Claude Giroux busted for grabbing cops buttocks

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Ruh, roh! Claude Giroux was arrested for grabbing the buttocks of an Ottawa police officer. This is a story made for the tabloid news. Also, alcohol was a factor.

Danielle Bell,Ottawa Sun -- Philadelphia Flyers star Claude Giroux has been released from jail after being arrested for allegedly grabbing the buttocks of a police officer.

Sources say Giroux was arrested for repeatedly grabbing the male police officer's butt during an incident at a downtown Ottawa bar. Alcohol is believed to have been involved.

A witness and sources say the incident occurred at The Great Canadian Cabin in the Byward Market club district.

NHL Compliance buyouts

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Buffalo:   Ville Leino $4.5M
Chicago:   Steve Montador $2.75M, Rostislav Olesz $3.125M
Dallas:   Aaron Rome $1.5M
Detroit:   Carlo Colaiacovo $2.5M
Edmonton:   Eric Belanger $1.75M
Minnesota:  Tom Gilbert $4M
Montreal:   Scott Gomez $7.357M,  Tomas Kaberle $4.25M
Nashville:  Hal Gill $2M
New Jersey: Johan Hedberg $1.4M
NY Islanders: Rick DiPietro $4.5M
NY Rangers:  Wade Redden $6.5M
Philadelphia:  Danny Briere $6.5M,  Ilya Bryzgalov $5.667M
Tampa Bay:  Vincent Lecavalier $7.727M
Toronto:   Mike Komisarek $4.5M,   Mikhail Grabovski $5.5M
Vancouver:   Keith Ballard $4.2M,  David Booth $4.25M
Washington:  Jeff Schultz $2.75M

Here's a list of the Compliance Buyouts. Under the new CBA each team is allowed two of them.

NHL Hockey: Fourth Line Players Expected to Contribute

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I have said this in the past, fourth line players in the NHL are going to need to be able to fight and actually play the game of hockey. Gone are the days of the two fights, and three shift players. One dimensional goons like John Scotts aren’t going to have a job much longer because they’re a waste of a roster spot.

Amalie Benjamin, Boston Globe – The real question, perhaps, is whether the concept of the fourth line is shifting toward more skill, as the Bruins saw in the second round of the postseason, when the Canadiens got production from their fourth line (Brandon Prust, Daniel Briere, Dale Weise) and the Bruins did not.

That was the role the Bruins’ Merlot line played in the past, notably in the Stanley Cup Final against Vancouver, when they helped turn around Game 7. It was a line emulated throughout hockey, as teams realized they needed to roll four lines, as the Bruins did, to be successful.

With that in mind, it will be telling to see what happens to the large number of free agent enforcers this summer, with quite a few set to be unrestricted, a quirk of enforcers mostly getting short-term contracts. In addition to Thornton, George Parros, Paul Bissonnette, Kevin Westgarth and John Scott, among others, are without deals.

“I think if you look across the league, you look at more and more teams rolling four lines and getting some production out of the fourth line, like we’ve had for a number of years,” Neely said.

Humor: Simpson's NHL Hockey

Is Pierre Maguire going to the Pens?

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I would imagine that NHL hockey fans in the USA would cheer on such a move, unless you're a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Think of it this way, NHL fans in the USA would no longer have to listen to NBC Sports NHL analyst Pierre Maguire as he annoys fans from between the players boxes. As a regular NHL viewer, I would applaud such a move.

Bob Pompeani Show --- Scotty Bowman worked closely with NBC Sports NHL analyst Pierre Maguire who has been rumored to be a possible candidate for the open general manager position with the Pens.

He tells Bob that Maguire has been a candidate recently for many open positions and that he has a real desire to return to a team.

“He has a good broad knowledge of amateur hockey,” Bowman said. “But the big thing he has going for him for me is that he has a lot of connections. He has kept up with the hockey league. He is a hard worker. His knowledge of the NHL would be very high for sure.”

NHL Hockey: Evolution of the game?

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I have said in the past, that players that score 30 goals and fight will be a premium some day. I still stand by the assertion. The one dimensional goons (that can only fight) are going to be a thing of the past. Moving forward, in the years ahead, players will need to actually play hockey and contribute to their team in some way.  The John Scotts of the world are going to be on the NHL's unemployment line, very soon. There will still be fighting, just less of it.

