Interesting note from Steve Simmons today about who will replace Cheech

[The Arrogant Worms]

Ray Ferraro, the best in the business, is apparently on his way to doing colour for Vancouver Canucks games on Sportsnet next season, even though his wife, Cammi, has a senior management position in Vancouver. There is precedence for this apparent conflict of interest here. For years, Cassie Campbell-Pascall has done Flames games on Sportsnet while her husband Brad has been a senior executive with the Flames

 

https://canoe.com/sports/hockey/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/simmons-says-maple-leafs-auston-matthews-will-be-the-highest-paid-player-in-the-nhl/wcm/b13e0a80-01cf-45ea-bc59-7197ecda466b

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

I mean, he's the colour commentator.  I don't know how often Cheech would criticize the structure of the team.  We all know he had many opportunities to do so.

[-DLC-]

LOL at conflict of interest.

 

Yet one player's daddy was NHL Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations and in charge of disciplinary actions. Convenient. But it was treated like it was a "nothing to see here" deal. Right-o.

 

I like Ray and think he'd be good in the role. Gets a little fast talking at times, but overall he'd be a good fit in my opinion. No Cheech by any means....I imagine we'll lose some of the light hearted banter we've grown accustomed to but definitely a decent candidate.

[-DLC-]

4 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

I mean, he's the colour commentator.  I don't know how often Cheech would criticize the structure of the team.  We all know he had many opportunities to do so.

He was a homer, through and through, and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

Just because someone has a platform TO criticize the structure of the team it doesn't mean they'll necessarily be accurate or have to take that route. I mean, our fans here like to think they're qualified but it doesn't make it so. Maybe sometimes not weighing in at that level is better than chiming in with a bunch of personal opinion that is just that. Cheech kept to his own experiences and didn't try to be "the" expert and his presentation was appreciated by some of us.

 

 

[JamesB]

Like most local broadcast color commentators, Cheech was a homer, but not as extreme as some. He did provide occasional criticism of Canuck players and his comments were always insightful. Everyone liked Cheech. He was like "one of us" (i.e. a fan who wants to see the team do well). There are times when I would have liked to see him be more critical (like when he was ignoring the latest gaffe from Myers or OEL or giving Miller a pass on a weak defensive play) but, like everyone else, I liked him a lot overall.

 

Ferraro will be more critical. I sometimes find him over the top in that often he overstates or exaggerates a point  He will be different from Cheech.

But I will be interested to see how he does. I wonder if the change in commentator has any effect on the players. No-one likes to be criticized in the media and I expect that some guys will be in for a lot more criticism from Ferraro than they were from Cheech.

[Alflives]

Are the broadcasters employees of the club or the TV station? I don’t see any “conflict of interests” for Ray to do colour. He’d be fantastic!  He can be critical and funny. Not too sure how many games he would be able to do though. Isn’t he busy with US TV? 
 

[Gurn]

Just can't see Ray, and Cammi, covering the same team.

Management already sacked one gal for alleged leaks to media.

 

 

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, JamesB said:

Like most local broadcast color commentators, Cheech was a homer, but not as extreme as some. He did provide occasional criticism of Canuck players and his comments were always insightful. Everyone liked Cheech. He was like "one of us" (i.e. a fan who wants to see the team do well). There are times when I would have liked to see him be more critical (like when he was ignoring the latest gaffe from Myers or OEL or giving Miller a pass on a weak defensive play) but, like everyone else, I liked him a lot overall.

 

Ferraro will be more critical. I sometimes find him over the top in that often he overstates or exaggerates a point  He will be different from Cheech.

But I will be interested to see how he does. I wonder if the change in commentator has any effect on the players. No-one likes to be criticized in the media and I expect that some guys will be in for a lot more criticism from Ferraro than they were from Cheech.

If the guys don’t know already they soon will find out that Ray was a heck of a player. 102 goals one year in junior and over 400 in the National, and all while being a nasty little piece of business. 

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, Gurn said:

Just can't see Ray, and Cammi, covering the same team.

Management already sacked one gal for alleged leaks to media.

 

 

What’s the difference whether Ray is doing our games or doing the ones he currently does? He’s still married to Cammi either way and has been for a long time. 

[King Heffy]

Ferraro is very experienced doing national broadcasts.  He gets the criticism/homer balance just right doing the WJHC and would do an outstanding job.

[Gurn]

4 minutes ago, Alflives said:

What’s the difference whether Ray is doing our games or doing the ones he currently does? He’s still married to Cammi either way and has been for a long time. 

The difference is he is not covering this team.

If he does cover this team, and discovers a story or trouble on the Canucks, he could risk Cammi's job by saying anything.- or he doesn't say anything and deprives the fans of important news.

Given a choice of depriving fans of info, or being responsible for getting your wife fired- which one would you pick?

[Rubik]

That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen... Patrick Stefan, you should be embarrassed for what you just did...

