Playoff Picks: Western Conference

(1) Detroit over (8) Calgary.

The Red Wings can outscore anybody, plus they have The Dominator back in goal. Calgary made significant improvements to their offense in the off-season, and their defense in-season, but it was barely enough to eke out the final playoff spot in the conference. There will be some thrilling low-scoring, OT games in this series because Hasek and Miikka Kiprusoff love to flop around and challenge shooters. However, since the Flames are horrible on the road and the Wings have home ice, they will be in an early series hole from which they cannot emerge. Red Wings in five.

(2) Anaheim over (7) Minnesota.

Each team can play smiliar styles, or contrasting styles, and match up line for line. If last night's game is any indication, each successive game in the series will be a never-ending cycle of line matching which makes the start of each game tentative, but building to a crescendo. This one might go the distance, but Anaheim has the power of the home-ice, plus they are playing with more emotion and a chip on their shoulder after losing to upstart Edmonton last season. Anaheim in seven.

(6) Dallas over (3) Vancouver.

I'm picking this as an upset because I flipped a coin and it came out heads, by which i mean Dallas. Both teams have stingy defenses and goaltenders who can go all night without giving up a crucial goal. This series looks to be more evenly matched than Anaheim-Minnesota, but where I fall on the side of the Stars is that I believe they can slightly outscore the Canucks, who have never really recovered from losing Todd Bertuzzi. Dallas in six.

(4) Nashville over (5) San Jose.

Both teams have depth and speed, but San Jose has the size and intimidation factor on their side. Still, the Predators were locked in battle with Detroit for top spot in the West for the second half of the regular season, and it has to put a burr in their saddle to know this is the prize for losing. I'm thinking Nashville also needs to remove the ugly memory of last year's five game exit to these same Sharks in the first round by outlasting and outscoring them this time around - because they can't possibly win by trying to check the bigger Sharks to death and wearing them out. Kariya, Sullivan, Forsberg, Dumont and Arnott must be the difference here, and it will be slight because the Preds have a game seven at home. Nashville in seven.

Playoff Picks: Eastern Conference

(1) Buffalo over (8) New York Islanders.

You don't think Ted Nolan is going to unleash 10 years worth of fury on the franchise which dumped him after a successful two year stint behind the bench? Think again. Too bad that telling your charges to play it rough with Buffalo's skilled, stocked roster won't produce anything but a ton of short-handed situations - which plays right into the Sabres' ability to drown any team with a deluge of goals. The Islanders might surprise Buffalo in one game at HSBC, but I'm seeing New York's only series win in Uniondale. That's not to say the Islanders won't be competitive in the series - they won't be blown out of any game - but Nolan can't squeeze enough out of his team to make a serious statement. Playing without Rick DiPietro in net is also a huge handicap. Sabres in five.

(2) New Jersey over (7) Tampa Bay.

True, the Lightning boast a slick, skilled attack, and Vinny Lecavalier is the Rocket Richard Trophy winner, but the Bolts come into the postseason with hockey's version of Barbaro's limp. Plus, even if Johan Holmqvist and Marc Denis suffered a bizarre accident which fused them together, they still wouldn't have the impact in the net that Nikolai Khabibulin did. New Jersey can turn on the tap when they wish, and, as usual, it will just be enough to back up their Hall-of-Fame goaltender. The Devils and Martin Brodeur will wring every single second of the clock they can to win games in this series, but there will be at least one game where Tampa lets loose the offensive beast. It won't be enough, though, as Brodeur once again proves to be the difference maker. Devils in six.

(6) New York Rangers vs (3) Atlanta

This is the booby prize for winning the weakest division in your conference - a date with the Rangers, who now have some fighting spirit with Brendan Shanahan at the controls. Yes, Jaromir Jagr wears the "C" but Shanahan runs the locker room, has earned the respect of his teammates, and is the firebrand general Jagr could never be. Each of these clubs can play whatever style is needed - open, pond-hockey game, or a taut defensive, close-checking manner. Bob Hartley and Tom Renney will be locked into a chess match each game for sure, but every game will eventually rise to a crescendo as the best players take the initiative. I see the Rangers getting a split in Atlanta, which will allow them to take control of the series. The combined playoff savvy of Scott Mellanby, Bobby Holik, Steve Rucchin and Keith Tkachuk won't be enough to keep the Rangers from spreadin' the news that their loss to the Devils last season was an aberration. New York in six.

(4) Ottawa over (5) Pittsburgh.

This series is like a Disney movie as far as the Penguins are concerned. They've been saved from extinction in their home town, rose as high as first place, got a playoff berth, so why would anyone dare to pick against these lovable kids with hearts of gold? Because they've never had to deal with the pressure of a playoff series, that's why. Even though the Senators have the 200-pound albatross of previous postseason failures on their collective backs, at least their numerous playoff failures constitute so much more actual experience than Pittsburgh (Mark Recchi - one Cup). This is the most important series in the careers of a number of Senators, because losing to Buffalo, Toronto and New Jersey in the past is one thing, but to lose to a bunch of diaper dandies wearing a skating Penguin logo is another. Crosby, Malkin, Staal, et al., are facing baptism by fire, but they have absolutely nothing to lose. Is Michel Therrien going to let them try to recreate the 1981 Oilers? Heck no, but he's not going to crack the whip every shift. Bryan Murray will be, and it will be enough to get the Sens to another round. Ottawa in six.

Flyers 2006-2007 Season in Review

Record: 22-48-12, 56 points

Place: 5^th, Atlantic Division, 30th in NHL

Where it all went wrong: If you want to take the long view, back in Summer 2005, when Bob Clarke signed Peter Forsberg, Derian Hatcher, and Mike Rathje, and in October of that year when Keith Primeau was felled with an eventual career-ending concussion.

In all fairness, it began this past off-season where many huge missteps were made. Keeping Petr Nedved and Niko Dimitrakos, but releasing Donald Brashear. Trading Michal Handzus to Chicago for Kyle Calder. Signing Marty Murray, Nolan Baumgartner, Mark Cullen and the enigmatic Lars Jonsson. The disastrous offer sheet for Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler which drew the condemnation of the entire NHL. Follies continued in-season with the Randy Robitaille-Mike York and Freddy Meyer-Alexei Zhitnik trades.

Let’s not forget Bloody Sunday, the October 22^nd “reorganization,” which blew out General Manager Bob Clarke and head coach Ken Hitchcock in favor of Paul Holmgren and John Stevens. The team began the season a franchise-worst 1-6-1, including an horrific 9-1 loss in Buffalo on October 17^th which acted as catalyst for the upheaval. Revelations followed of Clarke’s lingering dispassion for the job and Hitch’s constant grating on and friction with the young talent.

New head coach John Stevens won his first game behind the bench, a 3-2 shootout victory at home over Atlanta, then promptly went 1-7 in his next eight games. Stevens also endured losing streaks of 10 games (12/2-28) and nine games (1/4-28) as injuries and plain disorganized play continued to pile up.

Once you talk about the on-ice product, things don’t get any better. Future stars Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Joni Pitkanen spent the majority of the season in arrested development. Nedved played like he wanted to cash his check and go home. Antero Niittymaki’s holes in his catching glove and Robert Esche’s inability to stop a shot beyond 25 feet created a quagmire in the crease. Mike York did his best imitation of the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man, Todd Fedoruk had both sides of his face caved in, and Mike Knuble looked like he was back at Michigan wearing a full cage after the collision in New York, and virtually the entire roster missed time with some sort of injury.

Telltale Signs: First-ever season sweeps at the hands of Washington and Florida, an eight-game sweep by division-rival Pittsburgh, seven losses to New Jersey, a franchise-worst ten home wins, 49 players used in one regular season, an 11-point differential between them and the second-worst team in the NHL (Phoenix).

Oddities: A four-game sweep over playoff-bound Atlanta, two wins at Madison Square Garden, two wins over defending Cup champion Carolina, more wins and better overall play on the road than at the Wachovia Center. Statistically, they scored 214 goals, which is three more than the 2002-2003 club did finishing second behind the Devils. Their 303 goals against were the most surrendered since giving up 314 in 1993-94, a non-playoff season. Scottie Upshall, a little used third-line player in Nashville, scores 13 points in 18 games after his acquisition.

