Edmonton has a couple of days off before their next game and so I figured now is as good a time as any to throw out my take on some of the going ons around the NHL.
BORTUZZO SUSPENSION IS A JOKE
The NHL continues to remain in the running for worst league at handing out suspensions with their handling of the Bortuzzo hit of Arvidsson.
In case you haven't seen it, check this out below.
Bortuzzo who has 1 point in the 11 games he has played this season was issued a 4 game suspension. Meanwhile the Preds announced that Arvidsson who has 15 points in 22 games will miss 4-6 weeks due to a lower back injury.
The NHL might not be the worst league at dealing with suspensions (I still think the NFL holds that honour) but it is certainly the worst league at how it prioritizes it's players. It's not that the NHL should value it's stars over it's grunts (though it should). It is that the league seems to go out of it's way to put the grunts over the stars.
I wish I had a perfect solution, the idea of making a player sit for as long as the other individual is injured has some merit but some players also shouldn't be as harshly penalized for a freak injury.
Regardless, the kind of bonehead move Bortuzzo made is exactly the kind of thing the NHL should crack down on and this minor slap to the wrist was the kind of weak response I've come to expect from the league.
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BABCOCK
Leafs media continues to annoy me to no end and yes, I did crack a smile and giggle a bit to myself when the announcement that the "saviour of the organization" Mike Babcock, was fired. Babcock will still end up being a Hall of Fame coach, regardless of how his tenure in Toronto went but stories like the one that broke this past weekend might do more damage.
For those who haven't heard, an incident occurred early in 2016/2017 when Mike Babcock demanded that a rookie on the team give him a list, ranking all the other players on the team from hardest working to the biggest slackers. This rookie who didn't want to get off to a rocky start with his coach did so...
Babcock then read that list out loud to his teammates.
That player was Mitch Marner... the same Marner who played hard ball with his contract negotiations this past summer. Coincidence? I'll leave that up to you to decide.
CALDER CANDIDATES
Cale Makar is by far the front-runner for the Calder at the quarter mark of the season with 25 points through the first 23 games of the season. The next rookie even marginally close to Makar is Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes with 18 points through the first 23 games.
I can't remember the last time that a Calder race was between two top end defensemen. It just goes to show that the NHL is transitioning into a more speed and skill based game from the front end to the back. Stay at home defenders are not going to have the same value that they once did.
While he won't likely end up being considered for the award, Ethan Bear should absolutely be a candidate as well. Bear is averaging more minutes a game than any other rookie, playing over 21 minutes a night on the Oilers top pairing regularly. It is Ethan Bear, not Darnell Nurse who is carrying the weight on the top pairing, and the Oilers on ice numbers when Bear is on the ice are far better than when he isn't.
SURPRISES
Just going to list a few things in point form that have been surprising so far this season.
- Edmonton sitting 1st in the Pacific continues to be fun to watch, but so has the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the division; the Coyotes and Canucks respectively. It would be wonderful for all three of these teams to make it into the playoffs this season; all their fans deserve it.
- Calgary is doing their best impression right now of the 2017/2018 Oilers; a team that finished high in the standings the year prior, with many players having career years and then crashing hard. The big 3 simply aren't getting things done for the Flames right now and shockingly the addition of Milan Lucic hasn't provided...well anything at all.
- The Islanders current run has been impressive but obviously not sustainable. During the Isles 8-0-2 run, 8 of the games have been decided by a single goal with 5 of those games having to be decided in extra time. The points the Isles have chased are all theirs but when some of those bounces start going the other way regression will of course occur.
- With Babcock gone, I think the target is now painted on the back of John Hynes of the New Jersey Devils. Any of the excitement for this franchise prior to the start of the year has vaporized with the team carrying the second worst goal differential in the entire league at -22. The Metro is a tough division to crack but from player usage to poor on ice performances, Hynes clearly isn't getting things done.
- Even bad teams can have good runs. The Senators are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and are being led by what should be called a breakout year for Pageau. The 27 year old is going to get paid by someone in free agency this summer and I'm willing to bet it won't be Ottawa.
Thanks for reading!