A New Leaf Look For Next Season

The t-shirts disguised as Maple Leaf home and away uniforms are about to change.

The club has applied - actually, the forms were all filled out with the NHL last spring - to alter its home blues and road whites for next season. The team's classy third jersey - predominantly white, blue shoulders, old-style emblem - is expected to remain untouched.

Richard Peddie, the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, confirmed today that the uniform change has been accepted by the league, but declined to provide details.

"I'm going to leave that to when it's all unveiled," said Peddie.

The Leafs went to their current look after the 2004-05 lockout when the entire league switched to a new manufacturer. The look of the jerseys was very basic, blue and white, while the lack of any piping around the waist created a t-shirt effect that many have panned.

The new jerseys won't include dramatic changes, but will add some lines and piping to where none currently existed. The Leafs applied in April, 2009 for the uniform change, which will take effect for Brian Burke's second full season in Toronto. When he was in Anaheim, he also changed that team's uniforms to the currently black and orange scheme.

The new Leaf uniforms are likely to be unveiled in the summer, probably on a date when, it's expected, Dion Phaneuf will be named the club's next captain.

A Week to Watch in Another Lost Season

Should be an interesting week for Leaf watchers, at least those who didn't tune out a month ago. Or a decade ago.

Personally, I find this current collection far more intriguing than anything that's worn the blue-and-white since, oh, the spring of 2004 when, fortified with the veteran likes of Ron Francis and Brian Leetch, the Leafs tried to take a real run at it.

Since then, it's been a lot of pretending to either have a good team or to be building one. Now, while many prefer to focus on the absence of first-round picks in the next two drafts, you have the youngest team in the NHL with a pile of prospects.

Admittedly, most aren't bluechippers, but looking at the champion Penguins last night you saw the likes of Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Dupuis, Mark Eaton and Craig Adams, proof that while you need stars, what you also need to be is an organization that allows prospects to become players.

So we'll see with some of these Leaf prospects. Calgary didn't think Keith Aulie was a prospect, the Leafs do. One team will be right, one wrong. The Leafs will be signing Vermont forward Brady Irwin this week. Maybe he'll be a player, maybe we'll never hear from him again.

Meanwhile, playing for 11th or 12th or 13th in the conference isn't what the Leafs want to be doing, nor will it - or should it - attract much attention. But the hardcore may find the final two weeks of interest given the opponents and the schedule.

Tonight, Atlanta hosts Carolina, and then the Thrashers visit the Leafs tomorrow night. That means that John Anderson's playoff hungry group could do Toronto a favor tonight and then possibly be a little road weary by Tuesday's game, putting the Leafs, at least theoretically, in a position to tie the Hurricanes. That's not much. And really, it's not anything, unless you're really stuck on the Phil Kessel-for-picks angle.

Really, neither Tyler Seguin nor Taylor Hall will be playing for the Leafs, and that's that. Nothing will change that in the final fortnight. But if you believe that for pride's sake along the Leafs need to get out of the bottom two slots - and even if they do the lottery could put them right back in - then you're looking for them to catch one or two of the teams ahead of them.

People always have varied opinions on drafts as to whether they're strong or weak. I tend to go to the more dispassionate observers, those with nothing to gain or lose, like ESPN's NHL Draft Blog organized by Toronto writer Gare Joyce, with whom I'm currently writing a biography on Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin.

Anyways, Joyce wrote The Night The Lights Went Out on the 1987 Piestany brawl, pretty much the best hockey book I've ever read. And he knows his stuff when it comes to the juniors and what the scouts are saying.

If you follow his ESPN blog, it's not hard to get the impression that after Seguin and Hall there are no stars available this June, and there are even some who are questioning how good Seguin and Hall will be as professionals. Right now, the word is they don't stack up to, say, a Steven Stamkos or a Matt Duchene, but that remains to be played out.

Once you get past the two forwards, it's non-flashy defencemen and Europeans, including a couple of good Russians who might slip because of the dynamic right now between Russia and the NHL. If Columbus' experience with Nikita Filatov doesn't make an NHL club wary of going high with a Russian, I don't know what would.

Defenceman Cam Fowler of Windsor is viewed as a great skater but a big kid without a big shot or a streak of toughness. Some like Kingston defenceman Erik Gudbranson as high as No. 3, others not so much. And on it goes.

