Every week during the Stanley Cup playoffs, Clutch Faceoff writers Duane Sibilly and Travis Nelson have a chat about the NHL action over the last seven days, and whatever else is on their minds. This week, they talk about Conference Quarterfinal surprises, ill advised predictions, and the topic on everyone’s minds: the outbreak of violence and injuries during this year’s playoffs.
Travis Nelson: I tried to Raffi Torres a door today. I think I need new glasses.
Duane Sibilly: Ha! All joking aside, Brendan Shanahan needs to get out in front of this stuff in a decisive manner. I think he’s off to a good start addressing the Penguin’s lack of discipline in their series against the Flyers, but it’s not just one team or even one player. Violent, pre-meditated hits with borderline or even blatant attempts to injure are rampant in these playoffs.
T: Captains need to start being suspended along with their teammates, if they can’t control them. I am not a dyed-in-the-wool Crosby detractor, but that was an unacceptable display that he did nothing to stop.
D: Well, I honestly feel the responsibility lies with coaches. Coaches set the tenor of their teams play, from locker room and practice rink culture to gametime lineups. They’re the ones who send out goons to matchup against superstars and expect us to buy their pokerface.
T: True, but then there’s also a level of blame to put on GMs and ownership for allowing contracts to be handed out to the Aaron Ashams of the world.
D: 5 years ago, Aaron Asham would have been a legitimate grinder contract. I don’t think this is in any way a business concern of hockey clubs. This is an on-ice talent problem. This starts at the coaching staff and ends on the ice. If it goes higher up than that, it’s on a per-team basis. The Pens/Flyers series aside, this is something the NHL needs to stamp out quickly and aggressively. This is the only time of year some folks even realize hockey exists, and for the league to permit such flagrant shenanigans on the world stage is unconscionable.
T: A good portion of the American public already thinks hockey is a farcical analog of roller derby on ice. If they were so big on promotion of the game, you’d think they’d wise up. The stock of goons has risen, though. Imagine being a punching bag who’s a UFA right now. You have to be licking your lips, because the NHL’s silent acceptance of this stuff has made your services worth a lot to more GMs than before.
D: Perhaps. CBA is almost up, and that inevitably means rule changes.
T: And/or work stoppages. It’d be a damn shame for these to be the last playoffs we have in our memories going into a lockout or strike, should one or both come to pass.
D: I’m sure the players who are most interested in keeping their brains safely encased will make a strong argument via the NHLPA that these kind of acts are not going to fly anymore. I know I wouldn’t want to play hockey in the NHL if I knew that there was a high likelihood that I’d end up more like Evander Holyfield than like Wayne Gretsky. The league will bleed viewers, and they’ll bleed talent to international leagues where such violence isn’t as commonplace. You can make good money in the KHL these days.
T: No kidding. How many more Marc Savards need to happen before Gary Bettman and Bill Daly stop trying to deny that the medical science is conclusive and damning about head injuries?
D: It’ll happen when the NFL cops to the same facts… which isn’t going to happen for a while.
T: They’re currently being sued for very large dollars.
D: Very Large Dollars is my Glen Sather tribute band…
D: The circus of shameful violence aside, let’s talk about where we stand in these playoffs. The New York Rangers are up 2-1 over Ottawa. Thoughts?
T: I knew Ottawa wouldn’t go down 0-3, but I didn’t expect such overtime heroics. I thought it’d be more of a mental breakdown by New York leading to an outlier semi-blowout. New York has looked great. Lundqvist is in command of the series.
D: Think it’ll still go 6? We’re both still in play (I predicted NYR in 5, you called NYR in 6)
T: Probably not. Then again, Florida won two games, so even really weird stuff can happen, right?
D: You were saying you had a feeling about an upset in the East this year, but you were targeting NYR or Boston. Do you still think that, despite being the #3 seed, a Florida win would be an upset?
T: Yeah, I would say so.
