The Longer View

While it might make for an intriguing storyline given all the history between the two clubs over the past two seasons, the Maple Leafs can't be officially eliminated from playoff contention by the Boston Bruins tonight.

Even a regulation loss would leave the Leafs with a possibility of getting to 88 points with four games remaining, theoretically enough to catch the Buffalo Sabres, who currently sit seventh with 87 points and don't play. The Rangers are eighth with 87 points, and they tangle with the unpredictable Islanders on the road this evening.

That said, the result of tonight's Leafs-Bruins clash in Beantown could help determine the value of the draft picks hanging in the balance because of two major trades between the two teams over the past two seasons.

For the Leafs, the good news is the 2011 No. 1 pick overall is no longer in play.

Right now, the Leafs sit 22nd overall and can't finish lower than 25th, which means even with the draft lottery the Bruins can no longer dream of getting the top pick with the second of two first round selections gained through the 2009 Phil Kessel deal.

Small victories for Leaf Nation.

If the Leafs fall no further, the highest the lottery could move the Bruins could move up to would be fifth overall - no team can move up more than four places - while the Leafs could also still bump a few notches upwards in the standings.

A win tonight over the Bruins, then, could contribute to that lost first round pick being less valuable. And keep the Leafs' remote playoff dreams alive.

The Leafs, meanwhile, own Boston's first round pick from last month's Tomas Kaberle deal. Today, the Bruins sit seventh overall, but the actual value of that pick will be determined through how Boston fares in the post-season combined with their regular season finish. The Bruins will win their division but right now have the fewest points of any division leader, and that status could determine where the first rounder owned by the Leafs lands.

The best scenario the Leafs could hope for (and an unlikely one) would be if four non-division winners get to the conference finals. Those teams would get picks Nos. 27 through 30. Next would come the division winners in reverse order of points, so in theory the Boston pick owned by the Leafs could be as high as No. 21 if the B's finish lowest among the division winners.

If the Bruins get to the Stanley Cup final and lose, the pick would be the 29th of the first round. If they win, it would be the 30th. But in either of those scenarios, the Leafs would get Boston's second round pick in 2012.

The Leafs would also get Boston's second round pick in '12 regardless of their playoff finish if Kaberle resigns with the Bruins. Right now, there have been no serious contract talks between the veteran defenceman and Boston GM Peter Chiarelli, but the intent seems to be to get a deal done.

"I expect there to be good negotiations once the season is over," Chiarelli told ESPNBoston.com. 

Kaberle, an unrestricted free agent in July, has played 18 games for Boston, registering one goal and six assists with a plus-six rating. So far, he hasn't done much to help the Boston power play, with the B's 6-49 (12.2 per cent) at extra strength since acquiring Kaberle. That said, over the last five games the Boston power play has been better, scoring five times on 15 chances.

"He's changed the balance of our defence," said Chiarelli.

This is the second meeting of the two clubs since the Kaberle trade. The Leafs beat the Bruins 5-2 in Toronto on March 19th, a game in which Kaberle went pointless and was minus-1 in 20:08 of playing time.

Centre Joe Colborne, the prospect the Leafs received in the deal along with the draft picks, has been back in the AHL Marlies lineup for five games since suffering a concussion in mid-March. He had a goal and an assist in a loss to Syracuse on Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Booster Shot

Times are tough in Buffalo. Many Canadians saw that first-hand when they ventured across the Peace Bridge for the world junior championships in December and January.

But they also experienced a town looking to bounce back, and one in which a little good news goes a long way.

The remarkably successful world juniors was a start. Today, meanwhile, the good news - or at least promising news - is coming in from both the Sabres and Bills.

The Sabres are on an 11-3-3 run that has seen them successfully fend off the Maple Leafs for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth. The Sabres were actually behind the Leafs in the fall but are now seven points up going into tonight's game at the Air Canada Centre, with a chance to essentially finish off Ron Wilson's club for good.

The purchase of the Sabres by wealthy Terry Pegula has substantially altered the club's outlook. Money is being made available to GM Darcy Regier to spend, and there no longer seems real concern that Lindy Ruff, a free agent after this season, is going anywhere. That the Sabres have accomplished all of this without top forward Derek Roy is a testament to the way in which the team has come together in recent weeks.

Having Ryan Miller start looking like the Ryan Miller of last season again hasn't hurt, either.

