f13.net

So...

Looks like the Flyers have some crazy hijinks in the works:

Carter to Columbus for Voracek and picks
M. Richards to LA for Simmonds, Schenn, and a pick
Flyers Sign Bryzgalov

Flyers have a lot of space left under the cap

Insanity. I'm glad Carter is gone, but not sure how I feel about Richards...but signing a good goalie for once is nice. Can't wait to see what else happens.

I was hoping the Canucks could pry Carter away for a song. Welp.

Instead, they just made two other teams in the west better. Going to be interesting to see Nash play with an actual skilled offensive player on his line.

Rumblings around the 'Burgh has become tainted with the nostalgia of the 1990s.

Time to get my Jagr jersey out of the bin...  :why_so_serious: :oh_i_see:

I wonder if we could swap Luongo for Nash?  :grin:

Don't worry about Carter. All he does is skate down the wings, and 90% of his shots can be classified as:

On right wing, shot is to the short side for an easy save.
On left wing, shot is high and wide.

And he should rarely be counted on to score a goal when it matters most. Have fun, CBJ.  :oh_i_see:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6700915

YAY... I am now breaking out my Jets faux-Jersey... number 13 skates again!

You can keep him, I'm not sure I want him in Detroit. He's going to want too much money for what he's worth.

'

Towards the end of the time he was with the Rangers he was already starting to tail off.   I mean, with his hands and his size, he'll always be a scoring threat, but old legs can only carry you so far.

So how badly did Toronto fuck it up this time?

They picked some forward and some defenseman who both sound OK. The fuckup was probably whatever they did to not be picking til 22nd though.

Awesome way for it to be announced nonchalantly during the draft pick. Interesting that they're keeping them in the SE division, at least for this season. I hope they like flying. :ye_gods:

I'm not sure how accurate the news stories are but I never thought I'd see a "bidding war" developing for a 39 year old Jagr.

Hopefully he will sign with the Pens, then he and Sindey collide during training camp and both miss the season with massive concussions and/or PMS.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6729503

In a way I am rather relieved ... Should make for a great Hockey night in the Burgh on late December. Oh yeah, Talbot too... hilarious.

Not worth $3.3m unless you just have nothing else to spend that money on.

Pretty sure that is just 3.3m fuck you's pointed west. Dec 29th. I am going to try and be there...

Pure Hilarity.

I am kind of shocked he's only 39 actually.

(http://2.cdn.nhle.com/jets/images/upload/2011/07/110722_logo_live_thumb.jpg)

I approve!  Clean lines and no cartoon bullshit.  It's also a nod to the RCAF and RCAF Flyers team.

Well... there goes another investment on another jersey. And I am not saying the new designs aren't really well done. I am fairly excited about it.

edit: Now the wait begins... NHL shop is has Winn as unlisted.

I like.  :grin:

Those look sweet.  :drill:

No worries. You know it's only a matter of time before they have the retro 3rd jersey.

I believe I read somewhere they won't have an actual jersey until September.

Those do look cool. Better than the Thrashers logo.

I hate the NHL so much right now.

Very nice logo.

Just hope the team actually stays around this time.


-edit-
To Expand on the logo, what I like about it, is it seems timeless. Like that could have been made 50 years ago and/or it could stay exactly the same 50 years down the line.

KHL team plane crashes (http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/6939064/russian-jet-carrying-lokomotiv-khl-crashes-43-dead).

God, that is just horrible. Quite a few guys I remember watching in the NHL were on board, including Pavol Demitra.  :heartbreak:

Ugh, I heard this on the radio. I'm shocked anybody survived.

This has not been a good summer for hockey players. It seems every few weeks I'm reading an article about another death and now it's moving on to entire teams. :heartbreak:

So, is we be doing fantasy this year guys?

Guys?  :ye_gods:

ahhh shit....

http://shop.nhl.com/family/index.jsp?cp=3169596&categoryId=11911276

There goes my play money for the month.

So I don't know a lot about hockey and never have really had the patience to figure it all out.  I found this article (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/hockey/nhl/09/19/brent.severyn.enforcer.life/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2) on CNNSI this morning about the life of an enforcer in the NHL and it was engrossing.  I'm a bit taken aback that fighting is such an integral part of the sport, but I guess it's pretty violent by nature.  I think I might like hockey more without the fighting. 

Read The Code (http://www.amazon.com/Code-Unwritten-Rules-Fighting-Retaliation/dp/1572437561/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316626313&sr=8-1). It is really interesting and explains a lot about the subtext of interaction on the ice.

Watch European hockey if you don't want the fighting or contact. It's soccer on ice. With cheap shots and diving included.

I think it's way overblown how much of a part of hockey fighting is today.

Most of the fights are basically 'going through the motions' is the thing these days.


For every legitimate fight, their are half a dozen that happen because 'welp we are down 3 goals better do "something" now!'.

That's a big part of why I think it's irritating.  But then again I don't like deliberate violence either.  Boxing and MMA are pretty barbaric, in my opinion. 

