z_The Hockey Page - Toronto Star

More Olympic talk

A links blog this morning, and I promise to keep this a Sean Avery-free zone:

More Olympic team speculation with Wayne Gretzky in the house tonight at the ACC to watch Leafs vs. Kings. Bryan McCabe says he's not all that hopeful, and Paul Hunter points out it's been 29 years (!) since a Leafs skater has played for Canada in a World/Canada Cup or Olympics. Meantime, Hunter's colleague Damien Cox says that with Rick Nash currently on the limp, "leaving Nash off the team, then, is as risky as adding him."

McCabe can't be that unhappy. Along with partner Tomas Kaberle, he's on his way to pay raise, writes Steve Simmons at the Sun.

Team Canada Jr. has been announced for the upcoming world juniors, and Leafs prospect Justin Pogge is among them.

Carlo Colaiacovo wants to remain with the big club. Now there's a surprise.

Platinum seat holders beware: Jeremy Roenick will play tonight, pneumonia and all.
(C.Y.)

Eyes wide glazed

Over at Tom Benjamin's blog, there was some pretty good riffage out of Steve Yzerman's "it's not hockey" comment that I haven't linked to here because I'm, well, lusy (lusy=lazy + busy, a postmodern condition/alibi).

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Carful James, wouldn't want you to get run over now.

It went through my head last night, as my eyes glazed over watching the Leafs slowly put a pillow over Atlanta while they were sitting in the garage with the door down running the engine (way too figuratively speaking, of course), and my notes became a series of unconnected observations and stoner queries (sadly, I was as sober as Judge Wapner):
Is that William Shatner commercial the worst on TV?
If Bob Cole settled the raging "Koval-chuck or Koval-chook" debate on HNIC the week before last, why is Cole's booth partner Harry Neale still calling him Chuck?
How many times must we hear  "I Fought the Law" played over the p.a. after a penalty call, and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" after a good bodycheck, which (thankfully, at least in this aural cliche sense) happens about once a month in the postmodern NHL?
Back to Benjamin. A couple of his observations really stood out last night:

Do you think the behaviour of the players has changed from the beginning of the season? I think it clearly has. Mission accomplished. Nobody is complaining about water skiing or picket fences in the neutral zone or constant clutching and grabbing any more. The defensemen have learned to surround forwards in the slot instead of knocking them down. Most of those penalties taken early in the season have gone.
Indeed it is the absence of this stuff that is given the credit for the wildly exciting all new NHL.
So why are we still seeing so many penalties?

And:

A quarter of the way through the season and there is hardly (any) hooking or holding or interference. The referees are down to distinguishing between tiny hooks that hardly matter (but are at least really hooks) and phantom calls and dives. They are trying to separate incidental contact, accidental contact and real interference. At least 95% of the problem has been solved. The players have stopped doing what everyone complained about.
The problem the NHL now has is that they have applauded the new NHL to the skies. They have fined complainers. The hockey announcers have congratulated the new NHL for every extra goal. Can the referees now stop calling penalties?
They can find 15 penalties a night indefinitely if that's what the league wants. They can't be consistent and do that, but they can do it."

I don't agree with all of what Benjamin has to say, but his last point is bang on. Ask any referee and they'll agree -- if they want to, they can call a penalty on about every play. And last night it seemed that was the mantra. There were 19 power plays. The upshoot was the game had absolutely zero "flow". Instead, it lurched.
I've held off this kind of talk, figuring it was too early. But we're into December now. The Bruins have started to make conclusions, and so am I.

Here's the the links off last night, a 4-0 win in Atlanta for Tellqvist's first career shutout:

Paul Hunter makes three points in his gamer: Telly is playing well as Belfour's backup; Kyle Wellwood can take a check (and how! Sutton caught him with his head down in open ice for the aforementioned Pat Benatar moment); and Ponikarovsky has turned into a pretty good player for the Leafs.