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

24 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

He was a homer, through and through, and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

Just because someone has a platform TO criticize the structure of the team it doesn't mean they'll necessarily be accurate or have to take that route. I mean, our fans here like to think they're qualified but it doesn't make it so. Maybe sometimes not weighing in at that level is better than chiming in with a bunch of personal opinion that is just that. Cheech kept to his own experiences and didn't try to be "the" expert and his presentation was appreciated by some of us.

Haha if I was colour man I'd be going "thanks Jim" every time OEL/Myers made a mistake.  Cheech was a homer but he was professional.  

[greenbean30]

11 minutes ago, Gurn said:

The difference is he is not covering this team.

If he does cover this team, and discovers a story or trouble on the Canucks, he could risk Cammi's job by saying anything.- or he doesn't say anything and deprives the fans of important news.

Given a choice of depriving fans of info, or being responsible for getting your wife fired- which one would you pick?

Well doing colour and being an insider are two different jobs.

I would assume if Ray takes this job, he will no longer classify himself as an insider and won't be breaking any news about the team or any other team. You don't expect Shorthouse and didn't expect Garrett to break any news, Ray would be no different.

[Alflives]

8 minutes ago, Gurn said:

The difference is he is not covering this team.

If he does cover this team, and discovers a story or trouble on the Canucks, he could risk Cammi's job by saying anything.- or he doesn't say anything and deprives the fans of important news.

Given a choice of depriving fans of info, or being responsible for getting your wife fired- which one would you pick?

What? So if Ray has a story about the Canucks’ troubles and he broadcasts it while working for his current US network that wouldn’t risk Cammi’s job?

There is no difference between Ray working where he does right now and working here. 
Ray isn’t a moron. He hasn’t said anything that Cammi might have shared with him in private and he won’t. And we don’t know she would share these inside the club things with him anyway. 
There is no conflict. Bring on Ray! 

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, greenbean30 said:

Well doing colour and being an insider are two different jobs.

I would assume if Ray takes this job, he will no longer classify himself as an insider and won't be breaking any news about the team or any other team. You don't expect Shorthouse and didn't expect Garrett to break any news, Ray would be no different.

And has Ray shared any knowledge he has about the club anyway? Of course not. Doubtful Cammi would share it with him anyway, but even if she did he’s not repeating it. 

[-AJ-]

30 minutes ago, JamesB said:

Like most local broadcast color commentators, Cheech was a homer, but not as extreme as some. He did provide occasional criticism of Canuck players and his comments were always insightful. Everyone liked Cheech. He was like "one of us" (i.e. a fan who wants to see the team do well). There are times when I would have liked to see him be more critical (like when he was ignoring the latest gaffe from Myers or OEL or giving Miller a pass on a weak defensive play) but, like everyone else, I liked him a lot overall.

 

Ferraro will be more critical. I sometimes find him over the top in that often he overstates or exaggerates a point  He will be different from Cheech.

But I will be interested to see how he does. I wonder if the change in commentator has any effect on the players. No-one likes to be criticized in the media and I expect that some guys will be in for a lot more criticism from Ferraro than they were from Cheech.

This echoes my sentiments. I'm not a huge Ferraro fan, but there's no question that he knows the game well and is also a good presenter. I'm not really looking for a blind love for the team, but I would like a colour guy who at least does root for our team to do well and given Cammi's role, Ray will certainly be rooting for our guys. I just hope he doesn't let negativity overwhelm his casts, lest it be too difficult to watch losing games. Shorty and Cheech were great at making even bad games more enjoyable.

[Fred65]

10 minutes ago, Alflives said:

And has Ray shared any knowledge he has about the club anyway? Of course not. Doubtful Cammi would share it with him anyway, but even if she did he’s not repeating it. 

As far as colour commentator he's one of the best as usual it was reconized by the Americans. He was on CKNW sports show  for years always making insightful and fun comments. Just look at The between period commentator on HNC and they frequently sit out Bieska who is my a large margin the best guy on the panel. Why you might ask, only in PC Canada. Everyone has to be equal. In the USA it's you promote the best

Edited June 4, 2023 by Fred65

[Gawdzukes]

53 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

LOL at conflict of interest.

 

Yet one player's daddy was in the role of NHL Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations and in charge of disciplinary actions. Convenient. But it was treated like it was a "nothing to see here" deal. Right-o.

 

I like Ray and think he'd be good in the role. Gets a little fast talking at times, but overall he'd be a good fit in my opinion. No Cheech by any means....I imagine we'll lose some of the light hearted banter we've grown accustomed to but definitely a decent candidate.

I don't mind Ferraro at all. I like him too. He knows the game and he's a decent speaker. Definitely lol at the conflict of interest. He's been pretty involved in hockey on the west coast and he knows the Canucks.

[Odd.]

Perhaps he should file a divorce and marry Shorthouse instead. Problem solved!