The NHL exploded today
Quite a few things happened yesterday and today in the NHL. If you're not interested in reading my rant (and there will be a few) or have time on your hands, feel free to read!
I will start with a serious apology because this is going to be LONG.
Starting with trades. Last night, in the middle of the Montreal/Boston game, a player was pulled from the bench and everyone suspected that it might've been an injury. But upon further investigation, the many members of the media determined that this player was actually pulled from the game at around 9pm, told to change, go back to the team hotel and wait for further instructions. That really only means 1 thing, you've been traded. This player was Mike Cammalleri, now of the Calgary Flames in a package deal that saw Montreal get Rene Bourque out of the deal. Everyone was all up in arms about this because of how strange the trade was. It happened IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME! And we all thought that it wasn't possible to get traded that way but apparently, Montreal will do anything to somehow salvage their season. The reality of why the trade happened in the middle of the game was because they wanted to wait until Calgary's game last night actually started first to burn off 1 game of Bourque's suspension before actually trading him, hence the strange time of the trade.
In a strange coincidence, Mike Cammalleri had ranted to the media a day before his trade (Wednesday) about how Montreal had a "losing mentality" and that "We prepare for our games like losers. We play like losers. So it's no wonder why we lose". Now, did those comments trigger this trade? In hindsight, most likely not because trades can't really happen at the drop of a hat because of a player's disparaging comments made to the media. This trade was probably in the works for a while but was finalized last night in a weird twist of coincidence. At least I HOPE that's what it is because if not, it would look like Montreal really has some serious self-esteem issues or something.
Now, the next thing, fights. First of all, fighting is apparently down this season in the NHL, probably something to do with the heightened sense of concern over head injuries and it's casual link to fighting. BUT here's another weird thing that a player brought up last night. In the Dallas/Los Angeles game last night, LA's star player was laid out in a huge hit and a fellow teammate goes up to the hitter and challenges him to a fight. All's well but after the fight, the LA player was given the following penalties: 5 minutes for fighting, 2 for unsportsman-like conduct (for jumping a player to a fight), 2 for instigating a fight with a visor (the clear protective shield attached to the front of helmets), and a game misconduct. These penalties ended up costing LA the game.
What has the LA player involved steamed is the hypocrisy of the whole instigator penalty. During a time where everyone is hyper-vigilant about head injuries to the point where the NHL and many of its general managers would like to grandfather in a rule to make wearing visors mandatory, you're still handing out penalties for HAVING a visor during a fight? Fighting and visors has always been a grey area in the NHL and I get the argument on both sides because there isn't always the time to take off your helmet before a fight so you're essentially penalizing a player for trying to protect themselves but starting a fight at the same time. That can't make a lot of sense, so the NHL will have to figure out which way they want to go.
And the last thing before the scoreboards, solidarity. There was a report coming out of Pittsburgh that the players in the Penguins' locker room were getting frustrated at the fact that Crosby hasn't played a game but seem to be healthy otherwise (he's not healthy) and that they recently held a 45-minute meeting to discuss possible interim captains in the meantime while Crosby recovers from his concussion. As proof that NHL players really actually read what the media writes, ALL of the players showed up at this morning's morning skate in Florida with the letter "C" taped to the front of their jerseys where the "C" for captains normally go on game jerseys (but Malkin wanted to stand out, so he put "K" instead, Russian for captain) in an act of solidarity to support Crosby (this was a decision made by the players in the locker room, not instigated by any members of the front office or Crosby himself).
The most important to take away from this whole bruhaha is that the media will want to make up something to write about because it's their job. Crosby himself pointed out that now that the Steelers (Pittsburgh's NFL team) are out of the playoffs, everyone shifts their focus onto the Penguins, so they needed to talk about SOMETHING. Also, if the Penguins were on a winning streak, no one would bother to write anything of this sort but because the Penguins have lost their last 6 games, they want to write about how the team is in trouble and the players are divided, etc. Lesson to be learned: don't believe everything you read.
As a side note, Crosby skated this morning with his team and by himself after with strength and conditioning coach, a positive step forward. His main complaints that are keeping him from playing are a few lingering post-concussion symptoms (most likely headache) and balance-issues. He states that he feels that he has a handle on the situation and will not be seeking further medical attention in the time being.
AND FINALLY! Scoreboards. 5 games on tonight and 2 of them have direct implications for the Penguins.
- PIT vs. FLA: THE game of the night. Pittsburgh is currently sitting in 9th. A win against Florida (they BETTER WIN) will move them up to 8th. A lose in overtime or in a shootout will also move them into 8th. Unfortunately, ALL of this will also depend on the outcome of the Washington game. So, PENGUINS, PLEASE WIN! WIN! WIN!
- TBL vs. WSH: Washington is currently in 8th place and a win will keep them in 8th (and Pittsburgh in 9th). If they lose in overtime or in a shootout, they may stay in 8th if Pittsburgh loses in regulation or in overtime (no, please don't let that happen) or drop to 9th if Pittsburgh wins. So Tampa, please do us a favour and WIN? Please?
- PHX vs. CBJ: I really don't know what to say about this game. Columbus is dead last in the West (and the league) and Phoenix winning will move them into 10th place ahead of Colorado.
- TOR vs. BUF: Toronto winning will move them into 6th in the East, and an overtime loss will keep them in 7th because they lose the tiebreaker to New Jersey on grounds that New Jersey has more wins in the same number of games played.
- ANA vs. EDM: battle of the bottom feeders. The last place team of the Pacific division versus the last place team of the Northwest division. I don't know what actually happened to Edmonton because they were doing so well (were is the operative word of course). Not sure how this game will affect either team long term but hey, it may mean something come April. You never know.
