- You buy a copy of THN’s 2010 draft preview issue and watch the NHL draft (both days) while following along with their predictions.

- You get up at 7 a.m. and drive an hour and a half to watch a bunch of 20-year-olds run through skating drills.

Summer hockey! Woohoo!

- You DVR your team’s playoff run on the NHL Network and watch the games they won over and over.

- You keep checking ESPN’s NHL Rumor Central even though you swore you wouldn’t because it’s nothing but speculative bullcrap.

- You read Watership Down and see the rabbits as your favorite players (Bigwig = Zdeno Chara; Dandelion = Marc Savard).

- You vacation in Newport and get giddy on the Cliff Walk because you heard David Krejci visited two weeks prior, and he must have walked there!

David Krejci was here! I think.

- You scour Twitter to find hockey players/media to follow (Mine: Joff Lupul, Scottie Upshall, Mike McKenzie, Bob McKenzie, the Bruins).

Bill Guerin: Do not need. Do not want.

Bob McKenzie has the right idea. A few days after the opening of the free agent market, he took himself off on vacation and, other than a couple of Kovalchuk comments, has mostly Tweeted about his hammock and golf game.

Other NHL media folk would be wise to follow suit. Or at the very least, as my mother used to say, think before they speak (or type, or Tweet).

Unfortunately, too many hockey media, with too much time on their hands, too eager to listen to any whispered rumors (whispered by whom? Agents, perhaps? Perish the thought!), are too ready to pass along any ridiculous crap they hear and call it “news.”

Case in point: The Boston Bruins are interested in Bill Guerin.

The story “broke” from St. Louis (St. Louis?) on July 27, in the midst of Blake Wheeler’s salary arbitration hearings. The New England Sports Network’s web site picked it up:

The Bruins could be welcoming back a familiar face to the Hub as the team is speaking with Bill Guerin about a potential return to Boston, according to Radio host and St. Louis Blues writer Andy Strickland.

“The Bruins are talking to veteran Billy Guerin,” Strickland Tweeted Tuesday. “They need to make a roster move before they can sign him…”

OK, obviously nobody stopped to ask one simple question. No, not WTF? (though I’ll admit that’s the first thing that crossed my mind.) The question would be “Why?”

The Bruins already have their Designated Old Guy. They’re in cap hell, and are going to have to move a player or two even without signing any free agents. Though they haven’t hung out signs saying “We’re going with a youth movment,” it’s fairly obvious to anyone paying attention that they’re aiming to get younger and more dynamic, with Tyler Seguin only the tip of their young prospect iceberg; they’ve got some real talent knocking on the door.

In a nutshell, signing Bill Guerin would make no sense whatsoever.

Meanwhile, that bastion of sports journalism The Bleacher Report picked up the story, with an added twist:

Reports from NESN have stated that the Boston Bruins have significant interest in veteran winger Bill Guerin.

Oooh, so now it’s “significant” interest!

The story grew, making it onto both of Boston’s sports radio stations, as well as ESPN’s web site. For 24 hours, Bruins fans hotly debated the pros and cons of the Return of Bill Guerin.

Until Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com came along:

…A Bruins source told CSNNE.com Wednesday [July 28] there was no interest on their part in the 39-year-old free agent winger.

A Bruins source. Imagine that. A member of the media picked up the phone and, y’know, actually asked someone in the Bruins F.O. about it. Responsible journalism – who would have thunk it?

We've got our Designated Old Guy (Mark Recchi), thanks.

(And when you’re praising Joe Haggerty as a bastion of responsible journalism, you’re in trouble. But that’s a commentary for another day.)

However, like Monty Python’s iconic Black Knight, it’s not dead yet! Seriously. From yet another Bleacher Report blog (written on July 31):

I am hearing that Bill Guerin is generating interest from the Bruins, Penguins and Islanders.

And lest you think it’s just fannish blogs, think again…

Former Penguins forward Bill Guerin was linked to the Boston Bruins but given their limited cap space in the wake of their acceptance of Blake Wheeler’s arbitration award, they can’t afford him.

No, he wasn’t! It was a rumor, probably started by his agent, aiming to drum up interest… oh, never mind. Just go on vacation. Please.

Photos:  Bill Guerin from The Associated Press.  Mark Recchi from Getty Images.

