Sabres/Maple Leafs Brawl

So the Sabres/Maple Leafs brawl seems to be the talk of the league right now. John Scott tries to fight Phil Kessel. Kessel replies by giving Scott a Paul Bunyan slash across the ankles. David Clarkson comes off the bench to fight. The goalies fight. In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the video: 

I don’t have much to say about this that hasn’t already been said. If you want to read a good account, read what Down Goes Brown has to say. He puts it better than I ever could. All I have to say is this: 1) That was a really dumb move by Clarkson, because he now gets an automatic 10 game suspension for leaving the bench to join a fight. In a preseason game. 2) Guess preseason games are entertaining again. 3) The next time these teams play is a home-and-home: Nov. 15^th in Buffalo then Nov. 16^th in Toronto. Guessing those will be entertaining games. And 4) Guess the goalies don’t get that penalty for taking off their helmets to fight. And we all thought that was the NHLs move to end goalie fights.

Brandon Bollig Takes On Patrick Kane's Stickhandling Video

So you’ve probably seen the video of Patrick Kane stickhandling through a maze of pucks like they’re not even there. It’s insane. But, it now appears that he has some competition, on his own team nonetheless. Behold, Brandon Bollig!

This is brilliant! My favorite's include the puck angels and sliding through the whole thing. Enforcers seem to have the best sense of humor, between this and John Scott popping up in interviews.

Don't Panic! Regarding the Penguins Goalies

So a panic has begun to spread amongst Penguins fans and it regards an injury. Crosby, Malkin, Neal, and Letang are all still healthy. So why the panic? Backup goalie Tomas Vokoun is hurt, after having a procedure to remove blood clot in his pelvis this weekend. He’s out indefinitely. He had a similar problem back in April 2006, and wasn’t cleared to play until July of that year. So where does this leave the Penguins? Well starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is healthy. Remember this is the Marc-Andre Fleury that’s been a goalie full of holes in the playoffs. Despite that, everyone seems to forget he’s a pretty solid goalie during the regular season. The past three regular seasons he has a .916 SP and a 2.36 GAA, both respectable numbers. I’m not gonna bring up his post-season numbers, but let’s just say they’re not good. But during the regular season, Fleury can handle being a number 1 goalie. Remember, Vokoun, who’s 37, was set to be the backup this year. If Vokoun’s out for three months like the last time he had this injury, that’s late-December/early-January, in plenty of time for Fleury’s playoff meltdown.

With Vokoun out, Pittsburgh’s goalie depth now includes Jett Zatkoff, Eric Hartzell, and Jeff Deslauriers who just signed an AHL tryout. Of the three, Deslauriers is the only one with any NHL experience. Zatkoff is a decent minor-league goalie with 3 straight 20 win seasons. Hartzell is in his first year of pro after playing 4 years of college hockey with Quinnipiac, who were the number 1 rated team in NCAA last year and lost in the championship to Yale. Even with one of these three guys playing backup, the Penguins don’t look terrible in that position to other teams. Boston has Chad Johnson set in that role, he’s only played 10 NHL games. Behind Sergei Bobrovsky in Columbus is Curtis McElhinney (69 games) who is currently also injured. The Jackets other goalie are Jeremy Smith (0 games) and Mike McKenna (17 games). The Predators are going with Carter Hutton (1 game), behind Pekka Rinne, while Eddie Lack (0 games) is set to back up Roberto Luongo in Vancouver. These goalies all have similar numbers to Fleury the past 3 seasons – Luongo .918 SP, 2.36 GAA; Rinne .921 SP, 2.31 GAA; Rask .925 SP, 2.24 GAA; Bobrovsky .915 SP, 2.54 GA – with Rask and Bobrovsky having played much less than the others. So the Penguins shouldn’t fret just because their proven backup could be out for a while. They’re in the same situation as a number of other teams.

Fighting & Taking Off Your Helmet

So yesterday I talked about the stupidity of jersey tuck delay of game penalty. Another one of the stupid rules initiated by the NHL for the season, is giving players a two minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taking their helmets off before a fight. Removing your helmet is kinda like a courtesy shown by each fighter. It hurts a lot to repeatedly punch a hard plastic helmet and visor, so we’ll help each other out by taking off our helmets. Logical, especially when you’re considering the two individuals doing it are consenting for the other to punch them in the face. The NHL has been hearing the calls for the elimination of fighting for years, especially in light of what is now known about concussions and head injuries. I will not delve into that debate here. All I will say is that the NHL, being too afraid and insecure to make any sort of action to please either side of the debate, is left to make gutless, lame gestures like this. ‘Maybe this will discourage fighters.’ If two players are willing to fight, I think they are aware of the potential repercussions (such as concussions) of their actions.

(Another interesting theory that I’ve heard, is that rules like this and the jersey tuck are just the owners way to get back at the players for not complying to their demands and elongating the lockout. There’s always conspiracy theorists. By the same token, someone suggested that all players tuck their jerseys in, which would be absolutely brilliant and a great FU to the league for that stupid rule.)

Well, last night, the Devils Krys Barch and the Islanders Brett Gallant found a way around this rule. How? By taking off each other’s helmet. Enjoy the brilliance and hilarity: 

As it is, this is a great FU to the league. How long will it last before this loophole is closed up? Who knows. But fighters can find ways to make it work. There is usually a great level of respect between the two combatants; they look out for each other, despite the fact they’re trying to punch the other in the face. The two videos that follow are evidence of this mutual respect.