Thursday Mail Bag

Gotta say, one day you're at the world juniors marvelling at that level of fierce competition and talent, and the next you're watching the Leafs and Flyers and thinking you've dropped into a WWE show.

You'll have to explain to me somehow how 17-, 18- and 19-year-olds can compete on a world stage with such a high level of sportsmanship and clean play, but the NHL can deliver such a piece of low-class, Slapshot-style competition as was the case last night.

I mean, really, Dan Carcillo is much more professional wrestler than pro hockey player, complete with the gimmicks and trash talk. He's Sideshow Bob II, and let's face it, the NHL promoted his act at the “Winter Classic” — commentators were seriously suggesting the first fight at this event was some kind of milestone — and Carcillo's figuring out that being a clown will get him more attention than playing hockey ever will. His act won't last long in Philly, but he'll get the most attention he can while he's there.

This, needless to say, is a problem the NHL runs into when its brand of sports entertainment is juxtaposed with the world juniors or, as will be the case next month, the Olympics. By comparison, the NHL looks mechanical, passion-less and full of phony theatrics.

Sad thing is, this is where so many of those fine youngsters who competed in that glorious gold medal game on Tuesday in Saskatoon are headed. Whether they want to or not, they'll be playing in a league that in mid-season too often is part-hockey, part-Gong Show.

Now on to this week's mail bag:

Q: Dear Mr. Cox, I was hoping you could shed a little light on this subject.

I had always believed that a penalty shot wasn't awarded if you still managed to get away a shot after being hauled down. However, after checking the NHL rulebook, it clearly states:

"The fact that he got a shot off does not automatically eliminate this play from the penalty shot consideration criteria. If the foul was from behind and he was denied a 'more' reasonable scoring opportunity due to the foul, then the penalty shot should be awarded".

The fact that it so clearly refutes my long-held belief leads me to wonder whether there was a rule change at some point, or if the NHL is just trying to eliminate an old wives' tale.

Any light you could shed on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve Donnelly, Toronto

A: There's no question, Steve, that all levels of hockey are showing a more liberalized attitude towards penalty shots, which isn't a bad thing. That said, the understanding many of us had about the penalty shot for years, such as that you had to at least be a stride clear of your opponent, are proving incorrect, and we're having to adjust. So yes, I'm kind of with you. I don't totally get the way the rule is called now, but even with the institution of the shootout, a penalty shot is still a pretty exciting play.

Q: Hi Damien,

What if any influence do you think the "new NHL" officiating style (especially the zero tolerance hooking and holding provisions, and the automatic minor for shooting the puck over the glass in your own zone) could have on the officiating at the Olympics? In international hockey would players generally be able to get away with more or less of these kinds of things? Might Team Canada's physical play, especially from those such as Chris Pronger, land them in the box often for hits that would be legal in the NHL, or might they overcompensate by backing off physically?

Scott Reynolds, Toronto

A: Okay, for starters NHL officials will be working the Olympics, including seven referees and six linesmen. They'll make up about half the officiating pool, and the crews will frequently be blended (NHL and non-NHL). As far as the way games are called, international officials, most believe, still are more tolerant of interference in particular, but I think you'll see a standard in the Olympics pretty close to what you see in the NHL. And the shooting the puck over the glass rule? That's now an IIHF rule as well.

Q: Hi Damien! Do you think there's any chance the NHL will ever ditch the one point for an overtime loss? The object of the game is to win and to the winner should go the spoils. Why reward the loser?

Richard Avery, North York

A: Doesn't seem likely. The NHL wants to keep as many dogs in the race as possible as late in the season as possible, and three-point games help that. There's no real movement for change either at the board of governors level or among the Gms.

Q: Hi Damien,

I don't know how many people noticed this on New Year's Day, but before the Winter Classic, Bobby Clarke won the ceremonial faceoff against Bobby Orr. I could be wrong, but isn't it traditional to allow the captain of the home team to win the faceoff? If so, what would make Clarke win that faceoff? Is he really that competitive?

Alex Hirbod, Toronto

A: I doubt it matters to anyone.

Q: Damien, would we not be better off with Kubina than with several of the defencemen we now have? He scored the winner several times last year and seems to be playing well in Atlanta. Exelby is a scratch half the time. Schenn seems like he can't wait to get the puck off his stick. Playing scared,afraid to err. What do you think?

Lewis McClain, Edinboro

A: Kubina probably would be no worse than fourth on the Leaf depth chart now. Exelby is inconsistent, Schenn should with be the Marlies and Finger is a disaster. That deal was done to clear room to sign Beauchemin and Komisarek. Kubina was, like Kaberle, guilty of being on the ice for the opponents' first goal of the game far more often in the past while with the Leafs than anyone could like. He probably looks better now because you don't see him every night.

