BIG-TIMING LOCAL MEDIA PART OF THE 'NEW NHL'

Say this for the NHL: They know how to ingratiate themselves with the local media of a first-time Stanley Cup final city. Erin Nicks, who writes for Sun Media and writes The Universal Cynic, was denied a media credential for the games in Ottawa.

Erin is a press box regular at Scotiabank Place going back over several seasons and was also accredited by the league for the 2005 NHL draft, which was held in Ottawa. Nearly every major U.S. daily isn't bothering to send writers to cover the series -- even newspapers in hockey hotbeds such as Buffalo and Minneapolis-St. Paul are totally bourqued by this point -- so press box space can't be at that much of a premium. Whatever the reason, Erin, who's had media access all season and one can only imagine was gunned up to cover a Stanley Cup final, got a PFO letter from some NHL functionary addressing her as "Mr. Nicks."

The NHL can't even get Rule No. 1 of media relations -- Don't Big-Time The Local Press -- correct. At the end of the day, the local media have a lot more influence with the public, and how the league treats them makes a much stronger impression than how much it bends over backwards for NBC. Who knows how much influence the Senators have with the almighty NHL on this matter, but the long and short of it is a perfectly legitimate media person is getting snubbed.

It just confirms the worst fears about the NHL when it big-times a writer from a Canadian city and, in Nicks' words, comes across like the "high school boy, out of step with the rest of the cliques but desperate to seek validation, who hungers for the attention of the most popular girl in school (the American media)." Shame on the league.

(Off Wing Opinion has also shown Nicks some support.)