NHL Realignment Solves A Lot Of Logistic Issues

After much speculation, the NHL has finalized a plan for realignment that will go into effect next season. While nothing can be absolutely perfect, the new setup of the league will benefit a lot of teams when it comes to travel and developing natural rivals.

Two of the biggest winners will be the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who will move into the Eastern Conference. For teams in the state of Michigan and Ohio, it made very little logistical sense to spend so much time on the other side of the country.

The Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars will also benefit from being able to stay closer to home in their new division. Those three teams will now be competing against teams in St. Louis, Nashville, Denver and Chicago.

Perhaps the only two teams that really seem to lose out on the realignment are the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. They will be in a division with three Canadian teams along with Buffalo, Boston and Detroit. It is hard to make everyone happy, and no matter who the Florida teams play, they would have to travel to make things work.

Besides saving on travel, the benefits of realignment will help not only strengthen current rivalries, but build new ones as well. Detroit is back in the Eastern Conference, and they will square off against old rivals such as Toronto, Boston and Montreal throughout the year. New teams such as Columbus will also get to build rivalries with teams close by, such as the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With negativity still surrounding the NHL after the lockout, the realignment plan is welcomed good news. Fans, players, fantasy hockey players and owners all are mostly satisfied with the results. If the NHL does in fact expand to 32 teams in the future, the two conferences can be evened out again as well.

Joffrey Lupul's dirty hit to the head on Victor Hedman

This is an illegal hit to the head and a violation of rule 48. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joffery Lupul is going to get a call from the Department of Player Safety and if he isn't suspended, I will be very surprised. Apparently, this isn't the first time that Victory Hedman has been hit with a questionable and dirty hit this week. Zac Rinaldo also caught Hedman with a very questionable hit earlier this week, but he was able to go tonight.

s/t  cjzero for the cool gif.

(Video): Senators owner Eugene Melnyk goes off on Matt Cooke

Apparently, the owner of the Senators Eugene Melnyk feels the same way I do about Penguins forward Matt Cooke. It looks like the Penguins are putting Cooke on notice. The last game between the Penguins and the Senators is going to be a dandy. It might be a blood bath.

"To have him [Karlsson] taken out by a goon [Cooke] it’s just unconscionable," Melnky said. "Whether it was accidental, or whether it was reckless, or whether it was intentional. To me it doesn't matter, it's something that should've never happen. These players should never be playing in this league, these guys are a dime a dozen. That’s exactly what they’re worth per game.”

(Video) Matt Cooke hit on Erik Karlsson

I am going to preface this with, I hold Matt Cooke in a very low regard especially after what he did to former Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard and a few other players around the league. Make no mistake about it, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke is known for his dirty hits, this hit, however is not a dirty or a malicious hit. What do you think? Chime in... Hockey is a physical sport and injuries happen from time-to-time. Tough loss for the Senators.

Worst possible news for Senators. Karlsson suffered lacerated Achilles tendon. Surgery required.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 14, 2013

another wow RT @seangentille: Wow: The Karlsson-Cooke thing happened right in front of an @ap photographer. Wow. Wow. twitter.com/seangentille/s…
— Producer Tim (@TSNProducerTim) February 14, 2013

Martin Brodeur falls getting his goalie stick

s/t to the Score. I got a chuckle out of this while I was watching this game yesterday. For a guy that's 40 years old Martin Brodeur can still move really good, and with all that equipment on. If the puck had actually gone in, it wouldn't have counted because the Pittsburgh Penguins were off-sides on the play.

The Pens to make push for Parise and Suter

Apparently, the Pens have cleared a bunch of cap space and are going to take a serious run at signing Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.

This is an emerging story line that I first heard  on XM Home Ice today. 

I really hope that this does not come to fruition - the Pens with Evgeni Malkin, Zach Parise, Sidney Crosby and Ryan Suter would be the nucleus of a pretty solid hockey team. Adding Parise would give the Pens a legitimate shot at winning a Stanley Cup.