Even most fans of fighting in hockey don't support the "orchestrated" "rally our team" type fights. You take fighting out completely though, and you'll see it replaced by cheapshots and slashes instead. I'm all for it when its part of the natural flow of a game.

I've seen much more dangerous incidents from pucks to the face than fights in my decade+ of watching the sport before the strike.

My (limited) experience watching hockey with my brother-in-law has demonstrated that 99.9% of hockey fights are like a bad cat fight with hair pulling and shirts over heads and other nonsense.  Then there's the 0.1% of fights that are some of the more brutal, bloodthirsty shit you can see.  I suppose I understand about the cheap shots, but that could be remedied as well, with suspensions if necessary.  Hockey is a violent sport, similar to american football, but at least then it's usually in the flow of the game. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8rCFe6VdPs

That's a 'proper' fight, for the right reason.


Write up on that moment: http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2008/11/clark-mcsorley.html

I suppose that is a good reason to fight, but if you're going to go stick up for your guy you should have a better showing than that.   :ye_gods:

Saw that one live...what a war.

You stay classy, London, Ontario. :facepalm:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2011/09/22/sp-nhl-flyers-simmonds.html

Bananas.

I immediately think of the darkies when I see bananas.  I guess I don't get it. 

http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2009/10/mcsorley-black-eye.html  :oh_i_see:

You guys hear about this Crosby kid? Looks like he might be something good one day.

I don't know- it is pretty hard to play good hockey with every sports journalist in the country attached to your genitals by their lips.

Seriously though, for all the God damn hype he gets, he DOES live up to it.

They need to protect that kid if hockey wants to be relevant this season.

Now or never. The NBA is completely fucking this up, and NHL is going to be the only real game in town.

Crazy season so far - how about this crazy alignment? Atlantic division us just going to get Even More Difficult

I don't feel real passionate about it either way.  I think the 4 way bracket thing in the playoffs could be interesting.

They really need to name the 4 conferences the old division names. Smythe 4 Lyfe, yo!

So...this is the Year of the Concussion, right?

Pronger AND Giroux? FFS  :uhrr:

Hard to feel any sympathy for Pronger. He has been a cheapshot artist his entire career.

Relevant? : http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2009/11/nhl-suspensions.html

Dammit Pronger!  :why_so_serious:




Still lots of hockey left, but the Leafs have managed to play down to expectations and work themselves out of a playoff spot slowly.  :cry:

(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n34/zanstorm13/loutrololol.jpg)

Marchand gets five games for clipping Salo. Shockingly well explained by the NHL here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=610834 (http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=610834)

Watch that, then go read the Bruins GM's comments that Marchand was trying to protect himself. (from a guy who's never had a fight or suspension in his 15 year career)  :uhrr:

The Bruins are a classless organization. They fit the majority of their fan base well.

Thanks for that video.  I have a friend that coaches youth hockey and he found that to be good as a potential instructional tool. 

They going to do that for all suspensions now?

I hope they do, it really puts a lot of these retarded 'debates' to rest about what or why someone was suspended.


-edit-

Specifically, when they show the dude punching the guy in the back of the head just before the hit. That pretty much shuts most people up.

I think Shanny has been doing that for all suspensions since the beginning of the season. It's pretty cool.

Really how any and all sport suspensions should be handled. Really takes the guess work and media/public interpretation of a reaction and gives you the line on how the rules committee saw the infraction and why it came to its conclusion. Unlike other sports where they lock the doors and do who knows what.

After watching the video and reading the definition of clipping they gave, isn't that just a hip check? You can see tons of video of similar hip checks where the player is upended and there are no penalties let alone suspensions.

I thought a hip check was mid thigh and not below the knee.

It's the height at which you do the check that is the issue I think.

It's almost as if it was a failed hip check and his shoulder ended up making the check. The height to me looks fine, it was above the knee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2WHmijaPRw

Those are hip checks. Notice how they bend at the waist, and don't bend their knees? Also notice that the recipient of the check either has the puck, or has just passed it? Also notice that almost all of them hit the guy in the front or side of his legs, and not in the back of the knees?

Now watch the Marchand hit again.

It wasn't straight on to the knee, but it was no more than a few inches above it. Hip checks contact the hip. Salo turned part way at the last second to avoid having his knee blown out, and ended up with his ass going over Marchand's back. A proper hip check would have caught him in the ass, not a foot below it.

Yes, some of the "old-time" hip checks would probably now get called clipping, as if you go too low, it gets very dangerous, especially to the knees. Salo has a concussion because he turned and went over Marchand backwards. If he hadn't turned, he might not be walking.

Salo not being in possession of the puck any time during the sequence adds to the egregious nature of it too. That and Marchand being a legendary rat-faced cunt.

Yeah, that hit was complete nonsense. No one ever tries a hip check from that angle, because it's so damn dangerous. Kasperitis use to do this shit all the time.

Tim 'The Cunt' Thomas is getting crucified today, and rightly so. What a low class douchebag. Fits perfectly on that team full of shitheads.

