The Decline of Print Media in Hockey

[@Mahoneyyay]

The Hockey News writing quality just completely fell off a cliff the last decade. Ken Campbell whining about fighting every single article really did it for me.

[@isaacwest276]

Definitely. Their online articles showed up in my feed and I remembered reading their magazines as a kid so I took a gander and was very disappointed. They rarely told me something I didn't know, I often found grammar and editing mistakes, and most recently they had a top four destinations for Patrick Kane and didn't even mention the Oilers while mentioning a few teams that didn't want him. They also said the Buffalo Sabres becase "who wouldn't want to play for their home team?" when Johnny Gaudreau literally just indicated he wanted to be closer to home but not too close. I mean, I love it when players play for their hometown team, and if I was in the NHL I'd want to, but the league is full of players who left their own continent to play for a better team.

[@RRaquello]

The Hockey News whining about every fucking thing turned me off on them. It started in the 90s. I know it's not really fair to say this, because nobody knew the true facts at the time, but them making Graham James "Man of the Year" showed where they were starting to head. We only know that looking back. I eventually let my subscription lapse after about 15 years.

[@isaacwest276]

@@RRaquello Looked him up and not gonna lie, I kind of laughed. I mean, if I was alive at the time I would have taken it much more serious, terrible terrible things James did. But I still laughed.

[@SverigeiSverige]

Little ball of hate?

[@diggergeensen860]

Agreed. Ken Campbell should go cover tennis

[@thehighlanders607]

From a historical perspective, there is value in having print media.

[@ninjapumkin]

What’s dying off, since your on subject, is the lack of decent companies who would advertise on hockey game broadcasts. Now it is loaded with gambling ads and gambling placements. Why not just bring back cigarette advertisers. Addiction is an addiction

[@rainbowrandolph5218]

I love printed hockey media. When I was a kid getting my USA hockey magazine was one of the coolest things ever to me. In AZ we had rubber magazine for local hockey too, keeping a physical print with you, or your friends name is timeless

[@thesportsanalyst4625]

I always liked Future Watch from The Hockey Writers Can we have a Hockey Guy yearly news magazine? I’d pay for it

[@RRaquello]

It's fun to look back at old draft previews and future watch issues to see how the predictions turned out. One guy they all missed out on was Claude Giroux, who was rated as nothing. You wonder, with a guy like that, how everybody missed.

[@Pantalaimon91]

As a 25 year old I agree we've lost something with the "convenient", "always accessible" internet information age. There's less effort put into it and I think it's apparent for anyone who takes the time to look it over briefly. The demand of always having any information available has left publications rushing out less and less information every year to the point where a few lines on a screen is what you're going to get for any player or team. I remember getting my USA hockey magazines as a kid and getting excited for the season to come, meanwhile my dad was reading the more adult aimed publications like yours.

[@willflint5014]

I loved getting The Hockey News every Christmas. I spent hours looking at rosters, etc. Same with USA Hockey. Simpler times.

[@handzus19]

For nostalgia purposes, I ordered a used copy of the annual NHL yearbook from the 90s! Print media had such a personal, warm touch to it.

[@psynque]

Cool video. The oldest finnish ice hockey magazine "Jääkiekkolehti" was discontinued last year and it was certianly a tough spot for some of us older ice hockey fans. The journalistic quality of that magazine was never on the level of say "The Hockey News", it was more of a fan magazine aimed at a younger audience, but I always bought the thick pre-season edition both for nostalgia and to have all of that information in one place like Shannon said.

[@isaacwest276]

I'm 22 and I'm similar. I refuse to use audiobooks, and I buy all of my movies and video games on disc. Sure I use Netflix and free digital games too but if I love something enough I want it on disc.

[@jprice7]

Thank you! Thank you so much for saying out loud what I've been thinking for years now. Every year I write to THN how their preview issues keep shrinking and every year they never listen. You want people to buy print issues? Give them some content! Maybe if more people complain they'll listen. Might I suggest everyone watching this video write to customer service for these publications?

[@DuyNguyen-yx2vd]

A while ago, I found what seems to be a Colorado Avalanche 2018-2019 Yearbook online that looks like it was meant for print. I would love to get something like that for my teams every year if they were ever made available.