Went to Bruins camp Friday (along with a few hundred other fans. The crowd was even bigger on Saturday; they were actually turning people away at the door. Unreal.)

Of course the big attraction is Seguin, no disputing that. But even discounting Tyler, it isn’t a bad way to spend a couple of hours if you’re jonesing for hockey.

Hey look, it's Tyler Seguin! (with Jordan Caron behind him.)

The day started at 10 a.m. (the on-ice day, anyway; it started for ME at 7:30, when I hopped in my car. It’s further to Wilmington, where the Bruins’ practice facility is located, than it is to Boston. The things I do for you guys haha.)

Anyway, the kids skated out on the ice to applause and, after a brief stretch, went right into skating and passing drills. Down the boards, cutting into the middle; then breakdouts down the center, taking center ice feeds from defensemen. Some nice moves and shots here and there, occasionally draws oohs and aahs from the crowd.

There were close to 30 skaters in camp. This year, helpfully, they provided names as well as numbers (there were rosters provided at the door) on the kids’ backs, but it’s still difficult at times to distinguish individuals in the drills, as they’re switching in and out and back and forth and going all over the place.

I did experience a Goldilocks moment at one point by observing defensemen Tommy Cross (big), Steve Kampfer (little) and Matt Bartkowski (middle) in a tete-a-tete by the side boards. But my real fangirl/squee moment came from watching top draft choices Seguin (2010), Jordan Caron (2009) and Joe Colborne (2008) in a brief but intense discussion (complete with Gallic gesticulations from Caron) before an offensive drill.

What made watching those three fun was recognizing their unmistakeable yet incredibly diverse talents. Colborne moves extremely well for a big man (showing little of the coltish awkwardness I saw last year) and loves to shoot from the slot, Caron has a wide body that he uses to good effect around the net, and Seguin — well, let’s just say the hype isn’t far off. He is an absolute treat to watch. And not just barrelling aorund on offense; I think my favorite moment came during the late scrimmage when he skated back on defense, picked up his man, and rode him away from the net. I didn’t see Claude Julien there, but I’m quite certain that’s the sort of play that would give him the warm fuzzies.

There were many Bruins fans who were upset when Boston used its #32 pick on Jared Knight, but Bruins fans are going to love this kid. He’s crazy. At one point during the scrimmage (playing on a line with Caron and Seguin — squee!) he flew down the wing, crashed into the defenseman, knocked the net off its pins and went down in a heap along the boards. Much consternation amongst the crowd and his teammates as he skated slowly to the bench and sat for a couple of shifts, but then he came back out on the ice and scored the prettiest goal of the day, using a defenseman as a screen and snapping off a beauty. More ooohs.

All in all, the kids looked happy as clams to be out on the ice after all their dryland (and pool) training. They were having fun, even though they were working hard.

A few more scattered thoughts:

Russian defenseman Yuri Alexandrov (his second time around) is undeniably talented, and has grown and improved since last year, but he is not ready for the NHL. He needs to spend a year or two in the AHL and learn the North American game. Bruins fans need to temper their expectations on this kid and let him develop out of the spotlight.

Cross, hampered by knee injuries for a couple of years, is finally healthy and looks like a force out there. Reminds me a bit of Mark Stuart.

Alex Fallstrom (a Swede who’s attending Havard; how common is that?) had the session’s funniest moment when he grabbed a puck that had popped up in the air off the goalie, threw it into the net and celebrated.

Max Sauve (who recently had surgery to take the pins out of a reconstructed ankle) was on the ice for the late stages of practice and stayed out (as the guys left in twos and threes) to take shots on goalie Michael Hutchinson. Colborne stayed with him, and they practiced shots/tip ins. Colborne’s wrist shot reminds me a little of David Krejci’s in that it always seems to catch you by surprise.

The final image left me smiling: Colborne ducking to pass through the locker room door. ;-)

(Photo: Bruins development camp by Goddess Savvy. Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved.)

Bruins camp opened Tuesday with dry-land testing and training, featuring the dreaded shuttle run. Thirty yards, up and back, eight times. And they do it three times over. In 100-degree heat. ::clunk::

It’s like boot camp, I guess. Physical testing is secondary. I think they just want to put these guys through torture to see how close they come to cracking. Mwahahahaha. Also, by the time they hit the ice (first session is Wednesday afternoon), they’ll probably be so happy/eager to be out there they’ll do anything they’re told. (More evil laughter).