Rosie DiManno takes a look at Tellqvist, and over at the Sun, Mike Zeisberger notes that it was a milestone night for Sundin, too, as he tied Borje Salming on the Leafs' all-time scoring list: "Two Swedes. Two milestones. Reindeer steaks for everyone."

In the comments yesterday, Michelle had a note about another setback for Karel Pilar (Thanks for that, Michelle, you're welcome here anytime). I can't find any news from the usual outlets this morning, but message boards are saying that there was confirmation from John Ferguson Jr. on a Sportsnet report that he has had another setback due to his heart problems and won't be resuming play until next summer. Again, no confirmation, but if anyone has a link please send it along and I'll post it here.

(UPDATE: Thanks to Michelle and Sully for sending along the link to the Pilar story.):

(C.Y.)

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Back for some more links today, after that oh so refreshing sleep last night, which started for me around the five-minute mark of the second....

Some Joe Thornton reaction to start (still can't believe it).

AP PHOTO

Joe Thornton in teal.

Of course the Boston papers are making the case against Thornton today. They were always good at that. Link is registration required. And, as usual, there's that mention of how Thornton but up zero points in the Bruins 2004 loss to Montreal in seven games. Forget the fact that he was in terrrible pain with a rib injury and shouldn't have been playing in the first place. I thought that made him a great captain -- sucking it up and hitting the ice for his team.

GM Mike O'Connell weighs in and defends his move, and the interesting tidbit to note is the admission the Bruins offseason strategy was "flawed". Remember the B's chose to keep thier roster relatively clear so they could swoop in and scoop up the free agents? Like Dave Scatchard (gone), Shawn McEachern (gone), Alexei Zhamnov (bust) ... now Thornton gone. He's only 26 years old!

So everyone agrees the Sharks got the best of the deal. Bruins won last night so for one day, O'Connell and penny-pinching Jeremy Jacobs can feel good.

In San Jose, it looks like Big Joe will start on a line with cousin Scott Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo. Sharks visit Toronto Saturday night so we get one of the first looks at the new man in San Jose; and we already know what Don Cherry is going to say about the deal, right?

Yup, that's right. An actual Western Conference team is going to play a hockey game against the Leafs. Also next week, the Kings bring the Roenick-Avery circus to town. Start brushing up on your best heckling lines folks.

Speaking of the unbalanced schedule, check this out: Avalanche have played 26 games this year, 11 against the Oilers or Canucks!

Quick hits:

"New NHL" beware, the trap is back. Guess who?:

"Yeah, late in the game, in the last 6 minutes, you're darn right we trapped," says Ken Hitchcock.

More on Steve Yzerman from Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg:

That's the new NHL. It is a skater's league. And it isn't designed for a 40-year-old with knee problems, even if that 40-year-old is a legend.

Your warm-and-fuzzy moment for the day also comes from Motown, where it's take your dad to work day.

The last word to goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. You put your heart and soul into a playoff run with the Lightining. You won a Cup. Then you were cast off like yesterday's goalie equipment, you were a cost cutting move so they could keep their core of players together. A core you apparently don't belong to. You are unwanted. They feel they can win without you. You are replaceable. What do you have to say?

"We won a Cup there. It's just a game."

(SW)

The Thornton deal

We'll get to the Leafs, but the big news going this morning is last night's trade, Bruins sending Joe Thornton to San Jose for D-man Brad Stuart and forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau.

DAVID COOPER/TORONTO STAR

Say it ain't so: Taking his all-round game to California.

Plenty of grist for this mill. Damien Cox reports that Thornton is shocked and appalled, getting the news after finishing dinner with his parents:

"They had flown in for the Ottawa game. I knew absolutely nothing. I was totally blindsided. Obviously (the Bruins) believed in their coach and GM and I'm next in line."