So, if the Leafs were to be worried about giving up a star in the Kessel deal, they probably just need to worry about getting out of the first or second slot.

The Leafs next four are at home, nicely spaced out, with no back-to-backs. Carolina, if that's the target, has to go into Montreal and Ottawa, then host the Devils.

So the opportunity is there for the Leafs to improve the optics. To some, that matters a great deal.

Another Euro Goalie to Consider

If the Maple Leafs have an area on their depth chart that's particularly thin, it would be in net.

At the NHL level, they have J.S. Giguere and rookie Jonas Gustavsson, and with the Marlies they have James Reimer. That's about it, and given the team's problems in net this season, Giguere's age and hefty contract and Gustavsson's inconsistency as he learns the NHL game, it would make sense that they will try to add one or more other netminders to the organization before next season.

One possibility is Finnish free agent Jussi Rynnas (pictured), a Gustavssson-like goalie who is 6-foot-5 and plays for Assat Pori. Rynnas, 22, is more raw at this point than Gustavsson was, but he might be a player the Leafs could develop, and Finnish goalies - Miikka Kiprusoff, Pekka Rinne, Tuukka Rask - have had increasing success in the NHL in recent seasons.

Detroit is one club that has already expressed interest in Rynnas, and the Leafs are kicking the tires on him, as well. The challenge for NHL teams, say veteran observers of the Finnish elite league, is to evaluate players in Finland at a time when the quality of the top league has deteriorated significantly. A dominant player in Finland, it's suggested, is not what it used to be.

Another possible free agent goalie for the Leafs could be Cornell's Ben Scrivens, a 23-year-old, 6-foot-2 netminder from Spruce Grove, Alberta.

The Norwegian Hobbit

CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Norway's forward Mats Zuccarello Aasen (48) vies for the puck against Swiss defenceman Mark Streit (7) during a game at the Vancouver Olympics.

So far, the Maple Leafs haven't made the same splash among NCAA free agents as they did last year other than signing Lake Superior State defenceman Simon Gysbers. In general, while the collegians are signing with various teams, there's a general sense the crop isn't as good this year.

Europe, however, may be a different matter.

The player coveted by six or more teams is Mats Zuccarello-Aasen, who many will remember as the diminutive forward who skated for Norway at the Vancouver Olympics wearing No. 48 and using an unusually long hockey stick. The Leafs are believed to be one of the teams in hot pursuit along with Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Edmonton and Chicago as this begins to turn into this year's version of the Fabian Brunnstrom Sweepstakes.

Some have nicknamed him MZA or the Norwegian Hobbit, and this week he was named the winner of the Yellow Helmet in the Swedish Elite League as MVP according to the players, a Swedish version of the Lester B. Pearson Award (which may yet be renamed the Ted Lindsay Award if the NHLPA ever gets its act together).

Zuccarello-Aasen 22, plays for Modo along with former NHLers Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, Niklas Sundstrom and Dan Hinote. The 5-foot-7, 160 pound centre/left winger led the entire league in scoring.

The Leafs are clearly more interested in adding size up front, but at the same time they're on the lookout for players skilled enough to play a top six forward role in the NHL. Zuccarello-Aasen showed both a combativeness during the Olympics and an ability to succeed on the smaller North American rink.

Of the remaining NCAA free agents, meanwhile, the Leafs also continue to have interest in 6-foot-5 Vermont Catamounts forward Brayden Irwin, a UCC grad and former Brampton Battalions forward who scored 15 goals in 38 games this season with Vermont.

Gysbers is a 6-foot-4 blueliner from Richmond Hill who has already played four games for the AHL Marlies.

Live hockey Q&A with Damien Cox

Damien held a live Q&A today at noon, answering readers' questions.

Of Stars and Playoff Berths

Join Damien Cox at 12:15 p.m. Monday for a live hockey Q&A.

Yes, it's amazing to watch the Phoenix Coyotes vying for first in the west. Folks will be reading this as a comment on the coaching and ownership abilities of Wayne Gretzky, and you can see why.

But in terms of departed star power and its results, it's hard to look past the Atlanta Thrashers, who seemed to be giving up on their season when sniper Ilya Kovalchuk was dealt to the New Jersey Devils but instead have now closed to within one point of an Eastern Conference playoff berth.

