My Opinion of the NHL Top Stories of 2008-2009 So Far

The NHL season is just over the quarter point and there has been quite a bit that has been notable.

• Sean Avery told the press that guys love his “sloppy seconds” and was then suspended for six games. His future with the Stars, and possibly the NHL, is in doubt.
  
  Sure it was a pretty dumb thing to say, but players say far worse on the ice. There have been players who have been suspended for making racial comments far fewer games.
  
  The worst part of this was that the “mainstream” press picked it up and the NHL came out looking like a clown league yet again.
• Rod “not Rob” Brind’amour is a minus 21 for the season. He is DEAD last in the NHL. No other player is above a minus 17. Even with his horrible play, he is still logging over 20 minutes a game (third on the team).
  
  I don’t buy the excuse of just having knee surgery. If he had any issues, he’d be logging far less ice time.
  
  I think he needs to be dealt, but it would have to be to a team that had a player with a comparable salary to dump. He could be a good deadline deal pick-up for a team if he can turn it around.
• Crosby and Malkin. These guys are No. 1 and No. 2 in the NHL in points.
  
  There was a ton of talk about how the Pens would have trouble signing them both and surrounding them with a decent team, but it looks like the third and fourth lines of decent AHL call-ups is working well enough for them.
• Don Cherry called Malkin a “selfish” player. Don, I know those hot pink ties blind you sometimes, but if you took a look at the NHL assist leaders, you’d see that he has 36 assists and the next player not named Crosby only has 24.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to fall apart. The team let a key player leave for Europe, fired Barry Melrose, sent Chris Gratton down to the AHL, had a game that ended up being a 60 minute promo for SAW IV, and continue to lose.
  
  The owners and Melrose continue to trade jabs in the media as to who is to blame.
• The NHL failed to take a look at any of the NHL All Star issues I brought up. They passed on the voting issues as a testament of “passion of the fans” in Montreal.
  
  

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