Ritch Winter’s take on a recent blog post on Pass It To Bulis led to a minor brouhaha on the Internets today.

Winter, who took issue with the theory being floated that he was the unnamed person in a Tony Gallagher column talking about Cody Hodgson’s icetime, went on at great lengths to express his disdain for the current state of journalism, narrowing his focus more specifically on sports journalism and how they’re constantly in a rush to be first and not factual.

Of that, there can be no dispute. Plugged-in hockey fans have sniggered over TSN or Sportsnet passing on an Eklund rumour or, worse, taking a completely made-up rumour and passing it along like it was the gospel truth. There were a group of folks on a hockey board I used to frequent who fabricated a ‘hockey insider’ personality and used careful planning and organisation to make him seem legitimate.

Bob McKenzie, arguably the top hockey writer in Canada, even gave this person a shout out.

We’ve also had unfortunate incidents like when CTV Ottawa had reported that Pat Burns had passed away, only to receive a phone call from Pat Burns correcting them of their mistake.

More recently, there were the rumours regarding contract extensions for Ron Wilson and Steve Tambellini. Wilson’s eventual contract was nowhere near as long as the original, but folks picked it up and ran with it like it was the gospel truth.

I joked about Tambellini, but made note that this wasn’t confirmed and that it was very much a rumour. I had no idea of knowing, and no legitimate hockey press was corroborating my story.

Winter wasn’t happy that he wasn’t contacted regarding his story and that the speculation upon which the entire blog post hinged on, that he was the one who was griping about Hodgson’s icetime, wasn’t immediately diffused.

I love Pass It To Bulis. Harrison and Daniel are great guys who churn out a ridiculous amount of content. I have nothing respect for them, and the fact that Harrison’s taken on responsibilities at Puck Daddy is awesome. Makes me think I might be able to make something of myself one day.

I also love Ritch Winter. Anyone who can rip the Calgary Flames in the manner he did gets a gold star and a beer of his choice any day of the week. It makes for great reading material and copy.

So, in a situation like this, it’s like Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart, or CM Punk vs. Brian Danielson. Pitting my favorites against each other. Not cool.

That said, I have to agree with Ritch Winter.

The main complaint from bloggers is that they aren’t taken seriously. Damien Cox rails against ‘bloggers’ (like we’re a collective, organised mass, or an easily constructed, easily dismissed stereotype.) The Edmonton Oilers want nothing to do with bloggers. Steve Simmons, based on my experiences with him, isn’t a fan, either.

There’s a desire for legitimacy from bloggers. For good reason. In this day and age, we live in such an information rich society, newspapers aren’t really the gatekeepers that they once were. Information flows a lot more freely, and it’s entirely feasible that you could ‘compete’ with a legitimate organisation if you find the right niche or area to specialise in.

And I get it. Pass It To Bulis isn’t a 100% serious blog. There is a strong comedic element to their content (heck, in a discussion that’s going on AS WE SPEAK Harrison jokingly asked me if I even read his stuff when I asked if bloggers want to be taken seriously) and, to be entirely fair, the PITB Twitter account did acknowledge that they may be more careful moving forwards.

That said, when you offer up serious criticism about someone like Damien Cox (random note: I didn’t know there was a shout-out to me in the linked post until just now) or write the black players/Atlanta Thrashers story, and delve into ’serious’ blogging, you can’t hide behind ‘we’re all about the Photoshops. Honest!’
A lot of people have been dismissive of Winter’s complaints, though, and I think it’s doing a disservice to the blogging community and the people who are cranking out solid content. When a blog like Pass It To Bulis gets a stamp of legitimacy from the Vancouver Sun, reader expectations rise. People may (arguably unfairly) put the Bulis Boys on the same level as the Sun and, as a result, have the same expectations.

And, unfortunately, legitimacy isn’t going to be handed over to you. Otherwise Eklund would be God-Emperor of the Internet and I would have ended it all in a tragic bloodbath by bludgeoning people to death with an oversized letter E. Harrison and Daniel have earned their little corner of the Internet by cranking out solid material that is well written, funny, insightful and engaging.

But getting that endorsement from a legitimate media outlet, you still have to be careful, in my estimation. You have to give Winter a chance to respond, mostly because that’s what a legitimate newspaper or news outlet would do.

The other issue is that blogging and online media is still very much a developing medium. I don’t think blogging-as-news (or as a substitute, depending on your views) has been completely fleshed out yet, and we’re probably one website or app or idea away from really solidifying things. So there’s still a lot of finding your way.

I’m not saying that PITB was doing anything intentionally malicious or duplicit. There’s no way that would be the case. I do think that there are considerations to be made and that it isn’t fair to dismiss Winter as being another out of touch ‘old’ person who doesn’t ‘get’ blogs.

It’s awesome that PITB is taking this in stride. I just think other folks out there need to be cognizant of this as well.

So the news came out today that Cody Hodgson will not be participating in the Young Stars tourney this weekend after a medical evaluation yesterday did not clear him to play. Unfortunate news, given that Hodgson has now been injured for over a year and has missed a lot of hockey in between then and now.

