toby91_ca

The problem is, you can probably make a more direct link between what Bertuzzi did and Moore now being out of the league. If you think about Lindros, he had years of concussion issues, you can't really blame it on one incident. Same with Savard.

The issue is the amount he is suing for, nothing more. At least, that's my issue, which I also suspect most others would have as well. Now, you could argue that Moore wouldn't be in the league anyway, even if the incident didn't occur. You can certainly argue that Bertuzzi didn't end his career. I think those arguments woudl be brought up to defend against the claims, but that doesnt' change the fact that Moore at least has some legitmate reason to sue for damages. I have no problem at all with that (even though it's realively unoridinary). It's the amount he is suing for that's the problem. I think the reason he is suing at all has something to due with his nature of a borderline player. This guy wasn't getting rich playing the game, so he's now looking to get paid so he can live of the windfall. If Bertuzzi had done this to a star player that had made millions over his career, there may be less of a chance for lawsuit (I could be totally wrong though, maybe in that case, lawyers would get involved and want MORE money).

I read that the other day as well and I have to admit that while I was reading, all I could think about is "where was the team's medical staff?"

So, I stumbled upon this by accident. Not sure what I was doing, but I was viewing the salaries, etc. for various rosters and I happened to be on the Pens roster (probably the 8th or 9th team I looked at) when I was scrolling down the names with my cursor to count the players. I noticed a little box pop up that gives some info on the players (#, nationality, etc.). Anyway, I noticed a lot of Cdn Flags. As I said, the Pens were probably the 8th or 9th team I looked at, but I tend to look at many different things at the same time or jump to topic vs. topic, so this was really the first roster I looked at from a Nationality perspective. But based on the below, I'm not sure I'd need to look at any others as I'd have a hard time believing that any other team out there would be more North American. Forwards - 12 Canadian, 1 Russian Defensemen - 6 American, 2 Canadian, 1 Czech Goalies - 1 Canadian, 1 American 91% North American Okay, I lied, I also looked at the Wings roster, not because I thought they were even close to as many North Americans, but because I thought there was as chance they could have more Europeans than most other teams (I haven't gone and checked other rosters though). Forwards - 6 Europeans, 3 Canadians, 3 Americans Defensemen - 4 Europeans, 3 Canadians Goalies - 2 Americans 48% European (I was actually expecting it to be higher)

You are correct, I don't think it is a matter of GMs targeting certain players as much as it is a fluke really. I do think that Detroit employs a lot more scouts for Europe than a lot of teams though, so that may explain some of it. I don't know the Pens organization well enough to understand their philosophy, etc., but you are also right on Burke, he appears to go after the North Americans for the most part.

My personal opinion is that the act itself wasn't "that" bad, yes is was brutal, despicable, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the worst or one of the worst acts ever seen in the game (which I have heard said more than a few times). What makes this so bad is the result. That said, I don't care if you want to say Bertuzzi is 100% responsible for ending Moore's career, I don't care if you want to say he's 0% responsible and Moore's teammates are 100% responsible. Regardless of your point of view on all that, the amount Moore is suing for is beyond ridiculous. Moore was teh type of player that I wouldn't have been surprised if he didn't last beyond a year or so in the league, he was very borderline. He could have gotten lucky and lasted 10 years as well, who knows, but even using best case scenario, not sure how anyone could think this guy was capable of earning much more than $5M or so in career earnings. He's suing for $40M+. I know it is for more than just career earnings, there are lingering effects (although, the skeptic in me thinks those woudl be exaggerated for the purpose of the lawsuit). I know that sounds bad, but how can you not think that?

Nice story by Darren Dreger, who was actually the guy that introduced him to the Wings organization a few years ago. TSN story

Well, it does happen from time to time, in practice during the regular season. I think what this is all about is getting rid of those fights that happen where players are trying to show what they have to offer.

From reports that I have heard, he's suing for $38M, not $20M. Proceedings start next year, we'll see what happens. I have absolutely no idea what is supposed to support the $38M, it surely isn't lost income because there is absolutely no way he would have made that much. I'm guessing, over his career, he probably would have made about $3-5M.

The problem is when will the cap hit look good? It's only a 3 year deal, so he better get better quickly, otherwise, the cap hit may look okay later, but that doens't mean it was a good deal. Kronwall's was a 5 year deal, so if you overpay for the first year or 2, that's okay if you are getting a good deal in the remaining 3 or 4 years. You don't have that situation with this deal. It's not that Holland knows more than most, he knows he's taking a risk here, he's just hoping it pays off. Some work, some don't, but if you don't take those risks, you remain average.