The Thrashers swept the stumbling, goaltender-less Flyers over the weekend after beating both Buffalo and Ottawa last week and are hot on the trail of eighth place Boston. While ex-Leafs may be killing the Calgary Flames — could you believe Vesa Toskala got the start last night in Minny? — they're powering the Thrashers' playoff drive as Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina play key roles.

GM Don Waddell took the public hit for not signing Kovalchuk, but the reality was this wasn't a team that could pay one player $9- or $10 million a season and hope to flourish. Now, without Kovalchuk, they're playing better hockey.

So much for star power.

Meanwhile, Kovalchuk's future as an unrestricted free agent will be fascinating to watch. He didn't exactly light it up last week when he came to town with the Devils. Despite all the talk that the KHL will come calling with an offer of $15 million a season, some attendance numbers out of the IIHF this morning provided some sobering news about just how big the Russia-based league actually is.

St. Petersburg leads the KHL in attendance and they only draw about 9,400, sixth best in all of Europe and less than half of what the top European team, Bern in Switzerland, draws. AK Bars Kazan, one of the better known franchises, has average attendance of around 5,000 a game. Avangard Omsk employs Jaromir Jagr and attracts about 9,200 per match.

Given these numbers — the KHL is ambitiously looking to expand to the Czech Republic and Sweden — you have to wonder about exactly how real the threat is that somebody is going to come calling with huge money to throw at Kovalchuk. His agent, Jay Grossman, is no doubt thrilled to have the KHL as leverage, but it will be interesting if he can use a Russian team to create a bidding war for a player only a handful of NHL clubs — if that — will care to throw big money offers at.

The dwindling number of Russians that are in the NHL seem inclined to stay here. That includes Nikolai Kulemin of the Maple Leafs, who in a story by Paul Hunter of The Star on the weekend said he's not looking to jump back to his homeland as a free agent this summer.

Right now there are only 26 Russians in the NHL, about a third of the number there were a decade ago. Whether the KHL actually ever becomes a rival league to the NHL is a story that has yet to play out.

The Myth of Revenge

And the moral of the story is?

Well, despite all the talk and all the cavemen who suggest knocking a few teeth out will teach this guy or that guy a lesson, and how the removal of the instigator penalty would fix all that ails the NHL, the reality is that revenge is a nearly impossible commodity to purchase or otherwise acquire in this league.

MARY SCHWALM/AP

Not much of a payback for Boston fans against Matt Cooke.

Think about it. Of all the dastardly crimes committed over the past 20 years in the NHL, on how many occasions was revenge truly exacted by the victimized party, or parties?

The truly deranged might say Todd Bertuzzi on Steve Moore in response to a hit on Markus Naslund, but in that one terrible moment, Bertuzzi did nearly as much damage to himself, the Vancouver organization and the futures of his GM and coach as he did to Moore.

You might say Darren McCarty on Claude Lemieux, but did it change Lemieux's game because he and McCarty went toe-to-toe? Did it somehow make it seem at all that matters were square over Kris Draper's crushed face?

Really, the only true sense the Wings got revenge was that they beat the Avalanche in an important hockey series.

Last night in Boston, there was no chance revenge was going to be possible for the Bruins on Matt Cooke unless they found a way to seriously injure him by legal means or otherwise, or if they took it to the Stanley Cup champions and won an important hockey game.

But injuring a guy like Cooke isn't easy. He may be a rat, but he's tough and experienced and had been through that situation more than a few times before. He was prepared, and the only way Shawn Thornton could really accomplish much was to get extra shots in after the linesmen jumped in - hey, isn't that against the vaunted "code"? - and all that did was earn him 10 minutes of extra penalty time.

The Bruins, meanwhile, aren't a good hockey team. They traded away Phil Kessel, don't have Marc Savard and have watched as Tim Thomas slowly become a backup.

Beating the Penguins on this night would have been a big surprise.

So revenge was not accomplished, which has some lunkhead sportswriters in Boston frothing at the mouth even more than usual. What did they think the Bruins were going to be able to do to Cooke? Knock his teeth out? He already was absent a few.

Did they think fighting Cooke would somehow bring Savard back from the deep dark cloud in which his life is now enveloped?

It's always thus. Did the Florida Panthers get revenge on Mike Richards because Bryan McCabe confronted him? Richards can handle himself, and David Booth still isn't close to be the same again.