Where it all went right: Simon Gagne battled through groin problems and Forsberg’s injuries and trade to top the 40-goal mark for the second consecutive season. Geoff Sanderson’s speed and skill at age 35. Upshall, Dmitri Afanasenkov, and Alex Picard all showed flashes of offensive brilliance and defensive ability. Despite a mediocre 6-8-2 record and a 3.01 GAA, Martin Biron made a strong case to be a long-term starting goaltender after coming over at the trade deadline. Big wins over the Ducks in Anaheim (7-4), and beating Detroit and Carolina by a combined 11-2 score.

Reasons to Believe: Even though the season could have gotten worse if it weren’t for the spark of several players acquired late in the season plus the injury situation clearing up – things can only get better.

There’s no reason to think Gagne can’t score 40 again with either Forsberg, Chris Drury, or another center at his disposal. If the Flyers are able to snag Drury, they get a durable winger/center in his prime and a potential captain to boot. An injury-free Mike Knuble will come close to 30 goals once more. R.J. Umberger, the most consistent of the Calder Cup-winning crop of former Phantoms, will emerge to create his own buzz like the ones that already surround Carter and Richards. With Hatcher’s departure and Rathje’s retirement, there will be at least one younger, healthier, and speedier veteran on the back line to foster Pitkanen, Lasse Kukkonen, Jussi Timmonen, Braydon Coburn, Randy Jones and Picard. Sami Kapanen’s contract extension gives the team a solid two-way veteran player.

Niittymaki will have a whole spring and summer to figure out how to improve his mechanics and his hand/eye coordination, and while he learns how to be an effective back-up, while Biron will have a whole season to justify the February trade which brought him here and the contract the team signed him to.

The NHL’s penalty-minutes leader, Ben Eager, took home the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy this season as the club’s most improved player.

Looking Forward: With any luck, the Flyers will be serious playoff contenders in 2007-2008, and another season beyond that away from Stanley Cup contention. On July 1^st, a good chunk of the first-generation contracts signed after the cancelled season are complete, leading to a huge pool of potential free agents which the team would be wise to dip into for the reloading process.

Although it is very tempting to wildly predict an unprecedented worst-to-first script come October, this team has a completely green defensive corps and serious questions of production from a potential second line. Biron must also prove himself, and do it right from the drop of the puck in the postseason as a goaltender worthy of the starting job. A wiser man than I once said that patience is a virtue - so, be virtuous when sizing up the team heading into next season.

Wither Brodeur?

In this interminable season, lots of negative records have been set.

Still, it was a shock to know that this year alone, not one, but two goaltenders had a clear shot to break Bernie Parent's NHL mark for wins in one season - 47. Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo were the front runners, and Brodeur set the record first in the Devils' 3-2 win in Philly last night. Luongo, if he starts Vancouver's last two games, has a chance to at least tie since the Flying V's ended up losing to Colorado.

Yet again, another milestone the Flyers proudly called their own, has been cruelly overtaken by a member of their chief tormentors for well over a decade.

It's amazing that the Devils braintrust has let Brodeur increase his starts per season as he's getting older. Since 1997, the first time he eclipsed the 70-game mark, he's slowly increased his yearly work load, with the exception of last season's 73 starts as opposed to 2003-2004 (75) and this year (78) with one game remaining. Backups in New Jersey either have the easiest job in the hockey universe or the worst job in the universe - maybe simultaneously, because only Brodeur decides when he needs a night off, and that's only three or four times a season.

I still question the move as one where an athlete's ego and his past contributions to the club gets in the way of present reality and future health. For example - Pelle Lindbergh had a decision in 64 of the Flyers' 80 games in 1984-85. Mike Keenan could have easily left him in for 70 games (and at one point started him in 24 straight), but he recognized that Bob Froese needed work - 15 games' worth. Likewise, on those late 80's Canadiens clubs, Patrick Roy could have easily topped 70 games himself, but with Brian Hayward a fallen starter turned super sub, Roy was told he'd get 60 starts a year maximum to keep him sharp and rested.

Brodeur is approaching his 35th birthday. Luck was on his side in that he became the Devils Number One at the ripe young age of 21, and has not come close to relinquishing that status since. However, how long can the team continue to whip the horse until he lays down? Several games ago, Brodeur was run into and clearly injured his right leg, and still has problems of balance and blocking on his right side. It was noticeable enough in last night's game that several fans in and near our section kept screaming for the Flyers to crash the net and work the knees.
If the cornerstone of those three Stanley Cups has been the defense, but more than that, the goaltender, why didn't Scott Clemmensen get a start? Riiiight, the Devils are in a crucial race for a division title with the upstart Penguins, and the team needs Brodeur, even a limping one, to ensure a win over even the worst team in the league.

It's all going to catch up to the Devils at some point - probably in the opening round of the playoffs. With the two-seed, they will most likely play Tampa. Brodeur is going to have to plow through the pain and be sharp against the Bolts, which possess a potent offense when clicking. He played well enough to eek out a one-goal, division-clinching win over the Flyers, so he'll get two days of rest without playing, and Clem will probably get the start on Sunday against the Islanders before the playoff preparations begin.

If the Devils don't at least reach the Conference Finals this year, Lamoriello will have to bring in a more experienced back-up to spell Brodeur. It's only a wise choice, because once 35 is reached, all you can do as an athlete is be in as good shape as the year before - the grind begins to take a toll and even a goalie can't be in better shape than a season previous. Higher power help me, I could even see Robert Esche or David Aebischer as the relief, getting 15 or so starts.

Banging the Drum Loudly

We're two regular seasons down post-cancelled season, and it's more than enough time to go over a few things about the new NHL that are worth discussing.

First, with the playoff situation still unresolved with most teams now with either two or three games remaining, it makes watching the games excruciatingly painful - and that's just at work. Things are so tense and so unexpected, and there is so much on the line for these teams, that the second you look away or switch to a baseball game or basketball game - something actually happens. Like I had feared/predicted, virtually every team is now playing one-goal differentials, and wringing every point they can out of these games. It's a sickening replay of all those games in Marches and Aprils from the late 90's.

Tomorrow night I'm actually going as a fan to the Devils-Flyers game at the Wachovia Center. The Devils are fighting for the Atlantic Division title, while the Flyers have officially locked up the worst record in the entire league. Do you think New Jersey is going to go full throttle and beat the pulp out of Philly because that's what you do to a team that's DFL in the NHL? Heeeeellll no. There's going to be so much fear that a team like the Flyers will play spoiler on the Horned Ones, that the Devils will score once and play 50 minutes of trap until the buzzer. Never mind the Flyers have less wins at home than on the road this year.

There are more teams than ever which have topped the 100-point plateau, because the NHL gives all clubs three opportunities to earn a point, while only one of them is for an actual win. Did Bettman and the GM's really think team's wouldn't abuse that privilege after they abused ties and overtime losses so much that they had to create shootout losses as well? In the space of two years, the number of games going to overtime and the shootout has exploded, and has increased exponentially from last year to this year. At this point, even more so than ever, I'm all for two points for a win, one point for a tie, and no points for an overtime or shootout loss. I can't stress this enough, people. I'd rather have ties back than go through the farce of having teams earn points for losing in not one, but two manners.

Which also means for the love of God, NO MORE SHOOTOUTS!!! KEEP THEM IN THE ECHL AND CHL WHERE THEY BELONG, IN MARKETS LIKE CORPUS CHRISTI WHERE FANS DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER!!

While you're at it, O Blessed Lawyers of Manhattan, let's stop using the American Hockey League as a guinea pig. You've ruined the league by trying to turn your farm teams into bland family-friendly entertainment, where it once was a place where you could see rock-em, sock-em, high-scoring hockey for a bunch of players literally fighting their way up to the NHL. Besides, just because something works well in Binghamton or Lowell, doesn't mean it will play well in St. Louis. You want to make sure the kids get to the NHL with the proper tools to succeed? Teach the kids how to deal with an 8-6 game and how to defend themselves, instead of instilling rote defensive and forecheck systems that end up choking the life out of the NHL...like in the midst of a playoff race.

