1) They call a charge when the guy leaves his feet. If he doesn’t it’s boarding. Whatever… 2) Snatch can come play for the Oilers. Hell, his mother can come play for the Oilers. 3) Kovalchuk has immense pure talent but he’s got no try. I wouldn’t waste 25 cents on him, let alone 25% of my cap space. 4) Justin, take note that when your daddy kissed you goodnight as a wee lad, he did so with lips that kissed Stanley (not that there’s anything wrong with that). The NFL should hang its head in shame. They make a new Lombardi every year. Tsk Tsk. 5) Amen. 6) I hear what you’re saying but your (employer) will know what’s what. That’s all that matters. Until contract time. Then same empolyer will point at your lack of points… 7) If you recall, the league started to suspend players a couple/three years ago for the actions you speak of. Now they’ve stopped. That’s sooo NHL. Bertuzzi’s still playing? How come? Bob Gainey is less animated than a sheet of drywall. Go play the piano Bob. Go. 9) Sure, you can read about John Daly’s escapades but the real dirt ain’t gonna surface. The PGA is a brotherhood and likes it that way. I mean, who knew Tigger couldn’t drive accurately OFF the course either?

Cool blog Justin (See. I called you JUSTIN)!

Re: Bertuzzi and embellishing, it definitely sucks and Todd is an easy guy to hate (though I don’t), but don’t kill the messenger (I’ve seen Ovechkin go down in a heap because he’s trying to draw a phantom call). I think players fake calls flat-out because a call for faking is rare, and sometimes refs see a guy fall out of the corner of their eye and call the closest opponent for tripping because he figures he owes the team a PP. If you see a player throw his head back but don’t see a high-stick, don’t blow your friggin whistle. It’s not uncommon for players to get smacked and skate to the bench with a mouthful of blood while the coach/team screams at the ref for the missed call, so if it’s “I didn’t see it so I can’t call it” in that case, why are the same officials taking the stance of “well if his head flew back he must have gotten hit” in other situations?

Re: Kovy on D, from the few clips I’ve seen, it looks like Kovy figures he’s got one job out there and it ain’t back-checking! Maybe Jacques can change that.

There are fines in place for diving/embellishment. Whether they get enforced or not is another story entirely.

Love the thinking, “Lets stick with our fourth rounder from 4 years ago. Sure the other guy’s got a million points, but our pick is learning how to skate backwards!” Very frustrating to watch. It does make you appreciate a story like Matt Moulson.

Love the idea of punishing idiots like Bertuzzi. Glad to see Todd is enjoying his second chance and being an upstanding citizen.

Look at Jason Krog’s stats, another guy that absolutely shreds the AHL. Does Umile prepare guys to be professional AHL’ers? There are plenty of teams(Hurricanes, Oilers, Thrashers, Coyotes…just kidding) who are already making tee times for mid april. Why not give one of these guys a shot on a second line (Not the fourth so their time in the show will be an actual representation of their skill) and see what they can do.

Re: Your quote for the Anthony Kim pic

I just got that song out of my head, thanks for putting it back where it belongs, much appreciated. (sarcasm)

They used to send videos around the league of any players that dove in recent games, the thought was that it would embarrass the players and I’m pretty sure there were fines if you were caught a couple times. They could easily do the same for cases like those where the player is trying to draw a penalty. That stuff is too football-ish (rest of the world football not American) and I’d love to get it out of the game.