Q: Hi Damien,

I enjoy your reporting and your blog very much; keep up the great work.

My question: I'm confused by the selection process for the Canadian Olympic team. As far as I know, other countries are deferring their selections until closer to the start of the Games. Moreover, it is unclear what happens if one of the selected Canadian players is injured before the Games and cannot play, or is hurt during the tournament. Is there a short-list of callups that Yzerman can count on? Can you shed some light on this? Thanks!

Glenn Paulley, Waterloo

A: All teams had to announce their roster by Jan. 1st. No country deferred it's selections. Teams can replace injured players right up until the eve of the games. Once you're in the tournament, that's not possible. You have what you have – three goalies, seven defencemen and 13 forwards. The only confusion at this point is that the Russians believe they can still change their roster for non-injury reasons.

Q: Hi Damien,

Phil Kessel has been a great addition to the Leafs. However, since his arrival the power play has gone downhill. Last year with Boston he scored only 8 out of his 36 goals on the PP. Could it be that the rest of the Leafs are looking to Kessel too much on the PP and therefore not shooting themselves as much? Maybe they should leave him off the PP. This would leave him available for more 5 on 5 play. Considering that there are around 40 minutes a game of 5 on 5, Kessel could play over half of those 40 minutes where he is much more proficient. Your thoughts?

Marv Rose, Toronto

A: The Leafs' power play is at best intermittently effective. Kessel is the best offensive forward they have. Has he been great of late? No. But taking him off the power play isn't the answer. As I've said repeatedly, this is a young player still learning what it takes to be a front-line NHLer. At 22, he's still got learning to do.

Q: Hi there Damien. My question is about the recent success of our later round Euro draft selections. With players like Anton Stralman, Carl Gunnarsson, Juraj Mikus, Korbinian Holzer and Viktor Stalberg having varying amounts of success and developing quite well, should we really be swaying away from these picks? Our head European scout Thommie Bergman has done a tremendous job for us and I can't help but feel like he is being snubbed. Last draft we didn't take a single European player, and with Burke wanting to build his prototypical "meat and potatoes" North American team, do you think Burke's management team will continue to ignore Bergman despite the success he's had in the past?

Jeff Pearce, Kingston

A: Well, of all those players you named, not one is a bona fide NHL regular, at least not yet. So I'm not sure that qualifies as “recent success” for the Leafs. I don't think Bergmann is being ignored. He was part of the group that identified Jonas Gustavsson last year. But the Leafs are looking to be more North American, so Bergmann's job, while unchanged, may not be as relevant necessarily to the players the Leafs take in the draft. But it's not like the Leafs have unearthed one Euro gem after another in recent years.

Q: Happy New Year, Damien!

With the recent rise of Ian White's stock and the return of Carl Gunnarson do you see the Leafs moving Kaberle and perhaps Beauchemin? The Leafs will be left with a core of Komisarek, White, Schenn, Exelby etc. If so what do you think the return could be in terms of picks and prospects.

J.P. Howarth, Brampton

A: Happy New Year to you as well, J.P. Look, Ian White is a No. 4 on a good team and Gunnarson is still a prospect. Now that the annual prediction of some that the Leafs are overloaded on defence has again proved to be false, it should clear that more depth and quality is required. You have to keep as many good ones as you have and add to them. That would be my take on Beauchemin. Kaberle is a slightly different story because of his trade value. But he's the only blueliner the Leafs have that would fetch something particularly significant on the trade market.

Q: Re: your recent piece on Kadri — the comparisons you made to Getzlaf and Langkow were nice food for thought. After watching his shootout move, it got me thinking about Alex Mogilny and Kovalev. Having never seen Kadri play in person myself, I'm wondering if you think those might also be fair comparisons, in terms of style? Also, my sense is that both Mogilny and Kovalev were/are at least 20 - 30 lbs heavier — to wit, do you think Kadri will ever have the size/durability to play very long in "today's" NHL?

Enjoy your work. cheers,

Peter Waal, Vancouver

A: Thanks Peter. Mogilny wasn't a big man, maybe a little bigger than Kadri, while Kovalev is a much bigger guy, more of a power forward build. You're talking about two of the most skilled Russians to ever come to North America, so that might be asking a lot of Kadri. At this point, his size and durability haven't been an issue even though he plays a physical game. But sure, he'll have to get bigger and stronger, and I'm sure he will as he matures. He'll need to come in between 190 and 200 pounds once he fills out. But he has lots of skill, which makes him a top prospect as long as the Leafs don't rush him. A full year with the Marlies would make the most sense.

