Debates Galore!

There's so many things to debate these days in the NHL. From visors, to Shananabans to realignment, what isn't up for debate? The December GM meetings are quickly approaching and everything of any concern will be voiced and put out on the table for all to hear.

Lets start with visors, because honestly this is fascinating to me. To be blind or not to be is the question? All fights I've seen, guys throw the helmet and gloves off before the first punch is thrown, wearing a visor isn't going to change this protocol. Wearing a helmet wasn't always mandatory but it has never stopped the guys from not removing it for a fight and the visors are attached to said helmet. This is more a psychological issue than anything. Doesn't the NHL pay for therapy?

Jarret Stoll of the LA Kings started wearing a visor this season for the first time. He tried a for a few training camps to use it but always gave up. This time he told the trainers to not let him quit, and after a 3 week period of adjustment, he is used to it. After a few almost injuries last year, he said his mom, girlfriend and sister all pestered him to start wearing one. Stoll believes that they should mandate the change and just grandfather people in as they did with helmets. “Change happens. Things evolve, you have to realize it could be you. It might be too late before you realize that," Stoll told ESPN. So here's a guy who grew up wearing one (he's only 29 and had to wear one in lower levels), gave up wearing one, and now is wearing one again. How come I feel this is going to fall on dead ears.

Chris Pronger apparently has decided Stoll might be wrong, and doesn't seem to have jumped on the visor train yet. He refused to say whether he will wear one, but the Philly team doctors have said they won't clear him without one. If you have blurry vision and need eye drops to relieve pressure and swelling, wouldn't you try to avoid this again? It's like saying you have a weak ankle and not taping it up to give some extra support. I won't view you as weak for taking every medical precaution offered. That's one of the greatest things about being in a first world country, you have access to the best medical options out there. Your livelihood is literally beating your body up for a living, therefore I think your ridiculous for NOT taking advantage of everything available to you.

Brendan Shanahan has a Sunday date and Monday date with more players to be suspended. This make his grand total 13 players as 11 have already been suspended, a few more than Colin Campbell had suspended at this point last year. Shanahan has added almost $600,000 to the players emergency fund and has been consistent in his rulings. It will be interesting to see as the season goes on if the guys are learning from his after-school specials on why someone was suspended for a play. It seems going after the guys wallets is when they start to pay attention more. No one wants to lose their salary for something they could have avoided.


James Neal ends his October in 2nd in scoring with 9 to Phil Kessel who managed to score his 10th. Kessel apparently decided this was the year to come and play hockey. Matt Cooke apparently decided he doesn't want a date with Shanahan and would like to be more productive on the ice so he put in his 4th goal of the young season. When did he become the goal scorer? He's got 2 more than Malkin. The Penguins have a league leading 18 points right now and they have yet to put out their entire lineup. The factory in Pitt is well oiled and Mr. Crosby hasn't even played a game. Rumor is he's "flying" in practices. ESPN has their trophy tracker up (already) and Disco Dan is in 2nd place (to F-bomb himself) for the Jack Adams.

The Habs fired assistant coach Perry Pearn in an effort to wake up the team and they won 2 games without him. Is this the answer to fixing them? No. Are more firings possible for them? Yes. They used him as a scapegoat since his power play was horrible but the power play was one of their three thousand issues.

The Coyotes GM is toeing the hardline with Kyle Turris and refusing him a trade since he refuses to sign with the team. I have so many thoughts and opinions on this I don't even know where to begin. Don Maloney won't trade Turris since the CBA gives them rights over players. If Turris hasn't signed a contract by December 1, he is ineligible to play this season. This is screwy on so many levels. First off Turris is only 22. He might not like the way the Coyotes have developed him, but if he just agrees to something for this season, he'll be on the first plane out of town when possible. On the flip side, Maloney is wasting his time leaving Turris in his system if he refuses to sign. Keeping a player that spites you just to spite him is really mature. A few teams have expressed interest in Turris and I think the Coyotes will benefit from trading him now and moving on. No offense to the Coyotes but your owned the league, I'm not exactly sure you should be playing hardball with players. I think the League is over owning this team and as much as they don't want to move the team, I have a feeling patience in NY is growing thin for a ownership deal that will keep them in the desert. I think Turris should sign so he won't lose a year and then another team will hopefully make an offer Maloney can't refuse. Of course if Maloney wants to really be spiteful and Turris does finally sign, he can chose to not trade him. But why would you want to keep a guy that hates your guts?

Realignment will continue to be a hot topic since Winnipeg is located in Western Canada which in case you failed geography is not located near the Southern East coast of America, yet the Jets are in this division so someone needs to move. The Wings claim they were promised in a future realignment they would be put in the Eastern conference. I think a full shake up will happen before the Wings move East, like this nifty chart shows. It will be interesting to see what is approved as 20 of the 30 votes from the board of governors must approve it, but word is its picking up steam in the inner circles. I also think where its DET/CBJ the Wings will be staying in the West while the Blue Jackets will get the East. The travel will lessen a bit for the Wings even staying West under this and they will always be a money cow. The Blue Jackets are just bleeding money and even a few less games further away might help them in the finance department. Those 747's are expensive transportation...

Finally the Flyers goalie who cost them half a team this off season (it seems that way) Bryzgalov seems to be a Russian quote machine. Everything is a bit left of center and lets face it, it began with his comments about needing parks when the Coyotes were on the table for a move to Winnipeg. But he just can't be stopped and I can't get enough of them, so I think I'm going to just start posting random ones (possibly every blog since he's a machine!). When was asked about how bad his loss to the Jets was he said "I was lost in the woods". Guy loves nature apparently, but after his most recent outing against the Hurricanes he found his way, or as he put it "I found a compass". Awesome.