Then there are the Bills, coming off a 4-12 season. Heismann Trophy winner Cam Newton, the Auburn quarterback, is in town today to meet with head coach Chan Gailey and other members of the Bills football staff. The Bills have the third pick of the upcoming NFL draft behind Carolina and Denver, and Newton is the kind of exciting athlete that could hit all the right notes in western New York.

It's hardly a sure thing. The Panthers could take him, but they have young Jimmy Clausen. Denver's making noises about taking a passer, but they may be interested in Washington's Jake Locker, plus they already have Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow and Brady Quinn.

Newton may not even be the best quarterback available, but Missouri's Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder of Florida State in the mix. Moreover, Gailey has said quarterback is not the club's greatest need, with Ryan Fitzpatrick having earned the confidence of the coaching staff last season.

But just having an exciting, high-profile prospect like Newton in town lifts the spirits of Bills fans and sets a tone of optimism and possibility. It doesn't alter the sombre likelihood that there may not be any NFL football in 2011 for Buffalo or anywhere else, but fits with an overall sense that pro sports in Buffalo may be on the upswing.

The Toronto connection with the Bills, of course, is that if there is an '11 season, the Bills will be once again playing a regular season game at the Rogers Centre after hosting Chicago next season. Local fans, then, may get a look at the Bills' top pick, whoever it turns out to be.

 

 

 

The Leafs, The Cap and the Summer Ahead

One of the least mentioned elements of the Maple Leaf season has been the fact that for the vast majority of the campaign, the club spent well below the league's salary cap.

Really, since demoting Jeff Finger and his awful contract to the Marlies in October, the club has operated $4-6 million below the league's $59.4 million cap all season, unusual for a team that has consistently spent to the max since the salary cap was instituted after the lockout. Other than Joffrey Lupul, the team hasn't added a large contract this season, while Tomas Kaberle and Francois Beauchemin were sent packing.

Compare that to Buffalo, which added the $4 million contract of Brad Boyes at the trade deadline, the proceeded to stay ahead of the Leafs in the fight for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot. Seventeen teams will spend more than the Leafs this season, a group led by the Calgary Flames, a team that may not make the post-season and has an enormous number of no-trade/no movement contracts.

Clearly, Brian Burke and Co. were trying to avoid bad contracts and maintain roster/cap flexibility going forward, particularly with a new CBA coming sometime after September, 2012. But the amount of money the Leafs had to spend before the deadline could have in theory added two more players to the roster to help the club's late season playoff push.

That said, the reluctance to do that does put the team in a better position for the off-season, with only approximately $37 million committed to 13 players and the cap expected to rise by $2-3 million. It also means that while the whining never seems to end about Mike Komisarek's contract (3 more years at $4.5 million) it's really not a deal that poses a major problem for the Leafs right now.

Could they buy him out? Theoretically, sure. but remember they're still looking at a cap hit of $1 million for each of the next three seasons for buying out Darcy Tucker. These decisions last. It would make a heckuva lot more sense to work with Komisarek and get him back to playing where he was two or three seasons ago.

Even after signing some key restricted free agents, the Leafs could still have upwards of $15 million to spend. It would be hard to believe that they won't go back to being a team spending to the maximum next season.

The five key restricted free agents are:

--D Luke Schenn. This is the only situation that could result in a big contract, and even that is ameliorated to some degree that Schenn's current contract, his entry level deal, comes with a cap hit of $2.975 million per season. The likelihood is he'll be able to command a salary somewhere between $3.5-4 million on a long-term deal, likely four or five years.

--G James Reimer. This is a tricky one. How do you fairly compensate a goalie who has played extraordinarily well, but in less than a half-season. Reimer makes $597,000 now, and the most sensible approach would be something like the Leafs did with Jonas Gustavsson last summer, with Gustavsson receiving two years with an annual cap hit of $1.35 million. No reason to break the bank. Media calls for a deal of five years, $25 million are preposterous. 

--LW Clarke MacArthur. MacArthur has had a career season, but he has injured his off-season bargaining power by going cold since the trade deadline. He's at $1.1 million now, even arbitration seems unlikely to bump him above $2.5 million. The Leafs could live with a one-year award at that figure.

--C Tyler Bozak. In less than two years in the league, Bozak has proven he's an NHLer with upside. There's more skill than 29 points in 76 games suggest, and a minus-27 rating doesn't alter the club's thinking that he's a good penalty killer and generally sound defensively. He'd be a nice fit at the No. 3 slot. Like Schenn, his current cap hit is inordinately high for a young player - $3.725 million - so there will be cap relief on the way if he is signed. Something like $1.5 million per season on a short-term deal makes sense.

