Winging It In Motown

Hands Off my Hanzal: Let's Watch the Kings Play Hockey (Open Thread)

2012-05-17T22:30:00Z

So Martin Hanzal won't be playing tonight because he didn't let up on a hit where he should have let up which ended up in a Kings player being launched face-first into the boards in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. Fortunately, Shane Doan will be playing, despite not letting up on a hit where he should have let up which ended up in a Kings player being launched face-first into the boards (and I don't care about Trevor Lewis "turning", Doan has a history of suspensions and absolutely finished his check when he could have let up).

Phoenix Coyotes (3) vs. Los Angeles Kings (8) - 9:00 NBCSN: Phoenix lost their minds as a team during Game 2 and the Kings were more than willing to let them do that so they could take a 2-0 series advantage back to their own barn. The Kings are playing insanely well right now and don't look like they'll ever lose again. Naturally, this should be cause for concern.

Five for Howling (Coyotes)
Jewels from the Crown (Kings)

Prediction for tonight: Coyotes win in OT.

Niklas Kronwall and the "New" Definition of Charging

2012-05-17T19:49:04Z

Niklas Kronwall is known around the league for being an unassuming-yet-dangerous open ice hitter. The veteran Detroit blueliner patrols the entire surface, but he's most well-known for crushing checks on unsuspecting forwards who are turning from the half-boards to exit their own zone on transition.

Tuesday, at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, Latvian forward Kaspars Saulietis learned all about Kronwall.

Saulietis had to be helped off the ice and did not return to the game. Kronwall was not penalized on the hit, another in a line of big hits laid by the Swedish defender which toes the line with the rules of both NHL and international play, but is ruled allowable. The question becomes how much longer will this remain legal?

Let's get straight to it: the idea is that Kronwall is leaping into his checks and that this constitutes charging. For the sake of clarity, we're going to be talking about NHL rules and policies, despite the fact that the hit that led to this discussion happened during an IIHF event. Just know that there are some subtle differences in the way each organization handles their penalties and their supplemental discipline processes.

The NHL rule on charging:

42.1 Charging - A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player who skates or jumps into, or charges an opponent in any manner.

Charging shall mean the actions of a player who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner. A "charge" may be the result of a check into the boards, into the goal frame or in open ice.

It's hard to ignore the begs-the-question logic of the "charges an opponent in any manner" portion of this rule which uses the penalty to describe the penalty (is charging like pornography? I don't know what it is, but I know it when I see it). As Mark Spector wrote for Sportsnet back in December, many players don't know how exactly to define what is and isn't a charge.

A portion of the rule that is supposed to be the most clear is the "jumps into" portion, but even that's not made very clear by the hazy nature of when exactly to define when a player has actually "jumped."

Here's a bit of clarity from the league on what on the topic (but just a little bit): the video of Alex Ovechkin's three-game suspension received:

The key piece (other than the actual replay of Ovechkin blatantly launching himself at Michalek) is what Shanahan says around the :55 mark.

Often on big hits or collisions, a player's feet will come off of the ice slightly as a result of the impact.

Now let's take a look at three Kronwall hits. The first is a bonecrushing knock on Jakub Voracek on March 6th of this year:

Kronwall's feet stay planted on the ice through the collision, but there is a bit of coming up through impact. Head contact here is incidental to Voracek's positioning. This is ultimately a clean, but devastating hit.

Up next, Kronwall on Voracek's teammate Danny Briere from earlier in the season:

This one is the most-similar to the Saulietis hit which knocked the young Latvian out of the game. Kronwall turns his back on his opponent and is very clearly in the process of taking the load of his body off his feet when he makes contact. Kronwall's skates are still in contact with the ice at the moment of impact, but by the time the hit is complete, they are in the air.

This one involves many of the same features of the Briere/Saulietis hits, but Kronwall's timing is off and his feet are not on the ice when he makes contact with Kesler. This one is the most-clear case of Kronwall leaving his feet to make a check. All three of these hits are basically the same hit which has been timed slightly differently.

None of those hits earned Kronwall a penalty or any supplemental discipline from the league. Some people believe that all three of them should be illegal and for a variety of reasons. We'll try to touch on some of them, but the entire argument is so multi-faceted that to cover every angle would just take too long. For this, we're looking solely at charging. The question about whether ANY contact to the head should warrant a penalty and what kind of changes need to happen with the league's supplemental discipline process can be hashed out in the comments or can wait for another day.