Now if he can ever top Mike Lange that will be something!

Back to the Grind...

Since the NFL has finally come to an agreement after over 4 months of chatting, I decided it's time to start paying more attention to the sporting world. I needed a little break myself (and it was nice to not check sites, the tv or anything and get lost in a solid book and then have some time at the beach) but as the calendar inches closer to August, all the puzzle pieces are falling into place. So away we go....

The NFL has finally reached a new CBA agreement. It still confuses me greatly some of the things that did and didn't get affected but you can read more here and here (thank you ESPN.com) for details because I'm just not up for deciphering it all right now. What I do understand is free-agency begins tomorrow, rosters need to be set ASAP and all teams will have their training camps open by Friday. Good stuff since as my grandpa said yesterday "I can't do this no football on Sunday stuff much longer". Direct quote. Man loves football then hockey, then whatever else is in season, and baseball is officially boring him senseless.

In the planet of Philadelphia, Michael Vick decided he would welcome Brett Favre as his backup. No word on if Favre is actually contemplating un-retiring but I can't take any of this seriously. The entire city of Philadelphia drinks the crazy water and its just not meant for the rest of us in the real world to understand. Favre playing backup would be hilarious. Playing backup to Vick would be a friggin made for TV movie. The Flyers signed Jaromir Jagr and a Western goalie for a top Eastern team. The league-owned Coyotes barely made the playoffs and then the Flyers threw a shit-ton of money at a goalie that one hopes won't crack under this pressure. Of course the Flyers owner is inching up on the crazy owner train, and he's now second in command to only Ted Leonsis, Ovie's owner. Ya know, the wacky one who employs a Coach that screams out like a 5 year old for ice cream in the mall and does interviews with hot sauce on his face. Remember he deserves a Cup because that nemesis of his in Pittsburgh has 3 of his own. The Flyers of course jetted a pair of 26 year olds out of town so your move Leonsis. Are DC and Philly on the same water supply? Seriously though, are they?? Favre needs to go hide somewhere. I don't want to hear or see his name until he can be elected into the HOF. He's already tarnished his luster by not just retiring the first time and I'm 300% over any Favre news.

Speaking of the 2 players jetted from the Flyers, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, there was an awesome article on a possible reason for sending these two party boys out of Philly. Shocking that at 26, single and insanely rich, they would enjoy drinking and going out. Who knew? I thought these guys were book worms and attended a book club on their off nights. Guess I was wrong. Seriously though, I can't figure out which is crazier, the fact that Laviolette thought he could get every guy to agree to a month of no drinking or the fact they couldn't just do the month. Power struggle much? Tell someone they can't and it's like daring them to do it just to spite you. I'm thinking the guys probably were thinking along the lines of we gave up all of high school and skipped college to play in the big league so why can't we enjoy our time. Coach is probably thinking grow up, be an example and keep it under control. Of course how he approached everyone probably played into it. Regardless the party hardy boys have left the City of Brotherly Love for greener pastures in LaLa Land and one of the biggest party campus' in the country. Since I'm a mere year older than them, I can't blame them for wanting to go out and enjoy their time. Maybe they needed to do it a bit more carefully, but if I had their money, maybe I wouldn't care either.

Richards landed himself in LA. "Hey there party city, how are you doing??? My name is Mike Richards, here's my black card, nothing is off limits. Round of shots for everyone on me!!!" Yes. The partying Mike Richards will live on. His partner in crime Jeff Carter will be corrupting the minds of young guys and girls in Columbus. Not sure who can get in more trouble. Columbus of course is home to The Ohio State University so realistically they are both going to the living it up. Potentially cheaper on Carter's wallet I'd guess. I'm sure this won't be the last we hear of them living it up. Hopefully there new teams have no dreams of "Dry Island" (seriously? is that a joke?) "Everybody's shufflin, shufflin, shufflin..." Party on boys, party on.......

In more sobering news, Aaron Boogaard was arrested in connection to the May death of his 28 year old brother, Derek, who died from a combination of drugs and alcohol. So sad for the family and I'm sure the last news they wanted to get.

The Winnipeg Jets unveiled their logos in part because a picture was leaked. The Jets ended up announcing their logos immediately once they realized the security breach, but I won't lie, I was happy someone basically forced them to do it because this was getting nuts. Still have to wait on their actual uniforms but this is better than nothing I suppose.Personally I'm torn since I was expecting something to sing and dance for me since this was such a big secret. I get that they are teaming with the military but personally I'd expect to the see the circular logo on the left on the arm as a patch on the pilot of a jet, rather than a skating Jet. Same thing with the top right one (did everyone get their wings for flying with us today?). I like the colors and I like the fact they didn't go with the old logos and exact colors but I'm just not blown away. I can almost imagine them using an old Thrashers jersey with these colors and logos. Ugh. I thought those were supposed to be lost on the way to the 'Peg?! I picked the word Jets as my favorite logo which when it comes down to it, it's actually a font with a maple leaf. Pathetic. At least they will fit right in with half the leagues boring-ness in designs.

After 17 seasons donning a Red Wings jersey (and 3 prior with the Jets 1.0) Kris Draper has joined the retirement party of Chris Osgood and Brian Rafalski this off season. And to think Lidstrom almost joined them also. Who are the Red Wings now? They just keep getting younger which should mean they will only get better since they were one of the oldest teams in the league. But as one of the oldest, they were still one of the best so do these changes make them stronger? Better? This could be really awesome to see play out. Can't wait for the season to see how all the changes fall into place!