Speaking of choking, the level of violence in the league has become a hot-button issue lately. In fact, the mode, level and seriousness of violence in the game is as proportionate as it ever was. Let's keep it where it is. Remember, the handshake line comes after a playoff series is over. Before then, it's every man for his team, and every team for the Cup - consequences be damned. The Chris Simon incident earlier this month was foul in so many ways, not the least of which was the fact that Simon has made a decade-plus-long career on knowing the rules of being a fighter. We can't take fighting out of the game, because it is essential to the sport in that it is the only mode of violence in any organized game which has its complex set of rules intended to keep the honor of the fight intact, while keeping collateral violence to a minimum.

This rule that a player gets an automatic one-game suspension for fighting in the final five minutes of the game is positively insane. Chaos and mayhem by an opposing player must be answered when it is answered - and to put an arbitrary lock on that answer means that bad attitudes fester and boil over into spearing, high-sticking, boarding, whatever - all because you face a stiffer penalty for dropping the gloves. It was clear from the moment the rule was put in place that Bettman and his charges blanched at the Philly-Ottawa brawl from March of 2004, all the while missing the point that it could have been worse for players on both clubs if they had not cleared out all the bad blood from Martin Havlat's careless stick and body work that night.

Anyway, how ridiculous is it that Ben Eager...Ben Eager??...leads the NHL in total penalty minutes, but not in fighting majors. All while Georges Laraque, Matthew Barnaby, Jarome Iginla, Simon, Cam Janssens, Travis Moen, Derek Boogard and Andrew Peters have solid careers. Once again, I'll call for any suspension for any number of instigation penalties to be abolished. An instigator should only be assessed in a situation where a player drops the gloves and his opponent turtles, or only in clear situations where one player throws down long before his opponent decides to engage.

Moving on to penalties, whatever happened to good old fashioned majors like high-sticking, boarding, and spearing? At least those were man-sized penalties you weren't supposed to take, instead of this grey area where nobody can determine if you hit someone's face with an elbow or a dropped shoulder. Ditto on this hitting players along the boards from the side. Unfortunately, with the proliferation of the video system, and the ability of head coaches to question virtually anything that doesn't go their way (thank you very much, Lindy Ruff), referees are pretty much impotent. It used to be, under the three-official system, it was a minor for a normal infraction, and a major for intent-to-injure (which didn't have to mean blood was drawn). Now, there's no room for a ref or a linesman to make an interpretation - because I think they're incapable of doing so. The two-referee system is a major culprit - because you'll have either one veteran and one young zebra with one constantly deferring to the other, or two youngsters who don't know what's going on. Therefore, appearances become the driving factor.

Ten, fifteen years ago, double minors were reserved for minor penalties with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty tacked on, now they are regular occurrences for the tiniest drop of blood drawn from a high-stick. Maybe the impotence of the officials are another affect of the need for parity with 30 teams in the league. Major penalties (where you can score as many times as you like in five minutes) are major momentum and game changers, where a team behind can jump ahead, and where a skilled team can just strafe their opponent. My view is: if more scoring and excitement are needed in the NHL, why not call more majors? Separation between the pretenders and contenders are needed more than ever, and if one team gets blown out 8-1 because they can't stay out of the box, then so be it.

The Flyers-Sharks game from November is a prime example. Alex Picard gets rammed from behind clearly into the glass, and is knocked unconscious. A two-minute minor is assessed on the play - which clearly called for a major and misconduct for intent to injure. The Flyers were three goals down at that point, and a major power play could have made things interesting at the Shark Tank. Instead, the non-call deflated the club, and they went on to lose 6-1.

Enough of what's IN the net. Let's talk about the net itself, or rather, what's behind it. As in the trapezoid. What was its purpose again? Who cares? It's gone. Let the goaltenders, who are the most protected players on the ice, go back and handle the puck at their own risk. Make it again where a goalie with the puck can be touched, but if he's checked, it's a penalty on the other side. Make it a minor again for contact with a goalie who doesn't have the puck. Make it so any goaltender who skates in front of the net is fair game once again.

As for the net, let's not go nuts with suggestions that it be widened, heightened, oblongated, ovalled, and whatnot. The only thing I'm looking for is for the nets to go back to being solid metal piping with a thick magnet to anchor it into the ice. I can't stand how many times the net gets knocked off during a game. The best way to avoid this, and to teach players how to use space more effectively, is to have heavier nets so collisions are discouraged. This game is fast enough, and because of the speed, lacks flow. No forward really shortens his stride anymore in the zone because he knows once the net comes off, play stops. Once he realizes the net won't budge, maybe they'll start developing a wrist shot instead of hoping to bulldoze into the crease and poke the puck through from two feet.

The problem of goals being scored, in order of current discussions is: 4) goaltender size comparable to other skaters, 3) nets too small, 2) goalie equipment still too big, and 1a) teams are starting again to exploit the room on the ice and adapt it to defensive systems, 1) goaltenders are more technically sound and stay-at-home than ever before. It's not the net's fault as if it's a living thing which contracts and expands on a whim. It's also not the fault of goaltenders who don't want to routinely come out to challenge a shooter from the bottom of the circles, or to dive across the crease when a player comes in tight. It used to happen all the time years ago when the spirit of adventure and pull of the wanderlust got many masked men in deep trouble with open nets.

My last rant in this space is regarding the current schedule. It needs to be overhauled - and at least a majority of league GM's agree with that fact. Too bad we have to endure one more season where each conference hardly sees the teams in the opposite one. Again, the only way steady interest can be built in the newer markets and maintained in the traditional ones, is if every team plays every other team at least once, and twice for the better. Now that every team, by necessity, has to have at least one marquee name attached to it, the league is doing itself a disservice by stacking so many games within one conference.

I know the players union moaned for years about travel issues, particularly the West Coast teams. However, now is the time for the union to take another step back, acknowledge the short-changing going on when Colorado visits Detroit twice every year, but Pittsburgh and New York once every three years, and take one for the good of the league. It will mean a San Jose might have to go on an epic 10-game road trip like the one they had in 1998 somewhere along the line, but I think most fans will gladly trade in a meaningless fourth game against a non-playoff team for a cross-conference game against one of the league's best.

The two possible scenarios I've found are:
1) Keep the eight divisional games(32), and play all other conference teams three times(30); play two opposite conference division teams once (one division home, one road), and the third division twice (once each home and road) and alternate home and road each season (20) - for a full 82-game schedule.

2) Play two division teams five times, two teams six times(22); play other 10 conference teams three times each(30); play all opposite conference teams once at home and once on the road(30) - for a full 82-game schedule.

Anything short of that, and thousands of fans miss out on some great skilled players and goaltenders every year. Of course, this whole scenario (and the idiotic suggestion that the league return to a four division format) could have been remedied if, say, four teams were contracted right off the bat in 2005. That's neither here nor there now, I'm just saying...

The recipe for further success is there, and I suppose alterations like these might be considered more seriously if the NHL were run more like a benevolent dictatorship than a democracy where a 2/3s majority is the key to enacting any change at all. In the interim, it's just fun to let the mind wander and postulate on the good things that might make something we love even better.

Farewell to Another Coach

Claude Julien suffered the most unkindest cut of all today, fired as head coach of the Devils after less than one season at the helm. No matter that the Devils performed their usual miracle of starting off slow, only to ascend the standings throughout the Winter and rising to the division lead come Spring - the fact that the naive but energetic Penguins caught Jersey coming into the last two weeks of the season was enough of a red flag. General Manager Lou Lamoriello returns to the ice for the second time in less than a year to complete the remainder of the regular season plus playoffs.

This is a common theme with the franchise. Precedent was set back in 1988, as Doug Carpenter got the heave in favor of the fire-and-brimstone approach of Jim Schoenfeld - and the Devils rallied from last place in the Patrick to make the playoffs and then shock the hockey world by advancing to the Wales Conference Finals.

Lamoriello axed Robbie Ftorek with weeks to go in 2000. Never mind that Jersey was a solid four seed in the East, competing with the Flyers for first place in the Atlantic - Ftorek did not have the confidence of his players due to his abrasive style. Larry Robinson came in and led the club to its second Stanley Cup that June. Robinson quote-unquote resigned in December 2005 after the Devils got off to another sluggish start, Lamoriello coached the remainder of last season, and the Devils won a division title and one playoff round.