First things first, though. Wednesday morning, I got a Tweet with this picture, before I even got out of bed:

Everybody into the pool!

Jump in with sweatshirts on, tread water, take sweatshirt off, hold over head, put back on, swim to side. (And I’m thinking, what if one of these kids can’t swim? Well, apparently they all can. Thank goodness.)

John Bishop of www.bostonbruins.com is live blogging the camp, and also has provided local media updates here. Day one in a nutshell, the media are swarming around Tyler Seguin (no surprise), his teammates don’t mind (no surprise) and Joe Colborne has taken up the leadership mantle in his third camp (mild surprise).

And in a (sort of) related note, Tyler Seguin has been discovered by the local gossip media. He’s sooo cute!

Sigh.

I’ll be attending camp Friday at the practice arena in Wilmington, so I’ll have a report here. Stay tuned!

Lost B: Vladimir Sobotka skates away

I spent most of the day Saturday watching the second round of the draft and stressing over the Marc Savard trade rumors. Then I received this Tweet from the Bruins:

GM Peter Chiarelli just announced that the Bruins have acquired unsigned draft choice David Warsofsky in exchange for Vladimir Sobotka.

And I cried.

I cried over the Bruins losing Vladimir Sobotka, a little guy with a huge heart, a guy who hits like like a freight train.

The big man in a little man’s body. Or, as he has been dubbed on the Web, the SOB. The Little Ball of Hate. A pest, but not a punk, who plays the game the right way. I always thought of him as a minature bull, charging around, hitting anything bigger than him. Which was pretty much everything.

Used sparingly, moved from role to role (set-up center; checking center; wing), never logging enough ice time, up and down from Providence to Boston, he hung in there and finally got a chance to shine in the first round of the playoffs this year, driving the Sabres mad. Unfortunately, he aggravated a shoulder injury late in the series and was consequently robbed of his effectiveness against Philadelphia, one of myriad (but unreported) Bruins injuries. Sobotka’s ineffectiveness against Philly was ignored in the rush to scream about the Bruins’ collapse, but it was a factor.

And now he’s gone. And the worst part of it, beyond losing a player who was born to wear the Spoked B, is that next to nobody cares. “Garbage in, garbage out,” one message board poster wrote.

How sad. How wrong. How cavalier, not only to disparage a player who laid it on the line every time he stepped on the ice, but to dismiss the feelings of those of us who love him.

Take good care of him, St. Louis. Appreciate him, because he’ll give you everything he’s got. He can’t play any other way.

Photo: Courtesy of swerve/bestlaidplans.org.

I really, really hate to rain on anyone’s parade. As a fan of an Original Six team (which is also suffering from a Stanley Cup drought), I was happy to see the Blackhawks and their fans celebrate their well-deserved victory. But I couldn’t help but bite my lip and say, “but… but… you all realize what’s going to happen, don’t you?”

Folks, the Chicago Blackhawks have 14 players under contract for next season, and they are $798,003 over the cap.

That’s right. Over.

And that doesn’t even include Jonathan Toews’ $1.3 million bonus for winning the Conn Smythe Trophy (amusing to see panic over that, like it’s making some huge difference).

It's not your fault, not really

It’s the salaries, folks. Brian Campbell: $7.142 million. Patrick Kane: $6.3 million. Toews: $6.3 million. Duncan Keith: $5.538 million. Marian Hossa: $5.275 million. Patrick Sharp: $3.9 million. Dave Bolland: $3.375 million. Christobal Huet: $5.625 million. (!) Check out the gory details here.

And y’know, banishing Huet to the minors isn’t going to solve Chicago’s problems.

I’m sure there were plenty of tears flowing amongst the Blackhawks during their Cup celebrations, because they know. This team, this band of happy winners, will never be together again, not until they have their Stanley Cup reunions 20, 30 years from now.

Kane and Toews will surely be retained, and the Blackhawks will probably continue to be a winning team. But a dynasty? I’m afraid any hopes of that will very soon be tossed in the bin with the empty champagne bottles. It’s going to be one hell of a hangover in Chicago.

If Hall is the goal-scoring jackpot, then it’s time for Chiarelli to go all in for the good of the Bruins.”

– Joe Haggerty, CSSNE.com

Taylor or Tyler?