Compounding the issue is the fact that team doctors, as well as the doctors Hodgson consulted for a second opinion, completely missed the source of his injury: a muscle tear in his back, rather than the bulging disc that was originally thought to be the cause of his problems. I think it is important to note that both the Canucks medical personnel and Hodgson’s doctor misdiagnosed things. One, it allows the online contingent of Canucks fans to start calling for trainer Roger Takahashi’s head again and two, it unfortunately justifies Hodgson’s decision to seek further medical treatment for his injury. Something was going on and he had the foresight to try and do something about it.

At any rate, while it is disappointing that Hodgson won’t be playing soon, Canucks brass are still expecting him to show up at the main training camp, where he may be able to carve out a spot for himself on the main roster. With Alex Burrows out of the lineup and a potential third line spot available, there is a chance, however small, that Hodgson could make the team straight out of training camp.

That’s putting the cart before the horse, though. The first thing Hodgson needs is to get cleared to actually play. Once he’s reached that point, he needs to have a strong training camp to justify his spot on the team. I’m working on a longer blog post right now talking about the Canucks and the big thing that’s jumping out to me right now is that, outside of the very top players on the team (Sedins, Kesler, Luongo) things are wide open in terms of availability, especially since both Burrows and Salo are expected to miss the start of the season. Thus, simply being a talented and highly regarded prospect isn’t going to be enough for Hodgson, although I don’t think he’ll have problems putting forth the effort.

Hodgson has shown that he is willing to work hard: his decision to ‘work through’ his injury at last year’s training camp probably resulted in a major setback in his recovery, but shows that he’s willing to put in the work necessary to make the NHL.

I also have to wonder if the decision to not have Hodgson cleared to play was up to Mike Gillis. I will add a disclaimer right here and say that I am a fan of Cody Hodgson and am feverently hoping that he’s more or less healthy, so take the next bit here with a grain of salt. Anyway…

One word that could probably be used to describe Gillis, admittedly only based on what’s been presented in the media, is meticulous. He likes planning things out and constantly refers to plans or strategies in interviews, moreso than other NHL GMs who like to talk about the job they’re doing.

There was the Off-Season Plan, the Defense Plan, the Bottom Six Plan, the Road Trip From Hell Plan, the Planning Things Out Plan, the Flan Plan, etc. it’s a nice trait to have for an NHL GM (those who doubt me probably went to the Darryl Sutter ‘Seat of Your Pants’ School of Business) and I don’t mind it, even if he manages to ruffle a few feathers here and there (see: player’s opinions on the sleep experts.)

Gillis has shown that he likes to be very involved with running the Canucks, the introduction of the sleep experts being a team-wide example of such. He’s also shown a knack for micromanaging things: see the Kyle Wellwood Blowaway Diet for an example of what I’m talking about. Gillis clearly likes to remain in the loop when it comes to his players and isn’t above stepping in when he deems it necessary to do so, even if it may be contrary to the player in question’s wishes, such as Gillis’ decision to change goaltending coaches without first consulting Roberto Luongo, or the rumour that Luongo is going to have less of a say in when and how much he plays this coming season.

Hodgson was described as being ‘upbeat’ yesterday prior to his medical evaluation and said he felt ready to play. I’d imagine that if the choice were up to him, Hodgson would probably be suiting up this weekend. Unfortunately, the last time he made a judgment call like that it didn’t exactly work out for him and he missed most of last season due to an injury. Thus, it’s not a huge stretch to think that maybe, just maybe, Mike Gillis decided to intervene here. Take a few more days to fully go over everything and make sure Hodgson is 100% ready to go for training camp and go from there.

Go over every single test, check and re-check things and make sure everything is in order. Don’t leave anything to chance. Everything looks fine? Test and check again.

Yeah, it may sound a little too focused on the details, but it also fits Mike Gillis’ MO.

Man, what an intense looking bunch there. Wellwood especially. I kid, I kid. Anyway, here’s a brief recap of the Canucks week that was, although it’s a little light on some details.

The month of January ended with the Canucks beginning their Road Trip From Hell on Hockey Day In Canada, as well as the latest Canucks Week That Was! Find out all you need to know regarding what went on this past week after the jump!

What a huge week for Alex Burrows and the Canucks! Although it ended on a sour note, the Canucks continued their solid play to start the New Year. Plenty to go over, so no mucking around. Let’s take a look at the Canucks Week That Was.

Lots to talk about this week, both on ice and off. Olympic nominations! The World Juniors! Off-ice shenanigans! Oh yes, and the Canucks also played a couple of games as well. While everyone was out celebrating Christmas and Festivus, I was staying on top of things in Canuckland. Here’s what you need to know about the Week That Was.

Recently, the Canucks haven’t had much to look forward to when the NHL goes on its annual Christmas break. The World Junior Championships, a Boxing Day Tradition, have typically been light on Canuck talent. That’s starting to change, though, thanks to the efforts of general manager Mike Gillis. There are a number of players in the system who have a good shot of representing their country for the Juniors. With Team Sweden’s announcing their roster tomorrow and Team Canada naming their training camp roster on December 3rd, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at those players.