Way to go Alex Ovechkin....Daniel Alfredsson....and every other NHLer who's willing to tell the league...and anyone else who says they can't represent their country in the games...to stick it where the sun don't shine! This is getting ridiculous to the point of stupid arrogance to tell someone they can't represent their country because the league and the NHL Player's association may be in a spat by the time of the 2014 games. In the case of any Russian players who are feeling this way....can you blame them? The Winter Games are in Russia for the first time ever....and it's just flat-out idiocy to think that players like Ovechkin....Evgeni Malkin....Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Bryzgalov wouldn't just LOVE to beat Canada...the U.S.....the Czech Republic..Sweden...Finland and all the other hockey nations...and stand on that Gold Medal podium in front of their fellow countrymen. And to deny them that opportunity because of whatever hissy fits the NHL....or the NHL Player's Association may be throwing is ridiculous! Just imagine what the reaction would be if it was already time for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement...and one...or both sides decided that no Canadian players would play for Team Canada at the Vancouver Games in February until an agreement was hammered out? Think there might be just a bit of outrage from the players and the public? Yeah...just a bit!! Congratulations to Alex O for saying what he feels...when he announced that he may just look into playing in Russia's Kontinenal Hockey League if the NHL or the Player's Association decides to try and use participation in the 2014 Games as a bargaining chip in the next CBA negotiations. After all...we're not talking about money...playing conditions or contract formats here. We're talking about representing your country. Probably the single most honorable thing an athlete can do with his or her talent....and to take it away from those who would use it just to further their own gains is...in my humble opinion... just as honorable. NHL....NHL Player's Association....I-I-H-F...I don't care what the organization...give yourself a shake and for once...do what's right for something as grand as the Olympic Games. Or watch the players do it for you.

Terry Mercury 

Let me start by saying.....I'm a lifelong Montreal Canadiens fan...who grew up in the Scarborough area of Toronto. That said....I can't help feeling for Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke. It seems this guy will never be able to please everyone. Okay....no one ever has....but I find some of the complaints about the current edition of the Leafs absolutely ridiculous...especially seeing as the season hasn't even started yet! On Thursday I was on a Toronto sports talk show that airs on The Sports Network called "Off the Record". When the subject got around to the Leafs...and whether Burke's attempt at making them a better team by making them physically tougher was a smart move...the naysayers on panel began to argue that just making them tougher might make them more entertaining....but not any better...and that the team would likely miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season. We talked about what was at the time....Burke's efforts to get Phil Kessel from Boston....and again the critics said it wouldn't make any difference if the deal was accomplished.

What I find surprising...and a little annoying....is that the facts were kind of ignored here. Fact...the Leafs had no problem scoring last season...finishing 10th in the league in goals for. They've have some definite offensive potential in youngsters like Victor Stalberg....Chris Hanson....Tyler Bozak...Nazim Khadri...and when you add it to guys like Jason Blake....Alexei Ponikarovsky....Mikhail Grabovski...Nik Hagman...look for Lee Stempniak to return to form...and then add Phil Kessel...this attack isn't exactly the Hoboken Hobos. There's the potential for some decent offensive thrust here. The Leafs problem last season was keeping goals out of their own net....and I dare even the most cynical fan to deny that...at least on paper....the additions of Mike Komisarek....Garnet Exelby and Francois Beauchemin to a defence corps that already includes average to very good defenceman like Tomas Kaberle...Jeff Finger....Mike Van Ryn...Luke Schenn and Ian White won't make this a better team. Add tough-guy Colton Orr to the mix...and this is a decent hockey team. I repeat...this is a DECENT hockey team. I didn't say "Look out Pittsburgh!"...I just said this is a decent team...better than last year's...and a team that should be quite competitive on most nights....and quite capable of  making the playoffs. Look for the offence to improve because its toughness will give its skill players more room to operate.

