Matt Cooke

Matt Cooke is definitely the dirtiest player in sports. He proved that once again on Sunday when he came in and hit New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh with a high elbow to the head. The hit, which obviously targeted the head, resulted in Pittsburgh being short-handed for five minutes, and Cooke receiving a game misconduct. The hit and penalty, as stated by Pens coach Dan Bylsma, swung the game. It led the way for a four goal rampage by the Broadway Blueshirts in the final period of an exciting game that the Rangers controlled after Cooke's hit. We are far past the first time that Cookie (as his Penguins teammates call him) has hit someone illegally with an intent to injure them, and the NHL really needs to do something about it. He will not stop unless he receives a major punishment that will make him realize he needs to change his game.

Rangers vs. Penguins 3/20/11

Today's matchup of the New York Rangers vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins was one I was looking forward to. Blueshirts defenseman Marc Staal (previously on my blog) was a scratch for this game with an undisclosed injury. The Rangers were saved often times by All-Star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Although the Penguins outplayed them for most of the game, the Rangers still managed to get the win, and the much needed two points. Without Marc Staal, the Rangers number one defenseman and assistant captain, the Rangers still took the game 5-2 over the Stanley Cup Champions from two years ago. The win marks the first time the Rangers won four games in a row in two years, and they did it with another fantastic period. This time, unlike the game against Montreal, it was the third period that won it for the Rangers. After a 5 minute penalty against Penguin Matt Cooke, Chris Kunitz beat two Rangers to the puck and buried a shot that appeared to be deflected past netminder Lundqvist to give the Pens a 2-1 lead, and their 11th shorthanded goal of the season. Not far later, however, Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan scored a mere 11 seconds apart to give New York the lead. Although the Rangers scored two power-play goals, they still employed a regular True Blue power-play, which includes hesitating to shoot, turning over the puck in the offensive zone, not being able to keep the puck in the zone, and extremely aggravating me. The Rangers gained a two goal lead with rookie Derek Stepan banging in the rebound of defenseman Ryan McDonagh's shot into an empty net while talented goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury down on the ice. Brandon Dubinsky capped off the win for New York when he put the puck into the empty net off a pass from Ryan Callahan. It was lucky for the Rangers that Lundqvist was able to play with a stiff neck after being steamrolled by Montreal's Benoit Pouliot during Friday night's game, because the Rangers certainly would not have won without him. Due to Lundqvist sensational play, the Rangers moved within 3 points of 6th place Montreal, and 4 points ahead of eight place Buffalo.

NFL Lockout

I want to take a moment here to talk about how a lockout in the NFL can benefit hockey. Think about it, if there is no football on TV, people will find another sport to watch. While not all of the people who watch football will start watching hockey, I guarantee a percentage of those people will. With that new percentage of people watching hockey, the NHL will make more money, and the popularity and growth of the sport will increase.

The Salary Cap

I think that the salary cap is great for the NHL. Even thought it stops my favorite teams from being stacked, I think it really benefits the competitive edge of professional ice hockey. Think about it, if there was no salary cap teams like the New York Rangers would be able to pay top dollar for the league's megastars. Imagine a team with Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin,and Steven Stamkos up front, Zdeno Chara and Niklas Lidstrom patrolling the blue line, and Henrik Lundqvist between the pipes. And that could be only a first line! How much of a chance do you think any other teams would have going up against that kind of powerhouse? None. Although many people find the salary cap to be the reason their team just isn't a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, I think they would find the NHL to be less interesting to watch if the salary cap was to be disabled.

Stricter Laws in the NHL

In my opinion, the NHL General Managers, Board of Governors, and dictator Gary Bettman are trying to put a seat-belt on the NHL. I am not saying that they should just let players go out there and do whatever they want, but I do think that rules are way to strict. There definitely should be rules regarding hits to the head in order to prevent concussions, but now it's like if you touch somebody's head you are penalized, and most of the time suspended. With all the new rules and insanity of Gary Bettman, it is only a matter of time before the NHL starts suspending helmets for making contact with a players head.

The NHL and its players have to understand that when you are playing a physical and fast game while wearing potentially lethal blades on your feet and with a hard rubber puck flying at speed up to 105.9mph, you have a high risk of injury. While you have players like notorious Pittsburgh agitator Matt Cooke, and Islanders wrestler Trevor Gilles (who would certainly not be in the NHL if not for the many injuries to the players of the Isles), who are out there head hunting and cheap-shotting, not every player in the NHL is trying to injure one another, and the NHL has to understand that.

When a collision occurs at a high speed between two players, they usually both have their arms and/or hands up to absorb the blow. Just because one player gets hit in the head, which could have happened just as easily to the other player, you shouldn't suspend the player whose hands made contact with the opposing players head. That same play happens dozens of times in that same game, and just because one player happened to have his head touched by another, that becomes a big deal in the league, most likely resulting in a suspension.

The NHL is not a children's league, stop treating it like one.

Marc Staal

In my first blog post, I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb here. I think that the New York Rangers should get rid of Marc Staal. I understand that `he has talent and is a defenseman a coach should feel comfortable having out on the ice in tight situations, but I think he makes to many rookie mistakes.

Often times when I go to Ranger games, I end up at some point in the game seeing Marc Staal making a bad play or turning the puck over. I understand that he gets a lot of ice time, and that when you are playing that much time, you are bound to make a mistake, but he makes to many of them, and he should not considering his skill and NHL experience.

The Rangers are not in a bad spot with him at all, however. Almost every coach would love to have Marc Staal on their team, and would be willing to send one of their better players to New York in exchange for him. Since he is a great trade option for the Rangers, he better step up his game and earn that roster spot. You're not a rookie anymore, Marc. Stop playing like one.