Violent times

The hockey news have recently started to feel more and more like a police report of some serial abuser. Is this a sign of rising tempers on the ice or just a mere reflection of the current world and its increasing focus on peeking into nasty incidents and filth? If the first theory is true, we'll be seeing a lot of Mr. Shanahan on the video clips to come. If the latter, well I guess it's time to look in the mirror and ask what are we relly looking for in the coverage of our favorite sport.

I'll chip in by producing another article on the violent topic. I'll try to inject some sense within the gallery of gore.

I'll try to avoid the Sidney Crosby threshold here, otherwise I'd have to write about every bump that happens in the game. Instead, I'll focus on some of the recent serious incidents on the rinks around NHL.

Let's start with fellow Finn Ville Leino of the Buffalo Sabres. I knew the guy was extremely talented, but his nasty elbow on the head of Flyers rookie sensation Matt Read was in its viciousness a tribute to superhuman limb coordination. Leino used his left knee to knock Read's stick up, his right foot to kick the puck to himself and delivered a "no-look elbow" straight to the head of the unsuspecting rookie. All this in a fragment of a second, with perfect coordination. One game suspension is light and likely mostly so because Shanahan, regardless of his unquestionable merits on ice, couldn't have pulled that off himself and thus writes it off as an reckless accident. Hopefully Read didn't get any damage on the play and Leino vents his frustration of unproductiveness on other levels of play in the future.

Moving then to a distinguished bad boy Krys Barch. On his first game as a Florida Panther, he managed to destroy Boston's Daniel Paille on a thunderous hit near the boards. Paille spent four games on the press box after vicious headshot in February. Conspiracy theorists should all already connect the dots on the fact that the victim on Paille's check was Raymond Sawada, then a teammate of Krys Barch in Dallas. Barch hasn't yet received a suspension on the hit, but Paille is very likely out with a concussion. To make matters worse for Daniel Paille, he just returned from some time off the roster after stopping a slap shot with his nose. The ratio of buck for pain is definitely getting worse for him. Tough guys..

On the same night, Edmonton Oilers' Andy Sutton jumped off the ice to smash Carolina's Alexei Ponikarovsky's head on the boards. That's a 245lbs of mean meat aimed directly at someone's head. He's been suspended a few times in the past for irresponsible hits on ice and this is just getting ridiculous. Ponikarovsky is a big guy himself and there's no info on his status, but I find it very unlikely that he'll be able to play for a while. Sutton on the other hand is suspended indefinitely and will likely be looking at some extended time on the stationary bike and gym. Definitely not on the ice for a while.

And to cap the night of irresponsibility, Colorado's fourth liner Kevin Porter's knee-on-knee hit destroyed David Booth's dreams of starting to click in the Vancouver Canucks' lineup. Booth is out for at least a month with knee injury and Porter sits out the next four games as reminder.

On a week where we already saw Nashville Predators' Jordin Tootoo get suspended for trying to re-concuss Buffalo's star goalie Ryan Miller and Dallas Stars' Mark Fistric get three games ban for jumping off the ice to knock Islanders' Nino Niederreiter out with concussion, this recent burst of violent incidents just seems to underline the dangers of this game.

But in the end, has anything changed? Ice hockey is, and will always be, a rough sport. The players know it and the fans expect it. The players are professionals and practice every day to be able to navigate the hazards on ice. You can't take the physicality off the game without changing the whole sport. Everyone knows that.

The league is working hard on limiting the number of severe injuries, especially on the head area. But at the same time these get picked up to the headlines way easier than before and thus portray the picture of ice hockey as more violent than ever. I wonder will this new focus on injuries subconsciously also program some of the game's loose cannons to aim for the spotlight? There must be a sociopath or two out there who'd like to steal the headlines for a day or two on the sports coverage, right?

Shuffle up in Philly

Trade market is a topic that may result in rather long posts. I'll start with something that comes to my mind right away.

It sure has been a busy summer on the trade market. Lots of big names have landed on new teams, some surprisingly, some likely expecting or even wanting to get traded. Anyhow, this really injects some needed surprise factor on the team's overall success rate in the beginning of the next season. Gray hairs for owners, good fun for fans and gamblers.

Let's focus on the Philadelphia Flyers. They drew the biggest attention to themselves with a major decision in letting go many of their top guns from the last few seasons. Let's take a closer look on the guys who left and the ones that came in to fill in the gaps.

Mike Richards, for starters, was the team captain, fan favourite and the poster boy for the whole franchise, if not sometimes for the whole NHL. His style of hard nosed but efficient play was feared and followed alike. Sometimes it seemed even that he had some free passes on the NHL disciplinary actions for not getting punished for very hard hits with disturbing results. Well, he was one of the guys to start the discussion that ended up in the current blind side hits rule. Whatever that means in practice.. Anyway, teams don't often let these caliber guys go away. There's not many who could fill up his role in the whole sport. Beats me, maybe he was too greedy, unhappy or didn't get along with the management. Anyway, LA is the massive winner in this trade. It's going to be awesome to see how soon he finds a line in LA to deliver the goods.