Rob Rossi, Tribune-Review Sports --- Their plan is to pursue the two top players on the market, Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter and New Jersey winger Zach Parise, sources told the Tribune-Review this weekend at the NHL Entry Draft.

Team sources said Crosby soon will sign a new contract in the range of 10 to 13 years with an average annual salary of between $9 million and $10 million and will try to recruit Parise, his longtime friend, and Suter.

The Penguins’ pitch will focus on the standard set by Crosby with his current deal, which is set to expire after the upcoming season. Crosby took less than market value — for him, the league maximum (20 percent of the salary cap) — to provide the Penguins room to build a championship nucleus.

That worked once, with the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup in 2009. They will try to make it work again by using Crosby’s willingness not to max out on salary as a benchmark for future contracts.

In the wake of the Jordan Staal trade Friday, the Penguins have identified their nucleus as Crosby, reigning league MVP and scoring champ Evgeni Malkin, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, winger James Neal and defenseman Kris Letang.

Pen's Sidney Crosby to get 10 year deal

The NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is probably doing cartwheels knowing that one of his favorite players is now locked up with a long term deal with his favorite hockey team, it probably also means that the NHL on NBCSN will be all Penguins all of the time. Personally, I think this contract is a bit of a risk – based on Crosby’s concussion issues.

Austin Pollack, NESN --- Sidney Crosby has been one of hockey’s most exciting players since he entered the league as the first overall pick in the 2005 NHL Draft. At the same time, he’s been the face of the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise.

It looks like Penguins fans have their man for another decade. Crosby is expected to get a 10-year, $90 million con tract extension, according to CBSSports.com. He is lined up to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season.

I also wonder, how many of these signing we will see before the current CBA expires? There seems to be a feeling that the NHL is going to definitely have another work stoppage this season. Under the current CBA, the NHL Players currently are taking 57% of the revenues. The NHL owners want a 50-50 split agreement and the players don’t seem to be in a hurry to take another pay cut like they did seven years ago after the 2004-05 lockout so there is a good chance that we could see a second lockout in the last seven years.

The State of the NHL Officiating Corps.

English: NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have to be the guy to agree with a lot of what has been said regarding officiating but I also am going to be the guy to pose a theory to the masses for public consumption.

And, yeah, it is going to sound a lot like an apology for Brenden Shanahan but it isn't.

Brenden Shanahan is in a position no one wants to have but everyone has an opinion of what should be done by a person in such a position.  However, he's not done a good job or even an ok job with the position.  He has been inconsistent and unsatisfying in his performance.  It's just presented all glitzy with videos and bulleted lists.  But looking at it from afar, there's a lot that doesn't add up.

Look at the inconsistency and the double standards of Shanahan's actions doesn't appear to me that the decisions regarding whether or not to suspend players was actually being made by Shanahan.  His actions this year seemed almost identical to that of Colin Campbell's Wheel of Justice system.  There were a few times during Campbell's administration of this position and during Shanahan's administration where they went against the trend (such as suspending Ovechkin and perhaps you can argue that it was the case for Giroux and Backstrom but I'll get to that shortly) but that may only be to prevent appearance to the players that they are playing favors.

Add onto the fact that no matter what, when a fanbase sees their guys suspended for a hit they get mad and point out flaws in previous decisions and also when a fanbase sees their guys get hit and even injured they point to it as justification for the hitting player to get pummeled with the book.

It becomes a mess.

So where does Shanahan come in?  He comes in having never served in such a level of authority.  He only comes in as a face.  People know who he is.  That's about it.  So, when thrust into the limelight like this you have to sink or swim.  And here's where it gets interesting:

Can you improve the quality of a weakness when the primary weakness are the people above you on the chain of command?

