Bleacher Report - Articles by Joshua AuCoin

A Simple How-To Guide on Ridding Hockey of Fighting (Or Not)

Joshua AuCoin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:25:43 -0500

This could be a long one. I'm quite late with this article, yeah, I know. Everyone and their grandma has already said what they have to say about fighting in hockey.

Well now it's my turn.

I've heard a lot of arguments on both sides of this one, everything from "it's barbaric and not needed," to "it's an important part of the game," and even a little "fight or you're a wuss."

Well, what I have to say is, you're all kind of right, but way off at the same time.

First of all, even if it was the right thing to do, you can't take fighting out of hockey. Even if there was a penalty for fighting, when someone runs a star player, there will still be a scrap from time to time. This is an emotional game, tempers run high, it happens.

Second, fighting doesn't need to be taken out of the game. Some people will read that sentence and say something like "Two or three freak accidents per year are way too many, get it out." Truly though, as I agree no one should die playing hockey, but sometimes guys get knocked out, they know they're risking injury going in.

This year, two unfortunate things happened during a fight (search Don Sanderson and Garret Klotz if you don't know the incidents I'm talking about), but compared to the number of fights in hockey this season, it's a pretty small number of injuries. The severe injuries are what needs to go—not the fights themselves.

Now you may be asking,"How do we get rid of these terrible injuries?"

It can't be done completely, but the only way to bring down the number of guys being truly hurt, is to look to the source of the fighting. Making helmets mandatory in fights wont do anything except break more hands, so scrap that brilliant idea now.

The only way to bring down fighting in hockey is to police dirty hits a lot more than is done now. That's the only way this madness is going to stop.

If a player thinks twice about running his elbow into a guys head, and decides not to do it, that more than likely stops the fight from happening, especially if a star player is involved.

So there you have it, the solution to the big fighting problem. Police the dirty hits, and the number of fights will drop tenfold, then the number of severe injuries and possible deaths will go down to virtually nothing.

Of course everyone must remember this is a physical sport, things will still happen. You can't help that, so learn to live with it—the players have.

Leafs Defense: Random Madness or Controlled Chaos?

Joshua AuCoin — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:48:38 -0500

What would you call the Toronto Maple Leafs defense set up? Personally, I have no idea what to call it. And I'm a die hard, every second talking about the Leafs kinda fan. The Leafs are a team with three too many every day defensemen, and that makes it a very interesting situation.

Ron Wilson is doing everything he possibly can to make this situation work. Everything from rotating defensemen, to playing Ian White at the forward position to get him playing regularly, and so far it's working pretty well.

How many of you fans and critics out there think that will last all season long? I bet not many, and I agree. I don't believe that it can work for a full 82 game season, but what can Leafs management or the coaching staff do the solidify this situation?

Here's a list of suggestions (and yes, I get it that the organization has probably put the wheels in motion and thought of these already, but that's OK).

Make a trade for other players and/or good prospects. I've personally heard rumours about Claude Giroux coming to Toronto in some kind of deal with Philadelphia.

I have yet to hear the rumoured Leafs go to the Flyers in that trade, but I'd expect it to be in the range of a number 15 or 77 (that's Kaberle and Kubina for those of you that aren't familiar).
Make a trade for draft picks. If this team really is in a rebuild, then picks are a good thing, so shop around the expendable defensemen such as White, or Colaiacovo.

Leafs Nation loves guys like this, but we have to let them go if we can get decent picks for them. It betters the team in the long run.
Have the coaching staff set a solid depth chart for defensemen. If the staff does that then guys know how much they're going to be playing and can be readily prepared.

Personally I would do the depth chart for the top nine like this: Kubina, Kaberle, Van Ryn, Finger, Schenn, Stralman, Colaiacovo, White, Frogren.

By no means is that the way it should go, the coaching staff should put hours of thought into the order if that's the way they choose to go.

Those are my suggestions to the Leafs because personally I don't think that the controlled chaos theory works for a whole season.

The Detroit Red Wings Are Mean

Joshua AuCoin — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:04:51 -0400

Does anyone remember elementary school when all the athletes would team up in gym class and make it unfair for everyone else? That's the Detroit Red Wings this season.

They didn't need any more fire power, they didn't really need a whole lot, and they were already favourites to repeat as Stanley Cup champs—but hey, why not go pick up Marian Hossa?

As a fan of a different NHL team, I am mainly just bitter that Detroit is so good. It's actually a really good move for everyone involved. The Wings get a bona fide superstar player without losing anything—and without angering the captain because Hossa doesn't make quite as much as Lidstrom.

So everyone's happy. Hossa gets to go from a really good team that made the Finals last year to the Stanley Cup champs, whose odds on repeating are really high compared to pretty much any Stanley Cup Champion in recent years.