--D Carl Gunnarson. His minutes and responsiblties have skyrocketed since Kaberle's departure, and the fact he is an even plus-minus player after 62 games, best among the regulars on the club's blueline, is a positive stat. He's 24 years old and currently makes $800,000. That doubles next season, quite probably, but stays below $2 million.

So say the total cap hit for those five RFAs comes in around $12 million, or below. That should still leave about $15 million to sign four more players to get to 22, whether that includes UFAs like Tim Brent and Joey Crabb, or significant free agents.

So while it might have helped the club short-term to take on contractual committments beyond this year to help fuel this late season playoff push, not doing so will be enormously helpful going forward. Now, the trick will be finding players worth spending on.

 

 

 

 

 

The Hits That Hurt

Here's why I don't like the Mike Komisarek hit.

Mark Olver never, ever was in possession of the puck. (Note: Many have commented this morning that Olver touched the puck. He may have. But he never possessed it in any meaningful way. Try reading first, people, then comment) Period. It was near him. It went past him. It was either a bad pass he couldn't corral or a good one he flubbed.

But there's no chance he was ever in actual possession making a stick-handling motion of any kind. Olver no more had the puck than Komisarek did.

If you don't have the puck, how can you possibly be fair game for a thundering hit like that Komisarek laid on him Thursday night in Denver?

We could go on. The hit looked a bit late, and it certainly originated as from the blind side, although at the moment of impact Komisarek's shoulder was making contact with the chest/neck/head area of Olver's body.

But no penalty. And, of course, when Avs forward Cameron Gaunce tracked down Komisarek looking for the predictable retaliation fight, no instigator.

See, this is why when the NHL does it's two-day public relations thing down in Boca Raton, and then goes all draconian (and rightfully so) on Matt Cooke, it's still hard to take it's contention that the plan is to crack down on head shots and try to eliminate concussions very seriously.

Komisarek's hit was a hockey play, at least, and there will be those that will argue, as always, that Olver's head should have been up and looking for an opposing player (wasn't his main job to receive a pass from a teammate?) and that having the puck in the general vicinity constitutes possessions.

And you know what? in a traditional sense, they're right. That's how it's been called for a long, long time.

But if you can't get that hit out of the game, if a player doesn't have to be in actual possession of the puck before getting laid out at centre ice, then the NHL and hockey in general has no chance whatsoever of improving its dismal and deteriorating record on head shots and concussions.

 

 

 

Caution Is Still Appropriate

Two thoughts on James Reimer, the Morweena Miracle, this morning.

First, people gotta let go of that weird decision last week by Ron Wilson to not only rest Reimer against the Florida Panthers, but not even dress him.

If the Leafs don't make the playoffs - and it's looking bleaker by the minute - it won't be because of that loss. It will because the Leafs didn't come together as a team, really, until after Christmas. Maybe even a little later.

Maybe next season the club and its fans will pay a little more attention to the games in October and November.

Second, 28 appearances, including last night's whitewash of the awful Minnesota Wild, do not a proven NHL goalie make. All the signs are surely positive on Reimer, and he may indeed be the long-term answer in goal for the Leafs.

He might be ready to pick up next fall where he leaves off this spring.

But if that's the way the Leafs go, it'll still be a gamble, and not a smart one. If you don't want to spend the cash on Ilya Bryzgalov, it will still be necessary to go out and find a viable veteran netminder to be ready to go in case Reimer can't do in October what he's doing now.

This is a team, and a city, that should know by now the the damage that can be done by over-estimating goaltending. It happened with Andrew Raycroft, it happened with Vesa Toskala, and it happened this season with J.S. Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson.

Goaltending matters more than any other position. More to the point, you're not a proven NHL starter until you've done it over the course of several seasons, at the very least over the course of two seasons. NHL history is littered with the likes of Steve Penney. It wasn't that long ago the Canadiens believed Jose Theodore was going to be the successor to Patrick Roy. Last spring it looked like Tuukka Rask was a lock to be the starter in Boston. We all remember when Steve Mason took the NHL by storm and appeared to set up the Columbus Blue Jackets for years to come. The Senators bet everything that Pascal Leclaire would be their goalie of the present and the future and were terribly wrong.