Every Thursday, Damien Cox answers your questions in The Spin, only at thestar.com. Click here to submit a question. **Note: please follow the link above to send a question to Damien. Questions posted in the comments section may not make it to the mailbag. Thanks.**

Comments

[pn]

The NHL is unfortunately playing to the unwashed masses who worship at the altar of Don Cherry and still chant the moronic mantra "fighting is part of the game."

No - it's not. If you can't get your team motivated/send a message/stand up for your teammates without dropping the gloves, then get off the ice and let someone with talent play.

[steve]

Junior hockey is quaint, a little shining gem of Canadiana. Outside of Canada, it's completely irrelevant. The same goes for international hockey (eg. the annual world championships), nobody cares except a whole bunch of Canadians and a smattering of die-hard Swedes, Fins and Russians. As entertained as we might be as Canadians watching the World Jrs or the World Championships, the same can't be said for 99.99999999% of the world population who doesn't even know it's going on.

The NHL is a professional sports league that is 80% American-based. Why on earth Canadians think they "own" the NHL brand of hockey is beyond me. Hockey, as a sport, is obviously a thread that weaves through the cultural quilt of Canada, and while me might be able to lay claim to the game of Ice Hockey is it's pure form, the NHL is a completely different animal. Oh maybe when it was 1926 and the Montreal Maroons were competing for Lord Stanley's mug it was a different story.. but we need to stop living in the past.

As the NHL becomes more and more Americanized it will turn into what it is in the United States - A traveling sideshow / circus, where the WWE meets the Boxing Ring... on skates. To think the NHL is anything else is naive.

[Sharon]

As a huge Flyer fan, I must admit I don't care for Dan Carcillo being a part of out team, but you'll have to admit that his goal against the Leafs will make the highlights!!

[foundonroaddead]

Good Day Mr. Cox

The Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Ron Wilson isn't the coach like he was in San Jose. The players aren't responding his coaching style ' MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY " ( WHICH IS OUTDATED ) and am extremely disappointing of how this year progress. I thought that young players like BOZAK , HANSON , STALBERG , KADRI ( and KESSELL would be able to score goals in any lines at ease ) had played well in the exhibitions. I know they would have a big impact this season. Kubina , Antropov , Steen , Moore and McCabe are the players that shouldn't been traded or discarded . Is there any chance Coach Ron Wilson be replaced ?

[MATT PELLAR]

Please stop crying about fighting in the NHL. I like it. Its fun. There are so many different reasons that fighting happens, why its dirty one time, and not dirty another, and why its acceptable in one league and not another. All I hear about is the bad message it sends, that violence is okay - when really the message is "fighting is okay between two willing combatants, in the nhl". They walk a fine line, but they are walking the line. Take the time to teach your kids why its only okay in the NHL and not anywhere else instead of trying to remove it from everyone because YOU don't like it or because you're too lazy to teach your kids.

[Sanj]

Agreed that Carcillo is a side show whose antics are tiring. But let's not forget it takes 2 to tango and the Leafs have always been willing participants in getting down and dirty. Don't they average like 2 fights a game? And at least Carcillo scored a pretty goal during Leaf game. When was the last time Colton Orr scorded a goal like that???

[GC]

Why can the JR's play with sportsmanship and clean play and the NHL doesn't. Simple, you are not making a fair comparison. Compare the play at the Olympic's to the World Jr's or compare an every day Jr game to an NHL game but don't compare the most talented players each country has to offer playing for their highest prize to an everyday league game. They are not the same at all and can't be expected to be played to the same caliber. There are plenty of "clowns" as you call them playing in the Ontario, Western and Quebec Jr. leagues. Where do you think the NHL "clowns" learned their craft.

[Duke]

COULDN'T

AGREE

MORE

The NHL has got to step into the 21st century. You don't need to get rid of fighting altogether (after all, it happens in pretty much all other sports occasionally) but get rid of the goons and the staged fights. The clutch and grab and neutral zone trap problems have improved but the NHL still has a long way to go. Watching that junior tourney reminded me how exciting hockey can be. Skating, passing, clean hits, open ice. The NHL should also move to the Olympic ice size.

Mr. Cox for NHL commish!

[other mark]

I couldn't agree more with you re: World Junior gold medal game to absolutely horrible Leafs/Philly tilt. Unfortunately, I don't see this changing any time soon. The NHL thinks cramming in as many games with 30 teams makes money. I'm guessing they would be unwilling to try to decrease teams/games played (increasing product quality) and perhaps raising per game prices. That would just be too radical for the dinosaurs that run the NHL and counter to their long held matra: expand, expand, expand.

