hockey

Only three weeks to go until the National Hockey League trade deadline and usually by now somebody has made a move.

Call it "Bettmanomics."
The NHL commissioner was at it again Wednesday, telling a bunch of business folk here that the NHL is just fine, even if the economy isn't, the Phoenix Coyotes are not going to collapse, league revenue is up to record levels, television ratings are up, sponsors are fighting each other to get aboard and so on.

Mike Peca will admit it: Early in his NHL career, when it came to hitting and concussions, he was the one who played hard and fast and wasn't overly worried if the opponent he'd just hammered in the head needed help getting off the ice.

Look, it's not rocket science. Getting rid of fighting in hockey is easy.
The problem is the National Hockey League doesn't want to do it, as was reflected by Wayne Gretzky's statement last week that fighting ought to be outlawed everywhere but the NHL.

Steve McBroom isn't convinced that the fighting his young hockey-playing sons witness at the National Hockey League level will have an effect on them.

Two guys hunched at the ready, sweat dripping, sticks drawn, eyes focused.
The puck drops, the hands move, the feet slide and the battle is won or lost in a split second.
Welcome to the face-off, often taken for granted, but a subtle part of hockey that can go a long way during the course of 60 minutes.

Former Tampa Bay Lightning coach Barry Melrose went on a Toronto radio station Tuesday and took a few more swings at the organization, including that he hopes the Lightning doesn't win another game this season. Melrose, fired after going 5-7-4 in 16 games, blasted the owners, the players and even first-round pick Steven Stamkos.

The inclination to make examples of louts will never change the essential core of professional sports that sports are made up of louts.
Sean Avery, a rather oafish hockey player for the Dallas Stars, remained entirely in character when demeaning a former girlfriend and, thus, was almost immediately no longer allowed to play hockey.

On that July 2 date, when Sean Avery signed a four-year, $15.5-million contract with the Dallas Stars, he probably gave just a cursory glance at the 11-page document in front of him -- the NHL's standard players' contract (SPC).

Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland has a theory about the NHL playoff race that makes a lot of sense. He believes that after Thanksgiving weekend, NHL teams move in a pack.
If they were good early, chances are they'll be good the rest of the way, or at least good enough to make the playoffs.