{"id":403,"date":"2020-10-07T20:38:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T20:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamesalexandermichie.net\/hockey-coach-tips\/?p=403"},"modified":"2020-10-07T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T20:40:57","slug":"kevin-bieksa-needs-to-become-a-mainstay-on-hockey-night-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamesalexandermichie.net\/hockey-coach-tips\/kevin-bieksa-needs-to-become-a-mainstay-on-hockey-night-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Bieksa needs to become a mainstay on Hockey Night in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Read the original article.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I told myself when I stopped playing that I wasn’t going to say no to anything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hockey fans need more of Kevin Bieksa. The former Canuck was a revelation on Hockey Night in Canada during the playoffs and has to be a big part of Sportsnet\u2019s plans for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I told myself when I stopped playing that I wasn’t going to say no to anything,” said Bieksa in a Wednesday appearance on Sportsnet 650<\/a>. “I was going to give everything a try once to see what I liked.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fans have to hope now that his work on the Hockey Night in Canada panel wasn’t just a one-time thing. Fortunately, he seemed to like it a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It doesn’t feel like work when you go in there, it’s fun,” he said. “You sit down, you watch the game with these people, you talk hockey, you argue, you chirp, you dissect the game.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though he was a relative rookie, Bieksa was a natural on-air. The playoffs is an opportunity for players to break out and make a name for themselves, but arguably the biggest breakout star was Bieksa. He gave hockey fans a reason to tune in during intermissions, a necessity with the departure of a big personality like Don Cherry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever you might think of Cherry, his Coach\u2019s Corner segments were still popular when he was let go by Sportsnet after his xenophobic comments<\/a> last November. Hockey Night in Canada needed a big personality to catch eyes and ears \u2014 Brian Burke\u2019s solemn monotone wasn\u2019t cutting it \u2014 and they found that personality in Bieksa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canucks fans have been aware of Bieksa\u2019s personality<\/a> for years. He showed great chemistry with Sportsnet\u2019s Dan Murphy<\/a> in intermission and post-game interviews and proved just as adept with a mic in his hand<\/a>. His short-lived podcast with Ryan Kesler<\/a> was a delight, providing insights and entertainment in equal measure. His speech at Daniel and Henrik Sedin’s jersey retirement<\/a> was incredible, seemingly entirely off the cuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was no surprise that he ended up on air and was an immediate hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intermission segments during the Stanley Cup Playoffs could have been incredibly awkward, since some people were broadcasting from their homes and it featured two rookies in Bieksa and Anthony Stewart. Bieksa deserves a lot of credit for cutting through any potential awkwardness with his sense of humour, riffing with each member of the panel to make for a lively viewing experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it was all personality, however, it wouldn\u2019t have worked as well as it did. Bieksa backs up his personality with a breadth of knowledge about the game that surpasses anything else we\u2019ve seen on Hockey Night in Canada in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might have something to do with the types of former players that end up doing commentary in hockey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In basketball, two of the greatest players of all-time, Shaquille O\u2019Neal and Charles Barkley, break down games for TNT. Football has great quarterbacks like Tony Romo and Troy Aikman sharing their exceptional knowledge of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For whatever reason, hockey doesn\u2019t have former stars doing commentary, with the exception of Cassie Campbell, one of the all-time greats. More often, hockey commentators are former role players, like Nick Kypreos and PJ Stock, or journeyman goaltenders, like Greg Millen or John Garrett.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why there\u2019s always been so much emphasis on the intangibles that players bring to a locker room or the importance of fights in hockey: those are often what depth role players bring to their team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are exceptions, of course. Kelly Hrudey was a long-time starter in the NHL and is at his best away from a desk when he can demonstrate a goaltending technique or break down a play with a telestrator. Former players of all types, not to mention non-players can certainly have insights into the game. But it doesn\u2019t hurt to have played and understood the game at a high level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Bieksa wasn\u2019t a star in the NHL to the same extent as Shaq or Aitken in their sports, he was still a legitimate top-four defenceman on some very good teams. He put up 40+ points in two separate seasons and was a key shutdown defenceman on the 2010-11 Canucks with Dan Hamhuis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, Bieksa was a very smart player with a great head for the game, understanding the \u201cwhy\u201d behind the \u201chow.\u201d That\u2019s made him ideal for breaking down small details of the game,  particularly on the defensive end, that are missed by the average hockey fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t mean those details are complicated, because they\u2019re generally fairly simple. Or, perhaps they seem simple because of the way Bieksa explains them. Take this explanation of taking away the far side of the net while penalty killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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