Pretty late on this one, but I really dislike the NHL's recently adopted policy of non-disclosure on injuries.  I can't really see the point of doing this.  I'm just a fan, but really, what is the point of keeping an injury from being public knowledge?  So your opponent won't know if someone is playing that night or not?  That might make sense if there were more impact players. 

In the NFL, you can have week-long debates as to whether or not running back A or wide receiver B are going to be playing, which would help keep the interest going during the week without any games between Monday and Sunday.  But how does this benefit the NHL?

I suppose it might be a situation where it won't cause a player to hurry back from a bad case of an injury, leading them to reinjure it.  But wouldn't a committed player want to do that anyway?  And they can't play before cleared by the team doctor(s) in most cases anyway.

So, I took to the web to find answers.

Unfortunately, aside from tons of advertisements for lawyers trying to sell me non disclosure forms, I couldn't easily find any information as to why this policy has been adopted. 

But wait!  Leave it to the CBC to clarify for me!  Thanks to former NHL goaltender Kelly Hrudey, now a broadcaster and blogger with CBC, I have been given the simple answer as to why teams don't disclose injuries.  And I feel kinda stupid for not realizing it.

I'll start by saying that it appears that it's not the NHL, but the teams that use this policy.  I apologize for accusing your league, Mr. Bettman.  Secondly, non disclosure is for the simple reason that if opponents find out about it, you're dead meat.  As suggested in the CBC article I linked to, if a team knows you're injured, they're more likely to target that spot. 

In Kelly Hrudey's case, he wouldn't have been able to stop a beach ball over his bad shoulder (an idea I'm familiar with) taking significant time off to heal it.  However, by the team not revealing it, he managed to keep playing decently.

So I guess I have to concede defeat on this one.  I am clearly little more than a fan on this one.  However, now I'm that much more informed about the why and how of the NHL, and I guess in the end, that's the purpose of my writing.  Hope to see you back here Thursday for another installment!

It's been quite a hiatus for me, I have had a lot of personal issues to get in order...but you're here to read about hockey.  So, I'll come right out and say it: I don't believe the Penguins are currently built to make the playoffs.  They have one heck of a talent level.  However, that talent doesn't mean anything if they can't control the puck, and especially win an important faceoff in enemy territory.  Before December, the Penguins were kicking butt and taking names, looking to have slowed only slightly from the previous season-a sure-fire choice to make the playoffs.  Then the proverbial wheels fell off.  Most Penguins fans, myself included, link this sudden drop off with the loss of Mike Zigomanis. 

Zigomanis was just a no-namer that Ray Shero plucked off wavier when his name first came across.  However, as the season began to get underway, it became terribly apparent that there was a reason for this move by the GM.  Before Zigomanis went down, he was amongst the League's elite in faceoff percentage...In fact, he lead the league as of December 02, 2008 with an impressive 63.7% winning percentage in the faceoff circle.  However, when he went down with an unknown injury (which I will probably rant about the NHL's new policy on that in a later posting), at that time just the latest in a string of unfortunate injuries that had only managed to slow the team, it proved to be a much bigger loss than previously expected.  As of writing this, the Penguins sit in 10th place, having just fired their coach in an attempt to shake up the players, and are currently 20th in the league in faceoff percentage.  Quite a change.

So how do the Penguins help this?  I recently had a thought cross my mind, which lead to some research.  Who do I think can be the answer to the Penguins' prayers?  Yanic Perreault.  I can actually hear people as they read this: "What?"  Yeah, I guess I'm psychic like that.  But hear me out.  Mr. Perreault is infamous around the league for his skill at the faceoff.  So who do they have to trade to get him?  No one.  He's currently sitting as an unrestricted free agent, and I couldn't find anything saying he's retired.  So why isn't he signed?  Good question.  He probably wanted too much money to be attractive to most teams, and the questions remains  of how much time does the almost 38-year-old have before he becomes ineffective. 

However, the Penguins really only need someone for this season.  Next year Mike Zigomanis will be back from his injury, presumably.  Interestingly, in my research I found that one of the people who Zigomanis spent time on a team with actually was Yanic Perreault, likely learning from his skills.  While the time away from the game likely hurt his ability, the Penguins might be able to sign him to a one or two year deal, perhaps throw an option year on there as the second, for relatively cheap, if he still wants to play NHL hockey.

It's just a quick fix, and only a thought, but an incentive laden contract might be enough to give the Penguins the faceoff specialist they need to make the playoffs, and with a little luck, maybe even advance a time or two.

19-year-old Alexei Cherepanov, a prospect of the New York Rangers, collapsed on the bench during the third period of a recent KHL game. He died shortly thereafter. The Rangers attempted to bring Cherepanov to their team for this season, however he elected to remain in Russia one more season and continue to hone his game, and looked forward to an opportunity to play with former Ranger Jaromir Jagr.
This is very somber news, not only because of the 2007 17th overall pick's outstanding potential, but moreso because he was so young, with his whole life ahead of him. According to TSN, there is some confusion as to how long it took to get Cherepanov to the hospital, as the ambulance that was at the game had already left and had to be recalled. It's also questioned as to whether or not a working defibrillator was present in the arena.
It will be interesting to see if there are any repercussions in light of this event. If the ambulance had left as reported, and the medical equipment wasn't up to par, this could lead to some extensive (and expensive) overhauls. Hopefully further events such as this can be prevented, and no other people will be victims because of ambulances leaving early or (potentially) malfunctioning medical equipment.
Sorry this is so short a post, but this really bothers me, and I'd rather not write any more about it.