While I hear a similar statement from a lot of people, it actually isn't true. Yzerman has finished in the 5 in scoring 3 times in his entire career, one 4th place finish and two 3rd place finishes. One 3rd place finish was behind Gretzky and Lemieux, the other was behind Gretzky and Messier. He also had 3 other top ten finishes (7th, 8th and 10th) in his career. So, while a lot of people look back and say he was considered the 3rd best behind those guys, I don't remember a lot of those thoughts back in the late 80s/early 90s. The kid in me wants to say Yzerman was the better player as I have watched him for about 15 years, since I was about 10 years old or so (I may be off in years and age, but you get the point). However, now, looking back, you have to consider the hardware that Lidstrom has accumulated...it's tough to ignore.

It sucks to be in that position as it appears as though he would have really liked to play more, but no one really wants to pick him up (otherwise, he would have retired much sooner). Unfortunately, this is really the norm for about 90% of the league. It's really only the superstars that get to go out on their own terms.

He was actually quoted by several media back then suggested that something needs to change. He wasn't calling for a ban, but back then, no one was even thinking in that frame of thought. A lot of things changed since then.

I'm facilitating a training session in Toronto today and I can tell you that the 50-60 people in my room were gathered around their computers listening to the press conference and I know several media members flew into Pittsburgh from across the US and Canada last night to attend. To say that no one outside of Pitts gives a s*** about him today is false. The fact is that the media has been begging for this for months, moreso in the last few weeks, it was scheduled, everyone came from out of town, postponing a 20 minute presser by a day wouldn't have made much sense at all. It would have been easy for the Pens organization and Crosby to do it, but the media would have exploded if they did. I know your intention is to minimize Crosby's health concerns with the tragedy in Russia, which I whole heartedly agree with, but you didn't have to minimize Crosby's issue all together to make your point. I listend to the preseer and I can tell you that it was pretty scaring some of the stuff the doctors were saying.

Wow....simply, wow. Ignoring the fact that you assuming it is Crosby himself that has decided to hold a press conference or Crosby himself that decides to cancel.....because, you know, I highly doubt he has any control over that. Let me paint this scenario...hockey media across North America has gathered in Pittsburgh to attend this press conference (this is fact)....now Crosby decides to cancel....that little bastard right, right? Well, sane individuals will understand, but others will find a reason to blame him again. The sad fact is that a lot of people in North America will be more interested in Crosby's presser (not me speaking). If this happened to an NHL team in North America, things would be different (maybe it shouldn't be, but it would).

Lead article on TSN.

1 - Media/internet/social media is light years ahead of where it was in 2003, completely different environment. 2 - Crosby is a bit more high profile than Rafalski.

Actually, with all the speculation that's been going on recently, he really needs to have this press conference. The problem is, if nothing concrete is reported, it may be a waste of time. I've heard a lot of critism thrown Crosby's way over the summer for "not speaking", now I'm also hearing critism thrown his way because he is planning to "speak." It's actually pretty funny.

Totally agree, but the problem is that something like that is newsworthy.

This is what will happen: 1 - he will confirm that he will be ready to go at the start of training camp (10 days or so from now); or 2 - he will confirm that he will not be ready to go at the start of training camp. If he is not going to actually confirm 1 or 2, then there really is no need for him to speak to the media. I highly, highly doubt he will confirm anything beyond the start of training camp because of the nature of his injury (it's not like Savard who has a lot of history with concussions and has had severe daily symptoms for quite some time). If he confirms he won't be ready to start training camp, that doesn't mean he won't be ready come early October, I doubt he know that for certain. I'm no expert though, maybe he knows more about how long he will be out than I'm guessing. One thing I'm extremely confident in is that he won't be making any retirement announcement tomorrow or even a significant time off announcement either. If it was either of those, he wouldn't be working out and skating. That doesn't mean he won't miss a big chunk of the year, I just don't think he's in a position to even know that. Edit...also, I'm confident in saying that anything beyond what I just said is speculation (doesn't mean it's not right, but speculation in that know one really knows).

In terms of Selanne's rookie year, yes, it was monstrous, but relative as well. I consider Crosby's and Ovechkin's rookie years to be close to, if not more impressive. Selanne finished 5th in league scoring, Ovechkin and Crosby finished 3rd and 6th respectively. Yes, Selanne had 76 goals, but so did another player in the league that year (Mogilny), Lemieux had 69 goals in 60 games, Robitaille had 63 goals, Bure had 60 goals, Yzerman and Turgeon both had 58 goals. Selanne entered the league as a 22 year old having played 3 seasons in a major professional league (I know Ovechkin had that experience as well), while Ovehckin and Crosby entered the league at 20 and 18 years old respectively.

Two of the best players maybe, but they very rarely play together.....I'd be leaning more towards guys that more chemistry as those noted above.

I doubt you'll ever get an actual verification of this. It's obviously just more speculation, but I was just showing where he may have heard this. When I first read his post, I was actually pretty disgusted, thought it was very poor taste, but that was before I heard about the speculation.

I'd have a hard time not fitting one of if not both Sittler and/or Salming on there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/CBC-s-P-J-Stock-Wade-Belak-not-a-suicide-but-a?urn=nhl-wp11744