Did the Leafs make Cam Janssens pay for his cheap-shot on Tomas Kaberle by having Wade Belak fight him? 'Course not. Janssens carried on and Kaberle, I'd argue, is only now getting back to being the player he was.

There's this myth in hockey that fighting somehow evens the score, and it almost never does, either because the perpetrators of various acts are thugs in the first place and able to fight as well as anyone who might challenge them - Chris Simon, Marty McSorley, Steve Downie - or they are like most NHLers, extremely well conditioned athletes who can deal effectively with a pugilistic encounter by grabbing on.

Moreover, like many things in life, there's this romantic belief that in the misty past hockey players were like English knights, settling differences honorably and like gentleman. It's just not true. They used to swing sticks at each other's heads. Cheap shots were plentiful. There were rats and cheap shot artists in the game then. Rocket Richard once said that to understand the time when he played would be understand how violent it was.

The good old days of the NHL never existed. But some convince themselves that they did, that in those days players knew how to take care of their differences and "police" the game.

You know, like Ted Green and Wayne Maki. Eddie Shore and Ace Bailey. Folks, those Broad St. Bullies weren't protecting or policing anyone - they were using intimidation as a tactic.

Fact is, whether it was hockey back then or the way it is now, nothing was going to even the score for Cooke's hit on Savard. Justice is only possible through a third party, and in this case the NHL failed itself and its players badly, while the players union has all but deserted the scene. But the absence of true justice through those means didn't change the facts that getting even was going to be next to impossible for the Bruins.

People who believed revenge was going to be exacted by the Bruins last night are thus more frustrated today than they were yesterday and are, presumably, oblivious to the moral of the story.

Thursday Mail Bag

Of all the dumb things said in the past 11 days over the Matt Cooke-Marc Savard incident - and there have been an astonishing amount, even for hockey - the dumbest has to have been this notion that had the NHL suspended Cooke for a few games all would have been well.

In other words, the Bruins would have been satisfied that justice had been done, and tonight's Boston-Pittsburgh game would be just another night on the NHL calendar.

Well, even if Cooke had received a four-game ban from NHL head office, severe in a league that believes breaking a guy's collarbone is equivalent to a two-gamer - he'd be back for tonight's game. And you really think there wouldn't be folks in Boston baying for more blood, more nonsense?

Of course there would be. People behave as if these incidents all have a logical beginning and conclusion, and they don't. In fact, it's even worse these days when every microscopically-scrutinized incident is compared to others. Just last night in Anaheim there was another act of stupidity, this time by Ducks defenceman James Wisniewski on Chicago's Brent Seabrook, which had the announcers talking about the larger head shot debate and other incidents, etc. etc.

What's clear is that partisanship plays a big role in how any of these are examined. Last night, with Seabrook clearly out on his feet before falling back to the ice, Ducks announcer Brian Hayward wondered aloud if the Hawks blueliner was "selling it" in an effort to draw a penalty.

Tonight, idiotic Bruins play-by-play man Jack Edwards - probably the worst in the sport right now - will undoubtedly be frothing at the mouth and cheering on whatever Bruin decides to challenge Cooke to a fight. Cooke has already fought once in the four games since the incident - Rob Niedermayer was the opponent - and will probably oblige.

Assuming the Bruin player wins, some will be satisfied. Of course, if Cooke wins, there could be more trouble. Never forget it was Cooke's pugilistic defeat at the hands of Steve Moore on that fateful night that encouraged Todd Bertuzzi into thinking yet more revenge needed to be exacted.

But the idiocy never makes sense. So Cooke knocks out Savard, and then, say, Shawn Thornton engages Cooke in a scrap, and everything's okay again?

By desperately and deliberately keeping fighting in the game at all costs, the NHL allows this caveman thinking to live on. So carry on boys, knock each other's teeth out! Whatever it takes.

Meanwhile, looks to be like both the Bruins and Penguins could use a victory. To some, sadly, that's secondary.

Now on to this week's mail bag:

Q: 
I am curious of your opinion on the trip up by Steve Downie on Crosby in 
their game on Sunday. It was overshadowed by the Ovie cheapshot but also
 deserves a suspension for intent to injure.

J. Howie, Vancouver

A: Repeat offender, should have been a suspension for that act of stupidity. Another dropped ball by the NHL. Lowest common denominator wins again.