So why trade away a No. 1 centre, a captain, a cornerstone just signed to a three-year, $20 mil' extension (which was, in retrospect, perhaps a signal that Big Joe wasn't regarded as quite the franchise centre he was supposed to be, as Thornton's agent and TSN's Bob MacKenzie suggest)? Jackie McMullan puts it this way in the Boston Globe (reg. req'd, sorry):

Like it or not, Thornton's tainted legacy as he heads out West in exchange for defenseman Brad Stuart, winger Marco Sturm, and center Wayne Primeau is that in his final playoff series in a Boston Bruins uniform, he skated in seven games and came up with zero points.

Best tidbit of all might come from the Globe's Kevin Paul Dupont, who says that if Thornton was going to be traded, it had to happen this year (again, reg. req'd). And he suggests, contrary to just about everyone else I've read, that the Bruins worked on trading him for some time (my italics added):

Consider: Thornton over the summer signed a three-year guaranteed deal worth $20 million. Everyone immediately labeled it a no-trade contract. Truth is, as evidenced by this deal, the no-trade did not apply to this season. It begins with the 2006-07 season. All of which means the Bruins had only this season -- the two-thirds that remain of it -- to get out from under the deal if they felt he wasn't worth the money. They watched him play. They looked at the books, as well as the decline in the standings, and for the last two weeks O'Connell worked the phones feverishly to get him gone. They felt he wasn't worth the money.

Not much in the San Jose papers here, but the blogs have been all over this, with JP's Sharkspage delivering some good perspective from the west coast, including a roundup of the deficiencies on a team that has tanked this season. On the B's side of the glass, Brooke Coleman says "I thought it was way too warm for hell to freeze over" and Heather Creegan is just plain depressed.

As for Leafs, 2-1 losers in Tampa:

Paul Hunter notes that the Bolts have won six of seven, and are now "rounding back into the form befitting a defending Stanley Cup champion."
Rosie DiManno checks in on former Leafs coach Pat Burns, battling cancer, but liking what he sees of this new, more obstruction-free NHL.

In the Sun, Steve Simmons has been on the Frost-Danton case for some time, and after the latest CBC report Simmons looks at  Frost's continuing influence and notes in another piece that, shockingly, other agents want him decertified by the NHLPA.
(C.Y.)

It's Hockey Haiku

Hockey haiku. It's everywhere.
The other day, regular poster Jlo sent this one off the post and it went right over my head -- my personal McGuire mute button must've been on -- as he defended his defence of the excitable one:

That's not a haiku.
I stand by Pierre McGuire:
He knows his hockey.

And consider this, from last Saturday's helping of Bob Cole, who sometimes speaks in nothing but haiku:

How do you say it,
I asked, is it Chuck or Chook?
Il-ya Koval-CHOOK.

Now it's your turn. Spencer and I want your haikus, from the delicate to the blazing. (Yes, I know. This is not a new idea, but hey, we steal from everyone.)
We'll highlight the best of 'em -- if the response is good enough, perhaps we'll have one of our clean-off-the-desk giveaways to our favourites. If it's as good as I think it will be, it's a regular feature:

So bring 'em on now,
Like a McCabe blueline blast,
or Pierre, muzzled.

On to the linkage:

Last night's Crosby-Ovechkin game within the game is the talk this morning, Paul Hunter in Pittsburgh to note that "if the measure was artistic merit, the victor was the NHL." And this is just a hunch, but after yesterday's word from Mario, the rumbles to put Crosby on Team Canada are just beginning.

The Leafs are considering retiring more sweater numbers. And with Boston in town tonight and the Leafs going for five in a row, it's Eric Lindros' 700th NHL game. 

James Mirtle riffs off Spencer's Top NHL Lines posting from yesterday:

The line to watch of those listed is that out in L.A. Consider that Conroy wasn't even part of the line for the first 6-7 games of the season and you get a small idea of how good they've been the past dozen games. I'd wager they've been the league's best line over that period.

Interesting sidenote from Mirtle, too, out of last night's Rangers shootout win over Buffalo as the Sabres switched goalies during the shootout, after an injury to starter Noronen apparently got worse. That's their story, anyway.