The scene: Several men in business suits sit around a long table in a boardroom. Empty pizza boxes and Chinese take-out cartons litter the room. The low hum of an air conditioner fills the air, its monotonous tones overridden only by the random taps of fingers on laptop keyboards, and the regular clink of a coin on the table.

The characters: Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini, hockey ops president Kevin Lowe, assistant GM Kevin Prendergast, assistant GM Rick Olczyk, director of player development Mike Sillinger, and coach Pat Quinn.

Kevin Prendergast: Heads Hall, tails Seguin. Call it.

Rick Olczyk: Tails.

KP: Heads!

RO: How about best 400 out of 700?

(General Manager Steve Tambellini enters the room.)

ST: Gentlemen! Today’s the day! Today we make our decision!

KP: Finally! These guys are starting to reek!

ST: OK, let’s go over it again, one last time.

(Loud groans)

RO: Not again! We’ve done this a thousand times!

ST: And we’ll do it once more. Let’s hear it.

RO: Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin. Both 6-1, 185. Seguin: 48 goals, 58 assists; Hall: 40 goals, 66 assists. Both can play all three forward positions. “I think they’re so close, they could be flip-flopped.” – E.J. McGuire.

ST: So you’re saying there’s no difference between them.

I see... Tyler Seguin

KP: We’ve been saying that for WEEKS!

ST: Duly noted. So who do we choose?

Pat Quinn: Seguin.

Kevin Lowe: Seguin.

Mike Sillinger: Hall.

KP: Hall.

RO: Hall.

ST: I vote Seguin. (sighs) Well, gentlemen, we’re stuck again. Put that loonie away, Prendergast! We’ll have to solve this the hockey way.

(Olyczyk and Quinn eargerly start to pull their suit jackets off.)

ST: What are you doing?

RO: You said the hockey way! Time to throw down!

ST: No, no, no! With logic and reasoning!

RO: (mutters) Since when is that the hockey way?

ST: Somebody convince me that Hall is the better pick.

MS: The fans want Hall.

ST: OK, you’ve convinced me. We’re taking Seguin. Thank you, gentlemen!

(Tambellini’s cell phone rings.)

ST: Hello? Oh, hi Peter! What can I do for you? (covers phone) It’s Chiarelli!

(The room falls silent.)

ST: What’s that noise, Peter? What? Your office is surrounded by a mob of angry fans demanding Hall? Did you lock the door? They’re breaking it down? Send Neely out there! Isn’t that why you hired him?

"I need Tayor Hall!!"

(Tambellini pauses, listens.)

ST: You’ll give us ANYTHING to switch draft spots? Well, sure, Peter, hold on a minute, OK? (covers phone) It’s Christmas! Who do we want?

KL: Bergeron! Oooh, ask for Bergeron!

KP: No, Krejci! Hell, I’ve give anything to have that kid at center.

MS: Rask! (the others stare) Hey, he said anything!

RO: He’s got a crapload of draft picks and prospects, remember. Ask him for Toronto’s second this year, Toronto’s first next year, Caron, and Krejci.

PQ: The picks, yes. But not Krejci. Ask for Lucic.

(The room falls silent. All stare at Quinn.)

ST: Lucic? Peter will never give up Lucic. He’s a monster. He’s only 22. And the fans love him.

PQ: No they don’t. (looks at laptop) Check out the Internet posts: “Lucic’s gone soft! Get rid of him! He SUX!”

RO: He was playing hurt! Are they insane?

PQ: I take it that’s a rhetorical question. Ask him, Steve.

(Eyes gleam around the room. Heads nod. Hands rub together. Tambellini uncovers the phone.)

ST: OK, Peter. Peter? Get under your desk if you have to! Peter, we’ll let you have Hall, sure. For Toronto’s second this year, Toronto’s first next year, Jordan Caron and Milan Lucic. Yeah, I’ll hold. (covers phone)

KL: I can’t believe he’s doing this. Has he lost his mind? All he has to do is pick second and he’s got a great player! No pressure at all!

ST: You’d lose your mind too, dealing with those nutcase fans and media. (uncovers phone). Yes, Peter! You say OK? Sounds good! You can fax the paperwork anytime. See you in L.A.!

(Whoops and shouts, high-fives and general hilarity. Fade out.)

It's going to be OK.