Can Shanahan even suspend players like Malkin even if he wants to?  There is no secret that Bettman and Campbell's love children are Malkin, Crosby, and the Pittsburgh Penguins (to a certain extent).  Bettman has certain placed the emphasis on the PR marking campaign on the shoulders of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin by extension.  So would it do for the NHL to see either suspended?  I'm sure not.  So, I doubt Campbell would allow Shanahan to suspend either player (even though Crosby really has yet to administer an illegal or even questionable hit). 

As for Giroux and Backstrom being exceptions, I argue not so much.  I truly don't think that anyone other than Malkin and Crosby are truly exempt from suspension if the situation is right. 

But in the end, all it comes down to is Shanahan's bosses.  They truly do seem to be calling the shots and simply use Shanahan's player profile to deflect all the criticism away from Campbell and onto Shanahan.  Therefore, if it does fail (which it appears that it is so) Bettman can step forward and say "Look, we listened to you and we tried your idea and it failed.  Campbell knows what he's doing and we're just going to go back to the old way and try to hammer out some of the troubles through traditional channels."  Bettman still doesn't look bad that way and the only harm done is Shanahan's image being obliterated.  Shanahan never was a Crosby type so why would Bettman care. 

If this season was a first run test and next year is the real test for Shanahan, I'm betting he fails again because I don't think Shanahan truly has the autonomy necessary for Shanahan to live up to what he talks about.  He can suspend anyone with impunity (provided the situation and circumstances warrant it). 

I claim that Shanahan is nothing more than lipstick on a pig when it comes to the NHL Front Office.  It looks nice and he tries hard but in the end, you're not going to improve on officiating and Shanahan's job description with the likes of Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell still in positions of power.

What says you?

Canadiens interview Mcguire for vacant GM job

TSN broadcaster, and former National Hockey League coach, Pierre McGuire prior to a playoff game between the Calgary Flames and Chicago Blackhawks, in Calgary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NHL Hockey fans are applauding  and encouraging the possible move everywhere. Well, maybe not, but it I hope Pierre McGuire gets the job so we don’t have to listen to him in the morning anymore on XM Home Ice and or on NBS Sports. Pierre McGuire is one of those sports personalities that you either like or would rather do without - personally I have nothing against him - but I would like to see someone else doing his job.

tsn.ca ---- Francois Gagnon of La Presse reports that NBC commentator and former NHL on TSN analyst Pierre McGuire had an interview with the Montreal Canadiens for their vacant general manager post.

While it wasn't known if the talks were done in person or over the phone or whether McGuire met with Canadiens owner/president Geoff Molson or advisor Serge Savard, sources told the paper that a meeting did take place over the last few days.

McGuire won two Stanley Cups as a scout and assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins and was also head coach of the Hartford Whalers. He also worked as a pro scout and assistant coach for the Ottawa Senators before going into radio broadcasting in 1997.

McGuire joined TSN in 1999 and was an analyst/colour commentator for 12 seasons.

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Flyers Grossman out with concussion, no hearing for Malkin?

Pro Hockey Talk

As you saw from the video in the previous post; a sneaky elbow by Penguins super star forward Evgeni Malkin on the Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossman has landed the Flyers defenseman on the shelf and he will be unable to play in tonight's game five between the Flyers and Penguins. What puzzles me is that the NHL has been silent on the hit and it doesn’t appear that there is going to be a supplemental disciplinary hearing for the Malkin.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossman will miss Friday night's Game 5 against Pittsburgh with a concussion. Grossman sustained the injury in the second period of a 10-3 loss in Game 4 on Wednesday and could be out indefinitely.

Grossman did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh. Erik Gustafsson will take Grossman's spot in the lineup. The Flyers are already without Marc-Andre Bourdon, who went down with an upper body injury in Game 1.

The Penguins will be without defenseman Paul Martin, who will miss his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma says Martin's ice time will be split between Simon Despres and Brian Strait.

It’s event’s like this that make people stop and scratch their heads. Why isn’t Malkin going to have a hearing on this hit? There seems to be one set of rules for super stars and one set of rules for tough guys and goons.

