Jim Kelley has a long list of grievances with the NHL, so he's decided to bring back BACKHANDS.
It's been awhile since I've felt the need to pull out the old BACKHANDS format, but there's enough on the proverbial plate to touch on some topics that need an airing.
The Buzz: New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur and Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, the anointed starters for the East and West respectively at the NHL All-Star Game, took a pass on the event and seem to get a pass from most everyone including NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. The Deputy, who was on PrimeTime Sports with Bob McCown Wednesday night, refused to come down hard on Luongo and gave Brodeur what amounted to an endorsement for skipping the game citing the numerous things he's done for the NHL throughout his career.
The Backhand: Nice and to be expected, Daly isn't on radio to shoot the stars, but here's my problem: Do you think for one moment if the game were in Montreal instead of Atlanta that Brodeur would take a pass citing "family matters"? Do you think Luongo would do it?
Look, I understand family matters and if that's your excuse and it's legitimate, then so be it. But if you feel you don't owe the fans who voted you a starting berth an appearance, you at least owe them a rock solid explanation and neither man did that. In both cases this looked like two guys in need of a vacation and if the powers that be in the NHL endorse that, then they are doing a great disservice to the All-Star game.
The Buzz: There is a warrant out for the arrest of hockey legend Guy Lafleur, reportedly for making misstatements to a judge regarding the whereabouts of his indicted son while the boy was essentially under house arrest and in the elder Lafleur's care.
The Backhand: Every father loves his kids and making a decision to break the law is a decision a great many of us would probably wrestle with if pushed to the limits of a blood bond. But that's not the case here. Guy Lafleur is charged with helping his son violate conditions of his bond arrangement by driving his son to a hotel where the 22-year old would spend the night with his girlfriend while he was supposed to be at home under Guy's supervision.
That's not good judgment on Guy's part. His son is facing a laundry list of very serious charges including sexual assault of a 17-year old, uttering death threats, kidnapping, forcible confinement, drug possession (more than one count) and assorted acts of mayhem that police thought endangered people's lives. It's one thing if Marc Lafleur violated the terms of his bail, it's something else again if his father helped him do it.
The Buzz: Teemu Selanne waits until nearly two thirds of the season is in the books to "unretire" and rejoin the Anaheim Ducks. Peter Forsberg, out since the elimination of the Nashville Predators in the first round last season, is rumored to be ready to return to the NHL at the trade deadline. Ducks defenceman Scott Niedermayer skipped half the season before ending his retirement and rejoining Anaheim.
The Backhand: OK, the rules are on the books and the rosters don't freeze until the trade deadline. That's worked for years, but three guys, two from the same team in a matter of weeks? That's a trend and it's not a good one. The NHL needs a much earlier date for when players can join a team. The way it is now, older players (and presumably well-off financially) can cherry pick their team and time, essentially using a couple of weeks of real-time games to hold their personal training camps (at ticket buyers' expense) and then declare themselves fit for the season they really want to perform in, the playoffs. Doesn't that diminish the commitment of say Chris Chelios of Detroit who is an older player but shows up on day one and plays every game to the max? Worse, doesn't the rested and refreshed player get an edge over a guy who committed to the full schedule? This is wrong that needs to be righted and fast.
The Buzz: The hockey world awaits a decision from Colin Campbell regarding the hit by Jarkko Ruutu on Ilya Kovalchuk, the one that looked like an intentional knee on knee and a royal cheap shot.
The Backhand: I don't know how badly Kovalchuk, a legitimate candidate for the scoring crown and the Hart Trophy, is injured. But what I want Colin Campbell to say is that it doesn't matter. The hit was cheap, the hit was late, and the hit was after Kovalchuk had moved the puck and after the linesman signaled the play to be offside (but before the whistle blew). In other words it was a deliberate attempt to injure and it simply shouldn't matter whether Kovalchuk misses the rest of the season or is back for the Thrasher's next game. And I don't want to hear about the "code" and "justice" on the ice. The point of coming down on these things is to stop them from happening and deciding the suspension based on the seriousness of the injury sends the wrong message.
One gets the sense that that was why there was no suspension last week after Pittsburgh's Georges Laraque's hit from behind on Philadelphia tough guy Steve Downie. Downie is not a league favorite, but it looks like there was no suspension because Downie wasn't seriously hurt (and I don't want to even think about the argument that Campbell thought Downie had it coming). It was a hit from behind that Downie, even if he could feel it coming, didn't deserve simply because he was in a position where he could have been injured. If you're cracking down on hits from behind, then whether or not the player survives it shouldn't be a part of the criteria.
