Mark Moore’s SAVING THE GAME came out in 2006 and I managed to avoid hearing anything about it until late 2008. I was watching HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA and someone off-handedly asked Dominic Moore about his brother’s book. I did some research and found out about SAVING THE GAME.

Mark Moore played in the Penguins organization, not making it up to the NHL before a concussion ended his career. This book is his ideas on how to improve hockey and make it a viable sport, both quickly and longterm.

Other than being a former professional defenseman, Moore was Harvard educated, so the theory is you’re getting a bit more than the check-addled musings of an ex-jock. And Moore is definitely a bright guy. But Moore positions the book as a cross between Ken Dryden’s classic THE GAME and Bruce Dowbiggin’s MONEY PLAYERS (the hockey version of Michael Lewis’s MONEYBALL). Unfortunately, SAVING THE GAME lacks the elegant simplicity of THE GAME and the analytical precision of MONEY PLAYERS.

Moore spends the majority of the book outlining some practical ways to change and improve hockey, leaning hard on the idea of making the game four-on-four. He also recommends a zero-tolerance officiating policy, where every infraction is called. Another big suggestion is using softer equipment, which will protect players on both ends of the armor. None of these are bad ideas, but they don’t lend themselves to a book-length treatise. Also, Moore wrote the book without the benefit of seeing all of the four-on-four overtimes that followed the lockout, so it doesn’t seem fair to criticize his faith in the idea.

SAVING THE GAME is at its most interesting and provocative at the end, though, once all of Moore’s practical ideas are out of the way. His more interesting ideas include government intervention in sports to protect the rights of fans and a collective bargaining agreement that allows teams to pay players based upon performance. I don’t necessarily agree with a lot of the ideas raised toward the end of the book, but they’re interestingly presented, and more importantly, presented in the context of the place of sports in modern North American society. Moore really hits his stride when he gets away from the mundane and allows himself to explore the conceptual.

I wouldn’t call SAVING THE GAME essential, but if you like to imagine how the NHL would be different if you were commissioner (or if you really enjoyed Puck Daddy’s 5 Ways I’d Change the NHL series), you’ll enjoy this. Moore is an intelligent man who often manages to capture and synthesize the desires of fans, business, and players. He’s obviously spent a lot of time thinking this stuff out.

On that note, if you’d like to check out SAVING THE GAME, send me an email with your address and I’ll mail my review copy to the first person requesting it (minus the dust jacket, which I religiously remove from books). U.S.-only, please.

Marian Gaborik is going to be out 10-14 weeks with hip surgery.

Apparently, the Wild aren’t very happy about it and seem to have wanted him to play through the pain.

Or, to be more accurate, they probably wanted him to play through the pain until they were able to trade him.

I bet the Wild bet they had traded Gaborik this summer, instead of trying to get a contract done. Or maybe they’re just grateful they didn’t lock him up longterm.

It’s a sad start to the New Year for Gaborik and the Wild.

I rarely get to say anything nice about the NHL, but the Winter Classic has been a pretty great idea. The NHL season is so long. You need something to break it up a little bit and the All-Star game is so pointless, it’s hard to get excited.

I feel awful Doc Emrick won’t be able to call the game due to laryngitis. I’m not a huge fan of his style, but his voice does signify a big game.

Also, what’s the over/under on Chris Chelios returning to the Blackhawks? Can you imagine what a veteran like Chelios would mean to this young Blackhawks team? The prodigal son returning to his home town? More and more, Chelios seems to be leaning toward going out a Blackhawk. I hope he can play some final games for his favorite team.

Oh. And Michael DiLorenzo from the NHL has some great (and grainy) behind-the-scenes shots of the Winter Classic up on Twitter.

Oh. And Happy New Year!

So I leave New York City for like three or four days and I come back and Larry Brooks is clamoring for the Rangers to bring in Sean Avery?

I’m glad I wasn’t gone a week. Otherwise Chris Simon might have been in the line-up.

I see Brooks’ point. The Rangers are soft. There’s very little energy. But it’s still very much a coaching issue. You have a porous defense and a coach who refuses to sit any of his underperforming blueliners.

Tom Renney’s reputation is as a players’ coach — the kind of guy who watches the backs of his veteran players. But let’s not forget he’s also the coach who wasn’t afraid to bench top-line center Michael Nylander whenever Nylander would lose his north-south game. And that’s the coach the Rangers need right now.

Avery would probably bring energy to the Rangers, but he could just as easily bring chaos. If the Rangers need an energy injection, at this point, it seems like it needs to come from their coach.

UPDATE: The Rangers defense stays together again. Interestingly, this development means the only American job left with less accountability than being a part of the Rangers defense is running GM, Ford, or Chrysler.

Thank you. Thank you very much. What is this? A blog or an oil painting? I can hear you breathing out there…

UPDATE TWO: Puck Daddy has a nice take on all of this, too.

Happy holidays!

Here are the RotoRob fantasy hockey awards, which I worked on.

Also, there’s a a big picture of Evgeni Malkin making out with his girlfriend, so be prepared.

I think the holidays stress everyone out — even athletes and coaches. People around the NHL seem a little tense.