[Lou]

No problem Cox, stick to junior hockey and leave the pro's alone.
When are you guy's going to realize that no one is forcing you to watch .

[Darryl]

Damien why would you compare an NHL regular season game to a kids tourney that comes around once a year, and the Olympics LOL! Are you for real? Did you watch those stupid blow out games Canada had? That was great hockey right? Its a long regular season.Wait till the playoffs start and then write this article again. Bet you won't!

[Geoff Read]

For what it's worth, in my mind the best comparator for Kadri is Saku Koivu, which should both excite and worry Leafs' fans. Like Koivu, he's a little guy with loads of speed and skill; like Koivu he plays bigger than his size. The worrying part is wondering whether or not this means he'll have Koivu's history of injuries. In his early/mid 20s Koivu looked poised to become a superstar but then suffered his first major injury. While he's gone on to have a good career, he never fully recovered from that and subsequent injuries.

[JohnnyWalker]

Damien, isn't it amazing how many people at the ACC were cheering their faces off during this "passion-less" and "phony" game? Especially during the WWE-style parts? Doesn't that tell you something? I love your stuff but the provocations you keep making on this issue are getting pathetic and hackish.
By the way, I'd bet my lunch that any number of our juniors would love it if the IIHF allowed five for fighting.

[Matti Lilleberg]

Wouldn't one of reasons that International Hockey is so much more entertaining is because of the International rules. I can't wait for the olympics when the best players in the world play with international rules. I also like the bigger ice surface.

[rod Atkinson]

Could not agree with your comments more and I would add that apologists/advocates like Nick Kypreos only propagate the belief that there is a place for that type of ridiculous goonery in the game. Abolute crap on ice and I am stunned that it still sells or resonates on any level.

[Scott Richards]

Carcillo is a clown? Really?

He scored a prettier, more skillful goal than Phil Kessel will ever score, and he's not half the untalented/clown/professional wrestler that Colton Orr has always been, doing nothing more productive than skating around his few minutes a night looking for skill players to headhunt.

Try opening your eyes and seeing what a clue looks like sometime, Damien. That bag of stiffs in white and blue that you watch on a regular basis is loaded with clowns and wrestlers.

It's a shame there's not a player with any heart to be found there, though.

[Sven van de Ven]

You're RIGHT Cox !!!!!! Ive been watching hockey for 50 years. I even clearly remember the Leaf's last Stanley Cup. So I'm not one of Don Cherry's "sweethearts" and I do understand what the game is and should be.

I love the junior tournaments, Women's hockey, the World Championships.. ANYTHING that celebrates skill, speed and toughness. Fighting in any legitimate sport is a joke and a travesty. Let's get it out of our wonderful game.

[Chris]

Cox it is obvious that you never played, and the rest of you crying about the fighting in hockey can simply find something else to watch. The players want to keep it, and the large majority of fans love it. Say what you will but fighting has always been a part of hockey, and the argument that it takes away from the game is complete crap spewed by a bunch of nobodys that have never played at a level where fighting is allowed. Why should the majority change to meet the minority?

[Leon]

Happy New Year Damien
My suggestion is to have the NHL players themselves eliminate fighting. When a fight occurs each player would get a five minute major and a 10 minute misconduct. BUT the teams would play 4 on 4 - the majors would not offset. This means that a player on the ice other than the fighter would have to serve the 5 minutes, jump on the ice when the 5 minutes are up while the combatant serves his 10 minute misconduct. So if Malkin and Crosby's winger gets a major - either one of them sits for 5 or a defenceman. End of fighting.
Oh yes the LEafs definitley won the first fight in Philly and then about 5 minutes later were down 2-0 - so much for gaining monmentum. What a myth.

[Conn Smythe]

'Carcillo is a clown? Really?

He scored a prettier, more skillful goal than Phil Kessel will ever score'

Thanks for the laugh, Scott. Carcilio IS a clown - don't kid yourself. And if you think that that goal he scored was prettier or more skillful than Kessel will/has ever scored than it is painfully obvious to everyone here that you know next to nothing about hockey.

[Stephane]

So, Damien you're suggesting that an 82 game league with 30 teams can't day in day out play up to the emotional level of a two week tournament based on nationality with the best players in their age level put onto densely talented teams, where most players will only ever get one or two shots in their life to win the gold?

You don't say.

Maybe the NHL should invest in two ideas: contraction of teams and shortening the scheulde.

If the NHL had 24 teams again and played 60-70 games a year you would see a rise in the quality of play so sharp that you'd swear it was a different game.

Anyhow, just a thought.