Jeff Carter got shipped to Columbus. Well, not exactly what a guy with high and growing rating in the league wants to see. No matter what he says. Playing for half empty arenas in a non-competitive team is just bad PR. On the positive side, he'll get to play just as much as he wants as the ultimate superstar in the team. Winner again, Columbus, hands down. Carter's true skills will now be seen with mediocre linemates. I wouldn't expect 40 goals this season..

Ville Leino has hit the high wave on his career just on the right spot and that led Buffalo Sabres to lock him in for a long term, high salary contract. It's good to see Ville with a new chance to prove himself as a first line NHL forward. As a fellow Finn I hope he succeeds. Not too many high profile forwards from Finland anymore in the league. However, it's a gamble for the Sabres, like most of their moves this summer. Flyers should have tried to keep Leino, but likely couldn't match the offer he got.

The newcomers then. Bryzgalov, with a foolish contract for the eternity, forces the Flyers to commit to one goalie for bettor or worse. He did fantastic job in Phoenix, so it's not at all unlikely that he'd be able to plug the goals against column for good. Voracek, Simmonds and Talbot are work horses for second to fourth lines. Nothing spectacular, but likely worth their salary when played in right roles. Lilja is a lower minute defenceman in Philly, not a difference maker. The rookies, including Brayden Schenn, are the unknown. Maybe there's a new star in the making, maybe these guys will never secure a spot in the starting lineup, who knows.

Last but definitely not least is the grand old maestro, Jaromir Jagr. Currently gray bearded, but still extremely dangerous in the offensive zone. It's absolutely thrilling to see him get adjusted in today's NHL. With proper linemates he might well pull off another stellar season. The wildest predictions put him in the fight for the scoring title. That's a bit though to believe, but I could well believe in a bit less than a point per game season. Jagr, in his prime, has been one of the best to play the game ever. He's a no brainer to the Hall of Fame after he retires no matter how he does this season. I had a chance to follow his play in the last year's world championships and he didn't fall short to any of the younger stars in Czech lineup. In the Flyers he might be able to take the role of the living legend, leading younger guns to great things with his example. Obviously, I've always liked his style of play. Massive skills in one of the strongest packages in the game, combined with a world class eye for the play. I sincerely hope he still has the gas in the tank to compete on the ultimate top of this sport. Good catch form the Flyers indeed, if for nothing else than getting a truckload of interest directed in their games.

All in all, Philly really shook up its roster. On the first look it got way worse, but looking a bit further down the line, this may provide some stability to the franchise that likely expected to take it all with the lineup from the past couple of years. They ended up falling just short, but definitely showing that the "Rangers approach", of gathering the cream of players without paying too much attention to paychecks, can succeed with the right coordination.

I'll continue with another rambling post on some other trades this offseason later.

Plus and minus

Let's stop for a second to take a look at the often neglected statistic, Plus/Minus. This in the end often really points out some valuable guys for the team's overall success. The defenders who just refuse to give up any goals on their shifts and the forwards, who stay out of the spotlight and remain on the defensive position while their star-linemates rush out to score taking some risks. The everyday grinders on the team, but damn good ones.

Well, let's not forget my nationality bias. I just happened to see two fellow Finns in the top-3 of the NHL Plus/Minus stats. After realizing none of the Finns made it to the all-stars game, this brings some pride back.

Check out Toni Lydman, probably playing the year of his career. Leading the pack in the stats while playing for rather inconsistent Ducks. He's been contributing offensively pretty well all season, as expected, being a pretty mobile and talented defender in general. But apparently he's been stepping in and out of the rink at the right times too to join the celebrations and just shaking his head in the bench while opponents score. Lydman has been a very solid defenceman all his career and it's good to see he's thriving also in the new team. Maybe there's something in the company of fellow Finnish veterans Saku Koivu and Teemu Selänne that keep up the spirits. All of the three are actually playing on a high note.

And Ville Leino of Philadelphia Flyers is sitting on the third position. He's having a great season following an amazing entrance during last year's playoffs. Okay, he's playing with Briere and Hartnell, who definitely know what they're doing on the ice. So good company doesn't hurt either. However, to lead the trio in Plus/Minus shows that he's been contributing positively also outside the box. Very nice to see Leino succeeding. I paid attention to his skills already in the Finnish national league years back. For a while it seemed that his speed on skates wasn't enough for international level or NHL, but it seems he's either found the speed or adjusted well on the other aspects to succeed on the top level.

Looking at the others in the top of Plus/Minus charts points out two things; the most successful teams and the odd men who somehow elude goals against. The best stats for a player outside the current playoff teams is at 22. position for David Backes. Everything is easier when you're playing for a good team..

I have to end this post with the honorable mention to one of the all-time best Finnish forwards in NHL, Jere Lehtinen. He retired this season and finished his great career at +176 in under 900 games! Compare that e.g. to the long time linemate, super star Mike Modano, who's running his incredible career at +115 in over 1400 games. Dallas Stars will definitely miss Lehtinen if they make it to the playoffs. He just never gave up.