[@andysorensen1737]

It depends on the team, but I’ve seen those in other sports for maybe $10-20. Heck, I was at an MLB game last weekend and the media guide was for sale for $20.

[@markys77vette1]

Hey!!! I am from Kalamazoo, very small town but we loved our K Wings! Moved away years ago but still so cool to hear it on here.

[@davebank3218]

THN prospect, draft and season preview magazines were must have to me... I tried to buy the occasional magazine during the season, but the news was weeks outdated, Elliott Friedman probably covered whatever topic 3x over... I like physical copies before season and post season drafts... good bathroom reading material... I liked having the schedule, team draft, leaders in categories, standings of all pro leagues at my fingertips...

[@sebsteble2953]

Hey Shannon, greeting from Germany. Celebrate your channel almost every day. Thank for your detailed information and opinion. Just a question, you mentioned you re subscribed to several hockey websites. Can you name your top5? Always looking for more dope for my hockey addiction, especially during off season. Thanks in advance and thanks for your dedication...

[@mt_machine]

Another fellow German! What's up, where are you from?

[@anthonyriche552]

Physical copies are fun especially when it comes to sports because of pictures. When I was a kid there weren't many options other than The Hockey News, Hockey Digest, and maybe a few others. My favorite was The Complete Handbook of Pro Hockey which covered each season with stats, rosters, a few featured articles, and a brief bio on each player. They were small enough to fit into the palms of your hand.

[@malcolm.s]

Really miss the magazines. Always got the Forecaster and McKeens. Took them to our hockey Pool meetings with friends.

[@GvirusUser]

I don't care how far into the digital age we get, I still prefer physical media. I used to buy annual hockey magazines every year along with baseball but now it's almost impossible to find magazines related to hockey near me.

[@rogerhorky7258]

if i'm gonna pay money for something, i want something that i can hold in my hand and say, "this is mine." i ain't gonna buy a bunch of electrons.

[@schumdav]

100% agree, miss the printed media guides. I also miss the hard copy ticket stubs...

[@johngolfer9244]

Spot on my friend. They're more interested in selling clicks online than info on paper.

[@ltfriesen8135]

Great report, I miss the print days. Hockey News Yearbook was always my fav, bought one every year to have info on each team.

[@aahZeiK]

I agree I’m 23 and love magazine/book previewing the season use to get them as a kid still get them every year cool things to look through

[@jeffreyc1971]

Dating myself here but I started reading The Hockey News around age 12. This was way before internet and my friends were in awe of how much I knew. It saddens me to see The Hockey News’ continued slide towards irrelevance, and I don’t use that word lightly. Great vid, especially about price vs quality in the THN Pool Guide over time.

[@dominickefrim3088]

I used to love when my copy of Hockey News came. I used to obsess over the stats growing up. It actually helped get me into advanced stats long before all the info became available on a phone.

[@dougglogouski3954]

I've spent countless hours with these magazines and yearbooks over the years (1998-99 was my first set of magazines). Sporting News had an awesome issue. I really enjoyed the specific team pages with the block-style calendar schedules, and of course all of the player stats. I took these everywhere when I was younger, and they are still in my home today.

[@waynejones5635]

I also loved going to the store and buying the NHL yearbook/fantasy guides. I would take one to the university or coffee shop and read through it and make notes for my pool team, and then moved to the next yearbook. It was something that I really looked forward to every August. I am sad to see the print versions being fazed out. It was such a succinct physical source of information. Yes the internet is stock full of information, but it is not nearly a succinct easy reference as the old NHL guides.

[@chrisdore2206]

I couldn’t agree more. I love fantasy hockey and buy the Hockey news edition every year. This year feels more bare bones than ever.

[@coachrobwille4176]

I miss being able to buy the NHL Guide and Record Book. I have everyone from 1984-85 unstill they stopped printing them.

[@jeffreyc1971]

NHL Guide & Record Book was a must have in my opinion. I used to love flipping through and discovering all sorts of cool things! I curse the day the NHL stopped printing it!