The brilliance of Ryan Miller, Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist and others is that they've done it over the course of years, not just a half-season.

Don't get me wrong. Reimer is the individual story of this Leaf season, the best goalie prospect the Leafs have developed since Felix Potvin (speaking of goalies who didn't quite pan out) and a wonderful story, to boot. He's just a nice kid to talk to, seemingly as humble as they come.

But you can't bet everything on him just yet, or at least the Leafs can't. He needs to show more, a lot more, and the hockey club needs to provide itself with more insurance going forward in the form of an experienced goalie. The fact is he came out of nowhere this season, and it's quite funny to hear commentators who were shrieking in the fall that the Leafs had no prospects and no future suddenly arguing that Reimer is a blue-chipper.

Nothing's a sure bet, but Bryzgalov is as sure as it comes. Maybe he wants big money over six, seven years, at which point the Leafs would be out, anyway. Brian Burke doesn't seem inclined to do deals that long. But maybe Bryzgalov wants three years, and what would be wrong with a Bryzgalov-Reimer combination in net? The Leafs are way below the cap, with Giguere set to come off this summer. They have room to invest in proven goaltending. They should invest it.

 

 

 

Gotta Get Two Out Of Three

The Maple Leafs probably aren't a good enough team that they can expect to go on the road for three Western Conference matches and expect to come away with four points.

But if they don't do that this week on a road swing that includes visits to Minnesota (tonight), Colorado and Detroit, well, they'll have to stop considering themselves to be a playoff-worthy team.

Three wins, really, is what is needed. Two would do, but then running the table afterwards would be almost a must. Perhaps it's all just math anyway and there really is no significant chance of acquiring a post-season berth, but you win as many games as you can then see what the standings say after everyone's played 82.

Thing is, these three this week are all winnable. The Wild have lost six in a row and are just awful right now. The Avalanche, once a perennial powerhouse in the west, are now a ghost of a once proud franchise, and that's with the extremely impressive Matt Duchene in the lineup every night.

Detroit is a different issue. Last night they played without Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen, and Jimmy Howard has been ordinary. Really, the Wings are just marking time until the post-season begins, and that's why a truly hungry and focussed Leaf team should stand a very good chance of going into Joe Louis on Saturday and taking two points.

That's the big picture. The smaller picture boils down to individuals, special teams and the like. Plus there are players looking to nail down jobs for next season, players who know GM Brian Burke will surely be looking to add over the summer month.

Actually, it's already started. Tyler Brenner of Linwood, Ont., was signed as an unrestricted free agent out of Rochester Institute of Technology on Monday, a 22-year-old winger with size and a penchant for scoring goals. Now, RIT has yielded much over the years when it comes to high-end hockey talent, so this is really evidence that there is no level to which Burke won't go to try and find assets. There were a few teams after Brenner, and now we'll find out where he fits among a crowd of Leaf NCAA grads like Tyler Bozak, Christian Hanson, Brayden Irwin, Simon Gysbers and Ben Scrivens. Bozak's a player, this we know. None of the others are. Yet. But if one of Brenner, Irwin, Gysbers or Scrivens joins Bozak in the bigs, that would be a 40 per cent success rate, just as good or better than the entry draft.

There's no shortage of Leafs on the bubble heading towards next season, no shortage of players many would point to and say this isn't a good team as long as that player (insert name here) is on the roster. Tim Brent, for example, might be such a player, but at the same time one of the undertold stories of the Leaf season is how Brent, at age 27, has managed to get more out of this season than anybody would have imagined.

When the season started, it was Brent and Mike Zigomanis holding down the third and fourth line centre spots. Zigomanis was soon back with the Marlies, but Brent has not only lasted he's become increasingly important, both as a "glue" type player on the third line but also as a penalty killer and, most recently, Tomas Kaberle's replacement on the power play.

Now nobody's going to mistake Brent for a high-end power play quarterback. But he's been serviceable, and over the course of the season, the equivalent of a utility infielder who can play four different positions and even pitch for you if the game gets way out of hand. Playing between 13-15 minutes per night, Brent has become a player that matters for the Leafs just as the team has become decidedly more competitive in the second half.

This week, if you're the Leafs you're looking for wins, period. This is desperation time. But you have to believe the mindset of the Leaf front office has already partly switched over to next season, trying to figure who fits and who doesn't. Mike Komisarek might be the name of a player who no longer fits. But Brent might be a player thought to be a stopgap type at best who may end up having a long shelf life with Burke's Leafs.

