This is just unacceptable. I'm at a total loss to understand how that hit didn't warrant at least a one-game suspension. I've basically lost all faith in the NHL front office - and especially Colin Campbell. This is a bad day for hockey.

Ok, I'm not even a little surprised at the reaction of NHL. I'm not surprised Auger will walk away without being disciplined. I'm not surprised that Burrows is being vilified - and considering the way he dealt with this, perhaps it's partly deserved. But what I can't take is all this sobbing and sympathy for how tough the refs have it and how they can never get it right.

Show me one time - ONE time, that an NHL referee was held accountable for a disastorous call or clear vendetta? Show me a time when a referee has been flogged publicly for egregious errors as it so often does with it's players. It may have happened, but not that I've ever seen. At this point I'd settle for a referee who is in the wrong, being reprimanded from the league he works for.

So, apologies to all those who are racing to the defense of Stephane Auger and his plight. I have no sympathy for him whether he targeted Burrows or not. Because frankly this is as close to public discipline an NHL referee has ever come. Plus the two penalties he called on Burrows were pretty lame.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/GaryAndDavesHockeyPosterous

Awesome piece by Bob McKenzie here on this subject - http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/?id=305809#

If this happened the way Alex Burrows says it did, than the NHL is going to have a shit-storm to deal with. Hockey's rules and referee's have existed in a nebulous state for way too long and I have a feeling this may be the incident to push for some concrete change.

This could literally be precedent setting.

So Patrice Bergeron was injured in a game against New York last night after taking a shot off his hand (http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=304742). There's still 38 before the Olympics (plenty of time for a hand injury to heal) but it does beg the question: Should an Olympic roster player go down between now and the games, who will replace them?

In Bergeron's case will he be replaced by another defensive minded forward like Jordan Staal or do you just take the next best player?

Thoughts?

When Phil Kessel was traded to the Leafs nearly everyone said the same thing: "Sure, but can he score without Marc Savard passing him the puck?"

Well, after 19 games Savard has 14 points and is a -3. Meanwhile, Kessel is 21 points in 24 games and +4 on a much worse (on paper) team than Boston.

So who's missing who?

Damien Cox has a nice little report from the NHL GM meetings in Pebble Beach today on how the league plans to deal with the problem franchise.

Among the head-scratching actions the league is taking are to grant the Coyotes the full $10-11 million in revenue sharing despite the fact that they don't qualify (because of lack of ticket sales, etc). The league may also balk at the idea of playing a few games in Saskatoon - which was a major sticking point for the new buyers, Ice Edge Holdings.

I'm as bored as everyone else is with this issue, but I'm baffled at how the league - and more specifically Gary Bettman - continues to screw this up. Why do they continue to pour money down this bottom-less pit?

The easy angle from a Canadian perspective is to move the team - ASAP, but purely from a financial side, this seems like another mistake.

I wonder how the rest of the league's owners feel about dumping more money into this franchise.

Not that long ago no one thought it would be possible to ever beat Sawchuk's shutout record. It was a record most thought would lie dormant for a long time - maybe forever.

Then Brodeur started to creep towards it and suddenly the impossible seemed plausible. And now the league's best goaltender still playing has tied that record with a lot of season left to play.

It's tough to compare Brodeur to the goalies that came before, but in a numbers game he comes out on top. Most wins, consecutive wins, single season wins, overtime wins, 4 Vezina's, 3 Stanley Cups and an Olympic Gold Medal. The only significant record he doesn't currently hold is most appearances by a goalie which he'll surpass in 5 games.

You can try and argue there were better goalies, but I don't know how you could. I just wonder if once he's inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame whether they'll rename the Vezina trophy the Brodeur?