[@mortimerbrewster1028]

I'm older than most who view THG's videos. When I complain about something I am accused of being an angry old man. Not really, just thankful of the era I grew up in. Fond memories of going to the grocery store with Dad and being able to pick out a magazine to bring home (usually Hockey Illustrated,Hockey Digest). I also couldn't wait for my weekly mailing of the Hockey News. They would always put the mailing label over the headline LOL. Still have all the old magazines (thousands of them).

[@billybob777]

I absolutely agree with you. I loved September every year when the hockey guides came out. My personal favorite was always McKeens because it generally waited as long as they could before publishing and because of that they picked up the late trades and team additions. They were also the best at staying neutral in my opinion. I still have a big collection of these year by year and it is fun from time to time to look back 10 years for the memories.

[@zZach___]

Growing up in SoCal, print media was like a gold mine for me. Truly an age gone by.

[@hadoct1315]

I used to read the hockey news in high school the magazine was always sold at the bus stop but i found that the writing really deteriorated over the years and honestly its now really boring where the same points are just repeated over and over so i started reading most of my news online but then online magazines started to require subscriptions. ultimately The Hockey Guy is where I go now for all my hockey info now

[@chrisguardiano6143]

Totally agree with you about printed media. Going digital seems to be a trend for all sports media especially since websites such as the Athletic came into the picture. As a soccer fan in addition to hockey, I used to love getting a copy of World Soccer along with FourFour Two out of the UK and Soccer America in the mail every month because in addition to the Premier League & the big European leagues, there was also coverage of college soccer, MLS & national team competitions. Now only FourFour Two is the only one that still does physical copies that I get per month as both Soccer America & World Soccer are fully digital & there's a good chance that FourFour Two will join them by the end of the year as a result of cutting costs.

[@SamtheBravesFan]

I grab the Hockey News Preview when it comes out. I liked the Official NHL Yearbook but they stopped doing that, which was disappointing.

[@ELias-vn5yv]

im 17 but i still really enjoy buying the hockey news yearbook and pool guide every year. I don't need them, but I like them, and it sucks that the content inside them keeps deteriorating every year

[@andrewhamp2893]

Hockey News Yearbooks/Anuals... 10-15 years ago: in depth breakdown of each team, each aspect rated with a letter grade, also one year they did a best and worst case scenario... awesome. Now: Standings predictions, and very shallow analysis. There is no apparent relation between the predicted finish of the team, and the vague comments on each teams off/def/pp etc. I miss having HTM yearbooks, and there was a third (McCool?) which was interesting too. Sports Forecaster: I'm convinced they just spin a wheel to determine standings. Anyone remember (80s and 90s) the Scouting Report books? Those rocked my world.

[@RRaquello]

I used to get the Scouting Report books, but after a couple of years they just started repeating themselves. Like, basically all the player reports were pretty much repeats from the year before, and only the only new content would be the two or three rookies from the year before on each team.

[@heatherbenard7929]

I totally agree with you we do lose something when we don't get the hard copies.

[@Rometiklan]

Love hockey mags. Still have all my hockey pool guides going back a couple of decades. I actually sold a few of them to some guy for some crazy money a few years back. Some great times drafting hockey pools, especially back in the day.

[@ericliu8488]

I miss the Sports Forecaster one dearly 😢

[@billybob777]

When McKeens dropped their print edition I tried the digital one for one season (good information but not the same). Thanks very much for the video.

[@krpsask]

Same man,I miss how it's gotten to be less and less as the years go by. I started reading Hockey News in High School and since I graduated in 2009 I've been sucbscribed and read every issue cover to cover since. I have a shelf where I have every Yearbook,Futurewatch,Draft Preview,Poolers Guide & the once a year collectors issue for quick access while the rest are in a rubbermade tote in storage. I was pretty choked when they opted to not print the 2020 draft preview and a couple regular issues that were digital only. I tried to read them,but I couldn't. It just wasn't the same as holding a physical copy. Glad to know I'm not the only one whose still stuck in the stone ages and wants physical copies of everything.

[@Robert-ki7bz]

I remember The Hockey News being a solid source. Stan "The Maven" Fischler was very good.

[@oscarmurillo4067]

I still have my magazine of the hockey news magazine where it did the best masks of all time. Just for memories.