I agree (being a Canucks fan has nothing to do with it I assure you ;D).  Thomas is the poster boy for all the fuck heads Boston has playing for them now, esp. that little weasel Marchand. :mob:

Good job Wings, 21 straight at home.

THIS IS HOCKEYTOWN, bitches.

Going down in WCFs, sorry to say  :grin:

Well what else does Detroit have to look forward too?  :why_so_serious:

Lions, Tigers, and murders.

You forgot foreclosures and urban blight.

Worst trade deadline day EVER.

Between salary cap issues and it being a sellers market, it doesn't surprise me that there was just a handful of minor deals and I wouldn't be surprised if this is how the deadline looks for the next couple of years.

I thought for sure Nash would move. Not to the Sharks - what they were asking for was kind of ridiculous - but to *someone*.

Gonna miss CoHo   :heartbreak:

But if Kassian beats Lucic's beak in during the SCF I may learn to love again.

It didn't surprise me at all, there was a small list of teams and the asking price was pretty steep. Apparently, the Rangers made a pretty significant last minute offer that was turned down. Be interesting to know what that was.

I need to find out more about this kid. 13th over all 2009, big right winger, scores ok in junior. Thats about all I know.

To be fair, we were overly deep at center anyway, plus picked up Pahlsson for the playoffs.

TSN guys love him for the Canucks...big, tough, and mean, and can score a bit. Traded an eventual 2nd line center for a 3rd line winger probably. Hearing nice things about Gragnani too though. We shall see.

Did Toronto do anything to fix their defense at all?

They traded a couple of AHLers and BB went on and on in his PC about how unfair it is to trade someone already on the NHL squad, which is just code for 'I didn't get any offers I liked'  :grin:

The goaltending would be fine if this team didn't allow 5 billion shots every fucking game.

The Leafs are a bunch of useless fucking cunts.

Again.

To the surprise of no one, Ron Wilson is fired. ( http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=389346 )


I guess that's nice, but it's way to late for it to matter. Is Burke next once the seasons done yea think?

I think we've won 1 game in our last like... 13? 14?


At least we own our draft picks this year?

Sharks are trying to join you in this.

Flames are going to be good enough to threaten a playoff spot, but just end up with no playoffs and another bad draft pick.

I went to the Flames vs. Jets game last friday and it was one of the best hockey atmospheres I've been in since the Cup run in '04. Chants going back and forth for both teams and an actually good hockey game to watch, which hasn't been the case for the majority of the year.

You're in Calgary, too?  And yeah, the Flames will probably just miss the playoffs again.  However, without Kipper or another goalie of his calibre, they would be Columbus.

The stats don't back up just how good Kiprusoff is and how much more terrible the Flames would be without him. They'd easily be competing for the first overall pick if it weren't for him.

Boston: Eight

Toronto: Zero


I can't even begin to describe how pathetic this 'game' was tonight. Completely and utterly outclassed in EVERY regard tonight. The Leafs didn't have a shot on net until the 12th minute of the first period. Boston had three fucking goals in the same time.


I know we are horse shit, but holy fuck are we horse shit.

Good thing Burke didn't make those trades for the those first round picks he was offered.  :oh_i_see:

The Rangers and the Devils sure do hate each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iIlLbJHKw8M

Love it or hate it, the crowd was ROARING.

The people who don't like fighting are the super casual "fans" or non-fans.  Most real hockey fans recognize why its allowed and love to see an entertaining fight.  The crowd reaction at MSG is the rule, not the exception.

Fire the team.

Fire the coaches (again).

Fire the managers, the trainers, the guy who sells hotdogs for 20 dollars in the arena, everyone.

Tear down the Arena, Burn the rubble, Salt the earth it was built on and send every kind of priest/rabbi/cleric/holyman you can think off to preform an exorcism.




We are absolutely worthless as a hockey franchise.

I've always thought it was the exact opposite.  People that don't understand hockey strategy just go to see people get the shit kicked out of each other.  I like to see some real good hockey.  I love the olympics more than the NHL for this reason actually.  High speed, bigger surface, larger neutral zone, etc etc.   I played hockey my entire youth and through high school and none of the players I knew were particularly impressed with fighting.  Not out right against it (I'm not against it either), but I'd much rather see a well executed power play (for example) than a fight any day.

I can't remember for certain, but I think the last Olympics were played in NHL sized rinks.


The thing with Olympic hockey, is it has the same "problem" World Cup soccer has. It's the literal best of the best playing for the highest stakes possible for their sport. NOTHING is being held back in those games and the quality of player can not be better. It's the best the game has to offer at that moment.


Like, I can totally see someone watching say, the Gold Medal finals last Olympics and being all "holy shit, greatest sport ever, I'm totally watching <local team> now!"... only to find out their local team is Columbus or Tampa Bay.  :why_so_serious:

If I recall the hockey ratings for the last winter olympics were quite solid in the US (US and Canada in the finals helped) but it didn't translate into NHL viewership after it was over as many were hoping, so I think you are right in that regard.