The pressure in Philly must be crazy! After several years of re-building it's finally time to win, and they want to win now! In an Eastern Conference that is more competitive than it has been in ages the Flyers are having a hard time creating separation between theme selves and the "rest of the teams" (read: Hurricanes, Leafs, Panthers). So what do they do - fire the coach. Who knows whats happening behind the orange and black, but maybe John Stevens lost the room. However there is no denying John Stevens has been a huge part of that rebuilding process, he's taken Carter, Richards, et al, and helped develope them into key players in the league. He's lived through Steve Downie's missile hits, he's been able to make Ray Emery a number one goalie in the NHL again, and what does he have to show for it? Well at this point - not much except a job on TSN's Hockey Panel.

As for his replacement - Peter Laviolette - well he was great on TSN's hockey panel and I'll be sad to see him go - but is it really that much of step up behind the bench?

I guess, the Flyers brass thinks so - but they may need the hottest goalie in the league down the stretch and to make a move to replace some injuries to key players. Just like the Hurricanes did wen they won the Cup in 05-06. The goalie was Cam Ward, and the key trade was Guerin - ask Laviolette.

dave

Wow! OV takes the liberties he plays with to the extreme Monday night and loses control when he goes after Tim Gleasson. Now "go after" isn't what I should have said. I guess, what I'm trying to say is the most engaging player in hockey lost control of his style of play and now Tim Gleasson and himself are paying for it. Mind you 8 The Great , will likely pay more in terms of a suspension - and he should.

Up until this point, he has been lucky in getting away with various "checks" because of who he is. Several players around the league know this - as Sid the Kid, Sergi Gonchar, and several others. Gary said Karma's a bitch - well the bitch came back and got em.

Colen Campbell will no doubt reviews this above tape again and again, and my bet is he'll hand out a 3 game suspension with some cash on top.

The bigger question is, will OV feel like he is being made an example of and change his game therefore limiting himself in how he plays? For the sake of hockey let's hope not, but he has to play with a little more respect for people.

I said a few weeks ago that Ovechkin had some dirty tendencies and was prone to knee on knee hits (despite what Colin Campbell thinks). So when I saw him twisting and turning on the ice last night after he initiated yet another knee on knee collision, I had no sympathy.

I'm not happy to see hockey be without one of it's stars - but Karma's a bitch man. Perhaps he'll think twice next time he's got his knees out.

With 37 points in 28 games I can't believe there are people who thought about leaving Joe Thornton off of Team Canda's Olympic roster. He's one of the only players in the league who is not only enormously talented but also instantly makes players around him 10 times better.

Case in point Jonathan Cheechoo scored 53 goals as his winger, then the next year Devin Setoguchi scores 31 goals. Now Dany Healey is on pace for 50+ goals as his winger.

He regularly averages between 90 - 100 points a season and oh yeah, he's a massive 6'4, 235 pounds. Team Canada leaves him off their roster at their own peril.

It would be amazing if this article was the tipping point for acceptance in hockey (or all sports for that matter). It would be great if this is what broke down some walls.

Either way - go read this story http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=4685761

Yes, yes it is.

image via - http://thisisphotobomb.com/2009/11/15/photobomb-that-guy-hockey-is-intense/

Bob McKenzie wades into the GM discussion on head shots. Lots of different ideas are being tossed around right now including a call to eliminate the trapazoid behind the nets, to less equipment (shoulder pads without as much hard plastic) to new equipment (bubble helmets).

But what's missing in my mind is player accountability - from both sides of the hit. I mean players should know who's on the ice, and not to go into the boards with their backs to the play. But players delivering these hits seem to temporarily forget that it could be them on the other end one day.

This is their livelyhood and for most players it's not a mulit-million dollar career. I know hitting is a part of the game, and I would never - repeat - never want to see it taken out of the game. But do they really need to obliterate a player?

I look at Mike Richard's hit on Florida's David Booth and can't help but think he was trying to injure him from the second he saw Booth with his head down. It seems less like a great hit and more like punishment - which last time I checked was to be left in the hands of the referee.

With all the proposals to "fix" head shots in the NHL, for me it starts and ends with player accountability.