Still, it's got to be a deeply uneasy feeling to play for the Devils. Knowing Lamoriello is one to keep the talent coming at a low price, and one to trade said talent for a better deal at the drop of a hat, it has to be unsettling now that the Sword of Damocles hangs above the heads of the on-ice product at all times. John McLean was the first to feel it, after 15 years of faithful service to the Devils (through some bad early years), he was unceremoniously dumped on San Jose early in 1998 after he dared speak out against the boring style of play then-head coach Jacques Lemaire employed.

Then came the coaching merry-go-round which began in speculation that Lemaire's resignation in 1998 wasn't really of his own free will, and ends here with Julien's dismissal. That separate soap opera included Ftorek, Robinson, Kevin Constantine, Pat Burns, and Pat Burns' cancerous prostate.

If these drastic and surprising measures are necessary to give the team the needed kick in the arse, how healthy is the Devils franchise really if the spurs need to be applied so often? How much longer can the players hold out under the pressure of maintaining success for a team that only achieved this lofty level after it wrung every bit of talent out of three Cup winners?

I understand that a winning atmosphere depends a great deal on psychology - keeping players off balance in order to maintain a focus on the ice which increases the number in the "W" column, but the current battle in the Atlantic is not the fault of those who manage or wear the horned NJ logo. It is more a result of the youthful exuberance of the Penguins team, who obviously don't know they're not supposed to be duking it out with one of the most successful franchises of the past decade.

In fact, I think psychologically, the Penguins might win this one. They have nothing to lose by watching the team they are fighting resort to drastic measures while they pursue their goal with reckless abandon. Whether they finish first or second in the division, or second, fourth or fifth in the conference is the source of no contention. Yet, if the Devils do survive the gauntlet and lock up a division title and a two-seed, they have to watch their heads once again as the Sword hovers over the club during the postseason.

You can only squeeze a piece of fruit so long. Eventually, the sweet hidden juices that flow freely will give way to ugly, tasteless and coagulated pulp. Lou Lamoriello must reevaluate and retool the organizational philosophy as well as his own personal style, or else once the Devils move into the Prudential Center, the team will look more like 1983 than 2008.

Farewell to a Swamp

The Flyers played their last-ever game at the Meadowlands with a familiar result, a 3-1 loss. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur once again led the way, as her turned aside waves of Flyers chances in the first half of the game to keep it scoreless. Jersey then netted two goals in the final minutes of the second and that proved to be the winning margin.

There has been so much made of how the former Brendan Byrne Arena was a "house of horrors" for the Flyers over the years, too much in my opinion. It all has to do with the Flyers supposed franchise-long winning tradition and the fact that a few key records in certain arenas stand out as overwhelmingly losing ones. The orange and black have never been comfortable there just like in Uniondale, or the Boston Garden, Hartford, or in Edmonton for that 12 year stretch including playoffs. The fact is, bizarre things have happened to the team virtually anywhere away from South Broad Street, but because the Devils have been in the same division since their 1982 move from Denver, the story gets magnified.

However, lest we forget, they did finish the era with a 22-46-6 record in New Jersey, having lost the last eight games there since the cancelled season. Only twice since the dawn of the 1990s did the Flyers win as many as two regular season games there, and it was a miracle that it did occur in Games 3 and 4 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals. We fans and writers can only hope that a newer, winning tradition begins next season wherever the Devils play (since the new Prudential Center in Newark may not be ready for October - and it was pointed out on the Flyers TV broadcast that if it isn't, the Devils will play "somewhere else").

Whatever. Good riddance to that white-paneled box built on top of a fetid swamp built near a bunch of ugly access roads. I guess the only real "good" news about the new arena is that Flyers fans will have to pay a little less when heading up on to lovely Newark for a road trip.

Common Sense Takes a Back Seat

We all know the Flyers have been out of it since Christmas.

And yet, a few players who have been wracked with injury late in the season somehow keep popping back up for more punishment at the time when a return matters least.

For instance, Mike Knuble. He shattered his orbital bone in that scary collision with Brendan Shanahan in New York on February 17th, missed a month, and now he's back playing but limited by the thick, college-style full face-cage he has to wear for protection.

I understand as a professional, your duty is to recover quickly and get back to helping your squad, but this year's Flyers model is one bad hit away from becoming an exploding Ford Pinto.

Todd Fedoruk. Now that the opposite side of his face was brutalized in that "fight" with Colton Orr last week, Fridge says he doesn't know when he'll come back, and maybe it won't be this year. Ya think?!?! All useless debate about the worth of fighting aside, it's pretty clear that if Fedoruk had come out and said he's going to rehab the whole year and come back next season if the Flyers want him or not, nobody would have blamed him. No point in being chivalrous and leaving the answer ambiguous for a team that has won 20 games all year, and which besides, sports the NHL's penalty-minute leader in a healthy Ben Eager.

Mike Richards. He already missed a huge chunk of time at mid-season with one of those pesky stomach muscle pulls that seemed to defy treatment. Opting for surgery, he returned in a month, but skated very gingerly the whole stretch up until he hurt his shoulder sliding into the boards last week against Florida.

Even though the injury was minor, why put him back into the lineup at this point? He's got a roster spot for next year and some push as a future captain, so why not work Mike York for all he's worth and bring up Ryan Potulny for a couple showcase starts with the team?

On to Simon Gagne. According to Tim Panaccio, the club's leading goal-scorer has a slight bulge in his groin area similar to a hernia, something which troubled him all through the season four years ago. Although he will not return this season, there is talk that Gagne is holding off surgery until later in the Spring, even though doctors recommend this type of thing be taken care of almost immediately. Maybe someone close to him ought to explain in clear, plain French that delaying these things will cost him rehab time in the summer - which costs practice time in training camp - which could mean a very slow start next year.

The common thread here seems to be that hockey players seem to have an innate drive to ignore or play through pain, resorting to drastic measures to come back and contribute in the present, to the point where it becomes damaging to themselves and the team in the future. Sometimes personal safety has to take a front seat, even if a few lonely voices question one's willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team.

There should be no heroes on the NHL's worst team. If things are going to get markedly better in 2007-2008, why not hold out and be the healthiest you can be on a team which might have a shot to contend?

Confessions of a Raging Cynic

It's trite and cliche, but, in my case, it happens to be true. The old saying,
"A pessimist is just an optimist who got his feelings hurt," definitely
applies to me when looking at the 2006-2007 Philadelphia Flyers.

I've acquired a reputation as "Negative Bob" amongst my fellow Phanatic
colleagues because of my pull-no-punches and avoid-all-compliment nature when
discussing most aspects of sports and life.

But if technology exists to make Joe Lunardi look taller, sound less grating
and appear less stocky on television than he is in real life, there must be
hope for me.

The phenomenon has happened once before, during the 1995 lockout season.
When the team opened up the year at 3-6-1, after five straight years out of
the playoffs, I was poised to watch games with nothing more than a winter-long
version of bitter-beer face.

Even after the big Recchi-LeClair-Desjardins trade, the rise from last to
first, and the clinching of a playoff spot and division title in back-to-back
games in late April, I was still unconvinced.

All it took then at the ripe young age of 17 to relax and let the Kool-Aid
slide down the gullet was a few thrilling overtime playoff wins and I was
hooked for the next 10 years. However, 12 years later, after weathering a
cancelled campaign, another first-round playoff failure and the worst regular
season in franchise history, it's not so easy to repair that Flying P logo-
shaped wound on my heart.

The thing is, I don't want to act and think so cynically -- it just comes so
easy. It's fun to paint a very vivid, sarcastic picture of events as they
happen, especially this season when the misfortune has been so dire, bizarre
and unrelenting.

But that's all changed now, because I'm going to slap on the Happy Helmet and
drink a pitcher full of orange-flavored positivity and a magical
transformation should take place.

Forget about losing four of four to the Panthers, Todd Fedoruk doing his best
Gerry Cooney imitation, or the league's lowest point total. In honor of the
Flyers' four-game sweep over playoff-bound Atlanta, I'm going to profess my
undying love for the team and express unbridled hope for the future.

So, here goes...

Ahhhh...it feels so good when it hits your lips....

...I see so very clearly now...

Simon Gagne? Every single shift he takes erases the memory of Tim Kerr and
John LeClair.

Martin Biron? The second coming of the first arrival of Ron Hextall!

