Sports

SEASON PREVIEW: Crosby’s concussion casts cloud over NHL

STOCKHOLM — The start of a new season implies a fresh start for the NHL, a fresh sheet of ice on which to begin the marathon that will end next June.

Except the league is still stuck in the ruts of head shots, concussions, supplemental discipline and debates about the place of fighting in this 21st Century society that have been constant companions since that day on March 7, 2010, when Matt Cooke took out Marc Savard with a drive-by elbow and was allowed to escape scot-free on technicalities known only to the NHL’s front-office decision makers.

Not to mention the debate about the merits of going to no-touch icing following a gruesome injury sustained by Edmonton defenseman Taylor Fedun in a race with Minnesota’s Eric Nystrom on Friday night.

The way these guys skate now to get to the puck first on icing situations, just imagine the 100-yard dash with a brick wall 15 feet beyond the finish line.

The head blows have just kept on coming throughout a preseason during which VP Brendan Shanahan, who replaced the hopelessly lenient VP Colin Campbell as the league executive in charge of discipline, had handed out nine suspensions through Sunday, a couple to repeat offenders.

The subject of concussions, particularly focused on what we know about them and how much more we do not know about them, has become a predominant issue ever since Sidney Crosby, the league’s most valuable commodity, went down and out with one since Jan. 3.

With the start of a new season at hand, the question regarding No. 87 has turned from one about wondering when (or if) he might return to one about how long he will be able to survive before he is concussed again?

If Crosby is not quite Eric Lindros, who may have been genetically predisposed to incurring the series of concussions that ended his career, there is no reason not to be believe that he will become Pat LaFontaine, whose brilliant career was truncated by the repeated brain injuries he sustained in Buffalo and on Broadway.

The last few years of Lindros’ career, it was all about waiting for the shift it would end. That one season as a Ranger for LaFontaine, it was all about watching for the moment it would end.

It will be impossible to watch Crosby on the ice this year without cringing; simply impossible.

But that’s what passes for entertainment in an NHL that just hasn’t quite figured out how to evolve with a changing world in which the athletes get bigger, the game gets faster and the players are most certainly their own worst enemies.

It’s not that there is necessarily less respect than ever between opponents, no it’s not that in a league whose history is replete with stick-swinging, spearing and bench-clearing brawls. Rather, it’s that the repercussions from mindless acts of violence — and that’s the textbook definition of targeting the head — are so much more severe.

Still, there’s James Wisniewski out there headhunting with elbows up.

The NHL has strengthened Rule 48 regarding head shots and Rule 41 regarding boarding hits from behind. The league has empowered Shanahan to be stricter than his predecessor.

Yet the league continues to make the intellectually dishonest argument that an intentional bare-fisted punch to the head is somehow different than an intentional elbow to the head — think the brain knows the difference? — and has refused to outlaw fighting.

The NHL could have adopted a rule preventing teams from dressing replacements in the lineup for players suspended under Rule 41 or Rule 48, thus forcing clubs to play a man short for the duration of a sentence. It didn’t.

The NHL could have adopted a rule under which heavy fines would have been levied against teams whose players commit reckless acts. It didn’t.

A new season is about to begin.

With all of the same old issues that just do not go away.

Post experts pick the season

LARRY BROOKS

Eastern Conference: 1. Penguins; 2. Capitals; 3, Sabres; 4. Bruins; 5. Flyers; 6. Rangers; 7. Lightning; 8. Devils

Western Conference: 1. Predators; 2. Canucks; 3. Sharks; 4, Blackhawks; 5. Red Wings; 6. Kings; 7. Ducks; 8. Coyotes

Eastern Conference Finals: Penguins over Rangers

Western Conference Finals: Sharks over Blackhawks

Stanley Cup champions: Penguins

Hart (MVP): Evgeni Malkin, Penguins

Norris (top defenseman): Shea Weber, Predators

Vezina Trophy (top goalie): Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers

Calder (rookie of the year): Adam Larsson, Devils

Adams (coach of the year): Barry Trotz, Predators

First coach fired: Bruce Boudreau, Capitals

MARK EVERSON

Eastern Conference: 1. Lightning; 2. Flyers; 3. Sabres; 4. Capitals; 5. Penguins; 6. Bruins; 7. Rangers; 8. Devils

Western Conference: 1. Sharks; 2. Canucks; 3. Red Wings; 4. Predators; 5. Kings; 6. Ducks; 7. Blackhawks; 8. Oilers

Eastern Conference Finals: Lightning over Sabres

Western Conference Finals: Sharks over Red Wings

Stanley Cup champions: Lightning

Hart Trophy (MVP): Steve Stamkos, Lightning

Norris Trophy (top defenseman): Tyler Myers, Sabres

Vezina (top goalie): Ryan Miller, Sabres

Calder (rookie of the year): Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, Oilers

Adams (coach of the year): Lindy Ruff, Sabres

First coach fired: Joe Sacco, Avalanche

BRETT CYRGALIS

Eastern Conference: 1. Capitals; 2. Sabres; 3. Rangers; 4. Penguins; 5. Bruins; 6. Lightning; 7. Flyers; 8. Islanders

Western Conference: 1. Blackhawks; 2. Kings; 3. Canucks; 4. Red Wings; 5. Sharks; 6. Ducks; 7. Predators; 8. Wild

Eastern Conference Finals: Penguins over Sabres

Western Conference Finals: Blackhawks over Kings

Stanley Cup champions: Penguins

Hart (MVP): Evgeni Malkin, Penguins

Norris (top defenseman): Duncan Keith, Blackhawks

Vezina (top goalie): Jimmy Howard, Red Wings

Calder (rookie of the year): Brayden Scheen, Flyers

Adams (coach of the year): Lindy Ruff, Sabres

First coach fired: Ron Wilson, Maple Leafs