Wow, that was unnecessarily long but I haven't written anything this long in a LONG time, so I figured I might as well start.
I will start with a serious apology because this is going to be LONG.
Starting with trades. Last night, in the middle of the Montreal/Boston game, a player was pulled from the bench and everyone suspected that it might've been an injury. But upon further investigation, the many members of the media determined that this player was actually pulled from the game at around 9pm, told to change, go back to the team hotel and wait for further instructions. That really only means 1 thing, you've been traded. This player was Mike Cammalleri, now of the Calgary Flames in a package deal that saw Montreal get Rene Bourque out of the deal. Everyone was all up in arms about this because of how strange the trade was. It happened IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME! And we all thought that it wasn't possible to get traded that way but apparently, Montreal will do anything to somehow salvage their season. The reality of why the trade happened in the middle of the game was because they wanted to wait until Calgary's game last night actually started first to burn off 1 game of Bourque's suspension before actually trading him, hence the strange time of the trade.
In a strange coincidence, Mike Cammalleri had ranted to the media a day before his trade (Wednesday) about how Montreal had a "losing mentality" and that "We prepare for our games like losers. We play like losers. So it's no wonder why we lose". Now, did those comments trigger this trade? In hindsight, most likely not because trades can't really happen at the drop of a hat because of a player's disparaging comments made to the media. This trade was probably in the works for a while but was finalized last night in a weird twist of coincidence. At least I HOPE that's what it is because if not, it would look like Montreal really has some serious self-esteem issues or something.
Now, the next thing, fights. First of all, fighting is apparently down this season in the NHL, probably something to do with the heightened sense of concern over head injuries and it's casual link to fighting. BUT here's another weird thing that a player brought up last night. In the Dallas/Los Angeles game last night, LA's star player was laid out in a huge hit and a fellow teammate goes up to the hitter and challenges him to a fight. All's well but after the fight, the LA player was given the following penalties: 5 minutes for fighting, 2 for unsportsman-like conduct (for jumping a player to a fight), 2 for instigating a fight with a visor (the clear protective shield attached to the front of helmets), and a game misconduct. These penalties ended up costing LA the game.
What has the LA player involved steamed is the hypocrisy of the whole instigator penalty. During a time where everyone is hyper-vigilant about head injuries to the point where the NHL and many of its general managers would like to grandfather in a rule to make wearing visors mandatory, you're still handing out penalties for HAVING a visor during a fight? Fighting and visors has always been a grey area in the NHL and I get the argument on both sides because there isn't always the time to take off your helmet before a fight so you're essentially penalizing a player for trying to protect themselves but starting a fight at the same time. That can't make a lot of sense, so the NHL will have to figure out which way they want to go.
And the last thing before the scoreboards, solidarity. There was a report coming out of Pittsburgh that the players in the Penguins' locker room were getting frustrated at the fact that Crosby hasn't played a game but seem to be healthy otherwise (he's not healthy) and that they recently held a 45-minute meeting to discuss possible interim captains in the meantime while Crosby recovers from his concussion. As proof that NHL players really actually read what the media writes, ALL of the players showed up at this morning's morning skate in Florida with the letter "C" taped to the front of their jerseys where the "C" for captains normally go on game jerseys (but Malkin wanted to stand out, so he put "K" instead, Russian for captain) in an act of solidarity to support Crosby (this was a decision made by the players in the locker room, not instigated by any members of the front office or Crosby himself).
The most important to take away from this whole bruhaha is that the media will want to make up something to write about because it's their job. Crosby himself pointed out that now that the Steelers (Pittsburgh's NFL team) are out of the playoffs, everyone shifts their focus onto the Penguins, so they needed to talk about SOMETHING. Also, if the Penguins were on a winning streak, no one would bother to write anything of this sort but because the Penguins have lost their last 6 games, they want to write about how the team is in trouble and the players are divided, etc. Lesson to be learned: don't believe everything you read.
As a side note, Crosby skated this morning with his team and by himself after with strength and conditioning coach, a positive step forward. His main complaints that are keeping him from playing are a few lingering post-concussion symptoms (most likely headache) and balance-issues. He states that he feels that he has a handle on the situation and will not be seeking further medical attention in the time being.
AND FINALLY! Scoreboards. 5 games on tonight and 2 of them have direct implications for the Penguins.
- PIT vs. FLA: THE game of the night. Pittsburgh is currently sitting in 9th. A win against Florida (they BETTER WIN) will move them up to 8th. A lose in overtime or in a shootout will also move them into 8th. Unfortunately, ALL of this will also depend on the outcome of the Washington game. So, PENGUINS, PLEASE WIN! WIN! WIN!
- TBL vs. WSH: Washington is currently in 8th place and a win will keep them in 8th (and Pittsburgh in 9th). If they lose in overtime or in a shootout, they may stay in 8th if Pittsburgh loses in regulation or in overtime (no, please don't let that happen) or drop to 9th if Pittsburgh wins. So Tampa, please do us a favour and WIN? Please?
- PHX vs. CBJ: I really don't know what to say about this game. Columbus is dead last in the West (and the league) and Phoenix winning will move them into 10th place ahead of Colorado.
- TOR vs. BUF: Toronto winning will move them into 6th in the East, and an overtime loss will keep them in 7th because they lose the tiebreaker to New Jersey on grounds that New Jersey has more wins in the same number of games played.
- ANA vs. EDM: battle of the bottom feeders. The last place team of the Pacific division versus the last place team of the Northwest division. I don't know what actually happened to Edmonton because they were doing so well (were is the operative word of course). Not sure how this game will affect either team long term but hey, it may mean something come April. You never know.
Wow, that was unnecessarily long but I haven't written anything this long in a LONG time, so I figured I might as well start.