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!

1 day....

One day before the puck drops on the 2011-2012 season. Since it's the day before the season begins some loose ends must be tied up. Like the Devils Captaincy and Sean Avery.

The Devils in a shocker named Zach Parise captain and Ilya Koalchuk and Patrick Elias as the alternates. This was almost as shocking as the Rangers announcements, except that Parise wasn't expecting it at all. Will it keep him in town beyond this season? Since he's never said anything about ever wanting to leave, I'm thinking he just wants a contract the shows his value. He's 27 and you can have him as a Devil for life, so I'm sure the Devils can find at least 27 ways to screw this up. Good god I hope they prove me wrong.

Apparently John Tortorella, head coach of the Rangers, didn't realize that HBO will be invading is rink come December and that NHL superp-pest Sean Avery was born to be on 24/7. Or maybe he did realize that HBO was coming to town and didn't want the rest of the country to be subject to the Avery show. Whatever his reasoning is, Avery will now be wearing the Hartford Whale sweater for the rest of his contract unless some foreign team picks him up since he rest of the league passed on picking him up off waivers. The Flyers really should have since they will also be featured in 24/7 and lets face it, Avery and Jagr together would be a ratings goldmine.

And in Shanahan news he released a highlight reel of legal hits from this pre-season. Most shocking, Trevor Gillies of the Islanders who tried to kill Eric Tangradi of the Penguins during fight night at the Colosseum last year was a legal hit highlight. Wouldn't you love to have Shanahan re-review that game and give us his evaluation of it?

1 day ladies and gents, 1 day.

4 days left...

The NHL season officially opens in 4 days and the Penguins FINALLY confirmed that Crosby would not be starting the season. A monkey living in the rainforest in South Africa could have told you this, but they felt it was important to let everyone know. They even wrote a special story about it for their site as did the NHL.com writers. Um, he still hasn't been cleared for contact in practice, so who in the world figured he'd be playing? Apparently some delusional folks in the world. Too much logic went to into figuring this mystery out I suppose.

Brendan Shanahan has been busy making lots of video's about suspensions and rule breaking hits and it's only the preseason. Ryan Malone of the Tampa Bay Lightening should get a prize for realizing before he left Montreal last night that he should wait by his phone for a call from Shanahan. He is well aware he will be facing some sort of discipline for hitting Chris Campoli in the head even though he didn't intend to. Maybe this is what Shananhan is trying to do. Make the players realize before he calls them out that they made a bad play or decision.

Sean Avery who is one of the most outspoken hockey players might be taking his talents to Hartford. He's one of 2 players up for the final cut from the Rangers to join the farm team. Avery is infamous for his "sloppy seconds" comments about a fellow hockey player dating his ex which got him exiled from Dallas. And of course this summer he threw a party in LA and allegedly punched cop. He's a bit of a PR nightmare when in the mood but Hartford, CT is a nice little city so I hope he doesn't poison it since NYC is pretty immune to his type of behavior. Since he's in the final year of his contract I don't see him being resigned regardless of where he lands. This could very well be his final season of professional hockey.

Don't think I ever posted this but forgive me if I did. Mike Comrie who has played for a string of NHL teams, but who is better known for his wife (Hilary Duff) and family's business (Canadian furniture company Brick) has decided to take the year off to recover from surgeries that marred last season. Since he was a last minute pick up for only half a million by the Pens right before camp last year, odds are his career is also done.

Finally players get hurt all the time and obviously another player is usually the reason for the injury, but players understand its the nature of the beast and deal pretty well with it. Until fans take advantage of social sites like Twitter that can let you basically have at anyone who doesn't block you. If I was Eric Nystrom, I'd be blocking the world right about because everyone has been attacking him for a legal play (that most believe shouldn't have been legal for years now) that broke Taylor Fedun's femur after they raced for the puck after an icing. Fans have been going after Nystrom on his mirco-blog for injuring Fedun. How Nystrom hasn't had a nervous breakdown from all these attacks is amazing because I'd be losing my mind. Tough skin for sure. And for the record, Nystrom said he feels terrible for what happened so it's not like he's unaware of the injury. People really need to give the kid a breather.

Random stuff

Before I begin, the beach wedding was amazing last weekend. Wish it would happen all the time. My cousin put on quite the amazing party and I got to ride a yellow school bus again. Complete with a bus driver yelling at the Bride to sit down. Doesn't get much better. Tomorrow I am headed down to Virginia to see my mom et al for the next week and to hit up another wedding. So excited to see everyone down there and meet my niece!

Moving on to hockey news now....

Drew Doughty finally signed on the dotted line with the LA Kings. 8 years, $56 million (average about $7million a year) and he doesn't have a no-trade clause. Win-win for all. Drew got his money, the Kings got the length and still have the ability to throw him overboard if they have a change of heart. Not bad, not bad.