The thing is that, under current league rules and the way those rules are interpreted, only the Kesler hit is one which pretty much unquestionably should have drawn a penalty, as it's the only one where there is absolutely no question about whether his feet left the ice surface as a result of contact (they did not).

When comparing what Kronwall does to more easily-defined charging hits like the one above by Ovechkin or the Raffi Torres hit, There is a distinct and undeniable difference between what the players are doing. Torres specifically leaps at Marian Hossa's head (comparatively) long before contact and, in the process, turns his shoulder into a weapon. When Kronwall "lightens up on his feet" (and sometimes outright leaps), he's not focusing the force of the oncoming collision into a part of the opponent, but rather positioning his body to absorb the shock.

Naturally, he's not doing this for the benefit of the other guy. While Kronwall positions himself to absorb as much of the shock as he's receiving (and in the process eliminates some of the follow-on force brought on by his skates resisting a certain amount of the shock being passed through them), he's not exactly turning wood into Nerf when he does it. Kronwall lays these checks in the manner he knows is the absolute safest... for himself.

In a move fitting for his name, what Kronner does is to become a wall that the other player skates into. Think of it as the grownup version of "I'm going to swing my arms like this and if you get hit, it's your own fault." The lightening/leaping is a bit of a red herring to the entire argument. Kronwall has his back turned and is aiming at the lead shoulder. Whether his center of mass is three inches higher or lower isn't going to drastically change where the hit ends up landing, especially as contact does not begin with Kronwall's shoulder pads making contact.

That doesn't mean that cases where he very certainly does mis-time his hits and ends up leaping prior to contact shouldn't warrant punishment, simply that it's part of what the league seems to consider the distinction between jumping into a player and having your feet come off the ice at impact. The dangerous nature of Kronwall's hits means that any mistakes made in timing which add an extra amount of danger or recklessness should fall on him and he should be held responsible for that act.

Now, it's a slippery slope to use the league's supplemental discipline process and refereeing standard to make a conclusion (especially in light of the fact that I think the Kesler hit should have at least gotten him a call from the league), but the fact that Kronwall has not received a major penalty for a big hit since he knocked Martin Havlat out of the 2009 Western Conference finals with the hit that made him famous speaks just as much to the problems of the process as it does to the problem a growing number of fans have with the definition of charging.

While the league has sometimes been slow to react to growing fan outrage, they may be soon forced to make a very tough call about hockey hits which involve contact to the head and whether it's possible to eliminate them without forever altering the nature of the sport. Just know that as they work towards the perfect balance between safety and physicality, that the league's interpretation of what constitutes a jump is likely going to be the first change and that is going to mean another change in the way Kronwall does business.

NHL Fan Survey

2012-05-17T14:20:51Z

NHL Fan Survey

Geoff from Broad Street Hockey has devised an interesting little survey designed to get fans' opinions on whether they feel their team is biased against and the perception that other teams are favoured. I highly recommend you fill out the survey honestly, because he will be publishing the results at a later date.

Quick Hits: All Tied Up

2012-05-17T11:00:41Z

Hockeytown, No Limits

NHL Insider: Red Wings might look deeper into free-agent pool | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
Barret Jackman....aaahahahahahahahahahahahah douche.

All Detroit Red Wings playing in World Championships reach medal round | MLive.com
Maybe a few Wings will actually win a championship this year.

The 10 best Sports Illustrated Stanley Cup Playoff covers | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports
Guess who's number 1?

KuklasKorner : The Malik Report : Red Wings catchy uppy post 2: on the prospect camp sked, Fedorov, future Wings and Big House Beer
If you've missed anything in the last day or two, George has you covered here.

Around the NHL

2012 NHL Playoffs: After Energetic Second Period, Rangers Fall 3-2 To Devils - Blueshirt Banter
Things are all tied up out East. Rangers failed to put a stranglehold on this series.

New Jersey Devils Re-Direct the Series in 3-2 Comeback Win Over New York Rangers - In Lou We Trust
Your Devils' perspective from Game 2.

Watch John Tortorella’s Game 2 press conference, as he’ll ‘keep it in the room’ (VIDEO) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports
Someone's not very happy.