And yes I just checked, they were on NHL sized rinks, I had forgotten that.

Yea, I have the same issue with the World Cup. I'm totally into the world cup, I watch it pretty religiously. The quality of play is amazing and I totally buy into it. So I start watching the TFC here and holy shit are they bad.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are officially out of the playoffs... again. We will be the only team since the NHL lockout, to not make the playoffs now. We have not won a HOME game since the first week of February.

Plan the fucking parade people, plan the fucking parade.

Do we need to put up suicide nets in Toronto?

Everyone is too apathetic to jump.

The first period of this Flyers/Penguins game is nuts. 3 guys already tossed.

That whole series has been nuts.  The Pens have really shit the bed, and they've done it to themselves.  All the extra rough stuff hasn't helped but their goal tending has been horrible and they haven't played defence.  I've found this years playoffs, overall, to have a lot more mean and nasty games than in years past.  Things should settle down a bit in the second round on.

I really don't think they will.
I think the blueprint was established by the bruins last year of gooning it up to win and was essentially endorsed by the NHL for allowing it to go on.

It will settle down in the west for sure. The Flyers will continue to be a dirty team and Boston will continue to be Boston if they get past Ovechkin in the east but especially IF the Canucks go down in the first round there isn't much reason to imagine a Coyotes/Blues v Kings series or anything involving the Wings or Sharks to be especially full of that stuff.

Look at the big hit Brown landed on Sedin the other night, that was the kind of hitting that I hope still has a place in hockey. The equivalent of the now phased out big hit on a WR going across the middle.

Also would the Rangers or Devils put up with this kind of shit from Boston/Philly? Honest question I know almost nothing of those teams this year.

One more thing, people are pissed about the 3 game 1 game suspensions in the Ottawa v NYR series and to be honest I sort of get it. Basically the message the league is sending is, if you want to rough someone up you can call up a rough guy, put him on the ice, have him go out there and start some shit WITH ANOTHER ROUGH GUY ON THE OPPOSITE TEAM and he'll get penalized and tossed but if that's what you've got to do that's what you've got to do.

It might not sound fair and you might not be able to codify it in the rules but it should be ok to fight and rough up players who fight and rough up your players while its not ok to try to kill some 15 year vet who is a finesse player and doesn't fight or some little rookie who isn't big enough to fight. If the Senators had sent the goon onto the ice and gone after someone else, someone not a part of the Ranger's hit squad I would hope that it would be a 3+ game suspension but fuck Boyle he had it coming.

However, blowing up someone away from the play with a dirty violent hit that targets the head (the hit on Alfredsson is one of the worst we've seen so far imo) within the flow of play, at game speed, that's fucked up. I don't know why Boyle looked like such a bitch OH WAIT YES I DO he was drawing a fucking penalty just like they do in soccer. That punch didn't knock him out or any shit like that.  He was all over Eriksson in game one no problem and if he can dish it out he can take it. Alfredsson isn't fighting anybody he's not roughing anyone up and to take a run at him like that 100% for the sake of taking a run at him? That's the shit that pushes things over the edge.

You watch the Alfredsson hit, the guy is doing everything he can to shy away from the contact and the Ranger's player is having none of it and makes sure he hits him hard in the head. That has to be textbook headhunting and frankly if they had suspended him for five games I wouldn't have found it upsetting in the slightest. Control does need to be reasserted.

*my bad this post is such a mess, I kept watching the hits and other video analysis while I was writing different parts*

Until they do something extreme like suspending players until their victim returns from injury for out-right dirty plays (i.e. headhunting) it will not change, nor should it (because its the smart thing to do if you're less valuable than the victim -- dirty, ruthless and shitty, but smart). Keep current suspensions similar if the player doesn't get hurt, but double them for the out-right dirty type of plays -- regardless of whether its the first game of the season or the first game of the Stanley Cup finals.

But if they do that they'd have to actually start calling a lot of players out for the bullshit crap they do like putting themselves in a vulnerable position in the hopes of getting hit and drawing a powerplay and/or suspension, the diving and so on, which they don't. Currently too much onus is on the person laying the hit even in circumstances where they aren't completely or at all to blame.

Won't ever happen, however. The NHLPA wouldn't allow it, nor would certain powerful, influential GMs/owners.

As for rough and tumble types going after star players? All for it. So long as they keep it clean, toss the instigator rule so the non-fighters have to answer the bell when they do something stupid (Neal, for a recent example).

But as the league currently is; yes, putting out some piece of shit fourth liner (at best) to essentially head hunt is a good idea that would be more prevalent if coaches weren't scared shitless of the possible fallout if they got caught endorsing it.

I was at the Sharks/Blues Game 2.  The hit by Galiardi on MacDonald was textbook head hunting.  Especially considering MacDonald is an impact guy who has been recovering from a concussion.  I really would like to know why Shanahan didn't think this was worthy of a game suspension.