Oh, and for Jiri Fischer new, check over in JABS.
(C.Y.)

Hot pickup lines

A busy morning. After yesterday's slim pickings, we'll go with one from category A and a goodly bunch of those links from the B side:

First, what's the line du jour in the NHL (And I don't mean, "two minutes for hooking")? That's the question Spencer, that hard-workin', hard-livin', puck-lovin' kid tries to answer with some numbers he crunched just for you.

This will result in much envy here in the CoHU. Sure, the Leafs have this warming trio going right now in Allison, Ponikarovsky and Antropov, to go with their No. 1 line of Sundin, Steen and O'Neill. But no one is writing anything down in ink. In the 416, the Leafs don't have lines so much as they go out on a date. If it's good, they make plans to go out again few nights later. And so on, and so on, until the inevitable meeting in the drawing room with grumpy poppa Pat, when he asks them about their intentions and they run out of the room screaming.

Okay, enough tenuous digressions.  Here they are, the NHL's top troikas with their stats through Sunday's games. No surprise who's on top, and thanks for this, S.W.:

Spezza-Heatley-Alfredsson: 95 pts, +58
Forsberg-Gagne-Knuble: 88 pts, +49
Savard-Kovalchuk-Hossa: 79 pts, -4
Demitra-Frolov-Conroy: 78 pts, +31
Jagr-Straka-Nylander: 78 pts, +3
Lecavalier-Modin-Prospal: 71 pts, +23
Thornton-Murray-Samsonov: 68 pts, -8
Hemsky-Horcoff-Smyth: 65 pts, +6
Staal-Cole-Stillman: 64 pts, +25
Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom: 62 pts, +29
Naslund-Bertuzzi-Morrison: 61 pts, +16

Oh, and you wanted some Toronto equivalents:

COLIN MCCONNELLl/TORONTO STAR

Leafs at practice. How do they line up against the best?

Sundin-Steen-O'Neill: 41 pts, -6 (but Sundin's missed 9 games)
In 9 games since Sundin's back: 25 pts, E -- projected over 21 games is 58 pts, E

Ponikarovsky-Antropov-Allison: 37 pts, +6 (last 2 games since together: 10 pts, +3 -- projected over 21 games is 105 pts, +31 and absolutely ridiculous.)

Any surprises here (apart from somehow overlooking the Wellwood-Belak-Domi grouping)?

And on to a busy morning on the links:

Paul Hunter has a nice one looking at Crosby and Ovechkin as they hook up for the first time tonight in Pittsburgh:

One gets the impression that Crosby wouldn't be caught dead wearing the tie-dyed shirt, torn jeans and red running shoes that Ovechkin showed up in one day at the Caps' training facility. Besides, Lemieux would never let him out of the house dressed like that.

Hunter's pulling double duty too -- less than a week after his turn with the ballet, for pete's sake -- with a bit of news. Mario Lemieux says he may not want into the Olympics, if it means taking up a spot for someone like a Spezza, a Staal or (surprise) a Sidney Crosby:

"There's too many good young players now. To take a spot because of your name, that wouldn't be right for Team Canada or myself."

Hmmm. Are you listening, Stevie Y?

Frightening story last night, as Wings' Jiri Fischer had a seizure on the bench and his heart stopped beating, stunning the Joe Louis Arena crowd and putting Detroit in shock. Fischer was given CPR, an auto debrilllator was used and he was taken to the hospital, where last night he was reported to be alert and upbeat, and his condition was listed as stable:

"What happened basically is, Fisch was out on a shift, he came off, he was standing there with his teammates, or sitting on the bench, and he had a seizure," Babcock said. "He fell forward and then ended up on his side. Right away, as soon as we got aware of what was going on, we got it stopped."

In Leafs world, Jeff O'Neill missed a skating-only conditioning session yesterday to undergo tests on his shoulder.