Top prospect Grigorenko is less top than he used to be | ProHockeyTalk
Someone could get a solid, young player in the 3-10 range.

Military Veterans: What's Your Favorite Sports Memory From Deployment? - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
A call for military veterans to share with us your stories of sports memories from deployments for an SB Nation project. If you can participate, please share your tale.

Let's Go Red Wings.

Wednesday Night Eastern Conference Finals Open Thread

2012-05-16T22:04:15Z

Hey, the Rangers and Devils have plans tonight. I wonder if any of those plans involve losing their composure like the Coyotes did last night. Fortunately, Shane Doan is too nice to the press to suspend.

New Jersey Devils (6) vs. New York Rangers (1) - 8:00 NBCSN: No two ways about it, the Rangers outclassed the Devils in Game 1 on their way to a 3-0 shutout. New Jersey will have to do just about everything better. Maybe we could drum up some controversy if we assume that one goalie or another is asking his team to aim shots directly at the heads of their opponents. Would that work, you guys?

Blueshirt Banter (Rangers)
In Lou We Trust (Devils)

Prediction for tonight: Kovalchuk scores 2. McGuire gushes over him so much that people long for the good old days when nobody had anything nice to say about Russians.

Quick Hits: Kronwalling Around the World

2012-05-16T11:00:35Z

Hockeytown, No Limits

Rumors Linking Red Wings, Alexander Semin Already Popping Up - SB Nation Detroit
No thank you.

Jimmy Howard wins fifth game for Team USA; Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen score for Sweden | MLive.com
Your daily World Championship update.

Kronwall destroys Saulietis (Sweden vs Latvia IHWC 2012) - YouTube
KRONWALLED. (cool wipe in the video, brah)

Around the NHL

Phoenix Coyotes Lose Focus, Poise, Game 4-0 to LA Kings. - Five For Howling
Coyotes stupides. Quelle bande d'idiots. Je pense qu'il est temps de passer au Québec!

Inside the Los Angeles Kings Twitter feed, social media sensation of NHL playoffs | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports Canada
Meet the two guys behind the L.A. Kings awesome tweets.

Cam Neely encourages further study of equipment - bruins blog - Boston Globe hockey news
"Personally, I’d rather have a player with a separated shoulder than someone with a concussion," - POW!

Does Daniel Alfredsson "owe it" to Senators to play next season? | ProHockeyTalk
Does he owe them? No. Should he still play? Absolutely.

Let's Go Red Wings.

Hockey's on (not too) Late: Let's Open Thread This

2012-05-15T22:30:16Z

It was very nice of the Phoenix Coyotes' owners to agree to host a Western Conference Finals game at 6pm local time so that you East-Coasters don't get too crabby at work tomorrow.

Los Angeles Kings (8) vs. Phoenix Coyotes (3) - 9:00 NBCSN: I feel mildly insulted every time I have to put that little (8) next to the Kings in these previews, since they're not the cup favorites for a lot of people. LA won game 1 and have yet to lose a game on the road during the playoffs. I mean, they've only lost 1 at home too, so it's not exactly like they're slouches at the very-busy Staples Center these days, but who cares? Tonight's in Glendale and the Coyotes are going to have to do a better job at not losing if they don't want to head to Tinseltown facing the same thing the Blues and Canucks faced.

Five for Howling (Coyotes)
Jewels from the Crown (Kings)

Prediction for tonight: punishment-bound Shane Doan takes an odd number of penalty minutes and it's the difference in the game.

An Open Response to 'An Open Letter to Ryan Suter'

2012-05-15T20:38:31Z

One of the biggest questions of this upcoming free agency period will center around two players earmarked to make a very big splash as they look for new and expensive contracts. One of those players is still competing for the cup while the other is taking some time to talk to his family and weigh all of his options waiting for July 1st to come along. While nobody is certain what Ryan Suter will do this offseason, the majority of folks think he'll leave Nashville to seek his fame and fortune on somebody else's blue line.

The View from 111 asks that he considers all of the factors at play in his decision.

In his piece, the well-meaning author tries his best to offer Mr. Suter a different perspective on things, to help him decide on his future. For instance, what about the money considerations?