The news is official and, for Penguins' fans, very bad. Sergei Gonchar, the Penguins' top defenseman, will be out 4-6 months with a separated shoulder. Couple this with the loss of Ryan Whitney until sometime next year, and you have a team that may experience some more of the growing pains that most thought were behind them.
As I stated in my team preview, the Pens are relatively deep at defense. However, you can't really even hope to find a way to replace losing your top two defensemen. Worse yet, they were two of the team's power play quarterbacks. Whitney not as much as Gonchar, but still, these were the top two offense oriented defensemen on the team. A team that looked to again be a scoring threat all around now has only one, maybe two of their top six defensemen who can even smell the net at all.
Thusly, Kris Letang, after only playing seventy games in his career prior to this season, will be called upon as one of the power play leaders, likely along with old-timer Darryl Sydor. This leaves me concerned, not only for the Penguins' power play, but also for Letang. While he definitely has the ability to score, this could prove to be too much for the kid, and could lead to him having a rough season. Conversely, he may thrive given the opportunity to further hone his offensive game.
The other note of interest is that Marc-Andre Fleury will now have to perform his best every night. The Pens have been giving up tons of shots in the past few seasons, and without two of the top defensemen on the team for so long, Fleury will likely be facing even more shots as the defense tries valiantly to try and keep opposing players in check.
The loss of Gonchar is no small thing. However, I feel that this is a team that will still be able to compete every night. They will probably have some hero on the team step up and fill in well until either Whitney and/or Gonchar come back. I think it'll be Sydor, as unlikely as that may seem. With more minutes, I think he could very well slip into his old form, or some facsimile thereof.

The season is nearly upon us (and not a moment too soon!). With all the previews I've been seeing everywhere, I figured I might go ahead and do one of my hometown Penguins. The big thing everyone is saying right now is that the Penguins are set for a reality check. I can't begin to deny it, either. You don't lose almost half your team and not lose a step. With Marian Hossa, you lose a playoff performer (remember, he only played 12 regular season games), with Ryan Malone, a gritty winger, and with most of the other guys they let walk,(George Laraque, Jarkko Ruutu, Adam Hall, and Gary Roberts among others) they lost character and undoubtedly some team chemistry. But that's all in the past now. So, without further adieu, The Pittsburgh Penguins' Season Preview! Departures: Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Jarkko Ruutu, Adam Hall, George Laraque, Ty Conklin, Mark Recchi (Waviers), Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen (Trade) There's no denying that the loss of so many players will affect the team. How and to what level remains to be seen. Hossa leaving won't be as big a deal as people are suggesting. Malone's loss will hurt, but the team will recover. The physical element was also lost with the departure of Roberts, Laraque and Ruutu. Conklin can probably be replaced, Adam Hall can be. And the Penguins survived without Recchi, Armstrong or Christensen well enough. Arrivals: Matt Cooke, Ruslan Fedotenko, Eric Goddard, Miroslav Satan. Miroslav Satan was pegged by many as a subpar replacement for Marian Hossa. However, Satan is hardly a replacement. Penguins GM Ray Shero signed him because he has top-line talent, and wanted to play for the team. Fedotenko is not a replacement for Ryan Malone by any stretch as some have suggested he might be. He has more offensive upside than Malone, but is smaller. Goddard is pegged to be a possible replacement for George Laraque, and while he can hold his own in a fight, will probably have trouble finding the right place, as Laraque did last season (especially when Gary Roberts went down with his leg injury). The real impact player from this group should prove to be Matt Cooke. All reports generally agree that he will make everyone forget about Jarkko Ruutu pretty quickly. In fact, Going Five Hole's Sean Leahy created a fan club for Matt Cooke shortly after the Pens signed him. The Usual Suspects Ray Shero's plan with the Penguins is that if he can keep the core of the team together, the players around them can change. Crosby is signed until the new arena is finished. Malkin signed long term, as did Brooks Orpik. Ryan Whitney (although injured) is signed for a while, and Marc-Andre Fleury signed a deal to keep him in the 'Burgh for a while. The same players who are causing teams problems now should be around for a long time. Don't expect the Penguins to have trouble keeping a winning record for a while. Best Defense Okay, so maybe the Penguins don't have the best defense in the NHL. But, they have been getting better each year, and were really one of the unsung parts of the SCF run last season. And they didn't lose a player. And Alex Goligoski (Penguins' 2nd round pick in 2004) is just about ready for the NHL. This is a situation where, while goaltending may not be as deep as at it's best last season, and the team's offensive abilities as not quite as good, the team's defensive capabilities are much improved. Sleepers Just for you fantasy buffs out there, here are a couple of players to keep an eye on this season. First, Tyler Kennedy. If you didn't follow the Pens last season, you might not know the name, but suffice to say that one of my friends referred to him as the "Hyper Chihuahua" because he was fast, small, and hit everything. The reports out of camp are that he is skating even better. If someone on the second or third line goes down, and Kennedy moves up for a bit, he may put up some decent numbers. The other play you should keep an eye on is Matt Cooke. He'll get plenty of penalty minutes, one would guess, but with his offensive streak, he should be able to put up some decent numbers too, especially if he's going to be pulling third line duties with Maxime Talbot and Fedotenko, as projected. This could prove to be a career year if things go well for him. Bottom Line Penguins may win the division, with the Rangers giving them the biggest fight for it.