Crashing The Crease – Oct 2, 2013
Crashing The Crease is SenShot’s daily look around the league at some off-ice news and notes from the NHL.
Oct 1, 2013; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens right wing George Parros (15) hits his head on the ice as he fights with Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Colton Orr (28) during the third period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
- Two big stories from yesterday were the injury to George Parros and the lack of goaltending.
- Parros’ injury brought those in the anti-fighting faction front and centre. They have a point. As exciting as spontaneous fighting might be, someone is going to get killed. Players know the risk, but maybe its time to protect them from themselves. We can only hope for a quick and full recovery from the concussion he suffered. Our best wishes to Parros.
- Maybe early season jitters, but shooters were way ahead of goalies last night. Of the 6 goalies playing, (3 of which were Team Canada camp invitees) James Reimer had a SP above .900.
- It was team leadership naming day in the NHL, with a number of teams handing out letters
- Edmonton, who earlier named Andrew Ference captain, handed out a lot of “A”s. Six to be exact. Everyone gets an “A”
- Tampa went with experience over youth, bucking the trend in naming Martin St. Louis captain of the Bolts. Makes sense, although Steven Stamkos will be the man in a couple of years.
- Meanwhile, Buffalo went with co-captains once again in Thomas Vanek and Steve Ott. Likely wanted continuity, because there is a strong chance Vanek will be traded and and even stronger change Ott will get suspended for something weaselly during the season.
- I guess experience and size means more than being old and slow, as Hal Gill got a 1 year deal with the Flyers
- As rumored yesterday morning, the Phil Kessel extension (8 years, $64M) was indeed done.
Check back here tomorrow for another tour around the league.