Lots of little things on the old noodle this week. Are injuries in the NHL this season only a big deal because of the names being hurt? Gonchar, Toews, Ovechkin, Malkin, Markov, and Cam Ward have all missed time, some of them still are. If that list read Smid, Marchant, Brodziak, Reasoner, & Dwayne Roloson does anyone really care? Myself I don’t think so, in fact, sometimes I think the only reason we care it all is because some of those injuries have seriously screwed our hockey pools!! On the subject of injury, is it time for the NHL to take hits to the head out of the game? I think it is and I love open ice hits. I thought the hit on Jonathan Toews was clean by the rules today, hell I even admit it was fun to watch, but it wasn’t necessary. It took one of the best young players off the ice for 2 weeks as well which isn’t good for the NHL product or us as fans that go to games to watch the like of Toews play the game. The main argument against making head shots a penalty is that it will turn hockey into figure skating. I don’t think that’s true. You can’t hit guys in the head in international hockey, yet last time I checked Team Canada always plays a tuff, hard hitting, brand of hockey in any tournaments they play. You can explode people without hitting them in the head, the classic mid-ice hip check rules anyway.
Some hot teams are that surprised everyone seem to be cooling, while other power houses are starting to warm up. After a blistering October the Colorado Avalanche have been greeted with reality in November so far. The question is what is the real Avs team capable of? Myself I think the answer is a team slightly above .500 here on out, combine that with the start they have and I thing they make the playoffs in a year no one bet on them to do so. The Bruins have found that god awful stingy defense that was ever present last year. That defense, a Tim Thomas back to standing on his head after a slow start, and Zdeno Chara back to being a force in his own zone, is giving the team a chance to win every night now. As they get some of their offense back from injury the wins are going to pile up. Unfortunately because of the slow start, they won’t have a chance at winning the East like last year, but I think they end up in the top 5 teams.
Then again, this is just another damned opinion.
