Who said hip hop and hockey don't mix?

[Pat H]

Reports are swirling that Jay-Z's new sports agency Roc Nation is interested in having Seth Jones as a client. I will guess and say that there is a high chance of it happening considering Seth's dad is an assistant coach for the Nets, Jay-Z's formerly owned team.

With Roc Nation already getting many MLB, NFL, and NBA players interest and they usually garner for more money will we see a shift in larger contracts if Jay-Z starts representing NHL players? Likewise will we see NHL players shifting to Roc Nation and being paired up with a social icon like Jay-Z?

[Expat Mike]

First, there is only one music that doesn't mix with hockey and that music is polka.

Rock, rap, country, metal, hip hop, soul, classical, jazz, blues, techno, funk, folk, bagpipe music, random noises made by autistic epileptics having seizures (err, I think it's called 'dubstep' in the States)... hockey is awesome enough to mix with all of it.

Second, Roc Nation isn't looking to be his hockey agent. Jones is already represented by an agent at CAA, which is already a sister organization to Roc, and they would continue to handle his hockey contracts. Roc Nation just wants to handle his endorsement deals and non-hockey marketing.

That said, I don't think we'll be seeing a wide stream of players becoming associated with Jay-Z or Roc Nation. They largely want to handle marketing him basically within the hip hop community. There are only a few other players that have the right image/attitude to do well within that community. And no, it's not necessarily a race thing; even most black hockey players aren't "street" enough for Jay-Z to market. It's more of an attitude thing. As an example, Patrick Kane is probably more marketable to that community than Dustin Byfuglien is. Anyway, my point is that we aren't going to see a fast and noticeable shift of NHL players signing similar CAA/Roc Nation deals.