The same way the puck either does or does not cross the goal line, and thus either does or does not enter the net and count as a goal, a puck either does or does not hit the glass on its way into the stands.
It’s not a matter of judgment, but rather a matter of being in position to see.
So there is no reason at all the delay-of-game penalty assessed when a puck is shot or batted directly into the stands out of the defensive zone should not be added immediately to those situations qualifying for video review.
For as the four sets of eyes belonging to the two referees and two linesmen working last Saturday’s Sharks-Islanders match at the Coliseum somehow all failed to see Travis Hamonic’s attempted clear 29 seconds into overtime deflect off the glass before going into the stands, everyone and anyone with access to a replay could see — and hear — it.
Had video review been in effect, the incorrect delay-of-game penalty against the defenseman would have been overturned and the Sharks therefore would not have been given the power play on which they scored the winner.
Currently, only goals and time on the clock qualify for video review. This delay-of-game situation should be added immediately.
Doing so would qualify as good judgment.
So even though Western teams would continue to travel as much if not more under a four-division setup that would be adopted with a schedule mandating a home-and-home against every team outside the division, most are in favor of the switch because it would force Eastern teams to travel more?
But it’s the Eastern teams who oppose such a set-up that are supposed to be the self-interested ones?
Interesting.
The dispute between the NHL and NHLPA over whether the $25 million payment to the league by Glendale, Ariz., constitutes hockey-related revenue appears headed to arbitration.
As the matter is being negotiated or adjudicated, the players are being denied their 2010-11 escrow refund checks while teams qualifying for the second round of revenue sharing determined by escrow are also waiting for their payment.
Regarding the strange case of intransigent Phoenix center Kyle Turis, the 22-year-old Group II free agent who will be ineligible to play in the NHL this season if he remains unsigned by Dec. 1, but who is refusing to sign nonetheless because he feels he has been mistreated by the Coyotes’ organization:
Slap Shots has learned Turris, the third-overall pick in the 2007 Entry Draft who has recorded 46 points (19-27) in 131 games, recently informed Coyotes general manager Don Maloney he would sign if the Coyotes guarantee to trade him within 48 hours in a deal that would be brokered by the player.
The GM, we’re told, was unmoved by Turris’ generosity.
Under normal circumstances, you bet the Rangers would be interested in bringing back Fedor Tyutin. But the six-year contract extension that kicks in next season and runs through 2017-18 at $4.5 million per qualifies as an abnormal circumstance that disqualifies Tyutin from a Broadway encore.
A combined commitment of $60 million for 12 years of Tyutin and James Wisniewski, and there are questions about Columbus GM Scott Howson’s fitness for the job?
Really?
When members of the 2003-04 Cup champion Lightning pledge their allegiance to John Tortorella, in trying to understand why it is as always a good idea to follow the money, in this case money has followed the five key members of that club to an unprecedented degree.
Vincent Lecavalier has signed two contracts since the Cup victory worth $112.5 million.
Brad Richards has signed two contracts since then worth $99 million.
Marty St. Louis has signed two contracts since the Cup worth $54 million.
Dan Boyle has signed two contracts since the Cup worth $50 million.
And Nikolai Khabibulin, the lone critical member of the championship team who was shoved out the door upon reaching free agency by then-GM Jay Feaster, a decision that undermined the club’s chances for a repeat, has signed two contracts since winning the Cup worth $42 million.
In sum, Lecavalier, Richards, St. Louis, Boyle and Khabibulin have signed contracts worth an aggregate $357.5 million since winning the 2004 Cup in small-market Tampa, Fla.
Any questions now about the pledge of allegiance to Tortorella, who drove that team to a championship it probably would not have been able to win without him?
Why does it always seem as if the Islanders’ goaltending situation is an unsolved mystery when Rick DiPietro is on the active roster?