I knew when the Bruins lost four straight to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference semifinal that a significant percentage of  Bruins fans were going to go off the deep end, but it’s gone beyond ridiculous. Blogs calling for GM Peter Chiarelli and/or coach Claude Julien to be fired, half the team to be traded, HAVEN’T WE SUFFERED ENOUGH?

Enough already.

What short memories people have. How quickly they forget how mired in mediocrity the Bruins were before the Chiarelli/Julien administration. How many other teams would give anything to be in the Bruins’ situation right now?

I certainly expected frustration and disappointment. I didn’t expect the hysteria and stupidity that is running rampant in New England right now. Even the media has succumbed: Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe (sorry, I’m not going to link his joke of an article) wanted nothing less than an abject apology from Chiarelli at his end-of-season press conference. An apology for what, exactly? A team that was within a hit goalpost (by Milan Lucic, late in Game 7) of moving on to the EC finals despite its players dropping like flies? For not trading half the farm for Ilya Kovalchuk? (Fat lot of good he did for the Devils.) For trading Phil Kessel for Taylor Hall/Tyler Seguin?

I heard a caller to sports radio (yeah, stupid me, but I figured they would have moved on to baseball by now) complain that the Bruins were steamrolling the Flyers in the first three games, and then choked. Already with the revisionist history: The Bruins won the first game 5-4 in overtime, the second 3-2. The score of the third game was 4-1, but that was misleading; it was a one-goal game until late in the third, when a fortuitous bounce put the puck on Mark Recchi’s stick for the third goal, and then Patrice Bergeron added an empty-netter.

Game 4 was a 5-4 Philly win, and the turning point in more ways than one: the Bruins lost David Krejci and the Flyers regained Simon Gagne. Game 5 was the only lopsided game of the series, 4-0 Flyers; then back to one-goal games: Flyers 2-1, and 4-3. Bottom line, this is a series that, with a lucky bounce here or there, could have gone either way. I’m amazed that nobody in the hockey media seems to have pointed this out; guess they’re all too gleeful about the OMG THEY BLEW A 3-0 SERIES LEAD. Yeah, whatever. To paraphrase that noted hockey observer Getrude Stein, a loss is a loss is a loss.

Life goes on. You cry, you pick yourself up, you move on. You don’t let a loss, no matter how devastating, define your career (believe it or not, I actually got into a back-and-forth with a Bruins blogger who is certain this is going to RUIN THE FRANCHISE FOREVER. Seriously.)

Krejci: “It seems like every year we’re getting much closer. We were really close this year but it didn’t happen. Next season everybody is starting from zero points. It’s going to be a new season, new year and everybody’s going to have the same chance, so obviously we’re going to have a good year again, make the playoffs and make a good run.”

Well said. At least the players have some sense, if nobody else does.

Image: Boston Bruins logo from NHL.com.

Wow, really?

Do you, as hockey fans, support your players no matter what? If one of your players deliberately injures an opponent, do you firmly stand behind him?

I hope I’m not the only person who doesn’t.

Discuss.

This time around, it’s Mike Freeman of CBSsports.com who is providing us such gems as:

I’m not certain how it happened and don’t know if it was possible for the NHL to stop it from happening but that once-captured post-Olympic hockey glow is now gone. It has dissipated into the ozone and the NHL is back to being ignored by most sports fans.

For the rest of his rant, mostly about how the NHL needs more scoring and is less popular than SpongBob SquarePants, here you go: NHL toils in anonymity

What do these fans know that the rest of America doesn't? The thrill of an NHL playoff game (let's keep it that way!).

Hockey doesn’t need validation from the casual sports fan. It doesn’t need explosive growth. It doesn’t need 24/7 coverage on ESPN (don’t bother them – they’re busy lining up another interview with Pacman Jones).

And as hockey fans, we don’t need to have our sport endorsed by ignoramuses who think a 10-9 game would be more entertaining than a 2-1 game.

And if mass popularity is the measuring stick of success, then shouldn’t “The Dukes of Hazzard” be held up as a shining example of great television?

I cherish my fandom of a “niche” sport, and you should too. The “average” American sports fan is drinking rotgut, while we’re quaffing (and discussing the quality of) the finest wines the world has to offer.

But mum’s the word, OK? Let’s keep this to ourselves.

