#EmbraceTheHate ; ASG Corporate Schmooze Edition

In the orgy of sports coverage that has enveloped those of us of the hockey persuasion, there has been a veritable feast of things to follow these last couple days. Starting with a somewhat underreported story of an NHL goalie and his President, (when is the last time the NHL got in the Christian Science Monitor?) and basically gathering steam, its been glorious for hockey fanatics.

There have been a few things to come out of media day today. Ryan Suter stating on the record for the first time that he was not going to talk contract and play hockey at the same time was fuel for rostabatory fantasies in many a market. ( though, in a classic case of burying the lede was the news that the Ying to Suter's Yang Shea Weber had basically said the same thing a long time ago...being an RFA its slightly different, but he also will not be talking about $$$ and sense during a stretch run. )

There's Gary and his views, Big Bad Don and his "getting to know you" meeting with 28 superstars of the game. It is a corporate event, after all. When you get everyone together and every puck media person from across North America, its expected.

But buried in all that was a very solid interview with one Daniel Sedin by James Cybulski and Co on TSN Radio Toronto. More on that ( and more!) after the break.

The guys got right from the brother joke to the whole Boston / Vancouver rivalry thing. Daniel was his usual polite self, but then the Co' today asked a great question about the Wings model. The answer was honest and solid, and its so cool to see how confident Daniel sounds about things. His immediate follow up answer about his coach doing a "great job" was solid too. Don't forget, these are two pretty smart guys, in addition to being the Deluxe Sedinerie Wizards and all around great guys we know them to be.

It does not matter, really, what people think of them, where they were picked, or whatever Alyonka Larionov was trying to say about them here...

@AlyonkaLarionovAlyonka Larionov @KMaximick I think it a compliment. Women are beautiful & gentle & have grace. That is the Sedin's style of hockey. If u think it's negative

It is the above sentiment that I know pisses off Canuck fans, but what can you do? I tried to understand where she was coming from, but there is no "feminine style" in the NHL. I respect the hell out of women's hockey, but the follow up to earlier "Sedin Sisters" comments on OTR was the clue to the above.

Cylbuski ( best thing you can say about a guy in that business is I want to see more of him. I am saying that about the one time West Coaster. ) of course did not go down that road, but I did like the way he asked about the "Marchand Incident". His point about star players was not lost on this Canuck aficionado, and Daniel's answer about it being something that occurs when the score is that way was a variation on the "damned if you do, damned if you don't", and really, the way TSN and others use that one incident to describe a seven game series that was intense and wonderful, terrible and profound every damn shift is just plain old wrong. I do understand that it is a pretty provocative image to sum up that storyline, but it is still annoying.

It was a great series that has rightly became memorable. Whatever your views on the two teams this year or before, after that series made every Bruins game to come must see TV, It expanded the view of the team and the already impressive and far flung reach of Canucks Nation. I am more than OK with how this team got so close, and feel pretty good about their chances this year. Perhaps they finally win that silvery chalice and put the doubts and haters to rest ( though, I guarantee that, in the joyous summer that would follow, someone calls TEAM with a Luongo trade proposal).

Like Peter Parker learned, with "great power comes great responsibility". There is a lesson for we the fans in there somewhere as well. I am spoiled by the fine folks here at SBN anyhow, where the level of discourse is at a more ( most the time...) "learned" level. But it sounds like the team, at least, is not even thinking of last year, and is focussed solely on this year, if I may be so bold as to shamelessly dissect Daniels words for my own rationalization.

In any case, Daniel did not take the bait any more than "playing whistle to whistle". The money question for Leaf fans came next, as James tried to give his Leafs fans a sop with the question about Burkey being in Sweden on his trip to snag a "Monster", but Daniel did not take the bait at all. "Vancouver is my home" is a phrase a lot of us have said, at one time or another, and it sure drove home for me how lucky we are to have these two guys. " As long as they showed they wanted us". For 6 mil a year. Two identical superstars, Art Ross winners and Lindsay and Hart trophy winners and / finalists. So glad that "wanting us" was worth only 6.1 mil a year.

Sounds like Alfredsson is going to be their line mate, or at least that the Twins would like that. I know I saw Alfie on the NHLN answer the query reciprocally, so we'll see. Listen to the rest, as they delve into the media scrutiny, favorite "Triplets",(Carter and Klatt got some love before Burrows, of course ) and just remember how much you enjoyed Todd Bertuzzi's post game interviews, Pavel's and others that can't hold a candle to these two for honesty. I'm sold.

So, ( and I have to say, although maybe I just don't follow those kinda fans ) while I have seen a marked uptick in the Twitter timeline of a more mature and "not sweating the little stuff" attitude to the various "snubs" ( Can you believe Daniel went in the 9th and Hank in the 13th? He is a captain and a Hart winner FFS!!!), its not that big a deal for me. For me at least, I am proud to be a fan of this team. I think most every player on the team is a solid individual that tries to give back to the community and also play breathtakingly exciting to watch hockey for us to enjoy. If someone chooses not to see their talents and skills as how we fans see them, thats fine too. ( Though I do think Alfie missed a big one by not including Alex Edler in the hardest shot. ) If others choose not to see that, its fine. Though, after Toronto fans listened to TSN1050 today, they can only imagine what would have been, and, even if there might have been a few on the 401 trying to deny it, admit to themselves that things like "sisters" is just stupid. I won't even get into what female hockey fans must have thought of Igor's progeny's comment above.( Read the timeline as she debated her thoughts. You would think that the daughter of a superstar would know how something like that can be misconstrued as possibly not a positive thing! )

If it seemed that there was a lot of eastern players on the media day frenzy, its because there was. It is the Toronto Sports Network ( What is TSN, The Sports Network? ) after all "It is what it is", some player once said, and they are just addressing their local market(lol). The few times I saw Sedins ( and I may have missed it, but I did PVR through a bunch of guys, but I did not see an interview with Hodgson and Edler. ) they were everything that we have come to expect and even overlook. Great players and representatives of the NHL and Vancouver.

How good is that?

#LetEdlerShoot

#EmbraceTheHate