Mid-Morning Musings: Devils and Gestures and Headshots. Oh My!

***Mid-Morning Musings is a feature that I’ll be doing every couple days (read: every day the Wild don’t have a game) during the week here at Wild Nation. It will have to do with anything and everything hockey related, Wild or otherwise, so sit back and enjoy my opinionated ramblings.***

Could things get any worse for the Devils right now?

I mean, honestly. Any worse?

First they get out to their horrific start, then they have to deal with a knee injury to Zach Parise and now Martin Brodeur is looking like he will have to miss time?

Let’s make one thing abundantly clear here. The Devils are a good team playing bad hockey. They’re much better than their 4-9-1 record indicates. But at the same time, they’re a team that’s doing next to nothing to get themselves out of this slump.

But, as much as this is the player’s and the coach’s fault, some of the blame with this has got to fall on Lou Lamoriello and the rest of the front office and ownership.

This team’s off season put them in this situation.

Lou addressed a big need on this team in bringing in Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder on defense – they were shrewd signings and very important ones at that. But then he did something very un-Lou-like.

Now I don’t know if it was pressure from the owner or a slight break in his better judgment, but the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk was not only ill-conceived, it was ill-timed as well.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Kovie. I think he’s a much better player than people give him credit for and I’m the first to jump to his defense. He was a point-per-game player for them and gave them another offensive weapon.

But the team was 13-9-5 while he was there. Not a bad record, to be sure, but look at the results. They never put together more than two wins in a row – something they did seven separate times before his arrival (four three-game winning streaks, and one five-game, four-game and six-game streak apiece). They also went on losing streaks (no matter how small) four times – something they did just five times the entire rest of the season.

Did he help their offense? Not a ton – approximately 2.81 goals for with Kovie against about 2.65 without.

The only thing that he did was come into the locker room and mix up a team that had very good chemistry prior to his arrival.

And you re-sign him?

You can say what you want about this team, but the franchise’s Stanley Cup hopes were squarely in the capable hands of Zach Parise and Travis Zajac. The two were gelling and were beginning to come into their own as players in the league.

Give them another season together and they would have been the one-two punch that the Devils needed. But instead, you bring in Kovalchuk and screw up their chemistry.

So what you are left with now is a team that doesn’t know how they’re going to get under the salary cap once players return from injury and, what’s more, a team that doesn’t know how they’re going to keep their top players after signing Kovalchuk, not to mention one whose chemistry has been drastically altered in a bad way by his signing.

Any way you cut it; this was just a poor, poor decision by Lou.

*****

A lot has been made of the suspensions so far this season, and I definitely agree that the disciplinary culture of the NHL needs to be looked at in a big way.

So far, here’s what the suspensions look like (from the 2010-11 NHL fines and suspensions wiki page):

Date	Name	Team	Offense	Length
9/24/10	Nick Boynton	Blackhawks	Throat-slashing gesture	1 game
10/4/10	Mike Cammalleri	Canadiens	Slashing Nino Niederreiter	1 game
10/10/10	Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond	Devils	Instigator penalty in last 5 minutes of game	1 game
10/12/10	James Wisniewski	Islanders	Obscene gesture to Sean Avery	2 games
10/12/10	Niklas Hjalmarsson	Blackhawks	Boarding Jason Pomminville	2 games
10/18/10	Shane Doan	Coyotes	Blindside hit to the head of Dan Sexton	3 games
10/22/10	Rick Rypien	Canucks	Grabbing a Minnesota Wild fan	6 games
10/27/10	Stephane Robidas	Stars	Automatic suspension for two game misconduct boarding penalties within 41 games	1 game
11/1/10	Daniel Briere	Flyers	Cross-check to the head of Frans Nielsen	3 games

So far this season, 20 games worth of suspensions have been handed out – two of which were automatic suspensions (Letourneau-Leblond’s instigator penalty and Robidas’s boarding call).

But other than that, what does this really tell us?

Well, for one, it tells us that the NHL is putting a greater emphasis on its image than on the safety of the players.

Of the 20 games, 9 were for incidents that had absolutely nothing to do with a hockey play.

Yes, we can all agree that Rick Rypien should have been suspended for what he did – no question about it. But James Wisniewski and Nick Boynton?

I guess I can see it to an extent, but to what extent are you bringing more attention to it by bringing down a suspension to the player?

I’ll be honest, I was watching the Isles/Rangers game when Wiz made the gesture and I barely caught it. The broadcast didn’t replay it over and over and over again – it was a one time thing that, odds are, if I hadn’t been paying attention at that exact moment I would have missed.

But the NHL is dead set on making sure that they keep their image up. They don’t want to be seen as the “rogue sport.”

But wouldn’t their efforts towards their image be better served going towards the safety of their players?

Boynton and Wisniewski just made an innocuous gesture. One that, if you weren’t paying attention right then, you would have missed (and if myself, a 28-year old man, barely caught the gesture, what are the odds that a kid is going to be paying attention to the game long enough to catch it?) and one that, at the end of the day, kids are likely seeing and hearing worse than on the playground?

I understand that you want to make sure that players know that this isn’t okay. I get it. But don’t we have anything better to do with our time?

So here’s a thought. Gestures, anything like that – automatic game misconduct, they forfeit that game’s salary and a $10,000 fine. There you have it. It’s over, done with. You don’t have to worry about the rogue fellatio gestures anymore.

But for plays that are dangerous to players, a suspension is needed.  So how about this?

