I'm so desperate for hockey as an Avalanche fan here in Colorado I had to post this story just to feel connected to hockey in some way again... ;)
Understood.
I know what you mean. As long as we're talking about it, let me tell you a couple of things that have been rolling around in my head waiting to find someone who might care.
I think that a broad stroke has to be made to reignite interest in hockey after the lockout (if it ever ends). I say, start a new era in the NHL, and get rid of the red line. Make the only two-line pass violations over both blue lines, and speed the game up. (I don't want to go the entire Euro rules route and go to touchless icing, though).
Secondly -- have you ever tried to talk with another fan about how effective a defenseman is? It ain't easy, because nothing that a good non-shooting blueliner does can be captured in stats other than +/-, and sometimes, that has more to do with the scoring ability (or lack of same) of your teammates (for example -- at one time while playing for the Oilers of Gretzky, Kurri, and Messier, Charlie Huddy had a higher +/- than all three of them).
I propose an new statistic: the clear-out. When your team is pinned down in its own end -- especially when they're killing a penalty -- what are you hoping to see? One of your guys steal the puck and send it the other way over the blue line. A player's defensive acumen could be gauged by how many times he sends the puck out of the attack zone.
The clear-out stats would be of two types: power play clear-outs, and even-strength clear-outs, which would be parallel to, in basketball, defensive rebounds vs. offensive rebounds. What do you think?