SB Nation User Blog: kforbes

Social networking's double-edged sword

kforbes — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:24:36 -0000

Social networking's double-edged sword

Since social networking and hockey seem like a theme here at From The Rink over the past little while, here's The Hockey News' Ryan Kennedy looking at how online persona can hurt as much as it can help, especially for younger players who are more technologically savvy.

It's a good bet the Montreal Canadiens will receive a significant (six figure) fine for playing an...

kforbes — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:42:06 -0000

It's a good bet the Montreal Canadiens will receive a significant (six figure) fine for playing an ineligible player on Tuesday night.

Ryan White was pulled from the game in the first period when the NHL noticed he was playing, but that the Canadiens had neglected to notify the league of his recall before the daily 5 p.m. deadline.

McKenzie: Habs Face Fine After Using Ineligible Player

The Philadelphia Flyers announced that goaltender Ray Emery will undergo surgery on Wednesday, Dec....

kforbes — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:29:56 -0000

The Philadelphia Flyers announced that goaltender Ray Emery will undergo surgery on Wednesday, Dec. 9 to repair a torn muscle in his lower abdominal wall and is expected to be out for approximately six weeks, according to club General Manager Paul Holmgren.

>>team release

Things go from bad to worse for the Flyers. Despite a coaching change, they are winless in their last five.

New York Islanders defenceman Brendan Witt was hit by a car in Philadelphia on Tuesday, according...

kforbes — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:52:56 -0000

New York Islanders defenceman Brendan Witt was hit by a car in Philadelphia on Tuesday, according to Newsday. But Witt reportedly picked himself up off the road and, after a few profanities, assured everyone he was all right before continuing on his way, prompting one witness to say, "it was like seeing Clint Eastwood, but in hockey."

Isles' Witt hit by car this morning; will still play tonight

The numerology of Sidney Crosby

kforbes — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:41:37 -0000

The numerology of Sidney Crosby

"Maybe half and half, 12 and 12,'' Tretiak said after Saturday's game when asked how many KHL...

kforbes — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:02:28 -0000

"Maybe half and half, 12 and 12,'' Tretiak said after Saturday's game when asked how many KHL players could make the Russian squad. "The KHL is a good league, the hockey is very tough. We have maybe 10 or 12 good players."

— Tretiak says Russian team will be half NHLers

With Russia expected to be one of the top teams challenging for gold at the 2010 Olympics, could they be handcuffing themselves by taking an increased number of players from the KHL? There are obvious political and promotional reasons for Tretiak, who, in addition to his role as Team Russia's General Manager, is also the President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation to place Russians playing in the KHL on the Olympic squad. But will it come at a cost of overall talent on the roster and in turn, success in the Olympics?

Saturday's Hot Stove

kforbes — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:15:07 -0000

Last Saturday's edition of CBC's Hot Stove caught my eye for a myriad of reasons, here's the clip:

Now there's a couple things of interest there:

Brian Burke still pushing the idea of allowing some salary to be retained during a trade. This is something that he's been trying to do since he was with Anaheim.
Ian Pulver either ignoring or not understanding the idea of theoretical discussion on how to improve the current CBA structure and steadfastly sticking to the idea that 'the rules are the rules' as opposed with the discussion point of 'how to change the rules to make them better.'
Ron MacLean bringing up Tom Benjamin's name when talking with Pierre LeBrun about the salary cap. For anyone interested, I think Benjamin's blog article about the problem with the salary cap (and LeBrun's support of it) was particularly interesting.
But the main point that they argue is something that may not have been looked at too closely at the end of last season with the Calgary Flames reduced to dressing 15 skaters in a handful of games for salary cap purposes and the NHL turning a blind eye to it. Let's look closer...

As I understand it, at the end of last season, Calgary was extremely close to the cap, thanks in part to the deadline deal that saw Olli Jokinen become a Flame. As the season came to closer to an end, the team had some issues with injuries, namely with Robyn Regehr and Cory Sarich.

Because of the cap crunch, Calgary was unable to recall players to fill those voids. In Regehr's case, his knee injury may have qualified him for placement on the Long-Term Injured Reserve, but because it was approaching the end of the season, there weren't enough games left to fulfill the 10 game/24 day unavailability period.

In the end, Regehr missed the final five regular season games and all six playoff games that Calgary played (no salary is paid during the playoffs, thus the salary cap is not in effect). Sarich's ankle forced him out seven games in total, including one playoff match and he then played in the remaining five post season contests for the Flames.

So up against the cap and with injured players, Calgary dressed a shortened bench and the NHL, more or less, ignored it.

Now the question: Was this a violation of the CBA and what should have been done?

Ian Pulver (as stated in the video above) thinks it was and thinks Calgary should have forfeited those games that they could not dress the minimum roster as dictated by the CBA. Let's be frank, forfeiting a game, especially during the stretch run when teams are all fighting for points is not a reasonable solution for a number of reasons.

But Pulver is right, Article 16 (b)(4) of the CBA states:

“Absent an ‘emergency’ (medical, physical, death in the family), the CBA requires a minimum of 18 skaters and two goalies each game.”

These leaves Calgary with few other options:

They could have waived higher salary players to make enough cap room to be able to call up players from the minors to fill out their roster.
They might have been able to dress injured players to sit on their bench and not play.

But instead, none of these things happened and the NHL turned a blind eye to the Flames violating the CBA in order to not go over the cap. I can't see how it would be possible for the Flames to be able to declare an emergency as detailed above. While no one can plan for injuries, it was the Flames own player movements that placed them on the cusp of cap trouble to begin with.

Given all of this, what would you have Calgary and more importantly, the league do in this situation?

"Corny as it is and clichéd as it is, I enjoy playing hockey, and they always say you never know ...

kforbes — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:03:50 -0000

"Corny as it is and clichéd as it is, I enjoy playing hockey, and they always say you never know when your last shift is going to be," Ortmeyer said. "I wanted to go out on my terms and not be forced out by some medical issues."

San Jose Sharks' Jed Ortmeyer battles blood-clotting disorder

Lamest bachelor party ever.

kforbes — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:06:14 -0000

Lamest bachelor party ever.

Mike Commodore, discussing Anton Stralman's rushed nuptials

It's hard not to read articles when you see Steve Yzerman makes a comment on the Olympics, or...

kforbes — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:15:42 -0000

It's hard not to read articles when you see Steve Yzerman makes a comment on the Olympics, or (Wings/Team Canada coach) Mike Babcock. You want to read them. You're curious. When we play (Detroit), it's another added incentive. You try not to think about it, but you want to leave a good impression.

Jarome Iginla.

In the only time Detroit and Calgary have faced off this season, Iginla was specifically called out by Flames coach Brent Sutter for his poor play.