Strange Days Indeed

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Written on 11/19/2009 by Jim Cerny


I am not sure if it's a black cloud or a full moon, but there's something wreaking havoc on the National Hockey League so far this season.

As discussed here before, the amount of injuries to star players is off the charts. Plus there have been a string of strange incidents that add to the question: what the heck is going on here?

Two more stories from today fit right in with what has been par-for-the-course over the first quarter of the NHL season.

First, the Los Angeles Kings placed winger Ryan Smyth (above photo) on Injured Reserve this morning. So down goes another star player---and another one who was off to a very strong start this year. Smyth joins the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jonathan Toews, Cam Ward, Brian Gionta, Simon Gagne, Sergei Gonchar, Roberto Luongo, Marc Savard, Joe Pavelski, and seemingly half of the entire Detroit Red Wings roster as star players forced to the sidelines for an extended period of time.

Smyth, who was thriving with 23 points (9-14-23) in 22 games during his first season out in LA, suffered an "upper body" injury during Monday night's game against Florida. The Kings announced today that he will miss at least a month of action, a severe blow to a team has thrived with Smyth skating on its top line alongside the league's top scorer Anze Kopitar.

"All these injuries that are happening to key players around the league, everyone is going through it and no one is going to feel sorry for you," Kings coach Terry Murray told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun.

Actually, I find it most interesting that Murray would even speak to anyone associated with ESPN.com. You see, you could make the case that Smyth is on IR because ESPN.com put the whammy on him earlier this week.

On Monday, mere hours before Smyth suffered his injury, Scott Burnside at ESPN.com included a segment in his column making the case for Smyth to be a part of the Canadian Olympic Hockey team. Citing his great play this season, and his past contributions to Canadian entries in international competition over the years, Burnside detailed why the 33 year-old Smyth deserved a call from Team Canada's Steve Yzerman.

Then WHAM! Smyth gets hurt, is out a month or more, and the Olympics---while still a possibility---become more of a long shot.

So this one may have less to do with black clouds and full moons than with ESPN.com's hockey analysis! Just think of it as the hockey version of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.

If we argue that Smyth's injury has more to do with Burnside and a jinx, then it can be said that the clouds most certainly found their way to Minnesota, where all hell was breaking lose at Wild practice today.

To quote Michael Russo, the fine Wild beat writer for The Star Tribune, from his Twitter update (@Russostrib) this morning, "This is an angry practice."

Russo reported that head coach Todd Richards was in rare form, "plenty of lectures, smashing sticks against glass", he Tweeted. Then Russo added, "(Kyle) Brodziak chopped stick in half, (Mikko) Koivu threw stick four rows deep."

Sounds like good times in Minnesota.

But really they are just taking a page out of the Calgary Flames book. Apparently there was a shouting match in coach Brent Sutter's office following Calgary's 3-2 home-ice loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. Though it can not be confirmed who was shouting at whom, it was reportedly loud and angry.

Sun Media's Randy Sportak reported that Sutter downplayed the incident afterwards, saying it was just the normal course of doing business in the NHL.

"It's a high level of competition where there's a lot of emotion and a lot of intensity involved," stated Sutter. "Those things are going to happen at different times."

Sutter made sure to add that this incident "is no one else's business...that's the way it is."

Coaches flipping out. Star players being shelved almost on a nightly basis.

Black clouds. Full moons. Sportswriter jinxes.

Can't say things are boring this year in the National Hockey League.

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Phaneuf Hit on Okposo Legal or No?

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Written on 9/18/2009 by Jim Cerny

Scary scene in Calgary last night during a pre-season tilt between the Flames and New York Islanders. Rugged Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf absolutely crushed Isles winger Kyle Okposo (photo right) with a thunderous open-ice hit, and the 21 year-old was down on the ice for several minutes before being wheeled off on a stretcher.

According to the team, Okposo suffered a mild concussion, and there is no long-term prognosis on the injury just yet.

Debate is already raging as to whether or not it was a clean hit. Needless to say, you can check out the blogosphere and see that Isles backers thought it was a dirty hit by Phaneuf, while Flames fans see it is a perfectly legal blow.

If you have not done so already, check out the hit here.

I have watched the clip over and over again this morning, and, to me, the most troubling aspect of it is that Phaneuf seems to leave his feet when he delivers the check on Okposo. With that being the case, it is not a clean hit, and thus Phaneuf should have been penalized---he was not, by the way---and should be suspended.

The other part of the hit that is very difficult to determine from the camera angles I have seen is whether or not Phaneuf leads with his elbow. It appears to me that he is leading with his shoulder, but the elbow might fly out right before contact with Okposo's head. Again, that's a penalty and a suspendable offense if the elbow is thrown towards the head. I wish I could say definitively whether or not that is the case. Just can't tell for sure from the videos I have seen.

A couple of other things come into play here, as well. One is that Okposo is hunched over a bit reaching for the puck, so his head is lower than it normally would be if he was standing up straight. Two, Phaneuf is five inches taller than Okposo, so the combination of him being taller and Okposo being hunched over clearly puts the youngster's head in harm's way, even on a clean open-ice check

As for intent, it's impossible to get inside someone else's head and know for sure what their plan of action is/was. Phaneuf, who has a history of bone-rattling hits, as well as some borderline ones, is coming off a poor year last season. He is playing for a new coach in Brent Sutter, trying to impress the new boss and reestablish himself as one of the better defenseman in the league.

It is very likely that Phaneuf saw the opportunity to make a huge splash and first impression on Sutter, and perhaps went over the line with his aggressiveness.

Bottom line from me is that I think a game or two suspension is worthy. To me, he is leaving his feet on the hit. Otherwsie, I would not have had any problems with it, other than the very unfortunate fact that Okposo got hurt on the play.

In reading Katie Strang's story in Newsday today it seems that the Islanders players were more upset with the fact that Phaneuf did not want to fight after the hit as opposed to the hit itself, though goaltender Martin Biron did note that he---like I---thought the Calgary defenseman left his feet to deliever the check.

Not a shocker that Phaneuf said the check was a clean one. "I thought it was a clean hit. I stepped up and used my shoulder." Sutter backed his player 100 percent after the game, as well.

Flames and Isles hook up again Saturday night in Saskatoon, though I can't imagine that Phaneuf will be in the lineup for Calgary. From a common-sense point of view, Sutter needs to scratch Phaneuf in this otherwise meaningless pre-season game so as not to inflame an already volatile situation between the two clubs.

Chris Botta over at Fanhouse disagrees with my take. He argues that Phaneuf, whether the hit was legal or not, should "face the music" as part of hockey's code, especially because he refused to drop the gloves on Thursday night.

I just don't see the sense in knowingly taking to the ice with the knowledge that someone on the other bench is seeking retribution---and could be hell-bent on trying to make a name for themselves with the Islanders in the process---in an exhibition game.

And really, do we need a full-fledged brawl, another black eye for this league? I say, No.

But I do believe that Colin Campbell has to serve justice on Phaneuf for leaving his feet when he delivered the damaging blow to Okposo.

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