Are you an expert?

he is far more dangerous than anybody in the league, regardless of his size.

Sorry Elliotte, I will not respond anymore.

 

Cut the guy some slack. If you'd gotten traded off the Island and into the playoffs, you'd probably demonstrate a little irrational exuberance, too.

Fun fact: Sutton and Jaarko Ruutu both played on the same team at Michigan Tech in 1995-96 — and neither one led the team in penalty minutes.

With Leopold's experience at Minnesota, I'm guessing that Sutton just wanted to stage an impromptu WCHA Alumni Gathering!

 

A couple days ago, either on this thread, the Ben thread or the NHL thread, Zagoshe proclaimed that every hockey writer is a homer for his team.
At first I was pissed that he could make such a broad stereotype, but I know that Zag tries to be bombastic and goes over the top most of the time.
But it stuck in my mind, then last night I saw this from Kevin Roderick, the LAObserved guy. Roderick is a former L.A. Times news guy, not a sports guy. His blog is pretty widely read and he's a Kings fan. Somehow, he got credentialed for the playoffs. His posts have taken kind of a "kid in a candy store" approach.
What caught me was a couple items down. He wrote that Bettman had an impromptu news conference last night at Staples Center. This is the item:

"The Canadian media opened the questioning of Bettman with some pointed suggestions that the league favors the Kings. He looked exasperated."

Still doesn't justify Zagoshe's generalization, but it doesn't sound too good either.



http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2010/04/hockey_outside_in_la_ha.php

 

I saw in Helene Elliott's LA Times column in which Bettman took the CBC to task for what he felt was an unfair shot at NHL vice-president of hockey operations Mike Murphy, who made the decision to disallow a Canucks goal in Game 3. Of course, Murphy is a former captain and coach of the Kings.

The CBC aired a graphic that stated his Kings connection while interviewing Murphy by phone.

Bettman said the perception of bias was "absurd. . . it seems to be a subtle jab at integrity which is unfounded and inappropriate." He added, "Perhaps it's the CBC that evidences a rooting interest for its own TV ratings."

Also lots of fun to watch Bettman react to the Globe and Mail's allegations of bias toward Sunbelt teams as if the paper had poked him with a stick.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/21/sports/la-sp-nhl-gary-bettman-20100422

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/21/sports/la-sp-bettman-q-and-a-20100422/5

I didn't see the graphic, but I'm curious to know if the CBC indicated that Murphy is also a former Canucks assistant coach.

On the other side of the coin, it doesn't look good when Murphy is giving interviews to an LAKings.com staff writer and saying "it would be so neat" for the Kings to win the Stanley Cup.

http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=501547

 

I knew Murphy was involved with the video replays, but I didn't know he was actually the person making the final decisions. That's interesting. It's also interesting that the Kings fired Murphy. He also played for the Blues and Rangers. And coached the Maple Leafs.
Everybody has history.

 

I don't believe it was a clean hit. The more you see the replays, the contact came to the back of Leopold's head and it came with a forearm. It may be a result of Leopold turning away from the direction Sutton was coming in, but it did result in a blindside hit and you can't deny the contact was on the helmet - you just can't.

As far as the journalism, it was a fair statement and it was refreshing to see someone pose the question.