Jedi Council

The Sabres, the NHL and You(tube)

Just a few topics today. Feel free to chime in.

NHL Clips on Your Favorite Video Platform

The National Hockey League has set its sights on hockey content creators on Youtube. The big names, The Hockey Guy and Top Shelf Hockey appear safe. They give news and notes about the NHL, talk about trades and review the games from that evening and so forth. They produce daily videos about the happenings in the league. All good for them, because they don’t show video clips of the games. Other hockey content creators talk about the games, talk about players but also show clips as they talk over the videos. Well, no more without paying a full price. The NHL is putting copyright claims on all these videos. In other words, the NHL is collecting FULL REVENUE from these content creators. There has been a “fair use” policy to show video clips in the past but that is being challenged. At least within the NHL. This feels like the league is shooting itself in the foot by doing this. These Youtubers help spread the game to others, they have hundreds of thousands of views daily. They PROMOTE hockey. But the league does not see it that way. Some of the smaller hockey channels may well disappear soon as a result of this. The creators will no longer be able to make a living that way. Or they will have to drastically alter the way they make hockey videos.

Right now, of the 4 major sports leagues in North America, the NHL is the only league making these copyright claims. They now profit the full amount of revenue from these videos. Trouble is, this new found profit for the league won’t last long because these channels will eventually shut down. Nobody is going to make content with NHL video clips for fun while Bettman and company pocket the profits. Seems to me the free advertising the NHL gets from all these channels is not being appreciated. Showing brief clips of NHL games with a voice over as they report on the league feels like fair use to me. Same as showing clips from a movie or TV show in short segments. The NHL comes across as short sighted to me here. If these channels were steaming live games or showing full games from the past without consent, then yes protect your product. But this move comes across as both greedy and unwise without concern for the fans. You are already required to have multiple cable, internet and streaming services to watch your favorite team. All while still dealing with several blackouts in there. Now they are limiting outside entities from bringing you hockey content. I thought the NFL was the No Fun League?

In fairness, I am looking at this from the point of view of the little guy and their hockey channels. In some instances, the NHL has has a leg to stand on legally. If somebody makes a 10 minute video with 2 minutes of hockey clips spaced out within, that should be covered by the fair use policy. But it seems the league is going after even those creators. Now if somebody makes a 10 minute video filled with 10 minutes of video clips, well technically the NHL could make a claim. But why would you want that? Hockey fans are a unique and rabid bunch. They want as much NHL as they can get. Why deny them that? Why alienate more fans that way? The NBA, NFL and MLB are fine with these videos covering their sport. There are hundreds if not thousands of Youtube channels that show basketball, football and baseball clips. Why are they left alone? Because it promotes their game. It’s free advertising for their sport. It’s good business to keep your fans invested and happy. But not for the NHL. For them it’s business as usual.

Since it has come to this, a resolution should be made. The NHL and these hockey channels should work together in some sort of partnership at least. Develop a new program that allows for fair use of their clips. Help each other and help grow the game.

What Exactly is the Bowen Byram Plan?

SInce the day he was acquired, the question on most people’s minds has been this: How can we afford to sign Bo Byram with Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power already committed to long term big money? Well, I guess we will find out the plan this year at some point. Our big three D will be very expensive if Bo is looking for Power type money or more. Eight million and change. That is twenty seven million plus at least tied up into just 3 players, all on the back end. Some hope that Bo will sign a more team friendly deal for maybe 6 or 6.5 million. I suppose it is possible but not very probable. It seems the cap will be going up again so some money will be available. But it is still odd that Kevyn Adams made this deal to begin with. Not based on the talent level of Byram but because of the money issue. He knew that Bo would soon cost even more than Casey Mittelstadt does now. Buffalo’s former center seemed to have been dealt because of his potential cost. All Buffalo’s GM did was buy himself a season of savings. Unless his plan all along was to deal Byram later? It’s hard to even see Adams thinking that far ahead to be honest.

Most would agree that Rasmus Dahlin isn’t going anywhere if a trade is to happen. That leaves one of Power or Byram as potential moves to be made to alleviate the added expense. (and perhaps add a true right shot defenseman or scoring forward) An argument can be made for both as to which one to keep. And to which would fetch the best return. To me, Bo is the better defender right now. Some feel he has been Buffalo’s best all around Dman this year. His stat line in 45 games played:

Pretty good numbers at just past the half way point of the season. He has a smooth, quick breakout and smart decision making skills. He has played solidly in his own end too. Bo also has a respectable number of hits with 45. At just 23 years old he still has room to grow and get better. But I don’t feel his offensive ceiling is as high as Power. I feel Byram maxes out as a 40-50 point player, which is fine with me. He brings other aspects to his game Owen doesn’t and is more of a complete player right now.

Now on the other hand, we have Owen Power to consider. This is his stat line through the same 45 games.

Well well. Very similar numbers except the +/- stat. Owen had been on the ice for several more goals against. The 22 year old’s overall game isn’t at the same level as Byram right now. His offense is because his skill set is higher. I feel Power can be a regular 60 point player one day with his talents. But defensively Owen is not there yet. Oddly, Byram and Power have nearly the identical number of games played in their careers. But Bo has an extra pro season under his belt. And lots of playoff games with a Stanley Cup to boot. That extra experience has him ahead right now. But Power still possesses the superior offensive skills I believe. It’s his game in his own zone that needs work. His positioning, his reaction time and of course his physical play, or lack there of. His 15 hits through 45 games as a defender is shockingly low. And depending on who you are talking too, pathetic as well. I won’t dive too deep into this but most would agree improvement must be made here.

Power has the better potential of the two but needs more seasoning. He also needs to tighten up and toughen up in his own zone. Byram is the better player right now with a better all around game. But I don’t feel he will ever match Owen’s future offensive output.

So where does this leave us? Who do you move here if that is the plan and what value does each player have? Can we get a legit top 6 forward back? Or would you prefer an affordable right shot defender in return, packaged with something else? Somehow signing Byram and fitting these 3 back on D will be difficult. If we do, someone like Sammy might have to be shipped out to compensate. I’m not really sure what Kevyn Adams was thinking here. How does he or another GM make this all work in Buffalo’s favor? How do YOU make this all work for Buffalo’s favor?