Jeremy Roenick is "Perplexed"

The streak of actual hockey news has fallen at 3. Although I do have a hockey-related article, it is not news, and actually showed up yesterday. Although, I would like to point out that I am currently wearing my Mike Commodore robe. Not that this has anything to do with today's post - I'm just pointing this out.

Anyways... Onwards!

So, TSN has this article that has Jeremy Roenick "perplexed by lack of TV exposure".
Umm... where have you been, Jeremy? The NHL hasn't actually been on a good (i.e. not called the Outdoor Life Network) since ESPN dropped the contract.
Roenick says:

"Just having Gretzky as our owner, that's enough to get at least one of our games on (NBC)," Roenick tells the Arizona Republic. "I mean come on, throw a dog a bone. That, to me, is incredibly either disrespectful to Wayne or disrespectful to the city of Phoenix, a city that has supported their team."

"Yeah, Phoenix is not a big city, but we do have some big-name players on our team such as Jovanovski and Owen Nolan, myself, Shane Doan, and an up-and-comer like (Ladislav) Nagy. Obviously, some of these names, some people couldn't care less about, but a lot of it is because the NHL and the TV companies don't expose some of these players the way that they should."

Ok, Roenick. In case you didn't realize while you were playing in Philadelphia, and slacking off in LA, this is the way things are for a small market, south-of-the-Mason-Dixon-line team (which Phoenix fits the description). The Canes last year had zero games on NBC, and only two on OLN (and one of them was added later in the year when they Canes proved they might actually do something). It doesn't matter about the big names or up-and-comers, seeing as last year had Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Staal on our team. It only matters if you... (pick your option)
a) are named the Rangers, Flyers, or Devils.
b) have Sid Crosby on your team.
c) just won the Stanley Cup.
This year, the Canes fit the last category, and I can almost guarantee you that if the Canes exit early out of the playoffs this year, their hike in national TV coverage will go back to what it always was: the bare minimum.
Sadly,this is the way it is, Roenick. It's the way it's pretty much always been (at least as far back as my memory goes) for small-market teams. The real sad part, though, is that other players have never complained like you have (again, as far back as my memory). But, you, you have to open your big mouth up when you realize: "Gosh, I might not get face time this year."

This is probably all fueled by my dislike of anything that comes out of Roenick's piehole. But it just makes me mad that, all of a sudden, he's complaining that his team doesn't get enough exposure, and the Canes have been fighting this the whole time.