[@Cataracta]

I think i speak for most europeans as we werent able to see ANY NHL games.. there was like a tv show that showed like 15mins highlights every 2 weeks.. (late 90's) So the only way to get more information was buying printed magazines and i loved those. It was so in depth and u really had to spend time to consume. I miss those days, yet im happy i can watch games.. yea even full games. Thats how different it was for europeans especially if u are not from sweden or finland. (im swiss) Thanks for the topic Shannon.

[@MOOSEPRIME98]

Physical media for life

[@kcrowther14]

I still have alot of my old hockey magazines and stuff from back in the day

[@steviepea1302]

I too used to buy all the yearbooks , guides and almanacs . And like you , would hardly put them down . Also did the same with baseball , until the Expos were gone . 🙁 They turned into " the farm system " for the whole league . My fave was The Hockey News , in the old tabloid newspaper form . Read from cover to cover , over and over . I've been a THN subscriber for close to 40 yrs . Ima book nerd too ... couple hundred hardcovers and at least 300 paperbacks . Everything from biographies , history , horror , crime , war and more . Will never like kindles and such . It's a tactile thing - the paper , pages , turning to the next one , actual bookmarks ( anything handy ) . From one old soul to another , Salute . 🙋‍♂️

[@mattmackay106]

I generally agree with you Shannon…yet somehow….I actually couldn’t agree more

[@markko17]

Yup. I always want to have a real book/magazine that I can hold in my real hands, sit in my real chair and really read. Really.

[@SleepeyBoi]

I cant remember the name but when I played youth hockey they would send out a magazine once a month with some at home drills and fan made drawings. This brought back so many memories for me haha

[@patientmental875]

The old school hockey books & magazines from the 80s early 90s are the best!

[@ELias-vn5yv]

what! the hockey news pool guide showed the player stats of the last three years up until last year and now this new one doesn't!!!

[@dsc4178]

Online stuff has no pizzazz. Nobody will remember a new web page update, but they do remember getting the new magazine and what it could contain, and did. No website excites me at all.

[@TheHugeCaniac]

Went to books a million (bookstore in the US) the other day I want to look for anything hockey found one magazine it’s sad

[@heliumtrophy]

I see that the Poolers Guide is part of "Hockey Le Mag" and is still going but obviously sticking to Quebeckers. Technology has rendered much of everything we used to consume as kids on a widescale form to be mere boutique markets now that cost a fortune to upkeep as printing costs spiral, copyright issues faced and staffing issues to be looked after, I see why more and more are deciding to forsake print media and go fully digital. It's a shame but unfortunately it seems to be the way of the world.

[@FEBEAULIEU]

I have tons of old hockey magazines and i still enjoy looking them up once in a while but they are definitely going the dodo’s way, sad

[@klompsauce]

I like the shot of the new setup, definitely getting there

[@split_the_bill]

The hockey guy is very creative with these topics!

[@RRaquello]

I subscribed to the Hockey News for many years. I also used to get the Sporting News. They used to both come on Fridays, and that was always a fun day, to find them in the mail when I got home from school. I ended up eventually dropping both, but not because of the evolution of digital media. The Sporting News was primarily a baseball paper, and I lost interest in baseball. The Hockey News, I started to notice a lot of pissy little political commentary sneaking into the hockey stories (something which has taken over all of sports media) and finally got sick of it and refused to support it any more. I regretted this, because I really enjoyed going over the paper on a Saturday afternoon, not only reading all the stories, but because it was really the only source of statistics & box scores. I also regularly used to buy (at the newsstand) Hockey Digest, Hockey Illustrated and The Hockey News used to publish two monthly magazines. One was Hockey Pictorial and I don't remember what the other was called. It was fun while it lasted.

[@rcl1955ca]

I love having the printed copy. Having said that, The Hockey News latest magazine (2022/23) is so lazy. They used to show players by positions (C/LW/RW) now they lump them all in as forwards plus I like having the birth dates of all the players now they just give you a players age. So is it the players age in the calendar year or is it his age at the time of production? Forecasted playoff brackets were nice, now they have the two Cup finalists (spoiler alert ; it’s Carolina over Edmonton). Draft listings were by round but now it’s all lumped together by team so it’s harder to compare by round. I miss the leaders by league (AHL, College, CHL, and all the European leagues ) all gone. And all this for the ever increasing price of $11.99. They charge more and give you less. I predict there will be no more hockey magazines by 2025, everything will be digital or online. I can imagine what the cost will be.