And Neil Stevens at CP, one of the finest people you'd ever want to meet in this business, writes of a new book that'll no doubt show up on the upcoming JABS Christmas book thread, A Season of Loss, A Lifetime of Forgiveness: The Dan Snyder and Dany Heatley Story.

It's raining hats

It's a quiet morning here at the CoHU, so we'll go easy, and throw some softball links at you:

Start you off here -- what happens when you get a hat trick on cap night? Watch. (WMV required; thanks to the HF Boards for the link).

While watching HNIC Saturday night, you'd think Steve Yzerman had just questioned the parentage of Tie Domi or something, the way they were going at it on the Satellite HotStove mutual admiration society. Yzerman said of this postmodern NHL "it's not hockey", and while the Hotstovers were all nodding their heads, I say -- siddown Stevie. Sure, you've earned the right to your opinion, and yeah, it may not be the hockey you've grown used to, but that's not a bad thing (and by the way, he wasn't complaining before the Wings went three games without a W).

Leafs are off till Wednesday, but here's your daily fix: Paul Hunter takes a look at Alek Ponikarovsky, who was (wait for it) shooting the puck on Saturday night. Even scored a couple, and the line of Poni, Allison and Antropov had a strong game: "That was only their second game together but it has the potential to be a strong unit for us," said Pat Quinn.

Also at ESPN.com, Scott Burnside takes a look at job security around the league, and no surprise, but Columbus and Boston management are feeling the heat.

The Sun's Mike Zeisberger empties his notebook and looks ahead to next June's draft and probable No. 1 Phil Kessel.

It's old, but in case you missed it: Terry Frei at ESPN.com on the morning skate. (One thing worth mentioning, perhaps, from over at the NBA, where teams are curtailing or at least changing the timing of their equivalent, the shootaround, while the NHL retains this game-day ritual, a legacy of the 1972 Summit Series.)

Some off the rink news: Russian club files suit against Caps' Ovechkin; and if you must, Trent Klatt's website has a page of reaction around Steve Larmer's resignation from the NHLPA, including the full Larmer I-quit letter.

(C.Y.)

Linking up

A links blog on this quiet morning, all of 'em guaranteed good reads or listens, as the Leafs are in prep mode (and Carlo Colaiacovo in full yo-yo bounce) for road games in Buffalo tomorrow night and Montreal on Saturday:

Ken Campbell has a look at some stats, particularly on Toronto's power play and penalty killing, and notes how Nathan Perrott came to be traded to Dallas, instead of merely put out on waivers:

Ferguson had been told over the weekend by another GM that the Stars had a heated confrontation with coach Dave Tippett recently, in large part because the players felt the team didn't have enough toughness.

With six weeks to go till the roster is announced, The Star's Damien Cox looks at the many questions facing Team Canada, and over at ESPN Scott Burnside looks a little closer at the uncertainties surrounding goaltending.

Borje Salming on Mats Sundin, who's on the verge of passing him in the Leafs' all-time scoring parade.

The United Arab Emirates national hockey team is in town. Yes, they really have one, and Geoff Baker checks 'em out.

Finally, Off Wing Opinon's Eric McErlain, with the help of fellow blogger Joe Tasca, has launched a weekly radio show on hockey. Among the first instalment is a bit on the ongoing to-and-fro with the new rules (they're not so new anymore) and their enforcement:

"Last week I saw a referee drop a puck in a faceoff circle when there were no players in it. They'd all lollygagged their way to the faceoff circle and the ref said okay, fine, you're not going to be here? I'm dropping the puck anyway."

(C.Y.)

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Thanks, Chris. I'll jump in today with a few more links - it would just kill me not to share this next one with you:

And I don't want to ruin your day, but Harry Sinden has a warning for us about the "new NHL": It's going to kill someone. Sinden notes that there have been more 5-on-3s so far this season that the past (we all know this already - thanks to the well-documented penalty parade). Take it away Harry:

"The defensemen are getting forever to wind up," Sinden tells the Boston Herald. "They’re going to kill someone standing in front with a shot. They’ve got forever to shoot, and they shoot it so hard and so high. Most shots are high. I’m telling you, I’m worried sick about it. I’m afraid it’s going to happen. Someone is going to get killed out there."