Suppose a team that covets your services, say Detroit, offers you a bit more to jump ship. Say $7.5 million per year. An extra $500,000 in your pocket sounds pretty good. Until you consider that the State of Michigan levies an income tax of 4.25% on those gross earnings. That amounts to a $318,750 haircut, and that $500,000 difference suddenly becomes $181,250. Oh yeah, don't forget that the City of Detroit tags you for another 2.5% off the gross earnings, or another $187,500. Suddenly, that extra $500,000 has evaporated and your net earnings are $6,993,750.

We could also look at the $7,500 that the state of Tennessee charges solely for the privilege of playing hockey in their state, but you'd be looking at that regardless of whether you signed in Detroit or Nashville. However, signing in Nashville means that what you won't be looking at is freedom from state taxes in places like St. Paul, Chicago, Columbus, and even Detroit (where you'd be playing more than 10% of your games in total). Michigan has reciprocal agreements with those three states, so you won't be paying taxes to them as a Red Wing.

Sure, the taxes on your income should overall be lower if you play 41 of your games in Tennessee compared to Michigan, but I'm not going to do a quarter of the math and pretend like we're finished. I trust that you've got people with a pretty great grasp on the cost differences there and that your agent is going to be hard at work getting you the best value.

More after the jump.

By the way, don't forget to look into the cost of living in any potential new destination. Just so you know, Tennessee has the second lowest composite cost of living index in the U.S. Now I know that if you are making $7 million a year, that may not be a consideration, but it is nice to live in a place where your dollars go further. No sense in wasting those hard earned dollars.

This is great advice, Mr. Suter. We certainly wouldn't want you throwing money down the drain. Did you know that the #1 state on that list is Oklahoma? Do you want to live there too?

This actually happened in Tennessee. The total insurance settlement was $75 (via gawker.com)

You could worry about hockey or you could worry about what a gallon of milk costs.

Oh, yeah:

Those are all important considerations, but for you, winning the Cup is what drives you. That is the goal of every hockey player, and I would be disappointed if you didn't have the drive, that desire, to capture a Cup.

You have said that you want to be in a place where you can win a Cup, and that will weigh heavily in your decision. It may be the primary factor in making your decision. Being a part of a team that can contend for a Cup is essential to you.

You hear that? "It may be the primary factor in making your decision." I'm going to stop your right here, Mr. Suter and let you know that if this is not the primary factor in making your decision, please enjoy the rest of your career as the more-expensive James Wisniewski. I wish you no ill-will for wanting to make bank over wanting to win the Cup; just know that's now what we're looking for in D-Town.

You have been here through the growing pains of this franchise. You have seen this team just be happy to make the playoffs, and you have been part of the team that finally broke through the first round and challenged in the second round. You were part of team that dominated our divisional nemesis in the first round and felt the sting of of a disappointing exit in the second round.

You put up with Nashville's loser mentality for so long and now that they're ready to pat themselves on the back and pretend to feel disappointed about the loss of an elation they've never known, you can't just leave for a city where the 2nd round has been a stepping stone for the past 20 years!

Or, you can come to Detroit where we don't feel disappointment for these early exits, we feel anger, we feel loss, we feel righteous indignation that the cup has been stolen from us and there's no excuse for it not to come back home to Detroit every damn year.

You can sit and hope that the Preds will keep their promise to spend to the cap while everybody learns little by little what it takes to win it all, or you can come to Detroit and learn it from guys who have postseason hardware. You can see the rings on their fingers and the trophies on their cases and you can get mad that they have those and you do not. You can play second fiddle in the Music City to some ape who doesn't read the game like you read it, but who gets all of your credit or you can come to the Motor City where you can either learn a few tricks from the best D-man to lace up the skates in your lifetime or you can immediately start competing for your own Norris Trophies.

That's your call, man.

All of us were distressed by the second round loss to the Coyotes, and it is apparent that the Predators still need some pieces. But you know what? There will be 29 teams in June that will say they need some pieces.

Yep. Just some of them won't be working off the assumption that their existing pieces fall in line behind Martin Erat and Mike Fisher.

How satisfying will it be to be part of a team that moved from expansion franchise to Cup winner? One that does it in a relatively short period of time. That is the opportunity and the potential that you have in Nashville.

Yeah, why don't you ask Brad Richards about that? You can catch him on a rest-day while his Original Six cup contenders are off.