Around these parts, we’ll do our best to give you everything you need to know about the Columbus Blue Jackets. We’ll also fill you in on the stories you may not have heard about (or those you didn’t think you need to know about), the social media buzz around the league, along with a few random nuggets for good measure.
Think of it as your morning coffee with a shot of Blue Jackets talk.
NOBODY WILL EVER AGREE: This may come as a surprise, but people have strong opinions on the Sidney Crosby-Matt Niskanen incident from Monday night’s Game 3 in Pittsburgh.
I’ve got an opinion on it, as well, but we’ll skip over it for now in order to talk about the Rangers-Senators series.
Ha! Just kidding.
Listen, you’re not going to get a conspiracy theory out of me. What happened to Crosby is brutal, gutting and disappointing. He’s got a long history of head injuries and this one is troubling because of how violent it appeared, but I’m not entirely sure it was avoidable. About one second elapses (maybe less, actually) from when Crosby is clipped by Alex Ovechkin’s stick and then skates into Niskanen’s path, and Niskanen is either bracing for an impact for defending himself or something…but either way, it doesn’t look good.
Can we agree on that?
This is the league’s best player. He’s the face of the sport. But I can’t get behind any sort of premeditated idea here; this is an unfortunate collision with a really bad result.
What’s worse, I guess, is the fallout in the media. Pittsburgh columnist Rob Rossi went off the rails. A few other outlets suggested this was a planned attack by the Capitals. I mean, come on. I know we want headlines that generate attention in this business, but do we have to assume that every incident such as this is the result of head hunting?
I’m as surprised as anyone that Niskanen wasn’t suspended. The Ovechkin stick thing is a bad look, too, so I’m not really sure what message the NHL is trying to send here. Forget it all happened? It’s a dangerous play, it probably could have been handled better, but aren’t the media/fans of the sport entitled to know WHY there wasn’t a suspension for Niskanen?
WAIT A SECOND: Also from Game 3 in the Penguins-Capitals series came a bizarre sequence that summed up the NHL’s video review process. Follow along closely.
Chris Kunitz appears to score a goal that ties the game for Pittsburgh. As he goes to the net, he obviously makes contact with Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, then makes contact with the net and dislodges it from its moorings. The goal is called “good” on the ice, which, fine, but then the review gets a little weird.
The officials huddle and review the play to see whether the net is knocked off before the puck crosses the line. They say no, so the call on the ice stands and the goal is counted.
On the Washington bench, Barry Trotz looks at the play and thinks the same thing we all did: “how’s that not goalie interference?” Seemed like an easy call at the time, if you use the standard basis of “could the goalie play his position?” Clearly not, so Trotz has to call the officials over and officially challenge the play.
A few minutes later, we’ve got a reversal. There’s contact with the goaltender and the goal is taken off the board. Got all that?
What I’m trying to say is this: the league is conscious about the pace of games. Every major sport is in this day and age – and things like 3-on-3 overtime (which reduces shootouts) are a step in the right direction. But there’s literally a rule in the book that penalizes a player for “delaying the game” in flipping a puck into the seats, which requires about 12 seconds to grab a new puck and drop it again.
I fully understand that goaltender interference isn’t reviewable without a challenge – that’s for another day – but you’d think two referees could have spotted the infraction in the first place, which would’ve saved us about 10 minutes.
TELL ME MORE: Would David Clarkson have waived his no-move clause to help the Blue Jackets in the upcoming expansion draft? Probably. His playing days are over and while he’s not officially retired, the NHL and NHLPA have an understanding that it’s a formality. Either way, it’s good for the Blue Jackets and other clubs to know that, in cases like Clarkson’s, the player will be exempt from the expansion draft and his club won’t be forced to protect him because of the NMC.
To refresh, every club can protect 11 players (you’re looking at a 7-3-1 or 8-X-1 approach for most) and those with no-trade/no-move protection must be protected. The Blue Jackets are one of the teams at risk to lose a good young player, so this Clarkson news – first reported by ESPN.com’s Craig Custance – takes one auto-protect option off the table.
And don’t forget: one of the league’s most prominent reporters/insiders believes the potential is there for a mega-deal between the Blue Jackets and Vegas Golden Knights. Columbus has cap issues, Vegas has room to absorb a bad contract, and the Blue Jackets also have some attractive young pieces that could be selected in expansion. Stay tuned.
ICYMI: The Maple Leafs rewarded defenseman Nikita Zaitsev with a seven-year (!) contract extension on Tuesday, a year after he came over from Russia to join the club. That's quite a commitment, but the Leafs really like him ... The 1st Ohio Battery team is all hands on deck for its season review coverage, and it began yesterday with the kick-off of our Top 10 moments … Coming soon: player report cards. Look for the first to drop tomorrow morning.
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