Peter Forsberg? Nobody could ever accuse him of Hamlet-like tendencies. A
solid, resolute star player through and through. He's not hurting, he's just
resting so he'll be 100 percent ready when he comes back next season.

Derian Hatcher? A speedy transitional skater and stone wall on defense...he's
the guy to teach the young kids how to make it in the new NHL. Why didn't he
use that sniper's touch around the net more often??

Geoff Sanderson? Pelle Eklund ring a bell?

Scottie Upshall? Who cares if he's hurt, the ladies love him! And ladies bring
boyfriends, who bring buddies, who buy season tickets and fill the upper
levels!

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter? Peter Zezel, Murray Craven, and both Sutter
brothers all rolled into two. The focus they display on the ice at all times
is something the kids should emulate.

Janne Niinimaa - how can I forget the Finnish Flash? He's handling both ends
of the ice so adeptly these days, it's hard to believe he ever did well under
the abrasive Ken Hitchcock.

John Stevens? A mastermind. A champion. I can't imagine he's ever going to be
outcoached. He speaks not but golden nuggets of wisdom at all times.

Paul Holmgren - I just wanna shake your hand, sir. As I stare into those cold
Nordic brown eyes and see that squared and tensed jaw, it is soothing to know
the Flyers will get back on the Cup-winning track by splurging in free agency
come July.

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. Shades I'll be wearing next June
on that sunny day when the Stanley Cup parade happens. In fact, let me go stake out a spot at Broad and Oregon in preparation. You're all welcome to come along -- I have enough juice to last us the season.

Put Another Record On...

...aaaand the hits just keep on comin'.

Last night's 4-1 loss to Florida meant that the Panthers made it a clean sweep of the season series (4-0-0) over the Flyers for the first time in their brief history. That reverses the Flyers' first-ever season sweep of Florida last season.

The Panthers have given the Flyers fits since their 1993 inception - as head coaches Roger Neilson and Doug McLean brought that demon neutral zone trap down and walked out of the Spectrum and the CoreStates Center with more than a few shocking 0ne-or-more goal wins.

The entire series has been bizarre to say the least. With the two losses this season on South Broad Street, the Flyers are now 12-10-7 here, and even with two defeats in South Florida, are 20-7-1 there. The Flyers on more than one occasion, had suffered losses under a hail of plastic rats at the old Miami Arena in the mid-1990's. They lost a playoff game in overtime when the net was clearly dislodged from the rear when the winning goal was scored.

Florida became the last team to win three games at the Spectrum in one year (one regular season and two playoff wins) in 1995-96, and also were the first visiting team to win twice at the new building (October 5 and 27, 1996). Pavel Bure scored a hat trick in a 3-3 tie in his first game in a Panthers uniform after a trade from Vancouver in Philly.

But nothing could compare to the total whitewash the Panthers put on the Flyers in 2006-2007. The Flyers held the lead for exactly 1:54 of game time in the four contests. Florida held the Flyers to just five goals in those four games, an all time low for goals allowed in a season series, as well as an all time low for goals per game. Ed Belfour had hands down the easiest four wins of his storied career, never even breaking a sweat or whining once to the officials about players buzzing him in the crease. Hell, even Martin Biron heaped on the scorn by accidentally scoring the game-deciding goal on himself earlier in the month.

Alls I can say now is, I'll get you next time, Gadget...next time...

Tightening the Screws

Last night, there were two 2-1 games in the NHL.

Out of two total games. Pittsburgh and the Rangers. Canucks and the Oilers. All four teams who know how to turn on the offense. Three of those teams will make the playoffs, and one (the Oilers) will not.

So why the energy and goal crisis all of a sudden?

Surely in the era of the "new NHL" coaches and players know that a playoff berth is no longer contingent on how many one-goal games they can squeeze out of the remainder of the schedule. Don't they know they have extra points for overtime and shootout losses? Maybe not. Maybe the psychology of the pre-2004 NHL is still hard-wired into the men behind the bench and the boys out on the ice.

Let's not forget what all those excruciatingly close games from 1996 to 2004 have taught us, and what the 2006 season brought us: the knowledge that a loss is a loss is a loss, no matter if it's 2-1, 6-2, or 7-6. If a team in a playoff race loses by one goal, it still counts as a defeat, and the opportunity to make up the loss is removed. Dozens of coaches trotted out that method in the past, perhaps as a hairshirt over losing a three-goal game in late March. The only remedy then seemed to be winning as many one-goal games or tying as many games on purpose as punishment for losing by so much.

The illusion existed, and persisted, that your margin of wins or losses down the stretch was an indicator of how battle-ready certain teams were in the playoffs. Sadly, that perception still exists in 2007. Take a gander at the margin of victory for all playoff teams in the early stages of last season and this season, then compare them with the margin of victory in March and April for the same: you see that the average goals per game dips, and the goal differential in those games also takes a big tumble.

Pardon me, but I thought the ideas behind awarding points for overtime and shootout losses was to reward teams for throwing caution to the wind and going for the win, breaking them of the habit of playing a 65-minute chess match with little excitement. Instead, more and more teams in year two of the combined overtime/shootout loss column, are taking advantage of the system. More games this season than last have gone to either extra session. Sure, there's been the extra bonus of having a 5-4 game go the distance instead of a 2-2 game end in a tie, but the old-school philosophy of tightening up still prevails.

Lucky for us, there have been some days late in the season already where the trend was bucked, like last Saturday when Carolina won by five, Florida scored eight and won by three, and the Rangers defeated Boston by a touchdown and extra point.

Don't expect fireworks most nights, though. There are still six teams in contention for a final postseason
berth - five in the East and Colorado in the West. Even though the East has flipped the script and plays a more
open game like the West used to, there are enough teams who like to play spoiler who will be fighting tooth-and-nail with one-goal wins just for professional pride.

Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. Unless you're out of contention, then nobody cares how badly you win or lose. These are the games to keep your eye on if you're a fan and want to be entertained - because the pressure's off and guys are playing for pride and numbers.

One Bad Omen

The Flyers pulled off a momentous feat in last night's 3-2 win over the playoff-bound Atlanta Thrashers.

A four-game, season-series sweep. Over a team battling for a division title, and which is 33 points ahead of them in the overall standings.

This does not bode well for Atlanta.

That's four games they've squandered, and all the difference between a comfortable division lead in the Southeast and the battle-royale they find themselves in with a struggling Tampa Bay club which has made up 15 points in the last 6 weeks.

It's not the end of the world, but how can you justify a team that is the oldest in the NHL - which is stocked with names like Holik, Mellanby, Tkachuk, Zhitnik, Hossa and Kovalchuk - loses all four games in some fashion to a Flyers club which will end the season dead last? One example that screams out is the 1984-85 Montreal Canadiens, who won the old Adams Division. They lost all three games to a Toronto Maple Leafs team which won 20 out of 80 regular season contests, then bowed out at home in overtime in Game 7 against provincial rival Quebec in the second round.

One should note that the Canadiens learned their lesson and won the Cup the following season, but Atlanta's deadline deals indicate a "win now" philosophy that belies any lesson-learning this season.

Or maybe the lesson is, don't underestimate your opponent, no matter what the standings say. The Flyers did not play particularly well or hard in each of the first three games against Atlanta, and walked away with three wins. Last night, once the Flyers got that 3-1 lead, Atlanta clearly carried the play and momentum but even down two goals to the 30th ranked club in the NHL, it's hard to claw back to tie or win.

The best salve Bob Hartley can apply in this situation is to get his team to erase the memory of the sweep by focusing on what needs to be done to win games in the remaining portion of the schedule. This is where the Holiks and Mellanbys and even the injured Steve Rucchins on the team have to shine, to keep the younger minds in focus and continually energetic. In the blink of an eye, the Thrashers can fall from third to sixth or lower in the Eastern Conference - and pundits won't hesitate to point out Philly's 4-0 record as the main culprit.

Penguins won't march: Deal reached for new arena

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced on Tuesday that they have reached an agreement with city, county and state officials for the financing of a new arena that will keep the club in the Steel City for the next 30 years.

At a cost of $290 million, the new building will be constructed across the street from Mellon Arena, home to the Pens since the team's 1967 inception. Team officials expect the new arena to be ready for the start of the 2009-2010 season. The club will play at Mellon until then on a short-term lease extension.