On a side note the intensity of the games has been great.  Normally there is a lot of talk about how teams turn it up a notch come the playoffs.  They are actually doing it this year. I am looking forward to Blues/Sharks game three.  It should be entertaining especially with Galiardi mouthing off and doubly so if the game gets out of hand.

You are fucking insane. THE PUCK WAS AT HIS FEET. It can't be that dirty just because he "left his feet" and it looked like a pretty big impact. He wasn't head hunting he was doing exactly what they tell "energy" 3rd/4th liners to do. Yes he shouldn't leave his feet but he was making a play on the puck that play doesn't belong anywhere in this discussion and the league knows it and Shanahan knows it too thank god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heAWVAD-3mI

For real, I don't know what kind of fucked up angle you saw that from but watch it again for me and tell me that hit calls for suspensions, you are out of your fucking mind. Please someone with no team in this series feel free to back me up here. He has the puck, he's not defenseless, he's on the boards already, he's the one ducking down...

Not a dirty hit from anything I've ever seen. Granted I only watched hockey from about 1993 to 2003, but when I think dirty headhunting I think of fuckers like Claude Lemieux.

That's not a clean hit, and it got a penalty, but I don't think he's headhunting. He went into the shoulder and the puck is there. It's the offensive guy's fault for trying to play a puck with his head down between his feet that is looks remotely dirty.

The weird part is that nobody gets called for anything else but a charge.

The hit by Galliardi isn't 'clean' or 'legal' due to the fact he left his feet -- but that's the only reason its not a clean hit and a 2 minute penalty is the proper degree of punishment.

Its only more than that if its an intentional hit to the head or he doesn't let up on a player that is defenseless (which he wasn't -- MacDonald was being an idiot and nothing else) since the puck was right there.

Well according to that inconvenient thing called a rule book you can't leave your feet while checking and that is what Galiardi did and that is really the end of the story.  According to many past rulings by the director of player safety Brendan Shanahan you can not leave your feet while checking, the checkers is responsible for the position of his body at all times, and he has justified suspensions of players with that as one of the given reasons so there is a precidence.  Sorry Hoax if you can't handle that simple truth, but take heart Brendan doesn't appear to want to be consistant on his rulings so Galiardi appears to have gotten away with his "hit."


Some things I have noticed about the last game:

1.  Blues sit on leads way to much, the turtling is getting them into a lot of trouble.

2.  Burns is by far the best Shark of the series.  He is noticable every single shift.

3.  Berglund has really elevated his play.

4.  Oshie and Stewart didn't have good games.



Edited Note:

Its really amazing to hear the other side of the telecast.  How that wasn't an obvious charge with him leaving his feet is hard to fathom for any analyst.

Don Cherry, after trashing Crosby, now defends him. And has some words for folks (mainly reporters, who "get in for free") bothered by all the fighting…
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockeynightincanada/coachscorner/video/#id=2223645631

I agree with this take on it. If he didn't leave the ice, that's just a strong hit. Keep your head up and you'll see the train coming.

He got a 2 minute penalty. The rest of the team got away with mauling him after the play. Stop whining.

As for Shanahan being inconsistent...

Its not his fault. Its been pretty well documented Shanahan doesn't get to suspend players as he would like. The owners and GMs went to him and basically outlined what he can, cannot suspend for and apparently imposed limits on the degree of punishment.

Basically, they brought in a guy who would suspend people appropriately and more often, unlike his predecessor, then slapped a leash on him and de-fanged him. It was a common media/fan story up here about the owners and GMs went to him after the pre-season worried he would be suspending people like that throughout the season and had a talk with him.

I forget which CBC telecast, early on, had the interview with him where he pretty much admitted it.

I think I'd like Cherry a bit more if he could actually complete a thought. He sounds like my grandfather, and he was diagnosed with dementia. I'd like to see the transcript of that clip just for the wtflulz.

Galiardi got mauled, that is news to me.  However I would like to see what your talking about.  

I don't see any whines up there by me anyway.  Simply stating the truth and enjoying the playoffs.

I can't wait to see the next game and LA take out some Canucks.  LA is the scariest team IMHO in the central.

Just check the link of the hit. Watch as three Blues basically start punching him in the face immediately after the play, then tackling him.

"Mauled" is probably strong, but there should have been roughing penalties after the fact.

Another point that Cherry made was that the playoffs have always had rough, brutal games and series, using some of the Boston/Montreal series of the 70's and Montreal/Quebec series of the 80's to illustrate his point.  We just haven't seen the sheer number of stuff like this in "the new NHL" for many years.

Asham four games *nods head, could be more I wouldn't have minded even six but four is a pretty strong ban in playoffs* Neal one game!?!?!!?  :ye_gods: The fuck!? Both of his "hits" were at least one game each. Neither had anything do to with hockey and were him just taking a run at someone and going for the head. Not sure I get that one.