As you can see by the picture on the right and the video that this was a blatant and sneaky vicious and unnecessary elbow by Malkin to the head of Grossman.

Flyers beat writer Sam Carchidi from Philly.com when asked about the Malkin hit said, “what I'm told, the league did not investigate.”

Nicklas Grossman injured by Malkin Elbow.

Check out this sneaky elbow by Penguins forward Evgeni Malking on the Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossman was injured in this collision with Evgeni Malkin. Don't count on Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin getting any form of supplemental discipline from the NHL. It's not going to happen, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is a big fan of the Penguins and there is no way that the NHL is going to suspend the Penguins bread and butter winner.

Per Flyers CSN Reporter Tim Pannacio, it appears that Grossman is out with a concussion.

Nicklas Grossmann, who took two shots to the head in Game 4 -- one from Tyler Kennedy and a sneaky elbow from Evgeni Malkin -- did not practice on Thursday. He has a suspected concussion, though the Flyers won't confirm the injury.

"I'm not sure whether he's in or out of the lineup," Matt Carle said. "I'm not sure what his injury is. Gross is a good stay at home defenseman. It's no secret he is back there for us and brings a physical presence."

So much for cleaning up the head shots in the NHL eh? If this had been Matt Cooke or Raffi Torres we would be ready to throw them out of the NHL for the rest of their lives but since a star players performed this questionable sneaky elbow, nothing is going to happen to Malkin. 

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• Going Down Fighting or Quitting?
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Flyers are in Penguins' heads

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. San Jose Sharks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another good article that I found this evening.

BRUCE ARTHUR, POSTMEDIA NEWS ---- “We’re playing playoff hockey,” Crosby said. “They’re doing the same things we are.”
Laughable assertions, in this game. Only one team was clearly headhunting. This was the franchise whose star player, Crosby, is the face of the league’s concussion issues, and whose owner, Mario Lemieux, wrote a letter deriding the New York Islanders for doing just this in 2011.

“I don’t think they’re calculated, but there are some guys running around that usually don’t do that,” said Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen, who was thrown out for fighting Kris Letang in the wild first period. “I don’t know why you change your game for the playoffs, I don’t like that. But if they think they’re going to win that way, go ahead and do it.”

Underlying all this is the fact that the Penguins, who compiled the league’s fourth-best record in the regular season, have come apart at the seams. Before Game 3, defenceman Letang had said, “We’ll see the true face of our team. And I think we’ll see if guys have character, and we’ll prove a lot.”

The author Bruce Arthur does have a point, the Penguins don't hold the moral high ground and I think the rest of the league is getting to the point where they are tiring of the Penguins antics, they are kind of the Vancouver Canucks of the east. This was highly evident last week with the rant by John Torttorella's on the Penguins and their star players being a bunch of whiners. Torttorella was fined for his comments but his message was received by the fans around the NHL.

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Classic Hartnell tweet to Oshie and Kristo

Check out this twitter exchange between T.J. Oshie and Scott Hartnell, that's definitively funny in my book.

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Shanny has his work cut out for him part II

Arron Asham should be gone for the rest of the NHL playoffs for this cross check and then punch on Brayden Schenn. There was nothing wrong with Schenn's hit on Paul Martin, yet Asham attacks Schenn. If you don't like the way that Schenn hit your fellow teammate challenge him to a fight the old fashion way.

I think that the NHL will not look too kindly on this play by Asham; this will also give Brendan Shanahan a chance to make a statement because Asham is a goon and suspending him won't really affect the series that much. 


Penguins forward James Neal should have been thrown out of the game for this questionable blindside on Sean Couturier. The refs really blew this call and their inaction probably lead to this chain of events. That's right pulling of hair by Craig Adams, how very Vancouver Canucks like, Alex Burrows and Max Lapierre would probably approve of this act.

