Brad
12-02-2005, 04:56 PM
Shawn P. Roarke / Special to FOXSports.com
Part of the NHL's master plan to win back fans after the lockout was an unbalanced schedule, weighted heavily toward divisional games.
The thought process there was that such a schedule — featuring eight games against each divisional opponent and another four against the remaining conference foes — would highlight existing rivalries and create new ones.
And, as we all know, rivalries are good for the game as they engender passion from the game's fan base.
Well, after a slow start, the bad blood now appears to be percolating across the league, but certainly not in the way the NHL had envisioned. Recently, the game has been marred by some ugly incidents that do not fit the new violence-free image the NHL is trying to establish for itself.
But, the league gets what it deserves here because the latest draconian penalties for instigating fights have allowed players — specifically those that live on the edge of legality — to practice their cynical craft with less and less fear of encountering retribution.
Under the new guidelines this year, a player who instigates a fight in the final five minutes of a game will receive a game misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension. The length of suspension doubles for each additional incident. In addition, the player's coach will be fined $10,000, a fine that would double for each such incident.
Those new provisions are an addendum to the already established stiff instigating penalty of two- five- and 10-minute penalties assessed to the offending player.
As a result of these so-called deterrents, players that cross the line with their actions are often not held accountable for their behavior by opposing players because of the chilling effect the instigator penalties create. Thus, players become frustrated with the injustices they witness and lash out in other ways.
Not surprisingly, the results of this process can be seen in the three ugliest incidents this season.
Toronto and Atlanta — who would've picked that pairing for some mayhem? — started things off with an ugly series of incidents in a 9-1 rout by Toronto on Oct. 14. The result was 147 minutes in penalties, a suspension to Andy Sutton for attempting to injure Darcy Tucker and a war of words that made headlines across the continent.
This week, Western Conference teams got into the act.
On Tuesday, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Phoenix Coyotes followed a chippy game with another batch of incendiary quotes. Todd Fedoruk, who was suspended for three games for a concussion-inducing hit on Petr Nedved that earned him a match penalty, insisted he was just doing what was necessary after some "objectionable" hits by Denis Gauthier of the Coyotes.
''It was something that had to be addressed,'' Fedoruk said. ''There was a guy (Gauthier) out there with a visor on running around like he's King Kong. He's not going to back it up. If the refs aren't going to call stuff like that, it falls on the players. You can only take so much, watching your teammates get late hits, high hits.
''In my eyes, it's an eye for an eye. I don't ever want to see anybody get hurt, but when my players get hurt, I feel obliged to send a message that I'm not going to let this happen. I think Nedved can thank his teammate for what happened.''
Not to be outdone, Nashville and Los Angeles — another unlikely pairing — showed little holiday spirit in their Thanksgiving night matchup.
This time, there was a questionable hit on Predators' star Paul Kariya to light the fuse. As usual, L.A.'s Sean Avery was in the middle of the mayhem — although he did do a convincing imitation of Yertl the Turtle when push came to shove from Nashville's Darcy Hordichuk. Inconceivably, Hordichuk was tossed from the game while Avery was free to commit further acts of mayhem and run his mouth — without fear of further retribution.
With players stripped, for the most part, of the ability to exact immediate justice on the guilty parties, ugly incidences such as these will continue to flare up throughout the league going forward. In fact, many of the participants involved in the three aforementioned incidents have already vowed retribution before the season is complete.
Again, not exactly the rivalry-making the league had in mind, but an undeniable by-product of the present circumstances.
Part of the NHL's master plan to win back fans after the lockout was an unbalanced schedule, weighted heavily toward divisional games.
The thought process there was that such a schedule — featuring eight games against each divisional opponent and another four against the remaining conference foes — would highlight existing rivalries and create new ones.
And, as we all know, rivalries are good for the game as they engender passion from the game's fan base.
Well, after a slow start, the bad blood now appears to be percolating across the league, but certainly not in the way the NHL had envisioned. Recently, the game has been marred by some ugly incidents that do not fit the new violence-free image the NHL is trying to establish for itself.
But, the league gets what it deserves here because the latest draconian penalties for instigating fights have allowed players — specifically those that live on the edge of legality — to practice their cynical craft with less and less fear of encountering retribution.
Under the new guidelines this year, a player who instigates a fight in the final five minutes of a game will receive a game misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension. The length of suspension doubles for each additional incident. In addition, the player's coach will be fined $10,000, a fine that would double for each such incident.
Those new provisions are an addendum to the already established stiff instigating penalty of two- five- and 10-minute penalties assessed to the offending player.
As a result of these so-called deterrents, players that cross the line with their actions are often not held accountable for their behavior by opposing players because of the chilling effect the instigator penalties create. Thus, players become frustrated with the injustices they witness and lash out in other ways.
Not surprisingly, the results of this process can be seen in the three ugliest incidents this season.
Toronto and Atlanta — who would've picked that pairing for some mayhem? — started things off with an ugly series of incidents in a 9-1 rout by Toronto on Oct. 14. The result was 147 minutes in penalties, a suspension to Andy Sutton for attempting to injure Darcy Tucker and a war of words that made headlines across the continent.
This week, Western Conference teams got into the act.
On Tuesday, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Phoenix Coyotes followed a chippy game with another batch of incendiary quotes. Todd Fedoruk, who was suspended for three games for a concussion-inducing hit on Petr Nedved that earned him a match penalty, insisted he was just doing what was necessary after some "objectionable" hits by Denis Gauthier of the Coyotes.
''It was something that had to be addressed,'' Fedoruk said. ''There was a guy (Gauthier) out there with a visor on running around like he's King Kong. He's not going to back it up. If the refs aren't going to call stuff like that, it falls on the players. You can only take so much, watching your teammates get late hits, high hits.
''In my eyes, it's an eye for an eye. I don't ever want to see anybody get hurt, but when my players get hurt, I feel obliged to send a message that I'm not going to let this happen. I think Nedved can thank his teammate for what happened.''
Not to be outdone, Nashville and Los Angeles — another unlikely pairing — showed little holiday spirit in their Thanksgiving night matchup.
This time, there was a questionable hit on Predators' star Paul Kariya to light the fuse. As usual, L.A.'s Sean Avery was in the middle of the mayhem — although he did do a convincing imitation of Yertl the Turtle when push came to shove from Nashville's Darcy Hordichuk. Inconceivably, Hordichuk was tossed from the game while Avery was free to commit further acts of mayhem and run his mouth — without fear of further retribution.
With players stripped, for the most part, of the ability to exact immediate justice on the guilty parties, ugly incidences such as these will continue to flare up throughout the league going forward. In fact, many of the participants involved in the three aforementioned incidents have already vowed retribution before the season is complete.
Again, not exactly the rivalry-making the league had in mind, but an undeniable by-product of the present circumstances.