 

 

 

The Perfect Time to Set An Example

Now that Matt Cooke has sinned yet again, there are three actors that should have a role to play in his punishment.

First, there is the NHL, which must act to protect the game, Ryan McDonagh and the rest of the league.

Second, there is the NHLPA, which must act to protect the interests of both McDonagh and Cooke, and not just Cooke, as the union has usually done. You might also dream of a hockey world in which the NHLPA would have a thought for the sport at large, something beyond itself and the millionaires it represents, but that might be hoping for a bit much at this time.

Thirdly, there is the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise. Well, the franchise and Mario Lemieux, which is pretty much the same thing. Lemieux claimed the moral high ground last month, complaining to the Bettman administration in a very, very public way that goonery and headshots and all forms of hockey violence were not being treated with appropriate harshness.

Hypocrite, many cried, pointing to the fact that Cooke, arguably the best known cheap shot artist in the sport, plays for the Penguins.

So now the Pens are in a bit of a spot, aren't they? If they do nothing, they forfeit that high ground, and Lemieux loses the legitimacy to speak that he has earned through his brilliant playing career and tireless efforts to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

If this latest incident is to make any kind of a positive impact, the suspension to Cooke should be harsh and long. He simply doesn't give a care for the health and well-being of his fellow players, and has demonstrated that time and time again even though he is regarded as a good teammate.

So the NHL must deliver a stiff penalty commensurate with its supposedly hardened attitute against the type of head shot Cooke delivered upon McDonagh  on Sunday. Ten games is where you start, but might be unrealistic, given the NHL's lenient way of looking at these matters, particularly given that McDonagh stayed in the game.

Either way, Lemieux and the Pens can make their own statement. They could suspend Cooke for a game or two or more in addition to whatever the league. does. "Conduct detrimental to the team" could be the broad area that would cover such an incident and team-issued penalty.

Finally, the union needs to go along with whatever the league and the team decides. it could grieve or fight, but if Don Fehr does, he should do so knowing that like steroids in baseball, he would be going against the grain of what the hockey public believes is right and not right with the game.

None of this may happen this way, other than a certain league suspension. It may all be a fanciful way of imaging the way in which thoughtful people who truly believe in the game of hockey and understand its vulnerabilities could behave, rather than in simple self-interest. Pens GM Ray Shero spoke eloguently in favour of a blanket ban on head shots last week, and now he has a player under contract who obviously cares not a whit for the concussion concerns of the broader industry.

Imagine a response to this incident in which the league, team and union all acted in concert with the same broad goal in mind.

A guy can dream, can't he?

An Ugly Way to Go

A whimper. Period.

That's what the Maple Leafs went down with Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla., an inexplicably emotionless and weak effort against a Panthers team that threw in the towel on the season at the trade deadline when GM Dale Tallon traded away as many bodies as possible as he continues his rebuilding effort in south Florida.

The Leafs put themselves into the playoff conversation with mostly strong hockey over the past month or so. But when confronted with a game in which they were actually the favourite, they performed as though they expected the home team to just roll over and play dead, dropping a 4-0 decision.

Not a chance. Ryan Carter, on his own, did more hitting than the Leafs did as a team, there was no sense of urgency whatsover on the Toronto side and it was startling to watch what had been a hustling Leaf squad completely unable to match Florida's energy level.

The Leafs just couldn't generate much on the attack all night against a Panthers squad populated with all kinds of hungry youngsters eager to prove they deserve to be NHLers. On top of that was layered J.S. Giguere's mediocre goaltending effort, and the decision to not even dress James Reimer as the backup will go down as one of the weirdest of Ron Wilson's coaching career in Toronto.

Down 2-0 in the second with Giguere not looking very good at all, Reimer could have theoretically entered the game. After all, Ron Wilson had ridiculed members of the media the night before for even suggesting Reimer was tired. So why wasn't he dressed? Actually, given Wilson's sarcasm, why wasn't he in the game? There was little or no chance that Jonas Gustavsson, having not appeared in an NHL game since Jan. 19, was going to go in and relieve Giguere on Thursday night.

You couldn't argue Reimer would have made a difference, not with the Leafs unable to get a single puck past Scott Clemmensen. Then again, the Leafs are a very different team with Reimer in the net, and at this time of year, in this situation, you'd think Wilson would be emptying the ammunition case, not holding key players back.