The new saying in the NHL world is "you've been Shananbanned" in reference to NHL Safety Czar Brendan Shanahan's penchant for suspending players for hits and illegal plays. Many players are now more aware of the game rules (shouldn't they have been to begin with) and are figuring out the pattern to his suspensions and what will cost you more. In particular, stay away from a players head and don't be a repeat offender, otherwise you will be financing the NHL's player emergency fund with your own bank account. We already need a second hand to count his suspensions and its still only pre-season. Long live Shanahan.

Sidney Crosby is still rocking the white no-contact helmet, but he's traveling with the team and possibly will be headed West with them next week. Always a good sign.

Evgeni Malkin has been on fire this preseason, rocking it like the Geno from the Cup run. Can he hold on for the actual season? Staal has also shown why he's the best 3rd line center in the game. When Crosby is back, the Penguins will be a serious threat if things stay the way they are. No team has the ability to roll out 3 deep centers like the Penguins do.

The Penguins have also cut their opening day training roster from 55 to 32. Just a few more cuts and the team is set. Another issue few teams encounter is having too many good goalies but that's an issue here. Flower is number 1, and Johnson has been a more than solid and capable number 2, but the AHL goalie of the year happens to be a Penguin. Thankfully Theissen signed a one year deal with them. Can he repeat last year's AHL stats and force them to make him Flower's number 2 next year? He's far too good to stay in the AHL forever. I actually had seats right behind the goal in Wilkes last season and he never was rattled, even when everyone on his team fell flat on their face in front of him. (This actually happened too, everyone fell down for the first few minutes like they had never been on skates before).

Brooks Orpik who had to have abdominal surgery over the summer has appeared at practice this week in a different way. He has his own effigy on the ice for his teammates to skate around. Umm ok. Cardboard cutout Brooks also made an appearance at practice with him. Not creepy at all. Have you looked at his eyes? There's a reason why he's called the 'Candy Man' or 'Free Candy'. One set of his eyes is enough, let alone 2. Yikessss.

Season starts so soon, you can almost smell it.

Quick Notes

Mike Modano will officially retire as a Star thanks to a one day contract for $999,999, a nod to his jersey number. He will sign his one day deal on Friday, quickly followed by his filing of his retirement papers. Fastest deal ever.

When Colin Campbell was replaced by Brendan Shanahan as the new NHL Czar of Disicpline (aka the guy who hands outs the fines and suspensions) we knew a few things would change. First on his agenda was giving a video review of what he saw and why he hands out the fine and suspension and if his intro video and first video review are indication, not only will everyone understand his reasonings, we will all become more educated on the rules. Appointing Shanahan as Czar might have been the NHL's best move. EVER. Even if you don't agree with his final ruling, as at least we know why he has come to his conclusion.

Definitely check out these videos to see how Shanny is rocking the hockey world and educating both players and fans alike. After watching them the first question that comes to mind is WHY has this not been done before? (hard to link videos since they are on a rotating cycle but go to nhl.com and look under videos added the past few days. There are a bunch already -one long intro and then it broken into shorter versions. Plus his first 2 suspensions have been handed out already and are on there.) If anything I think he is setting the tone that this is a new regime and player safety is first and foremost, repeat offenders better watch your backs. I'm talking to you Mr. Matt Cooke. Under this system you might be in jail if not careful.

And finally on Monday, the worst kept secret in hockey will be revealed: The Rangers will take on the Flyers in the City of Brotherly love. The 700 Level apparently missed the fine print in the video that says "official teaser" as they noted they aren't sure if it's real. Also it has the feel of every other official video put out by the NHL, like the "History will be Made" playoff campaign. Whats most funny is I'm looking more forward to seeing this season of 24/7 than even the game itself (which won't be on New Years Day due to that being a Sunday, which is also the last Sunday of the NFL's regular season).

That's it till next week. Headed to the beach tomorrow and since today was the first day of fall, it was unseasonably warm out. Hoping for that to continue for at least this weekend!

Catch up time

A few happenings have occurred in the past week so a recap is in order.

Somethings Gotta Give

Brad Richards won't be a Star or a Ranger. The Stars won't sign him and he won't sign with them without a secure owner. The Rangers won't overpay (good call by them, they can get some younger, cheaper guys that can learn their system) and I'm guessing the Coyotes are off the list because of ownership issues. Of course, the Blue Jackets aren't looking to secure anymore so they are probably a no go. Richards also was being rather picky with where he would be playing city wise so this has major potential to become the saga of this off-season. What city will make his highness happy while still paying him the $7million he feels he deserves. Can't wait to meet this team! I'm also thinking the Devils are out since last season's drama was enough for them. Plus they need to get Parise signed yesterday.