Jesus, that hit on Hossa looked really bad.  Torres is a repeat offender and I wouldn't be surprised to see him gone the rest of this series.  The only series that hasn't gotten out of control, so far, is the Devils/Panthers.  And, yeah, now that I think about it, the Bruins set the bar pretty high last year with the goon tactics they employed and got away with.  If the other NHL teams are looking at that as the model for success now, then the NHL has no one to blame but themselves for not cracking down on the Bruins last year.  Should be an interesting playoff season and yet another reason why the NHL playoffs blow all the other sports playoffs (MLB, NFL, NBA) out of the water.

I agree that he may get the rest of the series and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he gets more.

That being said the Hagelin hit on Alfredsson was worse, an elbow to the head and it only resulted in a 3 game suspension. The Neal hit was similar and that resulted in a 1 game suspension.

Not only does the NHL need more consistency in their suspensions/fine but they need to really be throwing the book at these guys, especially the head hunting.
 
Any time a player leads with his elbow should be 10 games minimum IMHO.

The other thing I find real concerning is that it seems like many of these infractions are happening specifically to the star players. 

Keith on Sedin near the end of season.
Weber on Zetterberg
Hagelin on Alfredsson
Carkner on Boyle
hell you can throw in Brown on H. Sedin.

These are just a few off the top of my head but it really does seem like open season on the star players.

NHL.com has some videos explaining why the two Penguin players got suspended. This is a really cool feature.

They've been doing those for every suspension since the preseason.

There were reports on the Galliardi hit that he actually broke Macdonald's mask on the hit.  This of course doesn't necessarily equate to a dirty play but it is suggestive as to what part of Macdonald's body took the hit.

That being said I loved Shanahan's line on the Renaldo suspension about it being clean if he didn't leave the ice.  I haven't seen the Hossa hit yet but if the reports are true and he left the ice as well sending Hossa off the ice in a stretcher then yeah I think Torres needs a particularly long Shanaban like the whole playoffs and part of the regular season.


Just saw the Torres hit yeah he need to be gone for the entire playoffs and if possible 25 games next year that was utterly rediculous.  I like Coach Q's statement at the end it was dead on.  

Regarding the Torres hit on Hossa, he had his skates on the ice when the hit was initiated, although he did leave the ice during the hit.
He was clearly propelling himself up and forward. My issue is that he is going to (most likely) get a lot of games when he clearly led with his shoulder and had Hossa just gotten up and skated away it would not be a big issue.

I don't think Raffi was head hunting. I do think he was hitting with as much force as he could produce though and the result was bad.

I guess it comes down to do you punish the result, or the intent. I think a player that leads with the elbow or otherwise demonstrates clear intent to hurt another player is a much worse than a hard shoulder check that had unfortunate consequences.

The Torres hit was the exact same hit that Kronwall delivers 3 times a game. If Torres gets suspended (which is likely), they need to start throwing Kronwall out of games for it.

The Torres hit was dirty. He had not quite left the ice in the hit but was clearly in the process of doing so (his right skate is -barely- on the ice at the point of contact and shortly after neither skate is touching the ice). Additionally it was a late hit (the rule of thumb for late hits is 0.5 seconds after they last had the puck is as late as you're supposed to be, and it was closer to 0.8 seconds). Throw in the fact he was clearly targeting the head, it was a charge and the fact of him being a repeat offender and his reputation for late, dirty hits (never mind his reputation for being a coke-head which while technically irrelevant colours the view a lot in the league have about him)... He's the perfect player to make an example of in this playoff run.

He's not a star player (which is why Neal didn't get more, imo, as the league has a very evident strata of treatment based on quality of player hit and doing the hitting) and has a reputation and took out a star player in spectacular fashion (stretcher).

Honestly, Torres is the type of player that the league needs to get out of the game. He's been throwing borderline hits and out right dirty hits for seven years now (I saw it a lot when he was an Oiler -- disliked him then, dislike him now). He reminds me a bit of Marchment if you negate the fact Marchment only tended to target the knees and not the head.

I do think punishing on the basis of both intent and result is appropriate and I will justify it very simply.  Like them or hate them players like the Sedins and Hossa are ultimately what the fans pay to see.  The playoffs are a showcase of the very best teams and players for that team's system.  When a player like Raffi Torres takes out a Hossa the value of the product that is showcased greatly dimenishes.  In my opinion what should be used as the standard when applying penalties is very simply a question of was that hit illegal.  If so punish both intent and result.  If it wasn't then don't punish even if the result was injury.

Watched the Torres blow on Hossa replay at least a dozen times…

Looks like a clean hit to me. Yeah, in slow motion, one of his skates is in the air. But watch it in real time and it looks like a textbook crushing check, with the foolish Hossa with his HEAD DOWN. STICK DOWN HEAD UP! No elbow, no stick, just a shoulder.

Well then...

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/18/torres-suspended-indefinitely-in-person-disciplinary-hearing-on-friday-will-miss-game-4/related/

Right now I'm expecting this could be a massive suspension. Someone I know who was at the game, near the Coyotes bench, said they overhead Torres telling his team mates he got away with an intentional hit to the head. Likely not true, but who knows with Torres. From his time here in Edmonton (and having met him twice, albeit briefly both times) he always struck me as that sort.