When “High Sticking” is an Understatement

Anyway, as fans, we can whine and complain about the officials. It’s what we do. And we’ll be sure to note that (obviously) the officials have it in for OUR boys, who are clean-living, honest and reverent, and would never dive, high-stick or surreptitiously punch an opponent.

Coaches, however, are not fans. And a coach should not be whining about the officials. Yes, I’m looking at you, Lindy Ruff.

The officials were not out to get the Buffalo Sabres in their first-round series against the Boston Bruins. Trust me on this. That goalie interference that Ruff whined about in Game 4 was identical to one called on the Bruins in Game 1. In six games, the Bruins were whistled for 34 penalties, the Sabres for 36. And the officials missed calls on BOTH sides.

What Ruff really should cry about is the fact that the Sabres went 0-for-19 on the power play. THAT would be understandable.

But no. At the end of Game 5 in Buffalo, Zdeno Chara was returning to the bench when he was slashed from behind by Paul Gaustad. Chara turned around and punched Gaustad in the face. And Ruff wanted Chara suspended as the instigator. (!)

“It’s a serious risk of an instigator when you come in throwing punches,” said Lindy Ruff. “They’ve got to take a hard look at that. Anything in the last five minutes is stupid to do. I like the fact that we had one grab him around the knees, one guy grab him around the waist, and another guy grab him around the neck. And the big man went down. You get in a situation like that, everybody knows the rules. You can’t start slugging people. That’s exactly what Chara was doing. Our response was good to that play.”

Look, you poke a bear, don’t be surprised (or outraged) when the bear turns around and slugs you back, or worse. Anyway, how Ruff could actually make a statement like that and keep a straight face is beyond me (He LIKED the fact that it took three Sabres to bring Chara down? And while we’re on the subject, where’s the penalty for third – and fourth – man in?)

For the record, Chara was given an automatic suspension, which was rescinded less than an hour after the game (probably amongst laughter and a few “are you kiddings”?). Here’s the official rule:

“An instigator of an altercation shall be a player or goalkeeper who by his actions or demeanor demonstrates any/some of the following criteria: distance traveled; gloves off first; first punch thrown; menacing attitude or posture; verbal instigation or threats; conduct in retaliation to a prior game (or season) incident; obvious retribution for a previous incident in the game or season.”

Um yeah, so no suspension for belting someone who slashes you with two seconds left in the game.

Anyway, the bottom line is, blaming the officials for the failure of a team (and the failure, by extention, of the coach) is childish, classless and embarrassing. Lindy Ruff should be happy he’s not coaching in the NBA, or his wallet would be decidedly lighter. Like, $35,000 lighter.

1. Know the sport. This seems like a given, but I’ve actually known of hockey “fans” who don’t know what icing is. There’s no shame in admitting your ignorance. We all had to start somewhere. Learn the game, THEN you can spout off.

2. Know the players. You don’t have to know the entire roster of every team (even the “experts” don’t), but at the very least you should know your own team.

3. Pronounce their names correctly. You may say you are a Bruins fan, but if you can’t pronounce “Lucic,” you are not a Bruins fan. (Hint: it’s not “Loo-shick.”)

4. Don’t wax nostalgic for the “good old days.” Hockey players are bigger, stronger, faster, and, with a few exceptions, better than they were 20, 30, 40 years ago.

5. Don’t whine that you can’t tell who the players are because they wear helmets. If you can’t tell the difference between Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin because of their helmets, you either never watch hockey, or you’re blind.

5a. And don’t opine that the game would be “better” if the players didn’t wear helmets. That is, in a word, insane.

6. Anyone who leaves a game early deserves this:

7. Don’t play the blame game. The other team doesn’t always score because your guy screwed up. Sometimes, the other guy makes a stupendous play. They get paid too.

8. Sometimes, shit happens. The game is played on ice. The puck bounces around. Guys fall down, the puck takes funny bounces. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes the other guy gets lucky. It’s part of the game.