Q: Hey Damien,

just wondering, in your opinion, how many of these young players
currently on the Leafs roster have a legitimate chance to be solid 
NHL'ers? Obviously not every one of these guys is going to score 50
 goals but who is Burke counting on to be able to build a competitive 
core around? Which guys do not look so promising?

 Thanks,



Larry Cranmore, London




A: Right now, I'd say all of them have a chance. There isn't a youngster with the team right at the moment who is over his head. What the club is trying to determine is the level to which each player might rise, and which ones could possibly use more seasoning in the minors to develop their game. Other than Tyler Bozak, I'm not sure there's a possible top-end player in the mix. But at this point, it's up to the players to prove how high they can fly. To me, the one player I'm not sold on is Christian Hanson. I just don't know what he's supposed to be. Looks like he needs to get a lot stronger.

Q: Hello, Mr. Cox. I am a giant Leafs fan, and I like many others am
 wondering when Ron Wilson is going to give someone the role of captain.
Of any of the new players, mainly Phaneuf, do you think is a likely
 candidate?



John Toad, Kitchener

A: Phaneuf, to me, is really the only candidate. I think there's better than a 50/50 chance he gets the "C" by next season.

Q: 



Hi - Please explain why Section 4 Rule 21.1 was not used to suspend
 Cooke ?



Thanks.

Derek Stewart, Portland, Maine

A: If you're referring to attempt to injure, my understanding is that the way that rule is used is on top of an infraction. In other words, there has to be an initial, illegal act - a slash, elbow, butt end, board, etc. - to which attempt to injure can then be added. In this case, the league ruled the hit was legal, therefore no attempt to injure.

Q: 

What's with Nazem Kadri having 105 penalty minutes? He could be leading 
the league in points if he was on the ice more. Do you think the Leafs 
should address this issue? I do.



Iain Bushe, Toronto







A: I think the Leafs, given the type of team they're trying to develop, are thrilled that Kadri plays with a nasty edge. They'll worry about reining him in later, if at all.

Q: 

Damien,



Why was Sydney Crosby not wearing an "A" in the gold medal game?  I know 
he was on the cover of SI with the "A", and I could have sworn he was
 named an alternate captain on the roster.




Deryck Evelyn, Cambridge





A: Crosby, Jarome Iginla and Chris Pronger were all alternate captains, but only two could actually were the letter on their jersey in a given game. So they took turns. I'm amazing how many questions I've received on this issue.




Q: I keep reading and hearing about the amazement over certain defencemen 
logging 25 or 26 minutes, yet when I was a kid in the six-team days,
every team had two defence pairs plus a fifth defenceman who rarely
 played (Leafs had Noel Price, Al Arbour, Joe Crozier, etc.). Brewer and 
Baun, Stanley and Horton, basically logged 30 minutes each per game. Are 
the speed and size the reasons for teams now having three defence pairs
and dressing seven D? Do defencemen have to skate that much more in
to day's style of play? Surely today's players are in far better shape 
than players were in the 50s and 60s.



Nick Martin, Winnipeg

A: The answer is yes, the game has changed drastically and is that much faster. Most defencemen start to struggle when their minutes get much north of 20. In the 1970s and earlier, forwards used to take much longer shifts and the game was played at a less furious pace, allowing defencemen to stay out longer. That said, in big games, you'll still see NHL teams shorten their bench and cut down to four or five defencemen. It's equal parts choice and necessity.


Q: Damien, as a hockey fan I am really upset and perplexed right now. I
remember 5-10 years ago when the topic of the day was hitting from
 behind. The league implemented rules to get this dangerous act out of
the game. Now, it seems hitting from behind has returned, and there are
 meagre consequences that go with it. Just because the new topic of the 
day is headshots, it seems like the league executives have forgotten how 
dangerous an act this is. They should have thrown the book at Ovechkin.
In my mind, he deserved around 6-8 games. Will this league ever get 
serious about suspensions?



Tanome Mchale, Toronto

A: It appears not. I'm less worried about the big hits like Ovechkin's than I am about the steady drumbeat of cheap hits from behind that go essentially unpunished because the victim isn't injured. It's turning into a roulette game. To me, any hit from behind should be five minutes and a game. Alfredsson hits Beauchemin from behind like the other night and its five and a game. Soon, you wouldn't have to worry about calling it because it would happen. But a two-minute penalty? That's nothing in a league where 75-80 per cent of penalties are killed off.

