I BELIEVE unequivocally that NHL officials are men of integrity. I believe just as firmly that it is essential for Gary Bettman to use the current cloud of suspicion that hovers over the NBA as a platform to undertake a thorough review of his league’s officiating structure and to address, even if internally, the unmistakable perception across North America that the Penguins were granted every conceivable benefit of the doubt throughout the playoffs.
Sidney Crosby is an exceptional individual and hockey player. He doesn’t need any outside help. He doesn’t need to get calls like the one he did in the final 10 minutes of Game 4 against Detroit when his little bunny-hop flop was rewarded with a penalty that gave his team a lengthy two-man advantage when they trailed by a goal.
The officiating of the final minute of the Game 6 Detroit clincher does not measure up to objective scrutiny. With Pittsburgh down 3-1 and on a power play, Ryan Malone was permitted to bat the stick out of Andreas Lilja’s hands in plain sight of everyone other than the referees who wouldn’t call a penalty. Lilja was useless in front without a stick.
When the Penguins capitalized on the lack of a call to score and reduce the margin to 3-2, the officials then ignored a blatant foul committed against Pavel Datsyuk as the Detroit center carried into the neutral zone and was about to take aim on an empty net. Given that reprieve and control of the puck, the Penguins nearly sent the game into OT in the final second.
Equally as curious and even more troubling was NHL VP Colin Campbell’s decision to not even review the two suspendable slew-foots Evgeni Malkin committed against the Rangers in the final minute of Game 4 of the conference semis. Troubling because Campbell is on the record describing the slew-foot tactic as particularly heinous. But this time, apparently not so much.
The Penguins are a very good team. Their conference title is not tainted. But all of the marginal calls that went Crosby’s way and went the Penguins’ way, and all of the obvious calls against the Penguins that were not made throughout the tournament – no minutes for slicing Chris Drury’s face? – created an environment of cynicism across the continent, if not beyond, and has created a backlash against Sid the Kid.
These are critical issues for Bettman and for the NHL. This is the time for the commissioner to address it. His agenda must be to ensure that there is no agenda to give aid and comfort to Crosby and the Penguins.
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The Hart Trophy winner is a Russian who plays for Washington, the Norris winner is a Swede who plays for Detroit, the Calder winner is an American who plays for Chicago, the Byng and Selke double-winner is a Russian who plays for Detroit, the Vezina winner is a Canadian who plays for New Jersey.
And yet Thursday’s awards show in Toronto was conducted as if the NHL were a Canadian six-team league. Couldn’t the league have recognized youth hockey players from around the globe rather than just those from Canada?
Wouldn’t you think the NHL might once host the awards show at Radio City … just once? This provincial outlook is nonsense. The CBA-mandated protectionism of the Major Canadian Junior leagues without any such regard for U.S. college programs is shamefully outdated. This constant whining about the absence of a team in Hamilton is annoying.
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It is a fine thing that Martin Brodeur’s magnificent season ended with him accepting his fourth Vezina in the last five years and not with that terrible week in the playoffs against the Rangers.
Brodeur is the greatest goaltender of this generation and an unfailing ambassador for the game. He carried an unusually undermanned New Jersey team all season.
And you know what? Had you been in Brodeur’s skates, you wouldn’t have shaken Sean Avery’s hand, either.
Will the broadcaster who believed Peter Laviolette was worthy of the Adams Trophy as coach of the year for guiding the Hurricanes to a second consecutive playoff miss, please leave his microphone behind and just go away?
It is, by the way, never too soon for Gordie Howe to take the stage.
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Ryan Suter, the Nashville defenseman who would have been a Group II target for an offer sheet, has agreed to terms for $3.5M per, Slap Shots has learned. That leaves Nashville’s Shea Weber, Washington’s Mike Green and Florida’s Jay Bouwmeester as the most attractive Group II defense alternatives. We’re told that Green, a dynamic difference maker, is, is being low-balled by the Caps.
“Islanders Illustrated” will make its debut on MSG-Plus this week. Neil Smith will be the host for the first 40 minutes.
Hey, so when did the Mets hire the Flyers’ medical staff, anyway?
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Finally, happy one-day anniversary to Jordan and Joanna Brooks. Sipping champagne from the Stanley Cup can’t be sweeter than drinking from the glasses we raised in toast last night to our son and daughter-in-law.