Fluto Shinzawa, Boston Globe -- But it takes an agreement to fight. If a skilled team doesn’t have a slugger, the opponent’s tough guy has no dance partner. Through attrition, the fighter is becoming irrelevant. Heavyweights such as Thornton, Scott (Buffalo), Micheal Haley (Rangers), George Parros (Montreal), Mike Rupp (Minnesota), Cam Janssen (New Jersey), Steve MacIntyre (Edmonton), Ben Eager (Edmonton), Paul Bissonnette (Phoenix), and Kevin Westgarth (Calgary) will become unrestricted free agents this summer. Some of these players may be on their final NHL contracts.

“The fisticuff trend — this doesn’t characterize Thorty as just a fighter, because he’s contributed on that line and that line has had a lot of success in the past — we’re definitely trending away from that style,” Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said.

The Bruins are in transition. Thornton is doubtful to return. Paille and Campbell will enter the final year of their contracts. This could be the beginning of refreshing the fourth line to keep pace with Chicago’s innovation.

Paille is a good No. 4 left wing. He’s fast, kills penalties, and is good in battles. Justin Florek could replace Thornton on the right side. Florek is big and smart. He’s strong on the walls. He can also kill penalties.

Former NCAA Hockey Players lead the Stanley Cup Playoffs

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Points
1.	Zach Parise-MIN	11
2.	Paul Stastny-COL	10
	Nathan MacKinnon-COL	10
	Anze Kopitar-LAK	10
5.	Jonathan Toews-CHI	8
	Brent Seabrook-CHI	8
	Matt Niskanen-PIT	8
	Paul Martin-PIT	8
	Evgeni Malkin-PIT	8
	Patrick Kane-CHI

Six of top ten Stanley Cup Playoffs Points Leaders have NCAA Experience. Two of the top 10 are from University of North Dakota.  

Prediction for Wild vs. Blackhawks

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How the Wild win…

The Minnesota Wild will beat the Chicago Blackhawks if they continue to play their systems like they did against the Colorado Avalanche. This past season, the Wild had a 3-2 record against the Blackhawks. One of the Wild’s two losses was a shootout loss. So, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the Wild could win this series. Just like the series against the Av’s, the Wild are going to be the under dogs. They need to embrace this, and use it in their favor.

The key to beating the Blackhawks, play disciplined, smart hockey. They cannot take foolish, selfish, retaliation penalties. The Wild will need to stay out the penalty box if they want to win this series.

Defensively: the Wild need to protect their goaltender. Make that area nose bleed alley, smartly. It’s imperative that the Wild keep the Blackhawks on the perimeter. They do not want to allow them to get to the blue paint, or roam freely in the slot, unchallenged. The Blackhawks will cash in on those opportunities.

The Blackhawks are a fast skating team that comes at you in waves, and the Wild defensemen need to keep the Blackhawks forwards in front of them. Up front, former North Dakota forward Jonathan Toews (3g-4a—7pts) and former Michigan State Spartan Duncan Keith (2g-5a—7pts) lead the Blackhawk in points. No slouch himself, Patrick Kane is in third place with (3g-3a—6pts). Leading the Wild in points against the Blackhawks this season: Jason Pominville (4g-1a—5pts), Mikael Granlund (0g-4a—4pts), Matt Cooke (2g-1a—3pts). Note, Cooke is unavailable for the first three games because of his suspension. He returns from his seven-game suspension in time for game four.

Wild lose if…

The Wild will lose if they fail to play disciplined hockey. They cannot get caught up in the extra bravo sierra. They can’t lose their wits about them. They need to play under control and not respond to the Andrew Shaw’s antics. Also, the Wild will lose if they start running around, trying to check the Blackhawks out of the building. The Blues tried to do this in the first round and it didn’t work. That’s not the Wild’s game, they’re more successful when they play a high pressure, fore-check game.

I am going out on a limb, Wild win series in 6 games.

Denver Post finally responds to Patrick Bordeleau's dirty leg check on Jared Spurgeon

Nice to see that the Denver Post "finally" decided to pick up this story. Our buddy Adrian Dater from the Denver Post is Johnny on the spot for this story.

But, yeah, it looks a lot like the Cooke hit on Barrie, and let’s not be naive here: we all knew the Avs would maybe try something in retaliation for losing one of their best players to a dirty hit. As I said before and I’ll keep saying: you’re looking in the wrong place if you’re looking to the NHL for fairness and civility.

Adrian Dater explains his reasons for calling Matt Cooke a Gutless Puke.

When I referred to Matt Cooke as a “gutless puke” earlier, I was doing so in reference to an old line Cam Neely used about Claude Lemieux once, and has since become a common hockey saying for anyone people don’t like. It wasn’t meant to be taken so literally.