Q: 

Hey there Damian, long time reader, first time writer.

With the recent success of Nikolai Kulemin and a few late round draft
picks in Viktor Stalberg, Carl Gunnarsson and with guys like Juraj, Mikus 
and Korbinian Holzer showing lots of promise, do you think Burke will
 better utilize the talents of Euro scout Thommie Bergman this coming
draft?

We don't have any picks below the 3rd round, so why not let Bergman take 
some homerun swings at some high potential Euros. With how good he has
 done in the past, I was very disappointed to see him ignored last year.
I hope that won't be repeated. What do you think?



Jeff Pearce, Kingston




A: Well, out of all the guys you mentioned, only Kulemin is an established NHLer, with Gunnarson close, and neither's a star. Stalberg has a chance, the other guys are longshots. So I don't see the brilliance of the Leaf Euro-drafting strategy, necessarily. Moreover, Brian Burke wants a big, tough team based on North American talent. So I wouldn't anticipated a host of Euro picks in any draft as long as Burke is in charge.

Q: 
I am not questioning Phill Kessel's talent or speed but,in your opinion,
is Phil Kessel in good enough shape to be an elite player in the NHL.
Where would he rate on a fitness scale from Kyle Wellwood to Gary
Roberts?



Thomas Bee, Toronto

A: I haven't heard the conditioning issue raised with Kessel. Being such a terrific skater, sometimes he can get around the ice with what appears to be little effort. All this said, he had serious shoulder surgery last summer that kept him off skates for months, so it could be possible he is still finding the level of conditioning he wants to be at. To me, the issue with Kessel isn't if he's in good enough shape. It's whether over time he will develop the grit and level of competitiveness to go with his talent.


A New Approach?

Perhaps it's time for the NHL to look at a new way of doing things when it comes to supplementary discipline.

Perhaps the time is right for Gary Bettman to take centre stage, to become the man who makes these tough hockey decisions and puts his reputation on the line.

David Stern does it in the NBA. Roger Goodell was the one who banned Michael Vick and has to deal with trouble in the NFL when suspensions are required. Heck, Mark Cohon, every once in a while, at least tries to look like he's running the CFL show when something bad happens on the field.

But not Bettman. Whether it was Brian Burke or Colin Campbell, Bettman has preferred to stay in the background, just as was the case when Brian O'Neill dealt with supplementary discipline under John Ziegler.

But it wasn't always this way. Clarence Campbell, you'll recall, was the NHL president who suspended Rocket Richard. There's no particular rule that says the commissioner (formerly president) can't be the one who makes the call on big suspensions. In fact, when it came to Dale Hunter's hit on Pierre Turgeon years ago, Bettman did make the decision.

So why not step up now on a full-time basis? Colie Campbell, somewhat unfairly, is being trashed on a daily basis for his decisions, just as has been the case for years, even though its pretty clear Bettman and others have influence on those decisions.

The current system isn't working. Players don't seem happy, GMs and coaches don't see the logic and fans are completely confused.

If Bettman really is the caretaker of the league, then this could be the time he stands up and takes on the toughest job.

There will always be those who will say he isn't a hockey man, never played in the league.

Well Stern didn't dunk in the NBA and Goodell never played left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Bettman didn't skate anywhere for anyone. But since everyone seems happy to criticize the every move of Campbell, who played and coached in the NHL for years, it's hard to imagine it could be worse for the NHL commissioner.

Ovechkin Sits For Two

Washington Capitals star winger Alex Ovechkin has been suspended two games for his Sunday hit on Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Brian Campbell.

Campbell is expected to miss the rest of the season with a broken collarbone after being boarded in the first period by Ovechkin, who received a major and game misconduct on the play.

It's the second suspension of the season for the NHL's leading scorer, who was also suspended two games last fall for kneeing Tim Gleason of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The incident came a week after a controversial blindside hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke on Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins that left Savard concussed and possibly out for the season. Cooke wasn't penalized or suspended on the play.

Last fall, Mike Richards of the Philadelphia Flyers was given a major and game misconduct for a blindside hit on Florida's David Booth. Booth was knocked out on the play and sidelined for four months, while Richards was also not suspended.

On the Campbell hit, Ovechkin roared into the Chicago zone and shoved Campbell violently in the back of the shoulders at the end line, catapulting the smaller defenceman into the end boards.