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Healy? Really?

Actually, there are worse people than Glenn Healy to serve as director of player…

by Charlie Gillis on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 2:36pm - 0 Comments

Actually, there are worse people than Glenn Healy to serve as director of player affairs for the NHLPA. Given the association’s track record (see: Eagleson, Alan; Saskin, Ted) it’s safe to assume they interviewed all of them.

So what does this mean to those of us who make less than $1.1 million per annum and still use wooden sticks? Well, presumably a guy can’t represent the players whilst trashing them as enthusiastically as Healy has been known to as a commentator for TSN.

Which is too bad. The guy was starting to grow on us.

Tags: Glenn Healy, NHL, NHLPA

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http://www.macleans.ac Chris Selley

Not on me he wasn’t. I welcome any personnel move that gets Healy out of broadcasting. Speaking of which, I hereby nominate Greg Millen for NHL head video review guy and Pierre McGuire for commissioner.
Steve Maich

I gotta agree with Selley. I have it on good authority that Healy is actually a swell guy in person,. but his TV personae was pretty grating. I found it really hard to tolerate his bitter critiques because I just couldn’t forget the fact that Healy himself was a sub-par NHL goaltender. I know that shouldn’t matter, but really, once you’d watched him play you couldn’t really take him that seriously as an arbiter of good and bad on the ice.

you know who I would like to see in the broadcast booth post-retirement? Brendan Shannahan. I think Shanny’s well spoken, ahas plenty of credibility, and might be willing to really criticize.
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Kevin K

I think you’re forgetting Healy during the NHL lockout, when TSN (in its infinite wisdom) had almost as much hockey coverage as it does when the game is actually being played. (God I hope ESPN comes to Canada legally some day.)

Healy’s universal praise for the players and universal scorn for the owners was so grating that I was tempted to throw things at the screen. I think I even wrote a nasty email or two to TSN about his antics — not that the Grampa Simpson approach ever really works much.

Maybe someone should talk to Healy about putting millionaires up against billionaires for sympathy in the eyes of a public, many of whom won’t make a million dollars in their lifetime. Maybe someone should talk to Mr. The-players-will-never-accept-a-salary-cap about how the leage salary minimum means most players are probably making more money than they did in a pre-cap league. But now that he’s kissed sufficient NHLPA butt to move out of broadcasting, let me say on behalf of all Canadians: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.