"This is another great step forward for the City of Pittsburgh and our region," said mayor Luke Ravenstahl. "We all worked very hard to ensure that the Penguins would stay here in Pittsburgh, and to provide a new 21st century entertainment center for our city without using local taxpayer dollars."

The Penguins' lease at the 46-year-old facility, nicknamed "The Igloo," which is the oldest rink remaining in the league, was to expire on June 30, at which point the team would have been free to leave.

The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority will own the new arena, which will be operated by the Penguins, under the terms of the 30-year lease. The state will pay $7.5 million annually from a state economic development fund and slot machine revenues.

Don Barden, who owns Majestic Star Casino LLC, has been awarded the slots license for Pittsburgh, and will pay $7.5 million a year. The team itself will pay $3.8 million a year as well as $400,000 a year in capital improvements. The Penguins, who will be responsible for paying all operating costs, will also receive all revenue generated by the new arena.

Mediated by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the agreement was reportedly reached last Thursday in Philadelphia between club co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, PA governor Ed Rendell, Ravenstahl, and Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato.

Before the deal was struck, Lemieux threatened to relocate the team and trips to Las Vegas and Kansas City ensued. Kansas City offered the use of its yet-to-be completed Sprint Center rent-free if the Penguins decided to relocate there prior to the start of next season.

Simon’s stickwork provides rare opportunity for all involved

For once, the NHL got something right.

The punishment handed down by the league office to the New York Islanders’ Chris Simon on Sunday is the largest sentence in league history: 25 games. That means, beginning from this past Saturday’s game with Washington, the Isles enforcer is not eligible to play again until 25 total games have elapsed – regular season and playoffs combined. If New York should reach the postseason, the number of games would be reduced at the start of the 2007-2008 regular season.

Simon should hope his teammates rally and capture a playoff berth so that only this current year is disrupted.

Unlike Marty McSorley, whose 23-game suspension in February, 2000 for assaulting Vancouver’s Donald Brashear with a two-handed swing amounted to a premature end to the last-ditch effort of a veteran to earn a paycheck, removing Simon for 25 games brings a colorful and useful player’s career to a screeching halt.

The fact that the penalty was so stiff is surprising, given that the NHL has set a low bar in terms of precedent for stick-swinging infractions.

In 1973, when all but a handful of NHL players skated without head gear, California Seals defenseman Barry Cummins was suspended three games and fined $300 for cracking Bobby Clarke over the head which produced freely-flowing blood. All Dino Ciccarelli of the Minnesota North Stars had to do was spend one night in jail, booked on an assault charge, when he clubbed Toronto’s Luke Richardson on the side of the head with a two-handed chop in 1988. Ten years earlier, in 1978, Colorado’s Wilf Paiement drew a 15-game ban for giving a roundhouse swing to the mug of Detroit’s Dennis Polonich. The biggest of the bunch was a 16-game suspension handed down to Boston’s Eddie Shore in 1933, for slamming his stick full into the head of Toronto’s Ace Bailey and nearly killing him.

However, while I commend the swift action of league discipline czar Colin Campbell for acting quickly and first suspending Simon indefinitely, then handing down the weighty sentence, I still think there is room enough for more punishment in this case.

The 25^th pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1990 draft made his NHL debut for Quebec in 1992, and has crafted a reputation during an eventful 14-year career for causing chaos and mayhem for the Nordiques and five other franchises including the Islanders. His first suspension came in 1997, when he allegedly called Sabres forward Mike Grier a very forbidden six-letter word to his face. The incident was all the more perplexing given that Simon is a Native Canadian, and had to endure similar racial intolerance and epithets growing up.

Two more suspensions followed before this one, which did little to quell the raging spirit within the Wawa, Ontario native. He has amassed over 1700 penalty minutes in 692 career games. No stranger to the net as well as the penalty box, Simon also scored 29 goals in 1999-2000 for the Washington Capitals in a typically calm year.

So, I feel comfortable in saying that Simon should be subjected to more than 25 games for this jarring, heinous, and disturbing offense. Being a fighter by trade, one respected by teammates and opponents, Simon knows the ins and outs of those mysterious, unwritten hockey rules referred to as “The Code.”

Let’s be honest here. Hollweg’s hit was far from legal, as he caught Simon on a cross-check with his back fully turned to the boards, in that perilous position which can cause significant head and neck injuries if a skater is knocked off-balance. Hollweg knows that a player of his caliber is not to make snap decisions like that and get by without a response from a respected veteran. Likewise, Simon knows full well that he cannot make such a rash, impulsive and dangerous decision like the one that led to Hollweg’s injury and maintain the level of respect he worked so long to cultivate.

Through a decade and a half of prowling the ice, he is well aware that the proper response should be to wait until Hollweg is looking him squarely in the eyes before settling his differences by dropping the gloves. That’s why Simon’s retroactive excuse that he possibly suffered a concussion on the hit and thus may not have had his faculties about him at the time of the misdeed rings very hollow. Several former NHL tough guys have admitted to going toe-to-toe with an opponent after that player caused them to see stars and lived to fight again, so why should Chris Simon be any different?

That’s why the penalty can be and should be stiffer. Simon, a player who supposedly knows better, who knows exactly how to cause damage and how to relent when necessary, did cause harm to a fellow player in such a vicious and disrespectful manner.

There is widespread agreement that the NHL dropped the ball on the Todd Bertuzzi incident three years ago, exchanging 20 games plus a cancelled season for one player’s career and health. This time around, while it is comforting that Campbell has decided to set a new precedent, there is room for a greater stand.

Just look at the tape. There is nothing in Simon’s actions that should cause anyone to plead for clemency, and there is plenty to view which may cause the most even-tempered minds to be moved to pure shock, disgust and rage. Thank God whatever impulses prevented him from taking a full-on baseball-style swing with a full wind-up from stopped him from doing so, because if there was any pre-meditated thought like Bertuzzi’s head-slam on Simon’s part, Hollweg would have wound up as gravely injured as Steve Moore.

Barry Melrose has spoken at length on the incident beginning last Thursday night, when he emphatically called for a 40-game suspension. A virtual half-season ban even suggested in the heat of the moment is too excessive in my opinion. I think starting at 25 games, then re-evaluating the situation after that limit has elapsed, is a suitable comfort zone. That way, Simon has had plenty of time to apologize to Hollweg, to his team, to make his mea culpa to the league, and to assess where that violent impulse may have originated.

Simon’s shame and Hollweg’s suffering can also work for the greater good. The NHL should now take a huge step forward by framing stick infractions in the same manner they did for abuse of officials two decades ago. At one time, Paul Holmgren punched referee Andy Van Hellemond square in the face in a dispute over a penalty and received five games; outrage from NHL officials was so great that all further infractions towards the zebras carried an immediate 20-game sentence.

Let’s abolish the current system of minor for high-sticking, four minutes for drawing blood and a major plus a match penalty for egregious harm. Make the act of merely drawing blood due to careless stick work a major plus a match penalty and a one-game suspension, intent-to-injure a match penalty plus a five-game suspension, and turn a Simonesque wielding of the stick into a 25-gamer or more.

I need to make one more thing clear before I wrap this up, and I address this to the common fan as well as students of the game: the Simon-Hollweg incident is absolutely NOT an indicator that the NHL is evolving (or devolving) into a much more wanton, brutal, lawless entity. The league has persevered and prospered despite being peppered every so often by random, inexplicable acts which far outstrip the kinetic nature of the game – and will continue to evolve though incidents and accidents will continue to occur.

Nonetheless, when a stern hand is called for, the NHL should have no qualms about stepping in and bringing the hammer down. Chris Simon may feel that he’s been unfairly made an example of at some point during his suspension. But he should also counter that by knowing he brought shame and outrage upon a game which he is fortunate to have played in the first place, and was punished for the betterment of all.

Deja Vu

Can't we all just get along?

The Song Remains The Same

Three years later, there are two simple facts: Todd Bertuzzi still gets to play in the NHL, and Steve Moore cannot.

March 8, 2004 was the end of a blood feud between the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche which had been simmering for months. Started when Canucks fourth-liner Brad May took some cheap shots at both Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg of the Avalanche in a February game in Denver, the whole ugly mess ended when Bertuzzi punched Moore from behind, then grabbed him and slammed him head-first into the ice. Moore was carted off the ice on a stretcher, a trail of blood quickly coagulating and freezing into the neutral zone at GM Place as his teammates rushed forth to defend their incapacitated teammate.