9. Don’t ever, ever, EVER call an NHL player a pussy. Because, you know, they aren’t. And this is you:

“I know Matt Cooke is a repeat offender, he’s been suspended twice in the last year. I can’t suspend Matt Cooke for being a repeat offender, I have to find a reason. Right now our rules say that shoulders to head are legal. Matt Cooke did not jump, and did not do anything that we found illegal in his actions even though again you don’t like what happened.” — Colin Campbell, on TSN

Outrage. How can any hockey fan feel anything but outrage at this mockery of a ruling? What adds insult to injury is how Campbell attempts to justify himself. You have to find a reason, Mr. Campbell? How about deliberate attempt to injure? Check the rule book — it’s right there, under “match penalties”:

“A match penalty shall be imposed on any player or goalkeeper who deliberately attempts to injure an opponent IN ANY MANNER.” (emphasis mine)

That the referees missed the call on the ice is irrelevant. You yourself have imposed suspensions after missed calls.

But you’re not going to do it this time around, are you? And we know why. You blew it on the Mike Richards cheap shot on David Booth, and you’re falling back on that “precedent” to justify this miscarriage of justice. According to you, two wrongs make a right.

“Campbell’s decision signals that players are free to seek out unsuspecting opponents, launch blindside hits to their heads that leave them with scrambled brains, and fear no consequence in terms of penalties or suspensions. ‘Hits to the head are legal, if you want to look at it that way,’’ said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli. ‘They’re legal.’’’ — Fluto Shinzawa, Boston Globe

So there’s the (unintended, I’m sure, but blatantly obvious) fallout from Campbell’s “ruling.”

“It was a late hit, he followed though with the elbow, he hit him in the back off the head, & Cooke has a track record of these types of hits. The fact that he was not suspended is ludicrous, and is a message to the Bruins and every other team that they shouldn’t wait to ‘let the league deal with the offending player’ and they should settle the score on the ice. This will result in more injuries to talented players, in an already watered-down league. Today’s ruling by Campbell was very bad news for this league.” — message board commenter

NHL officials wonder why the casual sports fan looks upon their league as a farce. This is why. The head of discipline can’t bring himself to do what’s right, and leaves the inmates to run the asylum. Don’t be surprised, Mr. Bettman and Mr. Campbell, if the next player you see carried off the ice is loaded into a hearse, not an ambulance. And you’ll have nobody to blame but yourselves.

Reportedly during a radio interview yesterday from the NHL general managers’ meeting, you responded to a question about possible discipline regarding Matt Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard Sunday by saying “it wasn’t an elbow.”

Please. Let’s watch the video one more time.

Cooke could have hit Savard with a solid open-ice body check. Instead, he deliberately moved his arm so it made contact with Marc’s head. Whether it was his elbow, shoulder, knee, foot, stick or a tire iron makes no difference (for the record, you can see that it’s neither precisely his elbow nor his shoulder, but somewhere in between that makes the connection). Are you going to make a decision on a suspension based on a few inches? Matt Cooke deliberately attempted to injure Marc Savard, and succeeded. No ifs, and, or buts about it.

I’m certainly not counting on you giving Cooke the 10-game suspension he deserves. Not after you handed Derek Boogard a pathetic two games for a hideous knee-on-knee hit. Not after you ignored Tomas Plekanec butt-ending David Krejci in the face. NHL discipline is, in a word, a joke. But as Marc Savard suffers the pain of a Grade 2 concussion, maybe, just maybe, this time, you’ll do the right thing.

Just imagine this: What if that was Sidney Crosby being carried off the ice on a stretcher? Because if you don’t stop this now, it very well may be, in the very near future.

Sincerely yours,
Savvy

Well no, Shawn. Not all hockey fans love trade deadline day. There are actually a significant number of us who feel the same way you do. That the Santa of “Hockey Christmas” is actually the Grinch, sneaking down our chimneys and stealing our beloved toys right out from under the tree.

Yes, yes, we know that all trades are made for the benefit of the team, whether it be for the long term or the short run. We also know that surgery is something done for the good of the patient, but that doesn’t mean we enjoy it.

Being a fan is an emotional investment. With many of these players, we see them get drafted, come up through the system, watch them grow as players and as people. We root them on in the bigs, celebrate their landmark accomplishments, buy their jerseys, catch their eyes from behind the glass and share a smile. We can’t — well, I can’t — look at them as “chips,” and eagerly anticipate losing them. They wear the spoked-B (or the Indian head, or the winged wheel); they are OUR GUYS.

And though their departure may make our team better, we can’t anticipate it with cheerful giddiness. We can only watch somberly, stomach churning, as the clock ticks down. We can’t wait until it’s over.