Nick Kypreos, Mike Danton, and a Classy Act By a Classy Guy!

Only hours before the airing of the interview by Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos, some one posed the question to me, "Do you think that Mike Danton will play again?"

My "knee jerk" reaction was, "Man I hope not, this is the NHL, not the NFL!"

Before I get any deeper into that, please join me in giving a big "shout out" to a good guy and one of my favorite sports radio personalities, Alex Seixeiro .

As we all know, Remembrance Day is a day set aside to honor and remember those brave men an women who have sacrificed in order for us to enjoy the little things in life, like freedom.

A little before the 11:20 PM update, Alex made a point of observing a moment of silence, along with a classic reading of "In Flanders Fields" and the playing of "The Last Post."

While it may not be a big thing, it was a classy thing, by a classy guy!

Back to what I was doing!

One of the reasons, or one of the things I suppose that I've always liked about the NHL, is that it has always seemed to maintain the aura of being separate from the rest of the world.

I have always thought that the private sector shouldn't over lap into the sporting world and visa versa. I suppose however that in a world with such a large media presence, it would happen and that it would be inevitable.

While we often hear of tragedies in the lives of those in the sporting world that we emulate, for example, Bob Gainey , Craig MacTavish and, of course Mike Danton , and Dany Heatly . Although we as fans often sympathize with them, but quickly move on.

When, however, the private sector forces itself on the hockey world, well, that's different story.

The most obvious example would be Todd Bertuzzi . There have been others though, including Marty McSorely , who have done things while on the ice, that have forced the NHL to open their doors to forces that they have no control over.

In an interview with Sporsnet's Nick Kypreos that aired last night on, you guessed it, Sportsnet , Mike Danton made it known that he thinks he deserves another shot to play hockey.

That statement all by itself gave the sports media enough to talk about all day!

While my opinion in general about players becoming convicted felons is well, harsh. Mike Danton is an unusual case. Not because of all of the things that led up to his conviction per say, but more because he unlike most celebrities, from any walk of life, did some relatively serious time for his crime.

Having served 63 months of a seven-and-a-half year sentence, he will never likely play professional hockey again. Mostly, because he was convicted of the crime in the US and will likely never obtain another work visa.

In most cases, when any kind of celebrity is arrested, tried, and convicted for a crime, the sentence that is handed out is little more than a joke and is perceived as such by people like you and I. When that happens, my answer is no, I would say that person doesn't deserve the right to resume their professional career, because in my opinion, they haven't paid for their crime.

That in and if itself make Danton's case different. I would welcome Mike back; it will be interesting to see whether anyone else will.

In watching the interview two things stared to become apparent to me. The first being that Nick Kypreos di a pretty goo job in not only landing this interview , but it the way conducted it as well.

The second being, while I'm not exactly sure how to read Mike Danton, it became apparent to me, that David Frost may someday be revealed for being a monster of biblical proportion. It is just a ' sense ' I got while watching Danton speak of Frost and his wife.

I hope for a lot of reasons that Mike get's the chance to play again, and I really think he will.