[@hattorihanzo2275]

Hockey the Magazine and Sports Forecaster have stopped releasing a hard copy of their fantasy guides. Sad times.

[@kaulbachskave]

I totally agree with you, Andy Rooney ..er, Shannon...

[@CorpoCanada]

It more or less started with the decline in quality of authors within the hockey print media. They never had "insider" or unique knowledge in any of the ones I used to get. At the MOST maybe* you'd get faceoff statistics but mostly it was the same generic info you'd get from the newspaper once a week. If a magazine was able to get inside scoops like Eliot Freeguy or advanced stats like you'd get on any statistics website/maybe that magazine would have a chance.

[@TheTravellingCanuck27]

Great video and I completely agree with what you are saying. I stopped getting hockey and most sports magazines a while ago. They just aren’t that good anymore.I remember doing the same thing you did. Going to either Chapters (indigo now) Shoppers Drug Mart or any grocery store and buying all the season previews for NHL, NFL and MLB. Now I hardly seem those anymore. I don’t bother with the fantasy pool stuff because I think fantasy sports has really but a bad spot on the actual sports leagues themselves. I think one of the best hockey magazines I had was for the 2005-2006 season. I remember reading the Boston Bruins preview the most because it had a huge full page picture of Joe Thornton and a awesome team preview section for all the teams. I regret getting rid of that magazine. Again I don’t remember the name of it but it was awesome! I don’t know maybe you have it for all I know ha ha. I think within less than 10 years magazines will die. Then Newspapers. All sad :(

[@artvandelay1967]

Im hoping they will still print the Hockey News Yearbook, the last magazine I still buy. have all but a 2 of them (1 due to the strike). Still have some of my old Hockey News papers- and old copies of Hockey Illustrated and GOAL from the late 70s and early 80s.

[@matthewguess74]

I’m from Kalamazoo and yes you do owe us a visit so you can watch a k wings green ice game 🤘🏽

[@OriginalProMaster]

It a nostalgia thing for me. The feel and the smell.

[@edwardofgreene]

On one hand I lament the decline of sports media in print. On the other hand the time I spend watching THG and others on-line is time I used to spend reading publications. Therefore I'm part of the problem. Have to admit it.

[@jeffreyg4626]

I noticed a lack of good printed hockey media as well. THN has been very, very disappointing. Love my laptop but I love to read while I'm laying on my bed or while eating lunch. It's September and I haven't seen any hockey magazines yet.

[@KevinJL]

Fun to read those old reports.

[@chrisxavier3147]

Nice to know that you are a wrestling fan too!

[@christhornycroft3686]

And people wonder why I've lost 90% of my motivation to write articles. Everything is visual now. Video killed the radio star and 24 hour sports television and the internet killed print media. Nobody is going to read anyone's sports column when they can go on KZbin or TSN or Sportsbet's website and watch someone tell them what's going on in a soundbite. Obviously, that usually means the information is lacking in context, but that's basically the state we're in right now. Nobody is going to read a newspaper when they think they can get the same information in a 3 minute video. It's why most movies today are Tony Scott/Michael Bay garbage with a million jump cuts. Everyone has the attention span of a gnat now. We're all conditioned to hurry up and do nothing and forget about having an imagination. News is always coming from a certain perspective whether they admit it or not, and sports has its own perspective - in Canada, it's usually biased in favour of Ontario teams, especially now with local sports media all but decimated. Print media as a whole is in jeopardy because it's considered an obsolete technology. Nobody has the attention span anymore to read. I have ADHD, so I know all about that. I just don't use it as an excuse to watch modern action movies on repeat.

[@johngudmundson9975]

I will miss the Forecaster R.I.P. refuse to pay for digital version. :(

[@earnwithhearn180]

I think the Hockey News publication is one of the best in sports.

[@kcrowther14]

Im the same way I would rather have physical copies of things than virtual stuff

[@michaelkeller5927]

Holy shit another player had menieres?? I have menieres disease and it's absolute hell some days, very surprised a player could get through that.