In between were festering allegations of headhunting, and the justification for Bertuzzi's actions being revenge for Moore's hit on Markus Naslund, which caused the Canucks' captain to suffer a mild concussion. At the time of the incident, the Avalanche had poured on the hurtin' on the scoreboard, on their way to a 9-2 blitz.

The timing of the hit was curious, in hindsight: It was the final meeting of six that season. In Vancouver. The clubs would not have a chance to meet in the playoffs until a much later round if at all. With the impending threat of a lockout, it could also have been the last meeting of the teams for an indefinite period of time.

The action itself, viewed through any prism you like, was one of the most egregious and atrocious violations of" The Code" that has occurred in NHL history.

First, the tale of the tape: Bertuzzi is shaped more like a block of granite than a man, 6'3", 225 lbs, who looms much larger and hits much harder than those dimensions would indicate. Moore stood 6'2 and weighed 205 lbs. So, the physical advantage goes to #44 in your program.

Next, the process: According to the unwritten Code, if any player wishes to engage a fellow skater in a fight, he must either exchange words face-to-face, or tap his mark on the shoulder. Bertuzzi did neither, first sucker punching Moore from behind, then grabbing him across the shoulders - all without facing his prey. Anyone with a long enough memory who saw the Moore incident also flashed back to February, 2000, when Marty McSorley (then with the Bruins) smacked the blade of his stick full force into Donald Brashear's face from behind on the very same ice - using the excuse that all he wanted to do was tap Brashear on the shoulder as indication he wanted to engage in fisticuffs.

Finally, the injury itself: As Bertuzzi rode the full force and momentum of his body into Moore, the Avs' forward's face struck the ice violently to one side, opening up facial cuts and abrasions from which a steady flow of blood poured forth. The force of the blow knocked Moore unconscious, and the violence with which he was tackled and shoved caused three of his neck vertebrae to fracture, coming dangerously close to paralysis. Moore was only brought into the world of sentience when it was required to stabilize his neck in order to leave the ice and get to the nearest hospital.

The penalty for such a willful, destructive act? 20 games. Bertuzzi was suspended for the remainder of the 2003-2004 regular season, plus the entirety of the Canucks' seven-game opening-round playoff loss to Calgary. The cancelled 2004-2005 season due to the lockout added more pathos to Bertuzzi's situation, as he held a press conference where he finally, tearfully expressed regret for the incident - causing some brave, oxygen-deprived columnists to declare the fact that "Bert" would be cleansed from extra guilt if he had that entire year to sit in the corner alone and think about what he did.

Still, when the NHL resumed play in October, 2005, two facts still remained: Todd Bertuzzi was allowed to continue his career, while Steve Moore was not.

I assure you, Bertuzzi's Kleenex-inducing mea culpa are the only tears that should be shed for either man. For those who view Bertuzzi's act in its proper context, there should be bitterness and righteous anger. Dale Hunter drew a still-record 21-game ban in 1993 for hitting Pierre Turgeon from behind in the closing minutes of the Islanders' playoff series victory over the Washington Capitals. Turgeon suffered a separated shoulder and returned to play at full health the following season for New York. Whether Bertuzzi is truly sorry in the depths of his soul and professes such in private, or whether the tears were semi-genuine and a calculated move is immaterial.

Moore, who only had cups of tea with the Avalanche spread over three seasons, played collegiately at Harvard. With his generous contract, he is able to pour money into his extensive rehabilitation at home in Ontario. With his support system that includes former players, coaches, and his agent, he is able to face every day of his recovery with optimism and determination.

Moreover, he is a graduate of that prestigious Ivy League school with a degree in environmental sciences and public policy. While some may snicker at the major as if it were a dressed-up version of "Rocks for Jocks, " if and when Moore decides to forego his goal of catching on with an NHL club, he will most certainly not be at a disadvantage to continue with a career and a life with those credentials.

The fan in me, which resides firmly in the dark recesses of my mind when putting words on a page, cries for retribution. I am not alone in the opinion, or the certainty that Bertuzzi has not been punished enough. At the time when discussion of the penalty for his actions ran to extremes, I called for his immediate suspension lasting through the end of that season, plus half of whatever season came next. I still stand by that opinion, as it would have given Gary Bettman a proper and fantastic chance to set a new precedent for punishing acts which cause harm to individuals and which denigrate the game itself.

As an avid observer, I would have delighted in an entire six-game slate of blood, guts and gore between Colorado and Vancouver aimed straight for the former 1993 draft pick of the New York Islanders. Scores be damned, the beast within me that watches hockey for its cathartic qualities would have been sated by at least one more brawl in response.

However, the writer and budding professional who attempts to shed light on his subject thanks Chance that the 2004-2005 season was wiped out, preventing either team, and its more excitable players, from wantonly causing chaos and mayhem. The extra year-plus off the ice allowed all the psychic wounds to heal, quelled the need for retribution, and caused those whose careers resumed to focus on bringing the NHL back from the rubble.

Nonetheless, three years later it is still perplexing that the league chooses to equate violence of this kind with the act of fighting. Fighting deals with respect of an opponent, and the honor of defending your teammate by dropping the gloves in a one-on-one situation. The inability of the battle-tested to grapple amongst themselves due to instigator penalties helped cause a random act of violence like Bertuzzi's to happen. There was clearly no respect for an opponent on Bertuzzi's part, and his actions caused life-threatening physical harm to another.

Three years later the song remains the same: Todd Bertuzzi can continue his career, while Steve Moore most likely will not.

Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice...

Apparently, one overtime win over the Devils is sudden cause for both major newspapers in this city to pack stories chock full of quotes from the Flyers about how much hope there is for the future, and how much they all wish there were half the season to play instead of a handful of games remaining.

Look, it's great that this rag-tag bunch of Phantoms call-ups, deadline acquisitions, and veterans can squeeze out a couple nail-biters against potential playoff teams as this season circles the drain into the start of baseball...but let's remember that this team is still a deeply troubled, losing one. OK, so the string of points (in four straight games and five of their last six) is promising, but the actual record in that stretch (2-1-3) is nothing to write home about, plus, they're just 3-4-3 (or 3-7 if you're a hard case) in the last 10 contests.

Last time I checked, the NHL doesn't yet award points for spirited efforts where a losing team is "in the game" over the course of 60 minutes. It is a positive harbinger for the future that this wretched refuse wearing ashen black unis can earn a pair of points against a division leader, but the future is still 16 games (plus six more months after that) distant.

If you indulge in a bit of prediction for the remainder of the schedule, it looks like the Flyers may have five games they could win outright: Boston at home this weekend, at Phoenix, home against the Islanders, home against the Rangers, then home again to the Islanders provided they're officially out of the race. That's only 23 wins folks - nothing to hang your hat on even if those games turn out correctly. The rest of their opponents are teams either eager to shore up their playoff seeding, or will be skating through brick walls to make the postseason.

Still, as the cornerstone of the franchise and its marketing slogan has always been about effort and hard work - they can sell you a picture that hard work plus a little maturity is the ultimate cure-all for the club. Of course, it's not so. You need the right head coach and the better pick of players to make it all come together, and in this, the Flyers are sorely lacking from now until April 8th, and maybe even until July 1st.

For now, though, enjoy the suck. It's almost over. Take solace in a few more watchable games. Burn into your memories some good plays by some guys who won't be back in '08. Just don't believe the hype.

11:58

The Pittsburgh Penguins have not been able to reach a deal for a new arena anywhere in the city, so relocation looms as a more likely proposition.

Again, don't expect the NHL to mediate in this matter. Remember, the league's position is one for the overall health of all 30 teams, so whether the Pens stay in Pittsburgh, go to the ready-made situation in Kansas City, or end up in a totally different locale is of no consequence as long as the franchise itself is on stable footing.

The only true variable in the situation is how Mario Lemieux will be perceived. Will he be viewed in the same light as William Irsay, Art Modell, Donald Stirling, Jeffrey Loria - all renegade owners who tried to either strongarm a city to force a move, or unexpectedly yank one to a new city - or will he get a pass from a business perspective as a former franchise savior who was forced into drastic measures?

