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Host, TSN The Reporters with Dave Hodge

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Thumbs up to Joe Louis Arena, which received its death notice this week. It is scheduled for eventual demolition as the Detroit Red Wings point to a 2017 move to a new arena. I won't lament the passing of the building itself, except for the memories it contains and the name it honours and displays--Joe Louis. It must be an old arena to be named after a person, an heroic figure who meant so much to Detroit when he was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Every NHL arena built since the coming of Joe Louis Arena in 1979 bears the name of a corporation. We know what naming rights are worth and there's no point lobbying for a return to the old days. But consider this: NHL hockey is being played in buildings known as BB and T Center, Amalie Arena, PNC Arena, and SAP Center and you likely don't know where they are. You know where Joe Louis Arena is.

It's in Detroit.  And it's "the Joe". Priceless.

Thumbs down to a bunch of NHL general managers. Oh, I don't know exactly how many, but let's say several teams could have used Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy and only one team--the New York Islanders--seized the opportunity to take two good defencemen off the salary-cap-strapped hands of the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks respectively. Isles' GM Garth Snow did that because he had to do that--he had to make moves to boost his team's chances of making the playoffs because missing the playoffs would create the possibility of Buffalo landing Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel with a draft pick obtained from the Islanders in the historically-bad Thomas Vanek trade. But if Snow had the best reason to go after Boychuk and Leddy, others should have been similarly motivated. That one team was able to get both players and give up  nothing from its NHL roster and no first-round draft picks suggests there were general managers asleep at the switch. If you're wondering why I didn't just say "thumbs up" to Garth Snow, well, I've avoided sending praise in his direction this long, I'll keep that slate clean.

For now.