A blindside hit to the head – automatic 3 game suspension. No questions asked, if you get booted from a game for a blindside hit to the head, you sit for three games, repeat offender or not. Heck, we can even make it reviewable by the league to ensure that the right call was made on the ice.

Sure, an automatic suspension isn’t going to quell the problem. It’s not going get rid of these types of dangerous hits immediately, nor will it likely do anything to stem the problem down the road – players who are going to be repeat offenders (yes, Matt Cooke I’m talking about you) are going to do it regardless of the ramifications – but what it will do is make sure that the players know that there’s no questions asked; if they do this, they will be suspended.

*****

That’s all for this time. Hope you enjoyed the first of many mid-morning musings. Feel free to discuss below and I’ll pipe in with my thoughts when I can.

Gameday Thread – Game 59 – ‘Yotes @ Wild

It seems like forever since I’ve written one of these, so I may be a bit rusty, but bear with me — this could be a game that you’re going to want to watch if you’re a Wild fan. 

Over the last couple years the Wild have, to use a Mike Milbury-ism, been the Coyotes’ daddy.  Prior to this season, the Wild were a stunning 9-1-0 against the Glendale Canines, and were firmly in control of the match up. 

Funny how an off season can change things. 

With new coaches, the two teams began to take on different styles of play and the Coyotes were no longer the doormat that the Wild were used to. 

Long story short, this season has been a largely different story in the series, with the Coyotes taking the first three games of the season series by a combined score of 11-6. 

Soooooooo, what does this mean exactly? 

Well, this means one of two things.  Either the Coyotes will continue their dominance of the boys in Iron Range Red tonight or, gosh darnit, the Wild are due. 

The Wild come into this game five points out of playoff contention with 24 games to play.  Not insurmountable odds, but a harrowing task indeed. They also come into this game having gotten 42 of their 62 points at the Xcel Energy Center—where tonight’s game is being played. 

A look in the infirmary shows that the Wild are slowly but surely starting to get healthy again.  Niklas Backstrom could return to action tonight and Andrew Brunette, who has sat out the team’s last two practices for maintenance issues, will be a go tonight.  “Sherriff” Shane Hnidy is going to be a game time decision tonight, as he missed practice yesterday with an illness, and Anton Khudobin will likely be the second goaltender in place of Josh Harding. 

Lineup(s) 

With the M*A*S*H unit that has been the Wild’s lineup this season, it’s hard to tell who might be in, but after last game’s physical tone I would expect Richards to counter with a physical lineup tonight. 

Brunette-Koivu-Miettinen
Latendresse-Brodziak-Havlat
Nolan-Belanger-Clutterbuck
Boogaard-Ebbett-Earl 

The physical lineup means that James Sheppard will again be sitting up in the press box, observing.  

Now I don’t like to speculate too often, but one has got to wonder if Sheppard will be shopped around much like Benoit Pouliot was.  Contrary to his stats, Sheppard is a talented player—he just seems to need a fresh start.  I doubt that the return for Shep would be all that great right now, but he could be a useful piece to add on to a deal. 

On defense, I’m guessing that Hnidy will be ready to go, as he’s what is commonly referred to as a warrior, so our defense shouldn’t change. 

Zanon-Zidlicky
Johnsson-Schultz
Burns-Hnidy 

And finally, the six-million dollar question.  Who starts in net? 

I’m gonna go with my gut on this one and say that Khudobin starts with Backstrom backing up.  I say this for two reasons.  One, Backstrom has sit out the last six games and should get a little more than just a few practices before he is tossed to the wolves and two, why not ride the hot hand?  Khudobin has two wins (one in relief) in his NHL career and has given up just one goal.  That could earn him another shot. 

What to Watch For 

The last meeting between these two teams ended with some fairly heated exchanges and what looked to be some bad blood. 

Now, with Minnesota on the outside looking in and Phoenix playing extremely good hockey right now, I’d look for this to carry over.  The Wild will need a spark at the start of this game and will look to come out with energy and with physical play and, let’s be honest, in terms of this stuff a lot of hockey player have long memories. 

As far as Phoenix is concerned, keep an eye on Matthew Lombardi. 

Lombardi had his first career five-point game on Monday night and is riding high after being moved from center to wing.  Playing with Robert Lang and Shane Doan, look for him to continue to be an integral part of their offense. 

For Minnesota, they need to find a way to get to Ilya Bryzgalov.  Bryz has historically not had a whole lot of success against Minnesota, but this season has played lights out against the Wild. 

Minnesota needs to figure out how to recapture their success against Bryz and against the Coyotes to gain any sort of momentum.  These last three games of their homestand are incredibly crucial to the direction of the team after the Olympic break, as they will have exactly two days to decide which direction they will take in regards to the trade deadline. 

Minnesota has not seriously flirted with the playoffs yet this season, but a strong last three games could put them in the position to do so and influence general manager Chuck Fletcher’s moves going forward. 

Key(s) to the Game 

Honestly?  Open the scoring before the second period.  If Minnesota can do that, they’re already part-way towards success against Phoenix. 

Getting on the board early and getting their confidence will be key against a Phoenix team that has not given them much to be confident about this season. 

Past that, just coming out and playing a solid, physical game. 

Minnesota is proving this season that they have a team that is capable of throwing their bodies around and are starting to turn into a very difficult team to play against. 

They’re playing against a Coyotes team that is riding high, and they need to be that difficult team to play against.  Play physical, send a message to Phoenix that they won’t be pushed around. 

It’s that simple.  If they can dictate the tempo by playing physical, they can come away with a victory in this one. 

The puck drops at 7pm CST and is broadcast on Fox Sports North.