It will be interesting to see what comes out of the NHL's Department of Player Safety, this was a very emotional and hard fought game and I could see a few fines and probably a suspension or two for some of the offending players.  Loved the drama and the extra drama that came out of this game today.

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Don't clean the garage when the game is on, you might miss something

I stepped out to clean the garage and I missed this fight between Sidney Crosby vs Claude Giroux and this bout between Kris Letang vs Kimmo Timonen. The moral of the story is that you can clean the garage some other day.

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Colin Campbell feels the Pen's Pain

The NHL front office is not happy that their linesmen blew a pretty obvious call last night. I suppose that means that the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is probably worried that the face of the NHL, Sidney Crosby's team will get eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Flyers can expect the games to be called closer from here on out.

TORONTO - Colin Campbell feels the pain of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The NHL's senior executive vice-president of hockey operations acknowledged Thursday that linesman Tony Sericolo erred in not whistling the play dead prior to Danny Briere's first goal in the opening game of the Penguins-Flyers series.

"There's no other way to explain it but a missed call," Campbell told The Canadian Press in an interview. "We're as upset as Pittsburgh almost. It's a mistake."

Briere scored Philadelphia's first goal on Wednesday night after being sent in on a breakaway by teammate Brayden Schenn. The long pass came immediately after a neutral zone turnover and replays showed that Briere was a couple feet offside.

First off lets be clear, the refs blew this call, it's pretty obvious even to the untrained eye. I am also going to agree with the Penguins head coach. ''That's not why we [Penguins] lost the game,'' coach Dan Bylsma said immediately afterward. The Penguins lost the game because they stopped playing after going up by three goals.

Daniel Briere goal - offsides

The Penguins announcer and the Pens fans aren't very happy about Flyers forward Danny Briere as you can see by the video he was clearly off-sides. It's a true fact, the video evidence proves that point.

Danny Briere was off-sides and he was in fact over the blue line before the puck crossed said blue line. That being said, the Pens lost the game because they stopped moving their feet and the Flyers keep clawing away and chipped away at the Penguins 3 goal lead and scored three more goals. The Pittsburgh Penguins had no answer for the Flyers tonight.

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Don Cherry gives Sidney Crosby some free advice

The conversation in question starts at about 4:27 of the video. No one questions that Sidney Crosby is an awesome hockey player, but John Tortorella is right, Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are two of the biggest whiners in the NHL. There is more than enough evidence to prove that point.

Ok! Granted, it's no mystery that Torts was upset with Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik for his dirty, bush-league knee on knee hit on Rangers forward Derek Stephan, last Thursday night. I think Tortorella is right, can you imagine if that hit had been put on Malkin or Crosby, there would be a lot of complaining and whining coming out of the Penguins locker room and you would expect a maximum fine and or suspension handed out by the NHL.

Frankly, I would like to see Don Cherry give the Sedin twins in Vancouver the same lectures as well as these two super stars spend a lot of time diving, flailing and flopping around on the ice a throwing their heads back whenever they're hit.

ProSportsDaily Staff ---- Don Cherry joined a growing number of hockey personalities who are publicly taking issue with Sidney Crosby.

After New York Rangers coach John Tortorella labeled Crosby a whiner, Cherry spoke out against the Pittsburgh Penguins captain during his weekly "Coach's Corner" segment on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

"A long time ago when Crosby was coming out, I tried to warn him (to) 'quit diving, quit whining.' (Then) I was the worst guy in the world ... and all I was trying to do was help him," Cherry said.

"All I said was stop whining, stop diving and snapping the head back."

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Flyers rough up the Pens

Thomas Vanek with a good bounce

Check out this weird goal by former Gopher and current Buffalo Sabre Thomas Vanek. Talk about a gift goal, the Penguins attempt to clear the puck out of the zone, the puck bounces off a stanchion and right on the stick of Vanek who shots the puck past Brent Johnson.

You got to love Rick Generett  and his call of the Buffalo Sabre's goals.