Detroit wasn't the only team in the division that got better, though. The entire Central division for the most part is pretty good now.

Chicago, Detroit, and Columbus all have a really good chance (or pretty much guaranteed for Detroit) of getting into the playoffs, St. Louis isn't far back, and Nashville is bringing up the back end of the Central because of poor defense, potential goaltender problems, and off-ice issues—i.e. Radulov).

So look out, NHL—the once-laughable Central Division could take over the Western Conference this year.

Hey MLB! Bonds Can Still Play

Joshua AuCoin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:00:32 -0400

I could prepare a whole list of teams that could use a guy that hit 28 home runs last season, but as soon as I say his name is Barry Bonds, everyone says he shouldn't come back. Granted, there's a lot of extra baggage that comes along with Barry Bonds, but he could really help out a couple of AL teams.

A perfect match would be the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore with a DH that can hit probably 10-15 home runs by the end of the season would help then tremendously. Money is no obstacle either, because Bonds has gone on record saying he would play for very little money, and give his entire salary to charity.

With just a slight bit of tweaking to the outfield, Bonds could even help the Yankees or the Blue Jays compete with the Red Sox and Rays (it's weird to say that about Tampa). With New York, they could sit Cabrera, Damon at CF, Matsui in left, and Abreu in RF, then play Bonds at DH. For Toronto, alternate Stairs and Lind at left, and keep Wells and Rios at CF and RF respectively, then Bonds at DH.

Normally I'm not a man that defends Barry in any way, but in this case, it's clear, he could help a number of teams have a shot at post season play. So give the guy a chance, just do it MLB.

Cito Gaston to Help Jays Bring Back the Glory Days?

Joshua AuCoin — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:44:31 -0400

Going into June 30, the Jays are three games below .500 with a 40-43 record, 10 games back in the division, and 9.5 games back in the AL wild card. But there's still lots to do to turn this ship around.

Most people looking at that record would write off the season, but the Jays have a little wild card of their own. His name is Cito Gaston, and he was announced as Toronto Blue Jays manager on June 20, 2008.

Cito is the man who brought the World Series to Toronto in 1992 and 1993. However, in his last three years prior to 2008 (1995-1997) Cito managed the Jays to losing records every year, and finished fifth in the division two out of those three years.

A lot of people watching the World Series wins figured the Jays could've won with any manager. They were supposed to win with those teams.

Now comes a real challenge for Cito Gaston and the rest of the coaching staff. They must take a team that no one involved with baseball thinks is postseason caliber, and bring them to the promised land.

The Jays' biggest bright spot is the pitching staff, one of the best in the AL, if not the entire MLB. So it's not like there's nothing to hope for at all.

It's just going to be a long few months for everyone involved in baseball north, fans included. Good luck to us all.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Free Agent Frenzy or Slow, Quiet Summer?

Joshua AuCoin — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:06:20 -0400

It's now one day away from free agent frenzy '08 to start and with the blowout well underway, what can Leaf fans expect to see? Only Cliff Fletcher knows for sure, but if you ask this die hard fan, don't expect a whole lot to happen.

Toronto should have a fair amount of cap space come free agent time, even after re-signing all the UFA's and RFA's. I think they should bring in one or two guys to be role players, or locker room leaders, like bringing in Mayers from St. Louis. He'll be a good guy to help develop the younger players and provide leadership. A couple more guys to do that couldn't hurt.

The one position, in my opinion, that is the most important is back-up goaltender. Even though that sounds crazy as to all you hockey fans, it's very important for Toronto to clear it up.

Vesa Toskala is clearly the number one goalie in town, but whose number two? Justin Pogge, Scott Clemmensen, or someone else? It better be someone else!

Pogge and Clemmensen need to stay down in the minors because Pogge needs to play and backing up Toskala means riding the bench for probably 60-65 games. That's not good for him.

Clemmensen needs to stay down with the Marlies as well to help Justin learn and become the future star goalie all the Leaf fans are hoping for, since we no longer have Tuukka Rask (Thank you very much, JFJ).

I have the perfect candidate for the back-up goalie, Curtis Joseph. Yes Cujo. He should already be accustomed to the back-up role; playing 20-ish games at this stage in his career should be alright with him. It seemed to be okay last year with the Flames, so that works out well for him.

As for the team, they're not expected to win a whole lot this year anyway, so why not bring back a fan favorite like Cujo to at least bring some merit to a team in the rebuilding stages.

That's just one Maple Leaf fans' opinion though. If the Leafs can bring in a good back-up and some role players or locker room leaders, it will make this season a step in the right direction. Keep at that pace and the Stanley Cup will be in downtown Toronto in six or seven years at most, or at least that's what Leaf Nation is hoping!