Players’ whining already in overdrive
Referees use pre-season games to hammer home rule changes and their consequences
One week into training camp and all the talk has been about how the referees are ruining the game of hockey.
Boston’s Brad Marchand called the NHL’s crackdown on cheating in the faceoff circle “an absolute joke.” Toronto’s Leo Komarov is upset that if he chooses to wear a visor, it must be low enough to protect his eyes. And there have been so many slashing penalties called that Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock joked he hasn’t been able to evaluate anything other than the power play and penalty kill.
The hockey might be sloppy for this time of year. But when it comes to criticizing the men in stripes, everyone already seems to be in mid-season form.
Do they have a point? Well, kind of.
Before Wednesday night’s games, there were 91 slashing minors and 16 faceoff violations called in the 19 exhibition games in which off-ice officials kept real-time statistics. It seems excessive. And yet, this is the time to be excessive.
If you don’t want Marc Methot to lose another finger or Johnny Gaudreau to miss any more time because of a careless slash, you have to hammer home the message that there is a zero tolerance approach to slashing. You do that by calling any and every stick infraction in pre-season, so players can get their complaints out of the way and then adjust and adapt in time for the start of the season.
The league went through this back in 2005-06, when referees cracked down on obstruction and began calling hooking and holding penalties. Initially, there were a lot of penalties. And players whined and moaned.
But eventually everyone learned to comply — until the playoffs began, of course. That will be the true test. Will officials still call the rules by the book when the stakes are higher?
More to the point: do players even want them to?
“That slashing rule, that’s one thing, but this new faceoff rule is an absolute joke,” Marchand told reporters in Boston earlier this week. “There’s ways to make the game better and that’s not one of them.”
INJURY BUG INFESTATION
It was a month ago when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told a group of season-ticket holders he would like the league to reduce the pre-season schedule from four games to three and, eventually, two.
Based on the number of players getting hurt in training camps so far, perhaps NHL commissioner Gary Bettman should consider something similar.
The Ottawa Senators, already without Erik Karlsson, Derick Brassard and Clarke MacArthur, lost top forward prospect Colin White to a broken wrist he suffered in an exhibition game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.
The St. Louis Blues were hit even harder this week. The team will be without defenceman Jay Bouwmeester (fractured ankle) and centre Alex Steen (hand) for most of the first month of the season, while winger Zach Sanford is expected to miss three months with a shoulder injury.
OLYMPIC PTO
Jarome Iginla and Jaromir Jagr are still waiting for a team to call and offer a contract. But while they wait, teams are giving some prospects and past-their-prime veterans, such as Daniel Winnik and Scottie Upshall, professional tryouts (PTO) for one more chance to make the NHL.
The most intriguing player on a PTO is perhaps Ryan Malone, who is at the Minnesota Wild training camp after being out of the NHL for nearly three years. The 37-year-old American, who last played for the New York Rangers in 2014, recently decided he wasn’t quite ready to hang up his skates for good.
But the NHL isn’t necessarily the only goal in Malone’s improbable journey. With the NHL not sending players to the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Pittsburgh native is well aware minor-leaguers will get a chance to represent their country.
COLLAR AIMS TO CURTAIL HEAD TRAUMA
A device has been released that aims to protect hockey players from head trauma.
Bauer’s NeuroShield collar, worn around the neck, uses the body’s own physiology to increase blood volume along the main route toward the brain by applying light pressure to the neck. In doing so, an effect is created to help reduce the chance of the brain hitting the interior walls of the skull — though it does not explicitly prevent concussions. The device, available only in Canada, has a recommended retail price of $199.
WHO’S PLAYING WITH WHO?
The first rule of training camp is to not pay any attention to line combinations. It is a rule that usually gets broken on the first shift of the first intra-scrimmage game.
After all, how can you not be excited about a potential line combination of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov? If it sticks — and if they stay healthy — pencil them in for a combined 90 goals and 170 points.
CALDER WORTHY
No. 1 overall pick Nico Hischier is giving New Jersey fans reason to be excited after the 18-yearold stripped a defender of the puck and scored a highlight-reel deke in his pre-season debut.
That slashing rule, that’s one thing, but this new faceoff rule is an absolute joke.
BRAD MARCHAND, Boston Bruins