Jim Kelley weighs on a number of hot topics around the NHL, including what the Canadiens might do with Carey Price.
Some random playoff thoughts collected so far this spring:
1) Simply because there are no other teams in play, Montreal is now Canada's team and the whole country will be watching and waiting to see how coach Guy Carbonneau handles his first real goaltending crisis of the playoffs.
Boy wonder Carey Price has struggled against Philadelphia and played so poorly in Game 3 Monday that Carbonneau replaced him at the start of the third period with the equally young and inexperienced Jaroslav Halak. No one got much of a read on Halak's work (including the Flyers.) He faced just two shots, largely because the entire third period seemed to be played in the Philadelphia end as the Canadiens desperately tried to get back into what was then a 3-0 hockey game in Philadelphia's favour.
And while some are saying it's a "no-brainer" that Carbonneau comes back with Price, this writer argues for Halak for a variety of reasons. One, unlike Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff, who is experienced and has played and played well in the seventh game of a Stanley Cup final, Price needs a break. He appears to be a goalie on the edge of physical and mental exhaustion and his play on Philadelphia's second and third goals was so bad that it fed rumours of a possible wrist injury, Even if that's not the case, he genuinely appeared in need of getting away from the pressure. Couple that with a need to reflect on his play of late and it's a change that might be what both he and the Canadiens need.
Halak is no stiff. He's about as experienced as Price, but in that limited experience he's played well on the world stage, in juniors and in the AHL. It's not an ideal situation but one Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey chose when he traded Christobal Huet to Washington and decided to go with his kids. Now he and Carbonneau need to back up that decision with a call for Halak.
Normally this would be a simple call, but nothing is ever simple in Montreal. Price is being promoted as the second-coming of St. Patrick of Roy or Ken Dryden and it's in no small part because he's been pushed into the role of playoff starter so quickly. And while the Habs management did it solely for hockey reasons, it has become a political and marketing and television issue as well. Benching Canada's son for a Euro-trained netminder (even one who cut his competitive teeth in the QMJHL) is no easy call. Why it might even cause fans to spill out into the streets and set police cars on fire even if the Habs win.
2) The NHL decided to retrofit the rules regarding Sean Avery and goaltender hazing. Now we'll see if the league sees the need to enforce the ones that are on the books but went largely unseen by the four pairs of official eyes that called the New York Rangers-Pittsburgh Penguins game on Sunday.
Avery twice slashed at Sidney Crosby's wrists in the closing seconds of the first period. The play was away from the puck but was seen by many in the building and was caught on tape by TV. The first slash, which appeared to be an obvious attempt to injure, made contact, the second, seemingly more vicious than the first, missed, but only because Crosby appeared to draw back his wrist in reaction to the first blow.
There is no indication that the play will lead to a suspension but an NHL spokesman told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that all plays are reviewed and that if there was any reason to suspend someone it would be "announced before the game is played."
This too has a political flavour. Crosby, aware the Rangers have made a very public argument that he is a "diver," did not go down on the play. That worked to Avery's advantage because he clearly chose a moment when officials weren't looking at him (the attack was from behind and in the neutral zone while the play was farther ahead). If Crosby went down because of a wrist slash it would look like he was "embellishing" the assault. If he whined, he would look like a "pampered player" or a "whiner" and if he spoke up he would look like a "chronic complainer."
This is how and why bullies and thugs get away with as much as they do in the game. It's also why the NHL needs to police the game rather than having the thugs and bullies in charge.
But of course, if the NHL suspends Avery, it looks like they are singling out a player who openly embarrassed them with the weird antics employed against Martin Brodeur in the New Jersey series, the antics that led to the league re-interpreting its rules.
The solution: look at the tape, make a judgment call and act accordingly. Heck, the tape is clear and is more easily available than the one that surfaced showing Chris Pronger's "foot drop." No one is calling for 30 games or even eight; just a punishment that fits a cowardly crime.
3) Wondering why the San Jose Sharks are down 0-2 to the Dallas Stars? Simple: the Stars best players are playing well. The Sharks' best players - notably Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Brian Campbell - are not.
The games have been close (except for about five minutes in the third period of Game 2 when the Sharks just collapsed and the Stars ran wild), but when it has come time to make the plays, Stars standouts like Brad Richards, Brendan Morrow and Mike Modano have made things happen.
The consensus is that the Stars are in total command as the series moves to Dallas, but it should be noted that the Sharks were the best road team in the league in the regular season and if they can get a win tonight, they are back in play.
For that to happen, however, Thornton, Marleau and Campbell must make a contribution.
4) Is there an NHL team that looks dumber or cheaper than the Buffalo Sabres right now?
Former Sabre Danny Briere, who practically begged the Sabres to give him a reasonable contract offer last season, is leading the league in playoff scoring and is a big reason that the Flyers still have a chance to go from worst to first in a single season. The Sabres made it clear they had no interest in signing Briere (though for the record they did make a token effort hours before free agency opened, an effort that reminded many of their "attempt" to re-sign Ted Nolan as coach a decade earlier).
The Sabres also opted not to keep former goalie Martin Biron - whom Flyers coach John Stevens said is "clearly our best player" - opting instead to go with the less expensive Jocelyn Thibault. Thibault was nailed to the bench in the closing quarter of the season as the coaching staff lost confidence in him. The result was they played Ryan Miller to the point where he was no longer effective. That was a part of the reason they lost out on a playoff berth this season after winning the Presidents' Trophy the season previous. Biron was traded for a draft choice.
The Sabres also let Chris Drury walk to the New York Rangers in an ugly dispute that produced charges from Drury that he had agreed to a contract that the Sabres didn't follow through on. They also traded Campbell to San Jose before the deadline in a contract dispute.
Understandably, the Sabres couldn't sign all their top players, but one or two might have made a difference for a team that finished well under the cap and, despite not making the playoffs, "probably" made money.
Owner Tom Golisano recently admitted that the team "likely will break even, probably even made a few bucks". In a television interview with WIVB-TV Golisano also went on record saying the team "probably" put out a pretty good effort.
Golisano is relatively new in the ownership business and is not beyond saying the wrong thing on occasion. He often makes a legitimate case for principled economics in running the hockey business, but saying the players "probably" tried hard isn't going to win him any support in a locker room already damaged by management's handling of economic matters and the number of former players still competing in the playoffs.
Golisano also made news when he said that just three years after the lockout small market teams are again in a "difficult position" and that "I can tell you this year that I think a number of teams have lost money in the NHL and if the cap goes up to $56 million (next season), if teams try to follow that and stay close to that cap a lot more teams are going to lose money and that's a very dangerous situation."
Golisano didn't identify teams that lost money, saying the league "gets very nervous" when he speculates on that, but that it is "a significant number."
5) With all due respect to the player who was once, arguably, the best player in hockey for a number of years, should anyone be surprised that injuries have forced Peter Forsberg to miss some action in these playoffs?
Forsberg missed Games 1 and 2 in the series against Detroit with a reported groin problem, but who knows? Forsberg has had so many ailments in his career that it could be his foot, his ankle, his shoulders or his knees, back or any other body part in the upper or lower area.
This was the risk the Avs took when they re-signed him just prior to freezing the rosters. He was in and out of the lineup with hurts after he returned and he's in that situation again. What makes this time around so interesting is that the Avs' younger players seemed to take their cue from Forsberg. When he came out for warmups before Game 2 in Detroit they appeared energized, but when he retreated and the lineup was shuffled, the team seemed flat and was beaten in all areas in a 5-1 loss.
Whether he plays or not in the remainder of the series can't matter anymore. The Avs need to find their identity without him or the series will be over.