(Andrew Bogusch will contribute a regular column every week to FTS. Any comments can be sent to FromTheSlot@gmail.com)
Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford should be upset that his first round pick from last June was knocked unconscious Saturday night on Long Island. But he shouldn’t be calling out Doug Weight or the NHL in the aftermath of the veteran center’s hit on Brandon Sutter.
Yes, the replay shows Weight’s elbow coming up a bit as he finishes the check. Yes, Sutter was absolutely helpless as he tried to corral the puck. But don’t we always say, “play the body”? Should Weight be asked to factor in ALL the possible outcomes of an open-ice hit before making one?
Weight did not go out of his way to harm Sutter. If he wanted to accomplish that, his forearm and/or stick would have been involved as he drove through the 19-year old. What if Weight realized Sutter was in a vulnerable position and didn’t hit him? And then Sutter went down the ice and put the puck in the net. And the Islanders lost by one goal. What then gets said to Weight on the bench or in the locker room (or written here)?
This is not to say players should have utter disregard for their colleagues. It’s to say there’s only so much we can ask of them as they fly around the ice trying to win games. Had Sutter not been in such a crouch playing the puck, Weight does not hit him in the head, and maybe Sutter just has the wind knocked out of him, and then we’re not even discussing this.
This was just a perfect storm of circumstances that lead to an ugly, scary, but acceptable hit. Rutherford has to defend his players, especially after seeing a number of them laid out since the start of last season, but this is not Exhibit A when asking for change to the game.
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The new week begins with Marian Gaborik still in Minnesota and Mats Sundin still in limbo. It’s been three weeks since GM Doug Risebrough and Gaborik’s agent, Ron Salcer, have discussed a new deal. Salcer told ESPN.com this weekend he hasn’t turned down a 7-year, $70-million-dollar deal, or one for 8 and 80 – as has been reported. Whether that’s true or not, $10 million per year is close to what it’ll take to keep Gaborik. And it just doesn’t make sense for the Wild to pay him that. Let’s forget whatever financial limitations the organization has – Gaborik is too much of a health risk to be paid like that (he’s on injured reserve as of Monday, don’t forget).
It’s clearly time for Risebrough to move Gabby. The distraction will only become more annoying for his team as the season progresses. Obviously, if Risebrough were to wait until the trade deadline, a team might go crazy and overpay for Gaborik. But they also might not. I’d pull the trigger now when everyone thinks they’re still alive and needs a potential 50-goal scorer.
As for Sundin, we expect him in Los Angeles in the near future, maybe to begin training for a return to the league. Big deal – hopefully, Sundin’s waiting game never ends. Star players deserve certain perks – a suite on the road, an extra piece of steak at a team meal, a whole row on the team plane – but not keeping multiple organizations waiting and hoping for them. It wasn’t cool when Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne did it last year in Anaheim, and it’s not cool that Sundin is doing it now. First of all, he should have waived his no-trade clause last spring if he truly cared about the Maple Leafs and winning the Stanley Cup. And now, he should already be in someone’s lineup grinding through the fall.
And the lineup he should be in the most right now – the Chicago Blackhawks’. That type of player in that type of market would be a major boon for the League. But most importantly, Chicago needs a second center, preferably one with Sundin’s experience, to play “behind” Jonathon Toews. So Dale Tallon, do something with Nickolai Khabibulin to free up cap space and then place a call to Sundin’s representation.
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The Shootout…Saturday might have featured every team in action, but we cannot forget the craziness that went down on the ice Friday night. Not only was Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin dropping the first puck at her SECOND game this year, but her red carpet tripped Blues goalie Manny Legace, injuring his hip. Rangers head coach Tom Renney missed the end of his team’s win in Columbus after taking a stick to the head during a pile-up in front of the NY bench. And Anaheim center Todd Marchant scored in Ottawa by slapping a puck out of mid-air from the top of the right faceoff circle. Jason Smith was dropping it after catching Teemu Selanne’s dump-in. The puck floated past an unsuspecting Alex Auld.
Kudos to the Blackhawks for their Winter Classic jersey. It should be a hot-seller at the NHL Store in NYC, but I can do without the scripted D the Red Wings are going with.
And if you think NHL referees have gone penalty-crazy, I watched my first two college hockey games of the year this weekend – Michigan @ BU in person Saturday night and Minnesota @ Wisconsin on TV Sunday night. Each game had over 20!!! combined power-plays. There was some exciting action, including a late Gopher comeback, but no game can be fun with that many penalties.
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