Supposedly he was saying some stuff later on in the game, on the ice to the Hawks, as well. Likely never know if its true or just fan created bullshit.

I don't see how this could be seen as a clean hit, though, given the lateness and how he jumps upwards to connect with Hossa's head. The only mitigating factor that I saw was that Hossa had his head a bit down and could have prepared for the hit, but given that it was late, a clear charge and he threw himself upwards? I don't see this one being under 5-7 games.

It was pretty much the exact same hit that got Rome thrown out for the finals last year. What could have been a clean-ish (a little late), punishing hit, ended up being a stretcher job because he jumped in to it and the other player had his head down.

You can argue whether or not his skates left the ice before or after the hit, but the proximity of the skates to the ice has little to do with it - skates leave the ice in hits like this because the player crouches first and then explodes upwards in to the hit. If the other player isn't completely vertical, this can result in the shoulder making initial contact with the chin - which is bad.

Sad thing is, the other hit that got a two game suspension - James Neal on Courtourier - was essentially identical except that Courtourier's head was more upright, so the contact was spread more evenly. Essentially, Torres is going to get a suspension based on the severety of the injury.

Problem is, they've been teaching players that this is how you deliver a check properly since they were 10 ish (or whatever age they start allowing hits). Its going to be a type of hit that is really hard to eliminate from the game without killing bodychecking entirely. I think they are pretty much going to have to make a rule that if you propel yourself upwards with enough force that you skates leave the ice during a check, its a game misconduct. I don't like the idea, becuase it will lead to a lot of borderline calls, but I don't see how else you will eliminate this type of contact.

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/21/shanahan-sets-precedent-raffi-torres-suspended-25-games-for-hossa-head-shot/related/

Christ man, why would anybody do that to themself?  You never saw a dangerous hit because you never saw anybody take more than one stride without Hal Gil wrestling them to the ground.

Actually, there were quite a few dangerous hits in that time frame, largely from defensemen able to cut across the blind side of players entering the offensive zone. A few.. specialized in it.

Also, it was the era of the knee-on-knee goonery. Marchment says hello!

Interesting that Torres got hit that hard. Nice to see the NHL remain utterly inconsistent in punishment.

I didn't know any better!

Suspended 25 games: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=60&id=173753

I think its the right call and the right level of severity.  Now I wish they would work on eliminating that double standard though.  I don't know how anyone can look at that hit and say that it was clean.  It most certainly was not.

On another side note, the Blues are past round one.  I will predict that if they face the LA Kings they are done in 6.  If they get the predators then my prediction will be win in 7.  The Blues just don't in my opinion stack up well against the Kings.  The only wild card here will be the goaltending.  Both Halak and Elliot are capable of stealing a series. 

I watched hockey as a kid until about 1990, then stopped.  I picked it up again once they did the rules revamp.  Fuck that two line pass bullshit.  Glad it is gone.

I don't miss it, but I think it was interesting that they basically changed the rule just because the neutral zone trap was making the game too boring.  Although somewhat ironically, the rules they made to open up the game a bit were designed to make the game more watchable and bring in more viewers.  But the playoffs which they tend to call much looser still get the most views.

Man the Kings really played hard in Vancouver. What a finish.

Canucks and Penguins out make me quite happy. Had hoped for the Caps to close out Boston, but I'll take what I can get. My two most hated teams out first round, after being expected to face each other for the Cup? Awesome. If Ottawa, Phoenix and the Caps can close out their series' it could be very much a guessing game of who wins the Cup with all the favourites out. I'd like to see Washington go all the way, but so long as its not Phoenix, I'll be pleased.

Yup, I'm glad I didn't blow any money entering a pool this year.

Guess I'll cheer for Phoenix. At this point, Nashville might be the bloody favorite to win this thing.

How mad is Winnipeg that they were a $25 million contribution from Glendale away from having a playoff team this year  :drill:

Extremely happy to see the Kings win. I really like that team actually and I don't think it was as much of an upset as just saying it was 8th beating 1st. I'm sure there's somewhere that shows it, but the Kings had to be one of the better teams in the NHL in the second half just to make the playoffs.

Plus, fuck the Canucks - though I'm very tired of the lame 'bring on the riots' comments that flooded my Facebook and Twitter last night.

I don't have the hate on for the Penguins like some do, but was also glad to see the Flyers advance.

Racist comments towards Caps forward Joel Ward, who scored the winning goal against the Bruins last night.  Stay classy, Boston fans. :oh_i_see:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Playoffs/Washington/2012/04/26/19681606.html

Second round playoff team even.

Holy shit LA is in bizarro world. This time of the year and the Lakers are sitting at home and the Kings are pillaging the playoffs.  :drill:

I am now rooting for Flyers West.  :grin:

Man, I was really hoping the Kings could close it out last night.

(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7237/7347033942_a5216af12d_o.gif)

AHAHAHHA  :drill: :drill: :drill:

Damn at the tits.

