Fighting remains a great dichotomy for many hockey fans. If fighting were banned today many wouldn’t miss it at all, and yet these same fans are not at all holier than thou about it. Two fights last week illustrate the quandary.
Last week Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, their top player and the savior of their franchise, dropped the gloves against Columbus pest Brandon Dubinsky. There was Crosby, the Pens top offensive asset, with his bare knuckles exposed, landing a punch but putting himself and the team’s future at risk. It was pure idiocy. Yet the fans loved it and gave the Pens captain a standing ovation with plenty of clench fists being raised to the air.
An offensively skilled player like Crosby should never have to fight anyone. There is too much risk. Perhaps Crosby was also sending a message to his team about needing better protection, which has been an issue for him in the last two playoff seasons.
Another side of fighting that was not nearly as hilarious was on Sunday, when Chicago’s Daniel Carcillo went up against Boston’s Adam McQuaid. As McQuaid got the better of the bout, Carcillo kept looking at the linesmen in an obvious beg for them to break it up. No help came, and Carcillo was left to suffer and try and wrestle McQuaid to the ice. Carcillo was none too happy when he got to the penalty box.
Fighting Advocates Have a Point
Don Cherry made several strong arguments last week on his Coach’s Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada. Cherry said that not only should Crosby never have to fight but that if the league had its past rules that were more lenient about fighting, star players would be freer to create and unleash their skills. Cherry’s best illustration was Wayne Gretzky having two body guards in Dave Semenko and Marty McSorley during his days in Edmonton, which freed the Great One to flourish. The segment went on with further examples of today’s offensive stars having to fight their own battles that enforcers used to handle.
I still believe that the ultimate enforcer should be the officials and the league. A lot of former fighters are now suffering from post-concession syndrome. The recent death of Steve Montador brings this to light. But can we really rely on the insular administration of the NHL to competently serve as the ultimate enforcer? There is not much in the way of evidence that inspires confidence on that issue.
How can you allow for players to try and bash each other’s heads in with their bare knuckles while you have a department of player safety based in large part to protecting head injuries? It makes no sense.
But when a recent NHL players poll and Hall of Fame players like Phil Esposito say that fighting should remain, it does at least make you think it over.
Bubble Teams
When new Boston Bruins chairman Charlie Jacobs unleashed his inner Jed York and threatened to fire members of the Bruins brass if they fail to make the playoffs, there was a brief New Year’s sugar rush for the Bruins that masked their larger deficiencies. The Bruins lack of offense has caught up with them, however, and they are holding on to the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by a finger nail.
Now Boston must try and overcome a knee injury to top-line center David Krejci. General manager Peter Chiarelli and head coach Claude Julien are under intense fire, but calls for their heads are absurd, based on their long term records. Chiarelli will be desperate to make a move before the March 2 trade deadline. But with the salary cap uncertain, and with other GM’s sensing desperation a deal may not be possible. The true whipping boy should be left wing Milan Lucic, who has combined a drop in production with all too common stupid play.
The Florida Panthers would be a great story if they could somehow get over the hump and surpass the Bruins for the final playoff spot. It would also serve as a test as to if that struggling market can truly be saved. General manager Dale Tallon has done a solid job at building the team with a nice mix of battle tested veterans such as Roberto Luongo, Dave Bolland and Willie Mitchell to go with young future superstars such as Rookie of the Year candidate Aaron Ekblad. Florida begins a seven game homestand to make for a final do or die playoff push. A glaring lack of offense must be addressed however. There is simply not enough goals scoring here. Tallon needs to make a deal for more offense and Toronto’s Phil Kessel, who has a South Florida home, would be the perfect choice.
The Flyers were exposed as pretenders once and for all with their pathetic 4-1 loss at Carolina Tuesday night. A lack of depth and goaltending to go with an awkwardly constructed roster have doomed Philadelphia. The loss at Carolina was illustrative of their lack of depth and staying power.
The Calgary Flames slipped to ninth position in the Western Conference. The improved Flames still have enough quality roster to make it, but goaltender Jonas Hiller must improve on his .913 save percentage. In a Western Conference that has no margin for error, a goaltender must be at the new NHL minimum standard at .920 for a team to have a shot at the playoffs.
The San Jose Sharks have lost seven out of ten games to fall to tenth place in the Western Conference. A lack of defensive depth and erratic goaltending look to doom the Sharks. Missing the playoffs would be a severe blow to this franchise and its finances. The epic playoff collapse against Los Angles last year may haunt the Sharks for years to come.
Pierre McGuire reveals the NHL’s Blindness Problem
I am a Pierre McGuire fan as I respect his passion for and knowledge of the game. He is a regular NHL Insider contributor to NHL Network Radio and can also be heard on TSN podcasts each weekday. While I listened to McGuire on the TSN 690 Melnick in the Afternoon Podcast last week, however, I was again reminded of just how clueless and out of touch NHL insiders are with their customers.
On that podcast, McGuire gushed about an RDS telecast of a Montreal Canadiens game and how it’s between-period commentators broke down defensive tactics on a level that fans could understand and appreciate. I wanted to immediately throw my iPad.
Fans do not turn on hockey games to study the technical aspects of making paint dry. Fans want odd-man rushes, breakaways and goals. Yet the NHL continues to miss the point, not to mention fail to deliver what its fans want.
And it’s not just ignorant American football fans that want more goals. Many true sons of the north in Canada pine for more offense. U.S. television ratings are still an embarrassment. A constant diet of 1-0 and 2-1 games will not move the needle.
When you add miserable Mike Babcock’s rants of disgust about system and structure breakdowns after an exciting 7-6 Red Wings win at Dallas last Saturday to McGuire’s comments, you begin to understand how NHL insiders have no clue as to what will grow the game.
The NHL needs to rip the game away from shutdown clods and give it to the players and fans.
Final Thought
Thank God that Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky played in an era without systems and structure and shutdown clods. They were allowed to flow and create and score.
Can you imagine what such real men of genius such as Babcock would do with Orr and the Great One today? Think of how today’s game would have made drones out of Orr and Gretzky. Well, at least Babcock would have his precious structure. After all, appeasing shutdown coaches is what is most important to the NHL.
What the world really needs is a rival major league that would play a much more wide open creative style that the NHL cavemen refuse to set free.