Treading the Gray Area

Brendan Shanahan has officially taken the reigns from Colin Campbell as discipline czar. I love this, FYI. I think Shanahan has the brains to be in charge of such decisions and since he's closely removed from playing, he gets the game and the changes it's taken over the past decade. I do worry this will ruin his image, life and happiness. Interrupting Rule 48 is like being a color blind person in a color coded store- it's a complete and utter free for all. Draw a straw and that's the call currently under Campbell. Even though he does remove himself from games his son plays in, something has always just seemed wrong about the whole thing. A call he makes against another team can eventually affect his sons team and it always just seemed strange if you ask me. I think Shanahan will bring a new approach and be a breathe of fresh air for the suspensions, et al. When Crosby went down with a concussion, he was one of the first players to reach out to check on him and offer some advice/support. It just goes to show his level of respect for current players. I will pray for him every night that he doesn't wake up thinking "I wish I never took this position" and maybe mail him a bottle of scotch or whiskey or whatever will keep him from jumping off the bridge.

Building for the Future

Pittsburgh announced today that they have officially signed all their coaches from the NHL through the AHL rankings to mulit-year deals. I think Ray Shero is one insanely smart business man and makes some amazing decisions to ensure that the Penguins will continue to be considered an elite team in the league. Signing all their coaches ensures that the system they have in place will be continued. Each of the guys learns one system that is used both in the AHL and NHL and this makes their call-ups so routine it's like they are an extension of each other. Now having all the coaches (that were all already on the same page having each been hired or referred by one another) together for the long term just makes their foundation that much more solid. If you ever needed a reason to want your NHL club to own it's AHL team just look up in the sporting dictionary: Penguins, Pittsburgh.

Concussion Gate: Part 1943483 (of the 2010-11 season)

Google it or find it on Puck Daddy here but here's the latest reason why we need Brendan Shanahan to swoop in and save the day. Lots of opinions on whether or not Aaron Rome should have been suspended. Based on this video, yes. If you want to compare his hit to a hit he received against the Sharks and that outcome (no suspension for the guy who leveled him) who knows what to do. This one seems much worse in general so I do believe he should be suspended. His suspenstion is for a whopping 4 games. That means if this goes 4 more games, the rest of the season. At worst, 2 more games in the beginning of next season. Matt Cooke received 10 plus first round of the playoffs for his elbow that didn't injure anyone, so up to 17 games. Nathan Horton laid on the ice like he was never going to move again and Rome got 4. I need help understanding the justice here. Just because he's not Cooke who plays on the invisible line of being a "dirty player" he seems to have had the past affect his ruling, but we are comparing apples and oranges in every way possible. It's hard to say that if a player is concussed then the player who did the concussing should be out for x number of games, but Cooke's careless late elbow cost him more than Rome's late hit that might affect Horton's career sooner than later. Mike Murphy handed out this suspension since Campbell is relieved of his duties forever and Shanahan doesn't begin his reign till next season (did he breathe a sigh of relief or what??). I hope Shanahan is given free reign to clean house start from the bottom next season and can figure out a way to make some sense of these senseless suspensions.

Headaches: Concussions vs Sinus

Sidney Crosby has reappeared on our radar again and this time he's to say he had a sinus infection, not a concussion related setback. This is nice to hear. Sinus infection headaches can be pretty brutal and even if he really did experience a setback, this is a reasoning that will probably make some fans feel better about the state of the Kid. It does seem like a probable reason, especially since he was spotted enjoying a vacation to Cannes Film Festival. I'm thinking you can't fly to Europe with a non-stop headache. That's over 6 hours and even first class can't make that feel any better. If he didn't have a sinus infection then the Penguins must have the best vault of story lines in town. (Malkin actually missed a number of games before his season ending injury because of a sinus infection). Regardless of what we chose to believe, he's alive and breathing in the Canadian air while trying to figure out how top his half-season assault on league records. A topic trending among hockey players on twitter is often #isitseptemberyet. Most people can't wait to see what he will be up to. Ovi, the puck is in your zone. What do you plan on doing after your teams epic meltdown against the Lightening?

Random Ramblings...(on anything I feel like)
NBC will hold onto Olympic broadcasting rights. I like this and enjoy Bob Costas' story time etc. I would like this even more if they somehow had written in there more games would be aired on NBC all season since I don't get versus and have to rely on Tweets and NHL Game Center for anything aired on Versus. Hopefully they won't manage to air the Olympics on Versus and will keep it on NBC.

With the NFL lockout still holding strong, I am beginning to wonder if we will have football and if we do, how will the quality be?At this point the rookies usually have play books, have begun some mini camps and have actually had a full conversation with their coach. Coaches don't even know the players middle name or nickname yet. What about Mr. Sensitive and Mr. Asshole for personality disorders? Can we foresee some serious conflicts if this season does happen? Don't envy the coaches this season one bit.

Could care less about the NBA but if they lockout and the NFL stays locked out, will NBC and the NHL capitalize on this MAJOR once in a lifetime chance to showcase hockey to it's fullest?? Doubt it, but one can hope. On facebook there's a group of people prepared to boycott week 1 if there is one to make a small statement. Even though most people won't notice, I can understand why some people would do this as they are annoyed with billionaires locking out millionaires. It just don't register on the average Joe's radar. We are football fans, but watching a game on Sunday is a luxury and enjoyable way to spend the day, but we don't get money for doing it and can somehow survive since we somehow do it the other 8 months of the year.

Till next time...
#isitseptemberyet