No idea yet, my net has been slowed so its being shitty as hell. Won't be able to watch any games for a week.
Interesting. My first instinct is to disagree with you about the importance of homegrown talent, but then again that could just be in defense of an argument I've been using since July 19th. I also don't see Kovalchuk and Hossa have whored themselves out for the greatest dollar. Without looking it up, do you know what his actual salary is this year? I'll give you a hint, it's less than a mil more than the guy in second place. Though I would never actually try to argue my point because the other side has more evidence, I believe he wanted more than just money (he could be making way more than he is this year and next year if he went somewhere else.)
I'm lovin' it too. I managed to get Jamie Benn and Kari Lethonen cheap in my dynasty fantasy league. Kari can take you guys far as long as he doesn't get injured and Benn can fuckin shoot the puck. Hopefully his conkie isn't that bad.
Here's some fun... A couple of quick random thoughts: 1) Rypien will obviously be suspended, and I'm not even gonna guess how long because there's no telling. 2) This is why I love hockey. 3) As much as Rypien can't be doing that, I love how everyone automatically defends the fan and says he did "nothing wrong." He clearly motioned towards him with the clap and most likely shot his mouth off to a guy who plays in the NHL and could drop him quicker than a sack of potatoes. Not so smart in my mind.
Definitely won't find that in any other sport, but that was kind of weird. I wasn't watching the game; was Rypien getting ejected for fighting, or did he drop the gloves just to go after the fan? When that retarded Flyers fan fell into the box and got tooled, Domi only got a $1,000 fine and one for the highlight reels, and this wasn't as bad so I think he'll be okay. Different circumstances, sure, but all he did was grab the fan's collar and give a light shove. That probably made the dude's night, and can go home and brag how he "totally fought an NHL player." The Avs are flying under the radar with a pretty solid start. Stewart, Duchene, and Stastny are looking good, and they finally have some talent in net in Anderson. I'm not saying they're cup contenders this year, but it sure beats the last ~5 years.
...So? What exactly did the fan do that was out of line? Manny Malhotra, who you can see pulling Rypien away from the fan, said, "There's boundaries that should never be crossed. We're in our area of work. We're all for the hooting and hollering and supporting your team and saying whatever is tasteful. But as soon as you cross that line and want to become physical with a player then we have to make sure we take care of ourselves. ... We have no idea of what their intentions are." From that video, Rypien initiated the "boundary crossing". Unless there's something not shown on that video, the fan did absolutely nothing wrong. He's a Minnesota fan, clapping relatively calmly to celebrate the fact that his team is dominating the Canucks. Rypien was 100% in the wrong, and his indefinite suspension should be changed to a well-deserved few games. That kind of stuff should never, ever happen by a pro athlete.
According to someone who called a radio station in Minnesota today, the fan was clapping at Rypien and saying "way to be a professional" when Rypien grabbed him and shook him. This is actually worse than the Domi incident. Domi got more physical with the guy, but the dude attacked him. This guy was just clapping and barely taunting Rypien, and Rypien snapped. This is NOT good. Rypien is going to be suspended for a while, and he deserves to be. As long as a fan isn't initiating contact, the players CAN'T go after the fans.
Look, Rypien is in the wrong, and I agree with you because since the Milbury-esque Ron Artest incident anything like this is going to be treated like someone shit on Bettman's pillow. But, these moments are so spur-OF-the-moment that no athlete is going to stop and think - "oh wait! that fourth liner got 25 games for this YEARS ago." As much as it shouldn't happen at all like you said, it still does happen because of the randomness of the events. Secondly, the way I read that quote is that Malhotra is in a way defending Rypien; saying when the fan "crossed" into their (hockey players/athletes) "line of work" by (in my mind) blatantly mock-clapping and saying what was said he is also at some fault. If the fan was seemingly innocent as a choir-boy, then why did he get kicked out of the game immediately? EDIT: Go back and watch the video again. Malhotra motions for the kid to get tossed... I doubt he's defending the fan. Finally, now that more details have emerged and I've had the time to compare other incidents similar to this, I'd say 5 games would be the number. Barnaby got 4 back in the day with his incident, and at the same time it sends the usual ""don't be doing this" message to the players. In my mind, the fan nudged Rypien; and to all of ours entertainment Rypien just simply pushed back.
YOU DONT ENGAGE FANS. Clear and simple. Unless someone in the crowd is raping your blind grandmother, you keep your hands and equipment to yourself. (Edit - You obviously mean "provoked," but I'll leave this up regardless.) Do you mean physically nudged him or "nudge" as in provoked? If the latter, please refer to Rule #1. If the former, then that's just incorrect. The fan clapped and spoke. He didn't make any movements towards Rypien and actually started to lean back a bit when Rypien was approaching. Rypien was an idiot there. If motioning that Sean Avery sucks penis (which, let's admit, was hilarious) gets you 2 games, engaging a fan and subjecting yourself, your team, and the league to legal liability (the fan in this case has mentioned lawyering up and litigating), you have to get a decent suspension. I'm guessing no more than 8 games and probably something in the range of 5. But frankly, if Campbell and the NHL slap him with 25 games I'd neither be surprised nor outraged. As for now, he is "suspended indefinitely" pending a hearing.
No ya I meant provoked but I went with the nudged/pushed similar combo... anywho. Maybe I've been reading too much deadspin? I don't know, I just don't like double standards in general... Oh and the kid is getting a lawyer because he was "assaulted." Give me a break he's lucky he didn't get hurt.