Look...when he arrived...Brian Burke said one one the things that attracted him to the Leafs situation is that MLSE was willing to give him a long-term deal...recognizing that it was going to be a long process in turning around this floundering team. Then...at the end of last season he made it clear that he was very unhappy that (a) the team didn't make the playoffs.....and (b) it was being pushed around. He said that once(b)was addressed....then the team would be on the road to (a). He's not only addressed (b)...but he's even give the team some more offence with the addition of Phil Kessel. I think it's time to hold the criticism until we see if the team is headed toward(a).

Terry Mercury   

Ahh, the internet.  What a great way to find that chicken-and-potato recipe that your old girlfriend used to make, but since you can't really call her up anymore, the World Wide Web is your salvation.

It's also a great way to keep-in-touch, keep up-to-date, gather with others who share your interests, and generally be a citizen of the cyber-world.

For hockey fans in 2009, the internet, with the myriad of sites dedicated to the game, is a goldmine.  You can instantly find statistics and stories on the biggest teams and the most obscure teams.  Not only the National Hockey League is well-represented, but lower leagues such as the AHL, CHL, and probably the men's beer league down your street, have a website or two.

Mainstream hockey media have flocked to the web; the very fact you're reading this article now, either directly on the NHL Home Ice website, or on a secondary site such as Kukla's Korner, who do a fantastic job of compiling a spectrum of news and opinions from across the hockey world each-and-every day.

By now all of us should be aware that there is no real anonymity when on the internet; even if you sign your contributions as Sloth-Toe Sam from San Jose, your IP address is a dead giveaway.  You can be tracked, if so desired.

Members of the mainstream media, be they from The Hockey News, New York Times, espn.com, TSN, or here at NHL Home Ice, we are required to attach our names to whatever we write.  You, as the reader, can (and often do) vehemently disagree with stories and opinions written by reporters/hosts, but that's part of the fun.  How boring a hockey world it would be if we were all, say, fans of the Carolina Hurricanes, or if we all preferred strawberry jam with our peanut butter sandwiches.

Some of the more enjoyable parts of reading a hockey blog are the comments section.  The variety of flotsam-and-jetsam that wash up can be, at times, illuminating, amusing, challenging, and thought-provoking.

Far too often, many of the comments devolve into a "you suck, no you suck" volley that adds absolutely nothing to the exchange; if anything, it drives away the majority of readers.

Most, if not all, of such juvenile drivel is tagged with names such as Sloth-Toe Sam from San Jose.  These contributors puff out their chests and walk big from behind the safety of their computer, but don't have the gonads to attach their real name to their opinion.

We're not talking about contributing to an on-line forum about how oppressive your government may be, where such a dissenting view may very well put you in harm's way in many countries in this world, we talking about hockey.

A sport, entertainment, one of the many opiates of the masses.

Still, many a big man (and woman) hide behind their internet cone-of-silence and regal the world with their opinion...and then don't have the courage of that opinion to attach their real name to it.

Big deal then.  That negates your opinion, no matter how well reasoned, in my opinion.  And I have to put my name on these articles, as I should have to.  Accountability.

Case-in-point can be found today over at the aformentioned Kukla's Korner, in the comments section under "When Will It Stop".  The link is to a Ken Campbell story about the long NHL pre-season, and in it Campbell touches upon the hit by Calgary's Dion Phaneuf on the Islanders' Kyle Okposo that happened on Thursday night.

Campbell, who writes for The Hockey News, makes a clear-cut and well-reasoned argument about the ongoing confusion over what constitutes a head shot in hockey.  Whatever your personal stance is on the issues he deals with, the article is written with the usual professional and informed approach that Campell takes with everything he does,and no, I don't know him.

Still, under the comments section, the following bright lights, going by the names of Garth and Primis, saw fit to add their two cents, and then to end off their comments with crap.

