Why I chose them: Sergei Gonchar returns to his old stomping ground, Honkin' Tall French Captain and his boys try to erase the Florida shutout from memory (how are they supposed to be my personal choice for team most likely to rebound when they get blanked by the Panthers? Most distressing) and Nino Niederreiter and his posse take it to the Leafs. The latter of which, by the way, in a few years will boast two Portland Winterhawks on either side of the center line. Nino's Portland linemate Brad Ross was drafted 43rd by Toronto in this year's entry draft.
Good news all around: The Pens continue their mini-comeback, Tavares nailed it for the Isles in overtime and Tampa narrowly escapes with a 5-4 victory over the Stars.
Sort of: Nino didn't get on the boards. He didn't even rack up a small penalty for serving yet another too many men on the ice for his team. Of course, here in Portland that just means more fodder for "when is he coming back?" But as much as we want that for ourselves, we also want him to be successful in the big time. And when the time is right, whether it's now or later, he will be.
And if you live in Portland: Make note...the Winterhawks commence a six-game homestand starting this Wednesday against Everett. Plenty of time to join us if you can.
First he goes late in the draft, now this?: Cam Fowler broke his nose when he took a hit from Shane Doan, who was later suspended for three games for an even nastier blindside hit on Dan Sexton. Welcome to the NHL. But a blindside hit by the Captain is not cool, dude. And I like Shane Doan. But that Anaheim game was (despite its staggering goaltending and Corey Perry scoring beauty) some ugly business that's deserving of punishment.
And long before you go around hitting people upside the head, first you need to get paid to do so: Article 11, Rules and Procedures Governing Standard Player's Contract. 11.6(b) Subsequent Challenge or De-Registration of SPCs.
11.6(b)/aha! I think this explains the Kovalchuk three-ring circus. Sort of.:
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section 11.6, an approved and registered SPC may be subject to subsequent challenge and/or de-registration by the League (i) in the case of a circumvention relating to either the Club Upper Limit or the Maximum Player Salary, within 60 days from the date upon which the facts of the Circumvention became known or reasonably should have been known to the NHL, or (ii) in the case of a challenge pursuant to (i) or (ii) below, within fourteen days from the date upon which the SPC was approved by the NHL, in each case as follows:
(i) If an SPC is challenged solely because it resulted in the Club's Average Club Salary exceeding the Upper Limit, then the Player shall be entitled to continue play under such an SPC, and shall be entitled to all of the rights and benefits provided for under such an SPC.
Morals of the story:
The game: So let me get this straight...if you are a player who asks for $100-plus million over two decades, and it gets rejected because it's discovered that the Club is sneaking around outside NHL rules, you basically don't get punished in the meantime while they duke it out on your behalf? Now I get why players don't even think for a second about the consequences of their actions. According to this rule, there aren't any.
Life: One word: bailout. Only in our case it was like, what, $700 billion over the next three generations' lifetimes? And in our cases, our mortgages for houses we shouldn't have been allowed to buy because we really couldn't afford them put us into foreclosure, and our taxes go up to pay for said debacle, but the bank gets to carry right on with all the usual rights and privileges thereof whilst we go into debt, onto welfare and back to the food stamp line. True, the law tries to provide some consequences for said actions, but that doesn't stop people and companies most of the time either, now does it?
Next up: 11.8, Individually Negotiated Limitations on Player Movement.
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