Let's clear, I have called Minnesota Wild Matt Cooke worse than that. I just was kind of shocked to see a major newspaper in a major market use those kind of words to explain a National Hockey League player. First, the Avalanche employed their share of objectionable players as well.

The Playoff Problem (Redwing77)

I love playoff hockey... ANY playoff hockey.... but I also think it's one of the worst hockey out there.  Why?  Well...  mostly it is due to hypocrisy.

All throughout the regular season, teams play the game and commit penalties.  Sometimes these infractions result in suspensions, fines, and so on.  Ah, but then the playoffs begin and it's all changed!

The playoff rulebook has come into play!

This rule book is the most hypocritical, imo, rules entity in professional sports.  I've watched playoff hockey this year in both the USHL and the NHL and they're both the same.  It takes an act of God to get the refs to raise their arms.  Why?  What happens when the postseason begins that makes a call that is made ALL SEASON LONG no longer required?  If the refs aren't enforcing the rulebook, why do we have 2 refs and 2 ARs on the ice?  Why not just have 2 ARs just to call offsides, icing, and drop the puck on faceoffs and just rely upon the video replay judge and the goal judges to determine goals?  There is no reason for refs if the rulebook is optional.

Yesterday, we saw two overt spears in Corey Perry and Milan Lucic.  Neither resulted in penalties being called.  Lucic's resulted in a wrist smacking $5,000 fine.  Well, the message is clear.  Your stars can spear guys and they'll only lose part of a game check!  NO PENALTY!!!  I'm too used to the NCAA rulebook that states that spearing is a 5 minute major and game ejection.  It's legal in the NHL, I guess.  It's also legal to slash a stick in two pieces if it results in a scoring opportunity (ala Anaheim's short handed goal by Cogliano).

I LOVE the game of hockey.  I LOVE a good, clean, hardfought, physical game.  But I'm also a big proponent of the rulebook.  I believe truly that the rulebook is in place for essentially two main reasons:  1.  Integrity of the game itself and 2.  Player safety.  If the rulebook isn't going to be enforced, then I hope the playoff teams have good insurance and travel policies because someone's going to leave on a stretcher and they'll need a body to fill the void ASAP.

In the NHL, IMO, cheap shots occur when enforcers are handcuffed due to situational concerns and/or the rulebook AND the officials either have lost control of the game or refuse to enforce the rulebook.  Yes, I LOVE games like what we saw with Chicago vs. St. Louis.  I LOVED last year's Finals between Boston and Chicago.  But I LOATHE games where the sport is made even more dangerous than it has to be because the playoff rulebook is in effect.

I'm not sure where the money comes from to pay refs for NHL games.  However, if the playoff rulebook is truly as optional as the rules have been applied thus far, help out the common man in the playoffs.  Simply do not put any armbanded refs on the ice at all and save the money spent to pay them  by passing the savings onto the playoff attendee.  If this sounds ridiculous, then it's time to start using the rulebook again and saving the integrity and health of the players before someone gets seriously hurt.

And I haven't even begun about the USHL.  USHL playoff rulebooks remind me a TON of the clutch and grab style of WCHA officiating back in the early 2000s... even down to the fact that, even when they DO call penalties, it will be a LOCK that neither team will have an advantage on the powerplay... even if they have to invent a penalty to make it equal (which I've witnessed personally).

Save the game.  You don't have to call everything.  You just have to call the same game as you do during the regular season.

T.J. Oshie is questionable for game two

Former UND forward T.J. Oshie is questionable for game two between the St. Louis Blue and the Chicago Blackhawks.

NHL.COM -- The Blues held an optional skate Friday afternoon inside St. Louis Outlet Mall. Ten skaters took the ice, two were injured forwards T.J. Oshie (upper body) and Patrik Berglund (upper body).

For Oshie, it was another day on the ice gearing himself up for a return to the lineup; he's questionable for Saturday. Berglund skated with teammates for the first time Friday; he's more inclined to miss the game Saturday. Each missed Game 1.

"I didn't see them," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Until someone taps me on the shoulder and says he's a game player, he's out. Our lineup's going to be fluid every day. Every day it's going to be fluid. I told you guys before, we're going to have everybody playing in this series at some period of time, so that obviously means by Game 5, we expect everybody to be ready to go and hopefully nobody gets injured. Touch wood, but that's our expectations."

Blues captain David Backes said a healthy Oshie is good for the team at any point.

"He's a horse for us, an Energizer bunny that never stops," Backes said. "You talk about fatigue, he's a guy that would have a few days of rest [going] into a series which has a lot guys that have played some big minutes in the last 36 hours. So it'll be hopefully a jolt to the arm if he's in. If not, we've proven that we can win if he's not in the lineup. We'll have to have the same sort of performance again

My NHL Stanley Cup Predictions - Bruins win Rematch over the Blackhawks

Zach Hawkins has made his predictions for the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, here's mine. Feel free to chime in with your picks.