Yeah, we've all been watching Bryan McCabe blasting away on the right point this year, but come on, Harry. Lighten up.

Off to Dallas, where welcome addition Nathan Perrott plays his first game tonight. Stars are happy to have him, using words like "difference maker" (?) thanks to a combo of good speed, thoughness and a heavy shot. Fellow Stars tough guy Steve Ott, Perrott's new linemate, recalls facing the Leaf outcast in the AHL last season. Ott estimated that 80-90 of his penalty minutes last year came against Perrott alone.

"He's a good player, and he's definitely a heavyweight. He was killing me," Ott tells the Dallas Morning News.

This link comes a little late, but if you didn't see the stories about grumblings in Sweden about leaving Marcus Naslund off their Olympic team, well, the headline in the Vancouver Province says it all:

Nitch Naslund? Are they nuts?

And look out Wayne Gretzky, another NHL legend is turning out to be a pretty good coach. Patrick Roy has turned around the Quebec Remparts season since stepping behind the bench. (SW)

The return of Mats

A couple of days ago, Ken Campbell noted in The Star that the Leafs have fared better without Mats Sundin than with him.
The numbers are interesting, but apart from a few voices out there posting to message boards, or TSN last week during one of their more halfhearted intermission yakfests, I didn't hear anyone arguing that the Leafs might be better off without him. Sports are full of instances where teams perform well short-term without their best players, but in the long run does it ever really work that way? At least I don't think so.
This morning, Damien Cox is making the case for Sundin, with the captain due back this weekend, as Paul Hunter notes.
Sundin's absence has had one beneficial effect -- it's shown the Leafs, perhaps even hardheaded coach Pat Quinn, that the youngsters Stajan, Steen and Wellwood belong at this level, and not just as bit players. Each night out, they look a little better -- last night they were the three best players in blue and white on the ice, although Stajan's giveaway leading to the late winning goal blew his game up -- and the rest of the team sans Sundin, including a power play that went 0-for-6 last night, looks a little worse:

"With three losses in four nights, the Leafs are a team giving up more goals than they are scoring and a team relying more and more on young forwards Stajan and Steen for important offence and even game-saving defence rather than its cast of experienced veteran forwards."

The only thing I'd add is Wellwood's play (again. I know. I like the way this guy plays, have since back in September, and it'd be a real rotten shame and a dumb, dumb move if he's sent back to Marlies). He tracked back last night to save a goal, covering off Brind'Amour in front of an open net and preventing a sure goal (I think it was him -- my notes don't show it, so correct me if I'm wrong). If you go all the way back to that training camp, the one thing he's added to his game besides confidence is backchecking -- I even saw him throw a bodycheck last night.
Oh yes, about last night: a 4-3 loss to Eric Staal, Erik Cole and the Hurricanes in which the Leafs blew a third-period lead. Those guys are good, Staal looking like -- well, like an Olympian, actually, even if he may well end up as this year's Joe Thornton. He had two goals, would've had a third were it not for a weird late penalty call that denied him an empty-netter (and read on for more on that). But I'll let someone else read the entrails, including Paul Hunter, who lists the no-shows:

Notable amongst those absentees, even more so because it was his return to Raleigh after seven seasons here, was Jeff O'Neill who managed only one shot on net, a harmless blast from a bad angle in the third. Eric Lindros and Darcy Tucker, also among the top scorers on the team, generated little.

