Early Season Summary

After a year-long accidental hiatus, I'm back. I was never exactly an esteemed member of the hockey world, but I sure missed writing about hockey. So let's dive in and examine the first month of competition in the NHL.

Despite the Western Conference looking incredibly daunting after last season, the Atlantic Division in the East is so far the most commanding this season. Or, rather, Montreal and Tampa Bay are. It's still early, but I stand by my prediction of seeing the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals this year. The West is bound to pull together and overall become a powerhouse again, but for now the top teams in the East are looking like a force and it could just stay that way. Look forward to a good season.

Looking past competition, a lot has happened in the NHL for just the first month or so of hockey. The arguments for/against fighting have been revived (especially with prodigy Connor McDavid's injury), the Kings' defense has been marred by a domestic abuse case, and we now have Chris Pronger making decisions on player safety. 

Fighting belongs in the game. Enough said. Countless players have spoken out for it, saying that without fighting those guys who take the cheap shots we all hate would have no one to answer for. It seems like the only people calling for it to be taken out of the game are the people who don't play. Now, I understand the uproar about it after top draft prospect McDavid broke his hand during a fight in the OHL (he missed a punch and instead hit the boards). McDavid has 51 points in 18 games and is expected to be out up to 6 weeks, obviously dealing a heavy blow to his team the Erie Otters. But this in no way is a good argument about eliminating fighting; it's an incident that will remind players to make sure they land their punches.

I believe violence has its place in hockey, but only in the game, so I was very disappointed when the news broke about Slava Voynov's suspected domestic abuse case. Unfortunately not a lot of information has been available over this ordeal, just that his wife won't be pressing charges and that they both say it was an accident. We can all only hope that's the truth. The NHL made the right call in suspending Voynov indefinitely right away. The attitude towards domestic abuse tolerance has changed drastically in sports since the mishandling of the Ray Rice case by the NFL. With this new sensitivity, the NHL couldn't risk any controversy. 

And to wrap it up... Chris Pronger is working for NHL Player Safety. But hey, who else is better qualified to call out dirty plays than a guy who spent his entire career perfecting them

Stay tuned for actual relevant posts now that I've gotten this out of the way.