Schedule for the 2014 Western Conference Playoffs

Schedule for the 2014 Eastern Conference Playoffs

NHL Officials not allowed on Social Media

Interesting piece. I can't imagine a world without any of these things. I suppose there's a life outside of the Internet.

Social media is off-limits for all the officials! They are not allowed to have a Facebook or Twitter account as information could easily be misconstrued or deemed to be inappropriate. It is just another undesirable location that the officials could become accessible. After NBA referee Tim Donaghy was convicted on criminal charges and served time in federal prison for betting on games he officiated, NHL officials are "strongly discouraged" from entering casinos while travelling on NHL business. You can forget about reading a book written by any NHL officials until after they retire; unless perhaps it is a children's coloring book! Other than the number on the back of their sweater (no names since '94) the league is most content when their officials are seen and not heard from.

NHL Humor: Backes Streit Boyes

Rogers Unveils Dream Team to Deliver Upcoming NHL Season; Don Cherry in the mix

Finally, we get an answer we were waiting for. Rogers will keep the Coach's Corner and Don Cherry and ron MacLean. This is good news for Don Cherry fans.

TORONTO, March 10, 2014 /CNW/ - Rogers today announced a dream team of broadcasters who will anchor NHL national coverage across all Rogers properties, as well as Hockey Night in Canada. Together, George Stroumboulopoulos, Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, Daren Millard and Jeff Marek will be cornerstones of Rogers's NHL coverage this coming fall.

The team will deliver more than 500 regular season games across 13 networks and 7 platforms, including up to 7 games every Saturday night, plus "Hometown Hockey" every Sunday hosted from communities across Canada, and every game of the NHL Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final.

The announcement was made today by Scott Moore, President of Sportsnet & NHL Properties, Rogers.

"We know how passionate fans are about hockey, and so we've brought together the best anchors to deliver the best hockey experience to Canadians," said Moore. "George is one of the smartest and most versatile broadcasters in the business, and Ron and Don are icons in the hockey world. Along with Daren and Jeff, our new broadcast team brings a tremendous amount of talent, expertise and personality - and most importantly, they all possess a supreme passion for hockey."

NHL won't adopt T.J. Oshie Rule

Original NHL logo, used until 2005. A version of the logo features it in the shape of a hockey puck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy, don't count on the NHL adopting the T.J. Oshie Rule. I would say that I like this... It works great for International play.

Puck Daddy -- “Obviously, the one feature that’s different in international competition and the National Hockey League is the ability to use the same shooter in a game-winning shots competition,” said deputy commissioner Bill Daly on Tuesday, before the qualification round of the Sochi Olympic tournament.

“We haven’t even talked about that with our general managers at any point and time, but I would very surprised if the general managers would ever be supportive of that type of concept. It’s tough enough that they don’t like the shootout as it is.”

One of the reasons why the GMs would find the concept repellant: The idea that “shootout specialists” might need to be a consideration on their rosters. Which would be great news for the Linus Omarks of the world, but not something Daly sees the League’s team executives desiring all that much.

Sid Crosby: Impressive Numbers.

Like him or hate him, Penguins Star Sidney Crosby is an elite hockey player, that has put up some crazy numbers in his short hockey career. Think about this,  (25g-461a—720pts) in 520 games evens out to 1.41 PPG for the All-Star forward. Imagine if he hadn't suffered all of those concussions? If my math is right, Crosby missed  over 100-games due to post concussion syndrome issues. Also, he missed about 20-games due to a ankle injury during the 2008 hockey season.

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Bettman upholds Thornton's 15-game suspension

The Ruling has come down. The NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has upheld Shawn Thornton's 15-game suspension.


NEW YORK -- Commissioner Gary Bettman today upheld the 15-game suspension that was assessed to Boston Bruins forward Shawn Thornton by the Department of Player Safety for punching and injuring an unsuspecting opponent, Brooks Orpik of the Pittsburgh Penguins, in NHL Game No. 438 at Boston on Dec. 7.

Commissioner Bettman heard Thornton's appeal at a hearing in New York on Friday, Dec. 20. The original decision was assessed Dec. 14.

The incident occurred at 11:06 of the first period. Thornton was assessed a match penalty for violating NHL Rule 46.15.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Thornton will forfeit $84,615.45. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Click here to view Commissioner's complete ruling (PDF)