Unless there's a reason Reimer sat that hasn't been disclosed, it was just a weird decision by Wilson, one that couldn't have sent a positive message to his team.

With 10 games still to play, the Leafs are still mathematically alive. But they trail Buffalo by four points and the Sabres have two games in hand. They pretty much have to run the table now, a major task with a set of difficult road challenges next week.

Maybe the loss to the Panthers was the unofficial end. If it was, it was a lousy way to go. 

 

 

The Second Step

BOCA RATON--The NHL's obvious strategy, to come out swinging against concussions on the first day of the winter general managers meetings, met with some success.

The league got the headlines it craved, creating at least some backspin against the wave of negative publicity that hit the league last week following Zdeno Chara's crushing hit on Max Pacioretty of the Canadiens. Gary Bettman wanted to make an impression, and even his critics would have to concede he did by taking the offensive on the opening day of the meetings rather than waiting until the end, his usual custom.

Now, however, that's put the onus on the GMs to keep the momentum going, no easy task. It's possible they could come up with nothing specific today, but that certainly won't make league headquarters happy. The plan was to strike hard on the first day and then follow up with some kind of rule alternation on the second day. Even if that rule change never comes into being - we all remember the "committment" to rid the league of staged fights, don't we - the public relations value will be there.

By contrast, the last headline the league will want at the end of Tuesday will be "GMs Come Up Empty-Handed."

But what will the GMs come up with, if anything? Charging and boarding, two fouls have gone largely unrefined for the better part of seven decades, are the target. Some progress has been made on the questionable hits that occur in the middle of the ice, but it's the ones that take place along the boards that are often the most destructive. The definition of charging, like the rules governing faceoffs and icing, have become rather elusive, or at least elastic. Nobody seems to really know what boarding is; it's become what they call on a hit from behind when its deemed to be worth only a minor, which is right up there with the dumbest rules in the book.

How can a hit from behind into the boards EVER be worth only two minutes?

So the GMs could work on the wording. Or they could simply say any charging or boarding foul will automatically be five minutes and a game misconduct. More than one, you get a one-game suspension, and the bans double after that.

See, the league pointed to the fact on Monday that 44 per cent of all hits that result in concussion are legal hits. That leads you to the inescapable conclusion that too many hits defined as legal should be re-defined as illegal.

So we'll see what the GMs come up with. You know Bettman is looking over their shoulders.

 

 

Crosby Says Has "No Clue" If He'll Be Back This Season

BOCA RATON--Hard to say whether this was news more encouraging for Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins or the NHL.

It's certainly big for all three.

The Penguins captain hit the ice for 15 minutes this morning, the first time since Jan. 5 he has been on skates since suffering one or possibly two concussions in the early days of 2011, starting with the Winter Classic. He has missed 29 games.

The club's web site released the news this morning, saying Crosby skated for about 15 minutes, shot some pucks and skated around cones. He told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review afterwards he has "no clue" if he will be able to return to play this season.

"That's impossible to say," he said. "It's progress. I'm nowhere close (to playing). I just want to get through it (this morning's workout) without getting a headache, let alone worry about my conditioning."

He did say he is feeling better.

"Every day things are pretty good now," he said.

The Penguins, who are without both Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, should be enormously encouraged by even the possibility that their captain could return this season.

For the NHL, after an awful week for the Bettman administration in which the league was lambasted in public and the media for its handling of the violent Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty and another player, Pavel Kubina, was suspended for a head shot violation, this was good news indeed. If anything, the absence of Crosby has added a quiet, sombre undertone to the entire season, particularly since he was the league's leading scorer at the time of his injury.

His absence put into sharp relief the NHL's ongoing problems with concussions, and the GM meetings that began this morning here in Florida are expected to include a great deal of discussion on both concussion protocols and possible rule changes. The league announced a five-pronged program to attack the concussion problem on Monday, and Crosby said he's watching what these meetings produce.

"I think everyone is interested," he said. "There's been talk about rule changes. We'll see what happens," he said. 

Crosby was asked if he thinks all head shots should be banned.

"That’s a great question. I’d like to say yes," he said. "But it’s more than just saying that. There’s obviously got to be some clairity. Everything’s got to be looked at. It’s a pretty fast game. There may be times when guys maybe don’t (aim) for the head but come into contact with the head. What do you do in that situation?"