Thought this was a funny title to an article. http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/330552-fedorovs-khl-team-ready-to-come-after-semin?eref=sihp&sct=hp_bf2_a8

"Fedorov's KHL team ready to come after Semin" :awesome_for_real:

Those huge fake cans have been behind the opposing bench in the LA games for multiple series. Rather funny when they cut to the coaches' reaction shots.

3 years running the Canucks have been knocked out by the eventual champs. Sigh.

Was nice to see the Kings win.

No it wasn't, but it was better than seeing the Devils win.

Now, if only the Thiunder can put the Kibosh on LeBron's quest for a ring, my summer will be complete.

I am still holding out hope for a surprise lockout or a meteor strike.

I actually like the Kings -- they were one of the two teams I was hoping would win the cup going into the playoffs (didn't expect them to, however). Of course, this is in spite of their GM and coach, but I like a lot of their players and their playing style. Additionally, they have a fair number of ex-Oilers and it was nice to see Mr. Pancakes (or the Flying Fridge as he was called here) win a second cup as a kind of middle finger to the Oilers and local media who drove him out.

And they were a better option, imo, than the other choices in this year's playoffs. Can't stand a lot of the teams in the league these days.

I was really happy the Kings won, they were definitely my playoff bandwagon team (dispatching Vancouver so easily got me on their side immediately). I like a lot of the players on that team, but I can imagine that the 2 Colombus fans in the world are rather pissed that Carter whined his way onto the eventual Cup winning team.

You also cannot argue the fact that the Stanley Cup is the best trophy in professional sports. There's nothing even close to it.

I like the way Carter & Richards winning the cup really sticks it to the Flyers.

Well I could argue that simply because of the obnoxious size of it, but I won't because every other major sports league's trophy is rather silly... though I do like the MLB trophy - too bad I hate baseball.

Cheers to the Kings. I like the underdog when they are truly the underdogs, added bonus for the historical ramifications as well.

It's not obnoxious...

They inscribe the rosters of all previous winners on the ring, kind of important to the appeal of it, that everyone gets immortalized right on the trophy. Then the large bowl ontop is also essential to the trophy's appeal, since that allows you to pour booze into it and drink out of it.

Don't see anything obnoxious there.

Was really cool that Brown handed it off to Willie Mitchel first (oldest guy on the team).

He'd probably still have been a Canuck if not for Malkin nearly killing him a couple years ago.

The bowl also allows you to pee in it. Yes, that and worse. Though I'm still a fan of it ending up in Patrick Roy's pool, even though I hate him and the Avs to this day.

I'm not really sure it does - both had plenty of chances in PHL and just couldn't get it done. Happy to see Flyers West win it, what with them having Gagne, Richards, Hextall in the front office, and others.

Still not a Carter fan - dude was one of the most over-rated scorers I've ever seen.

Good for LA. I hate Devils and hope their fans cry. They ruined hockey and raped my childhood.

You too? I've hated the Devils ever since the 1995 Finals.

Seems more to me that Richards & Carter became scapegoats for other peoples' failure in Philly. For some reason Flyers fans/press are really unwilling to criticize Holmgren for all the bad decisions he's made, and turned on those 2 players instead. Some major screw ups include getting Pronger's age wrong and signing him to a terrible 35+ contract, not picking up a goalie 2 years ago (could've had Halak for JVR or a 1st round draft pick, didn't want to pay), finally deciding to spend on a goalie this year, and botching the whole thing by signing Bryzgalov to a 9 year, 51 million $ contract (way too much for a guy who never did anything in playoffs, and only had a few decent regular seasons).

Scapegoats? I'm not sure - especially after their long-term contracts, they took a number of nights off, even in the playoffs (including showing up to practices/games drunk). Carter especially came up small repeatedly in the playoffs (Game Five of the 2010 Finals, for example). Sure, he put up respectable stats in the regular season...but he scored a lot of superfluous goals, never passed, and had an abysmal shooting percentage while consistently ranking towards the top in shots taken.

I think it will be a bit more fair to judge Holgren in a few years - I don't think anyone expected these trades to pay off immediately, or thought the team would perform as admirably as it did this past season. So they didn't win this season...but if they win a year or two down the line, was it still a failure?

That was my first year at the NHL and yeah, sucked.

The NHL since '94 makes me glad I got to watch my team (the Oilers, as mentioned before) in the '80s. Very few teams since the very early '90s has had even remotely the same kind of tempo and electricity on the ice to even the post-Gretzky Oilers (a couple of the Detroit years, Chicago's one year.. Lemieux's Penguins..)

If I didn't have that kind of history watching the game I don't know if the game today would be more or less tolerable.

Oddly enough, I'm thinking more.

The Oilers of the mids 80s would have a today equivalent salary of like 100 million $ (once all the young guys got off their entry level contracts). They were finishing with 120 points in standings and 100 more goals for than anyone else.

Sure its great if you happen to be a fan of that team, but for everyone else its pretty bad having a hopeless team year in and year out. Now its much better with the parity of every team being in the same salary-talent range, and the difference between the best player in NHL and the worst player being far smaller than it was in the 80s.