Update: According to the king of all incognito hockey bloggers, "Eklund" reports that the measure might have been prompted by Governor Ed Rendell himself as a way to spur a deal to get done and keep the Pens in Pittsburgh. Now Fast Eddie is going to petition the NHL to step in and block the move.

1) Since when does reverse psychology work with men who have more money than the person trying to use said psychology?

2) Good luck on that one, Monsieur Governor. Maybe you think you can sit eyeball-to-eyeball with The Commish and persuade him because of your mutual legal and cultural backgrounds, but if Bettman has presided over this issue like a passive king on his throne, there's not much you can do.

3) I know we fans and readers can spot when a beat writer is a shill for the team he covers, but since when can a mere blogger write something like "Penguins likely to stay in Pittsburgh" with any degree of certainty, even with his supposed network of sources?

A Lonely Island

The trade deadline acquisition of Martin Biron from the Buffalo Sabres last Tuesday might have signaled the end of the tenure for one of the most competitive but congenial players ever to set foot in the Flyers’ locker room.

Robert Esche isn’t playing.

He hasn’t started a game since February 22nd in Buffalo, when he was pulled after giving up four goals in 22 minutes during a 6-3 loss. He hasn’t completed a game since a 4-3 overtime loss at the Wachovia Center January 30th against Tampa Bay. He hasn’t won a game since January 2nd, picking up the victory by stopping 40 shots in a 3-2 Philly win over the Islanders in New York. His record at the moment: 5-9-2. Even more glaring, his alternate stats: .872 save percentage, and a garish 4.32 goals-against average.

But Robert Esche hasn’t left either.

Although sources have told several Philadelphia-area publications that he was the subject of trade talks at the start of the calendar year, and that by the end of January his locker at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees was conspicuously less cluttered, Esche remains a part of the team.

As the deadline neared, there was talk in some quarters that Esche could be headed to Los Angeles, a team stocked with a glut of young and speedy talent. It didn’t hurt that the Kings’ president and general manager is Dean Lombardi, a former Flyers employee, and the assistant general manager is Ron Hextall. Adding more speculation to those rumors was LA’s waiver acquisition of Sean Burke, arriving in Southern California from Springfield of the AHL in late January. Burke mentored Esche when the young goaltender came up to the Phoenix Coyotes in 1999-2000, and that relationship continued off the ice and had grown since then. Esche has many times cited Burke’s addition to the Flyers roster in 2004 as a huge motivating factor in his success that Spring.

However, keeping Esche in hockey’s equivalent of the Phantom Zone after not dealing him for any value before the deadline passed complicates the Flyers goaltending situation.

Biron, an unrestricted free-agent after this season, wanted out of Buffalo in the worst way after Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff decided to give the starting job to Ryan Miller. Judging from interviews he conducted with American and Canadian press in the days leading up to last Tuesday, it seemed the 29-year-old didn’t care where he was dealt, as long as he got a chance to prove himself worthy. Now that he’s with the Flyers but still able to walk away to another team come summertime (as when Ed Belfour auditioned for other clubs at the tail end of the 1996-97 season in San Jose after Chicago dealt him away) for a bigger, better deal, the fact that Esche will also be unrestricted may create a deep crater around the crease in need of immediate filling.

Given that neither of the current Phantoms goaltenders are ready for prime time, and that the organization’s recent free-agent selections have read like a list of shell-shocked veterans on a final tour of duty, it would have clearly been more beneficial to the team to trade Esche for a jersey filler or more draft picks/prospects. Therefore, the man dubbed “Chico” would have been given a chance to start fresh somewhere else without having to spend so much time in limbo, and that acquired value could be used to attract another goaltender. Also, any deal along those lines would have been beneficial to Antero Niittymaki, giving him positive reinforcement that he has a long future with the club.

However, the fact that no deal occured opens things up to a great deal of uncertainty. If Biron chooses to stay, and is able to work out a deal, he’s a clear number one with Niittymaki as the capable back-up. Esche would then have a definite answer that his future is not in Philadelphia, and everyone gets on with their lives. On the other hand, if Biron chooses to walk, it is unclear if the Flyers could work fast enough to sign Esche before he draws better, more lucrative interest from other clubs.

For now, though, it’s hard to imagine the country music loving firebrand being anything close to pleased with his professional life. Despite a marriage and stable home with two kids, in the space of three calendar years he has slipped precipitously from postseason hero to pariah. Hopefully he’s putting extra effort into that great golf tournament he hosts each July just outside of his hometown of Utica, New York in his spare time when he’s not, of course, keeping himself sharp for a potential showcase start towards the end of the regular season.

Hall-of-Famer and Philadelphia legend Bernie Parent famously stated that a goalie stands on a very lonely island. As tough as it may be to stand and face 40 shots a game and the camera lights afterward, it’s worse for someone as battle-ready as Esche to be denied the chance to do so, and suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune while waiting.

Kansas City, here they come.

The biggest fears of Pittsburgh Penguins fans hover above the Steel City like a cloak of ash and soot from its former industrial days. Loyal followers of the two-time Stanley Cup winning franchise live in dire expectation that their beloved angry skating marine mammal will turn his gaze and his stride to the Midwest, not stopping until he reaches KC.

All that separates this town from their team from disappearing is the hopes of a business deal that will keep the Pens in Pittsburgh beyond the termination of their lease with Mellon Arena, which expires at the end of June.

However, I'll tell you several reasons why a Penguins move before the start of next season would benefit the NHL more than it would upset the people of Western Pennsylvania.

First, is the glut of young superstar talent stacked in the Eastern Conference. You have Crosby and Malkin just on the Penguins, followed by Alex Ovechkin. In the West, it's a series of stars on a couple teams, but no major franchise faces the NHL is presenting as a major draw. So, if you shift the Penguins to Kansas City, there's a bit more balance in terms of marketable uber-talent.

Second, under the current schedule which is up at the end of next season, there is too little inter-conference play. Having Crosby and Malkin in the Western Conference and the K.C. Penguins in the Central Division gives Detroit and Nashville eight cracks apiece at both players to showcase their talents, plus four games a year with aggressive offensive gameplans like those in Calgary, Colorado, San Jose and Los Angeles.

Third, if and when the Penguins move to the Midwest, the realignment of the divisions would put certain teams in better geographic positions. Pittsburgh would go from the Atlantic to the Central (with Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, and Columbus, all midwestern towns). Nashville would move from the Central to the Southeast (providing a better geographic fit with the remaining Southern teams even though they'd be in a different time zone), and Washington heads northward to the Atlantic (where they'd also be in closer proximity to their old Patrick Division foes instead of travelling anywhere from 300 to 1200 miles within their former division).

Next, unlike 30 years ago when the NHL's reactionary stance against the WHA forced some bad expansion cities into the league, the Kansas City area is exponentially more vibrant and ready to host a big-league club.
Kansas City's metro area and sphere of influence stretches as far West as Manhattan, Kansas, as far north as Omaha, and as far south and southwest as Wichita and the Kansas suburbs close to the state line. After the Scouts departed for Denver, the IHL's Blades proved a capable and popular franchise for several NHL teams, most notably the San Jose Sharks. A good amount of players who figured in the Sharks' playoff upsets in 1994 and 1995 came through the old Kemper Arena before heading to Silicon Valley.

Further still, that relocation gives a nice string of franchises along the I-70 corridor from Columbus to Denver, including a Kansas City-St. Louis rivalry already explored in baseball's interleague play.

In addition (for however long it lasts), free rent in the spanking-new Sprint Center allows any advertising and merchandising revenue to be pumped cleanly and wholly back into the team to spend on veteran talent if the time comes where the Pens are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders on solid financial footing. This sure thing is bound to be more beneficial than having fans, team ownership, the mayor's office, local businessmen as well as Pennsylvania's governor strut and fret in hours when the moon is dark over whether or not the team can squeeze out one or two more years in its current state.

If the move should happen, I hope all Penguins fans don't misplace their fear, mistrust and anger. It's not as if the club will pack up and move in the middle of the night with no warning. There has been ample time for all team supporters to enjoy one or more games at the Igloo, and should the team resurface in Missouri for October 2007, the faithful should still want to root for their team, knowing that the move kept their beloveds from a much murkier fate.