What struck me, though, had little to do with the Leafs, the Canes, or what was a fast, flowing game with plenty of thunder -- everything this postmodern NHL is supposed to be: Hands up everyone who thinks this week's memo from the NHL police headquarters mentioned what they call in soccer "embellishment", what's known here as "diving" and what amounts everywhere to "cheating".
Only a referee who'd been reminded recently would've called that last-minute trip on Erik Cole a case of diving. It cost Staal his third goal, and it was a terrible call from Kerry Fraser. But in the big picture -- the same one that shows the Leafs in crying need of their leader Sundin -- if this means the zebras are looking for dives, it's not such a bad thing at all.
(C.Y.)

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Too bad for me. I missed the game last night -- but it's really gotten to the point where you just pick up the paper and go, "yup, three more points for Staal, no surprises there."

And what's all this about diving? Wish the players would show some guts and stop it already. Gotta feel for the referees so far. Lots of criticism, and so much of this "new" game falls on them. So...

Today's referee rant comes to us from lovely Phoenix, where it's a pleasant 27C today. The Great One says the stripes are doing a good job:

"I really, truly believe that the finesse and the smarts and the intelligence of hockey players now, both offensively and defensively, is a factor," Gretzky tells the Arizona Republic. "If you're not a good skater and you can't handle the puck or you're not a smart defenseman, you no longer can play in the National Hockey League and you'll be an American Hockey League player. And that's the way it should be."

Mr. Berg, Ya heard.

Sticking with the desert dogs, much was written on Gretzky becoming a coach. After a slow start, Coyotes are showing signs of bite (Cujo with the shutout last night). Here's how Gretzky's influence is paying off.

To follow up on the kissing of Havlat's butt yesterday, he scored again last night but the Sens only managed four in a win. Off night, I guess. But they were playing Tampa Bay. Here's how coach Bryan Murray has been taking advantage of one of the new rules to get his matchups.

"You can get your matchups, especially with the new icing rule," he tells the Ottawa Sun.

When your opponent ices the puck, they can't change players. So that's how Murray gets Spezza, Heatley and Alfredsson on the ice against some of Tampa's more lead-footed players. Ottawa had a couple goals last night thanks to some simple but clever coaching.

Quick hits:

Ray Bourque's officially back in Boston, chipping in to help their young defence.

Marty Turco took a few days off to get his game back on track. Stars hope it worked.

The Red Wings, 12-1-1, have the most points in the NHL right now. Their secret? Fresh legs.

Hey look, the Predators are falling, falling, falling, falling back to earth.

Did the St. Louis Blues trade Chris Pronger to make themselves a better, younger hockey team? Or did they trade their franchise player to make the team more attractive to a prospective buyer? Discuss.

Leafs play Saturday and Sunday. Giddy up. (SW)

The new normal

Who has it worse this morning, the Oilers or Mario Lemieux?
And who has it better than those Nashville Predators? The Preds' 5-3 win over Chicago last night was their eighth straight out of the gate, equalling the second-longest opening-season win streak in NHL history. (The longest? Your 93-94 Leafs, of course).
Forgetting for a moment the Preds' three shootout wins that are included -- yup, there I go again -- I keep wondering along the same lines not about the postmodern NHL, but about whether this is the New Normal, and we have to adjust not only our glasses, but the record book, and ways of thinking about this thing of ours:

AP PHOTO

Another crack in the wall.

It's a place where Bryan McCabe is not only battling for the Art Ross Trophy, but on pace to finish within hailing distance of Orr/Coffey numbers, as our Ken Campbell notes.
It's a place where the Predators are getting the job done with an undersized top scorer, good goaltending and very few penalties taken, as James Mirtle notes.
It's a place where goalies like Brodeur and Khabibulin are struggling. Jes Golbez has a nice spreadsheet of goalie stats and an early look between the pipes, and the Globe's Tim Wharnsby offers reasons why.
It's a place where we keep hearing "no lead is safe" -- but is that any different? Tom Benjamin checks some numbers.
And we've said it before, and others are joining the chorus, but it's a place where bodychecking is sometimes a foreign concept. Where no one is quite sure what a penalty is, or whether a dive is a dive.

