink.  Selecting “Nickelback”, a sorry excuse for a rock band, to represent the league is evidence of this.

It is odd that the game is not able to draw more relevant stars from the inexhaustible celebrity pool.  Take last weeks awards.  Who the hell is Will Arnett? What is Ray Liotta doing there? Did anyone tell Vince Vaughn how to pronounce Malkin’s name? 

It seems that the league has become overly concerned with being inoffensive, and these concerns have led to a level of appalling “dorkiness”, something the league cannot afford.  

Irony knows no bounds, and to have such an electric sport coupled with such an off ice power outage is textbook irony.  Thankfully, a recent trend of players saying “f**k” on live TV is taking place.  Hopefully, something similar to this trend will continue, because the NHL has a reverse image problem.  

Dustin Brown attracted some testosterone driven praise for his “that’s why we f****n’ play” gem after Los Angeles captured their first Stanley Cup.  Jonathan Quick’s drunken, expletive ridden slurs were less charming at the King’s celebration rally, but Henrik Lundquist’s almost inaudible “f**k” utterance when accepting his Vezina trophy was a fun moment for all.  There are plenty of players with personalities in the NHL, and they should be encouraged to let them shine.  

Now, saying “f**k” on TV is not the best way to display ones charisma, and it is not what the NHL wants to be known for.  But for the NHL to take another step towards competing with the other leagues, jazzing things up when the horn sounds should be on the to do list.  

Finding a middle ground between the tight lipped salesman attitude of the NHL, and the  boisterous bravado energy of the NBA, would be ideal.  The dropping of “F bombs” that we have seen in the last week, shows that the NHL has a detectable pulse.  Why not increase it’s heart rate?  

Alex Ovechkin raised few eyebrows with his showmanship, and he is arguably the games most marketable star.  It is fair to criticize NYR coach John Tortorella for being endlessly pissy with the entire universe, but he is a fine coach, has dedicated himself on a personal level to the less fortunate, and has terrific on camera presence due to his unpredictability.   

It’s hard to get to the root of why hockey is the way it is without making some vague and  irresponsible claims about things like class, family values, culture and any other arena that political correctness forbids us from entering.  

Until a very bored person with a lot of money and a desire to conduct a study comes along, a clear answer to this question is not on the horizon.  What is on the horizon, hopefully, is an NHL that is more comfortable in its own skin, because award ceremonies like last weeks, make us less comfortable in ours.