Garth was the most disappointing offender, as he looked like he was going to construct an interesting counter-argument to Campbell's.  Garth set up his comment in a manner that he cherry-picked certain lines from Campbell's article, and then wrote his own response.

Unfortunately, from this vantage point, the response's weren't all that witty nor thought provoking.  They chiefly consisted of a slightly advanced version of "you suck".  Garth finished off his opus with the following line:

Wow, what a moron you are, Campbell!

Yup, nothing to see here folks.  Please move along.

Someone once said an opinion is never wrong. Well then, it's never right either.  An opinion is one thing, An informed opinion is quite another.  Maybe Garth had a couple of solid reasons why he strongly disagreed with Campbell.  Maybe he should have made them.

One of the troubles with writing anything on the internet, particularly in emails, is trying to get across context, or tone of message.  I've run into this problem a number of times, where some reader's missed my tongue-in-cheek intentions, while others got it.

Maybe Garth was being witty.  Maybe I missed his point.  I was more than willing to concede that, until I read the last line.

Hey Garth, hockey expert. Use your full name next time.  Maybe then The Hockey News will be able to contact you, and offer you the job Ken Campbell currently holds.  Don't let your hockey genius go unrewarded.

As for Primis, the second contributor to the comments section, what can be said without being rude.  He or she takes Campbell to task for rewriting the same article over and over again.  He or she then ends their contribution with this line:

Do us all a favor and stop writing.

It's a step up from the you suck wisdom offered by Garth, but it arrives at the same point, which is, "I personally don't agree with you, which means no-one agrees with you, so get lost".

Nothing of value was added to the discussion by Primis.

There was a third comment on the site as I wrote this, contributed by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids.  This person took the time to make a rational argument regarding the Phaneuf hit, and referenced former NHL'er Mickey Redmond. 

This is when the comments section to any article are worth reading.  This is when real dialogue can take place.  This is when we might all learn sometime.  Too bad there wasn't more of those types of comments in the comments section.

Garth and Primis will no doubt either love the attention I've given them, or will see it as another attempt by the hockey mainstream media to back each other up.

Like their comments, they will have once again missed the point.

- Mick Kern  (though my mother did name me Michael, in the interest of full disclosure)

Well what do you know....it seems polticians can sometimes do more than just increase our taxes....and threaten to call unwanted federal elections! Obama and Harper appear to have come together and actually used some common sense to defuse what could have been a nasty retaliatory travel situation between the U.S. and Canada. Reports indicate that the ban on Canadian charters going directly from one U.S. city to another is going to be lifted...thereby eliminating possible travel nightmares for Canadian-based NHL teams. And all it took was the two countries leaders meeting face-to-face...and using some common sense to resolve the problem. Imagine that....meeting face-to-face.....and talking the problem out to solve it. Careful guys...this could start a dangerous trend. In the U.S. Republicans and Democrats could actually come to a sensible agreement about universal health care. MY GOD!!! In Canada the minority Conservative government could actually work out the issues of the day with the NDP...Liberals and Bloc Quebecois....thereby forgoing the necessity for the threatened federal election....one a huge majority of Canadians are on record as not wanting. And we won't even get into what could happen if Jim Balsillie and Gary Bettman were forced to meet face-to-face...without their aids....staff....lawyers etc....to hash out the Phoenix Coyotes situation. "Pie in the Sky" thinking? You bet...but a fella can dream can't he?

Pre Season games scheduled for next week (Pending confirmation of hook-ups)

 Monday           7 pm      Minnesota at Columbus 

                        10 pm    Calgary and Vancouver

Tuesday            7 pm      Pittsburgh at Toronto

Wed                 7 pm       Chicago at Washington 

                        10 pm     SJ at Vancouver

Thursday           7 pm      NJ at Philadelphia         

                        10 pm     Anaheim at Vancouver

Fri                    7 pm      Boston at Ottawa

Sat                   7 pm      Philadelphia at NJ

Sunday             7 pm      Buffalo at Toronto

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