[@paulschilling3117]

It’s videos like this that make you a national treasure. A North American treasure. Since I’m not from your nation. Thoughts on expanding the NHL into Mexico? Or across the ocean? Or perhaps South America? They have a nice winter too and that would be year-round hockey.

[@farqyclassicgamer8936]

They also didn’t have the buyer beware section and a look at wingers Center defence etc who to keep an eye on and who to avoid. Seems like a quick no effort print.

[@rickyaz8640]

Do the cats ever jump on that top row of jerseys? Imagine they could do a lot of damage in a hurry

[@ChrisCutta87]

It'd be neat to see if over the years certain of these fantasy guides have improved or gotten worse for predictions

[@maxpowr90]

Print media is just stupidly expensive to make now given the cost of ink. Nevermind the cost of delivering said papers either.

[@guccilibrarian4728]

Hockey is a fast-paced, exciting game. It doesn't surprise me that people who like it don't really enjoy sitting down and reading. I for one would much prefer watching highlights or news videos - like Shannon makes

[@nickelliott1174]

I had a subscription to Hockey News for almost forty years and it simply disappeared.

[@joeb2151]

Where's your Flyers logo history thingy? 😛

[@bacchigaloupe1]

Do a top 10 of your favorite Hockey News covers! Please

[@saundersinlinehockeybakers240]

I had all those small Hockey Digests and Goalies World!

[@RRaquello]

Hockey Digest was cool. I used to regularly get all three-Hockey, Baseball and Football Digest.

[@dustylover100]

I used to get Hockey Digest. Lots of great info in a small magazine. I believe I still have some copies.

[@RRaquello]

@@dustylover100 Their content was mostly reprint articles from newspapers and other hockey magazines from all over the US & Canada. Nowadays, you can get articles from all over the world on the internet, but back then the only way was Hockey Digest. Plus, they used to have a cool crossword puzzle.

[@icewyre]

As a Canucks fan, pretty much the only thing I could possibly think of that was a good thing about the Canucks losing in 2011 was... well... atleast Raffi Torres didn't win.

[@shawnhoward1598]

Hello THG, what sites have online subscriptions as I also liked to collect magazines and read. I need more reading material since you said there won't be much this year.

[@johnwentz3077]

Name one thing, anything, that has gotten better over time. I can’t think of one thing that hasn’t become more expensive, less available, less valuable… Every single day we pay more and more and more and get less and less and less. No one cares anymore. About anything. I’d say the world is turning into a pile of garbage but we’re already there.

[@timothymullins8220]

is it true that you write lyrics for Slipknot?

[@romaliop]

No that's his twin brother The Entertainment Guy.

[@satyricon9955]

i liked goalies world magazine. now they are dead and i cant find any back issues anywhere.

[@Zombie1Boy]

Print media in hockey is dying off because the "need" isn't really there as opposed to something like Football or Baseball.

[@richkamminga4283]

Its not just hockey sir, the entire corporate media scheme is broken.

[@barrettevolleyball1514]

yep, your last minute reflexion is right on...your channel is one big reason why no one buys hockey pool magazines...actually for me, i literally stopped looking at them after watching your channel.

[@preppen78]

we're all pack rats, we're just leaving the packing to Hockey Guy

[@patonmayne]

What ".....no Jim proudfoot"? Ihave a couple from 70/71 And 71 /72. Can I send them to you? Pat

[@everyonesguy7466]

You like alot of clutter, is what you meant to say..... I don't get the point of keeping or collecting things , I do understand keeping gifts from others but after I watch a movie, read a book, I'm done with it I'll sell it or give it away for someone else to enjoy it . Beside u can't take it with u If u don't wake up one morning

[@TheHockeyGuy]

I actually don't like clutter. The annuals and magazines I have are now pretty rare and a lot of the info in them I use for videos may not be available online. "I might be dead tomorrow" is an odd way of framing it. My collection's value then passes to the next in line. If they decide to sell it or give it away, that's up to them.

[@dustylover100]

What happened to Goal Magazine, the one-time official NHL magazine?

[@fubartotale3389]

Probably because people can't read or write anymore, Only click or touch the screen.

[@patch8376]

Print media will never die if you have a printer.

[@patch8376]

And then you mentioned it 20 minutes in...