There's lots more. Less than a month into the season, it's way too early to make conclusions. But let's throw this bone out there to chew on for the day. What is the new normal -- what does it look like to you? What other things have you noticed that made you sit up and say -- man, what are they doing out there?

Oh, okay, we gotta give you some links with your coffee:

Here's a surprise: Record TV ratings. You'd think these guys had been away for a while.

The other day we were wittering on about the NHL's new discipline, and suspensions. In an age of a salary cap and an offence-oriented league, the conventional wisdom has it that the days of the one-dimensional enforcer taking up a spot on the bench are over.  TSN's Bob MacKenzie takes a look.

Oh, and this is kinda old, but so am I, and it's a goody for sure -- Puck Fiction, or Coach Jules in da rink -- and thanks to the guys at Hockey Pundits for digging it out of the  corners (Windows media player req'd).
(C.Y.)

The new discipline

Something a little different today, noting these three recent items:
Atlanta's Andy Sutton gets four games for mashing Darcy Tucker's head into the end boards.
Martin Havlat of Ottawa gets a five-game suspension for kicking Boston Hal Gill.

AP PHOTO

More justice coming for Eric Boulton today.

And today, Atlanta goon Eric Boulton finds out how many games he'll be out (hint: it's a minimum five-gamer).
We'll be posting the news on the Star's waymoresports website when it's handed down, and asking you for your call. How many games should Boulton get? Should the league come down harder on these infractions, given changes meant to juice up offence? Should coaches be disciplined as well, in cases like Boulton's, with the suggestion from Pat Quinn and John Tortorella that the Thrashers' Bob Hartley is as much to blame?
Hey, it'll keep us going for the day, with Gill and the Bruins in town to take on the Leafs tonight (and it'll keep us from raking the embers of that pasting the Flyers put on Toronto Saturday night).

UPDATE: Here's the pertinent stuff from a chat with Boston's Hal Gill at today's morning skate, on this issue (Tucker had nothing much to say, preferring to "leave it to the league"):

Q: With the length of Eric Boulton’s suspension coming down today, how do you see the issue of suspensions in this new NHL environment – should they be heavier?

Gill: “I don’t have much of a comment. Each game is different, each situation is different, so it’s kind of tough to say what should be called and what shouldn’t be called, or is it 10 games or five games. But there’s definitely no place for some of the things that have been going on – not so much (for) the first-time offenders, but the second- and third-. When are they going to get the point? That’s when I think the suspensions have to be heavier – when guys are repeat offenders.”

Q: How satisfied were you with the severity of the Havlat suspension, for the kick on you?

Gill: “It’s hard to say. Like I said, it’s an individual case. Five games is a lot – but he’s done it before and you just can’t allow it. It is a lot, but hopefully it’s a lesson he’s learned and it won’t happen again.”

Q: The stated aim of these new rules is to promote offence and eliminate the obstruction. Does it follow then that in terms of suspensions, the penalties should be more severe?

Gill: “I think it’s a completely separate issue. Making the game more flowing and more offensive, that’s completely different than guys throwing elbows or kicking.”

Some other Leafs links in your morning coffee:

Brian Leetch is back in town, and Ken Campbell is talking to him. Leetch has this to say about Bryan McCabe: "I think he can win the Norris Trophy and he's the best player I've played with in my career as a partner."

Mark Zwolinski reports that Pat Quinn is rushing to the defence of Wade Belak, which is a whole lot more than what anyone can say of Belak.

Nik Antropov has gone home to Kazakhstan, after his father passed away late last week.

Speaking of tonight's game, Brad Boyes is looking forward to it.

Nice read from the Boston Herald on Bruins young gun Patrice Bergeron.

Mats Sundin is back on the ice, and should get some news today about whether his injured eye will require surgery.

Finally, this has nothing to do with the Leafs, but everything to do with Jeremy Roenick. Thanks to Jes for this one (Windows player req'd).
(C.Y.)