There is a line that players CAN'T cross. They shouldn't chirp with fans, they should ignore them, but a word or two is harmless. But touching a fan? I'm not a fan of the NHL and their so called "wheel of justice." Their penalties are random and make no sense, and I'm opposed to the idea of making someone an example because I don't think it works. But touching a fan who didn't physically go after him first? I say you give him 10 games, say the next guy gets 20 automatically. If there is a next guy, after he gets 20 tell players the next guy gets a whole season, 82+ playoffs. And the guy after that? Banned for life. I don't care what happens, if these guys can't control themselves and not go after fans, they shouldn't be pro athletes. Bottom line.
Two updates... 1) Rypien gets six games for all the BS. Which to me is about right. 2) Phoenix is a joke. Move it back to Winnipeg today. Paid attendance last night: 6,706. From Prohockeytalk (link above) during the second period:
The NHL's Eastern teams are really concentrated along the eastern seaboard, so even a move to Kitchener would leave the Yotes more to the west. Your options would have been to move Pittsburgh (which just wouldn't happen), Tampa Bay or Atlanta. My guess would be that East/West realignment would have been less of an issue and rather it would've been more of a debate about re-aligning the Western divisions. Here's a map of the current cities if you want to get a better feel of it. I've tried to defending Phoenix having an NHL team. I think it's a great area and expending into warmer cities like that would be a tremendous boon to the NHL. But I just don't know if it's going to happen right now (or anytime soon). I'm sure part of the Coyotes' problem is that Phoenix has been hurting pretty badly since the housing bubble and people aren't in a position to be spending money on hockey tickets. I still say move them to Salt Lake City. ------------------------- As for Rypien, six games is about what I was expecting. I don't think it was enough, and I wish the NHL would have made a statement by imposing something more harsh, but oh well. Mike Milbury had an article on CBC.ca that was sympathetic with Rypien (surprise surprise). He did bring up 3 good points though. (1) Why is there glass or anything between the bench and the crowd there, especially when it is the opposing team's bench, (2) usually the tunnel leading to the opposing team's dressing room has a canopy which should have been put out and (3) there should have been an Xcel Center employee escorting Rypien on the way out. Valid points, but I'm still not going to extend the guy any sympathy, even if he didn't even beat the fan with his own shoe.
Whats everyones thoughts so far about the start of the season. Few things have happened that I knew would such as Detroit coming back after last year as well as LA continuing and the usual suspects Pittsburg and Washington doing well. Nashville and st Louis ahve impressed me a lot so far and who would have thought Tampa or the Islanders would be doing so well this early in the season. Didn't see the Devils starting off so badly either.
Surprisingly good so far: Toronto, NY Islanders, Dallas and Nashville Dallas is #3 and #6 in PP and PK respectively. Special teams play is hard to maintain throughout an entire season and can really make you or break you. Hope they can keep it up. I'm not surprised that Nashville is doing well. I fully expected them to make the playoffs, but they're leading what I consider to be the first or second deepest division (the Eastern-Atlantic being the other). Toronto and NYI... I'm confident they're just trying to get their fans' hopes up. Surprisingly bad so far: New Jersey. Last in the division and with a league worst -15 goal differential right now. They're also 8.3% on the PP right now. Ottawa. Again, last in the division and third worst in the league with a -10 goal diff. Surprising players: Tim Thomas. Boston has another year left on Rask and 2 years left on Thomas' contract. I'd expect to see one dealt next year. Dallas front line, which is pretty much leading the league in +/-. Alexander Ovechkin. He's averaging a point a game (which will put him about 30 behind his average for the past 3 seasons), despite being 2 shots behind the league leader in SOG. He's not playing poorly (in the offensive zone. defensively he is still awful). He just hasn't been playing like the #1/#2 player in the league.
I'm glad the Rangers are winning games sans-Gaborik. Minor Miracle. Other than that - I still think its too early to draw conclusions. I treat it like a horse race - the quarter poles is where you can really see if a team can pull it off. Mark my words though: If Toronto continues their speedy offense and J.S. Giguere keeps his play up to steal a couple of games the Leafs will be in or seriously contending for a playoff spot.
I haven't been to an NHL game since the Jets left Winterpeg, but been meaning to go on a road trip to Minneapolis for a game or two, but that never happens. Did go see final game of 2009 Calder Cup AHL playoff game between the Moose and Hershey.. was a pretty good game. I'm not surprised Toronto's gone back to sucking. As a Habs fan I love it, but at the same time you start to feel bad for the team when they suck year after year. With that being said, Leafs could still do fairly well this season. Go Jets Go!
How about my Devils. Your highest paid player stopped trying 3 games into the season, your best player is out for three months, the hall of fame goalie looks like swiss cheese, and your AHL caliber defense looks ECHL caliber, never mind the fact that you're in the NH FUCKING L. Good god I hope we can make some kind of meaningful trade here. This is brutal. BRUTAL.
I didn't understand why the Devils (remember, I'm an NYR fan) we're so adamant on re-signing Kovie. He didn't do that much for you guys last spring. He's part good, part a product of playing for Atlanta in the southeast for so many years. The Devils have won consistently with a good system and talented smart players who play the system. Fuck, I would have saved that money, plugged a few holes, and maybe gotten some young guys or go after an RFA with it. I wouldn't have for him to begin with because if I had Parise on one side and Bergfors on the other in three years I'd be pretty fuckin' happy. --- Went to a Quebec Remparts game this past weekend on a trip to Quebec City, and there is no doubt in my mind that once they get a stadium the NHL will be back there. The place was packed on a Friday night. Chris Bourque didn't play too hot, but they still got the W. Also, I don't know if you guys are into the advanced NHL stats (behindthenet.com is your place to start), but this article on the decline of Jarome Iginla is great. I'm thinking about doing the same kind of look at Chris Drury for a site that I write for occasionally (site is in my profile).