Over in St. Louis, coach Andy Murray called out players by name after a loss to the Bruins. And now, rather than apologizing or clarifying, Murray is bizarrely standing by his jerky behavior. All of this drama makes one wonder if Murray’s lost his team, which is pretty much his signature coaching move. Jeff Gordon says it hasn’t happened yet, though.

Over on Long Island, Last week, defenseman Brendan Witt called out coach Scott Gordon’s defensive system, which is basically the philosophy that the best defense is a good offense. Gordon was vague about identifying the true root of the Isles defensive problems, but at least he agreed there’s a problem. While Gordon’s system isn’t a great fit for the team, injuries have certainly been a factor for the Islanders.

I’m glad the NHL is getting some days off, though. All of this verbal fighting makes me uncomfortable. I think everyone could use some downtime.

I’m sorry but I think Mats Sundin is a little crazy. This week he was in New York, huddling with the Rangers, making it seem like his signing was inevitable.

And then, of course, he signed with the Canucks.

In New York, the beat writers seem to believe the X factor was a dollar sign. Larry Brooks seems depressed about the non-signing. Or maybe it’s the holidays. They’re tough on all of us.

I really hate to quote myself (FULL DISCLOSURE: I love quoting myself) but the Canucks did the Rangers a giant solid. Now, the Rangers can shed salary and wait for a more pure offensive player to come on the market at the trade deadline. And/or a big defenseman.

Also, yesterday Greg asked who was the best in the West – Detroit or San Jose. Detroit’s 6-0 win over the Sharks last night goes a long way toward answering that question.

Finally, this will be Gary Roberts last year in the NHL. He’s going to retire. He’s been playing in Tampa and he’s pretty banged up. He’s been in the league since 1986, but playing this season for the Lightning has got to feel like 4 years. At least.

Mike Keenan was back in St. Louis Tuesday and true to form, he was making fans miserable.

In typical Keenan fashion, he played the victim.

Then, the media came in and fact-checked his statements.

How many times do you think this dance has been performed? Hundreds? Thousands?

Sometimes I think Keenan is maturing and then he visits an old haunt and totally regresses. Although, to be fair, much of the NHL is an old haunt for Keenan.

Also, and this is going to just shock you, but Mats Sundin is delaying his decision on where he’ll play this season.

Adrian Dater has an interesting plot twist in the Sundin To Rangers Show.

Like how about the Rangers moving Chris Drury to Colorado? Adrian Dater says it’s not impossible. He concocts a scenario where the Rangers waive Drury, Colorado claims him, and the Rangers are only on the hook for half of Drury’s salary. Because the Rangers would love to lose a solid player and pay him to play for another team.

Dater also says that most players with no movement clauses (like Drury has) will accept a trade once they know their team doesn’t want them anymore. Although, right off the top of my head, I can think of one player that didn’t. And his name rhymes with Bats Hundin.

I’m not saying the Rangers would never try and move Drury, but I think they’d want something back for him. He’s not a goal-scoring machine, but he brings a lot to the team; small things that don’t show up in stats, but that make the Rangers a better team in both ends. If the Rangers do try and move Drury, they’re going to want something decent back in return. He’s not a salary dump kind of player.

Over on Long Island, the Islanders are being super, super careful with goalie Rick DiPietro. He might practice with the team Friday, but he won’t dress as a backup until he’s 100% ready to return to action. Although everyone in the Islanders organization has to be thinking DiPietro really won’t help things. Goaltending has been the least of their problems.

Finally, here are the NHL playoff logos (via). I actually like the playoff one a lot better than the one done just for the finals.

I haven’t really talked about Mats Sundin possibly/probably coming to the Rangers because it seemed like such a dumb idea, I didn’t think there was any way it was really going to happen.

But more and more, it seems likes it’s going to happen.

It doesn’t make any sense for the Rangers, who are deep down the middle. In fact, they’re so deep, Chris Drury has spent some time out of position on the wing, where he just isn’t effective.

The Rangers are great at center. What they need is a finisher. Rangers coach Tom Renney tried to obviate that need by spreading out his two goal-scoring wings (Nikolai Zherdev and Markus Naslund) over different lines, but logic dictated putting them together with Scott Gomez when the Rangers suddenly stopped scoring. But beyond that line, the Rangers don’t really have any kind of offense.

And obviously, defense has been a huge problem for the Rangers. Dmitri Kalinin and Michal Rozsival are a combined -29 and the Rangers have given up 10 short-handed goals despite having the league’s best penalty kill, indicating this is a team that plays better with less players than with more.

Sundin won’t help with any of this. He’s a big body and a talented player, but he addresses no need for a very flawed Ranger team.

The fact of the matter is, a lot of the Rangers’ problems could be solved with better coaching. Their powerplay has struggled and they’re only now just practicing it. This, despite Chris Drury last week suggesting the team should practice it.

The Rangers are fixable, but the repairs need to be made to the wings, defense, and coaching. Unless Sundin is bringing his chalkboard with him or he’s planning a surprise position change, I don’t see how he’ll help very much.

Also, speaking of the Rangers, Puck Daddy picked up a great interview with the former Ranger. I always thought of Jagr as spacey, but he seems super-sharp in this interview; very aware of everything going on around the NHL. It’s a great read.