D: Brodeur, as I indicated last week, has not been the horse the Devils need.
T: He would’ve had to be in form for that elusive Conn Smythe for them to be a serious threat, in retrospect. But I never expected him to be this subprime against Florida.
D: At this rate, he may go back to his Montreal pizzeria this Spring with a flat 100 post-season wins. New Jersey can’t seem to put together #101.
T: They’ll have to find something that works. Game 3 was a nightmare for them
D: Losing a big lead is a nightmare for any team, but it’s uncommon to see against a traditionally defense-first squad like the Devils. The Bruins are leading Washington 2-1. Every game in this series has been decided by one goal, and two of them went to extra frames.
T: It has been ridiculously evenly matched. Holtby deserves a lot of credit for that.
D: The Caps are without Nick Backstrom going into Game 4 after his suspension for cross-checking. Impact?
T: It’ll have some impact, but I think it’ll be more mental and team cohesive than directly on the score sheet. He’s got two points, sure, but he’s not the reason Washington might lose.
D: I’d think it depends on which teams show up to Game 4. If it’s the defensive matchup we saw i the first two games, it might not matter. If it’s a free-wheeling scorefest like Game 3, advantage Bruins.
T: It’ll likely be advantage Bruins either way. Washington can’t even seem to get their line matchups going at home.
D: Here’s the $64,000 question: can the Capitals push this series to 7 games? We both predicted this matchup would go seven, but with different outcomes.
T: I think so. Washington has so much more forward talent, but it isn’t taking the Bruins’ top defensive pairing to shut them down. They’re being put off their game by hard physical play from the lower two lines as well. Holtby will be the biggest factor in that. If he can keep the Bruins to one or two goals in the next two games, Washington has a fairly even chance.
D: Philadelphia learned last season that leaning on a rookie in goal come playoff time might not work out well at all… and speaking of Philadelphia, I’m feeling pretty good as a Flyers fan this week…
T: No kidding. Fun fact I saw on Twitter: Brent Johnson’s 6.00 GAA is actually better than Fleury’s. How is it that Fleury is not getting anywhere near the firestorm that Luongo got?
D: Because he’s won a Stanley Cup, and Luongo has not. In my eyes, Fleury already delivered on the promise he represented when he was drafteD: bring the Penguins back to prominence. Luongo was brought into Vancouver as the Second Coming, and despite coming close can’t seal the deal.
T: That, and everyone seems to hate Vancouver. How about that Claude Giroux?
D: Giroux is a horse. Assuming the league can keep people from driving his head in with an elbow, he’ll be an outstanding player for years to come. He is the modern day Lindross, but without the daddy issues. Oh, and he actually keeps his head up.
T: Players You’ve Never Heard Of Drafted Ahead Of Claude Giroux: Erik Johnson, Derrick Brassard, Jiri Tlusty, and David Fischer. I’m not one of those people to harp on draft busts, but to find Giroux on the 22nd pick means the Flyers have some alright scouting. Brzygalov has been slightly better than Fleury, which is in fact a compliment.
D: True enough. Regarding Fleury, it’s not as though he’s faced a fusillade from Philadelphia: the Flyers have averaged 30 shots on goal per game so far this series, while the Penguins have averaged slightly more at 30.3. Both of these teams are offensively matched, but the Flyers keep finding ways to make more of those shots count against Fleury.
T: It rests on both teams’ shoulders. The Penguins’ D has sucked. But, Philly has some great shooters. You can’t blame it all on any of the factors. But that element of these 3 games has been great fun to watch.
D: These games have averaged over 10 goals total per game. No matter who survives this series, can such leaky defenses endure another three rounds of competition?
T: Probably not. But if Philly wins, I’m sure never counting them out again. And if Pittsburgh comes back from 0-3, can you not take them very seriously?
D: Indeed. Philadelphia is only two years removed from their 0-3 comeback against Boston, so their locker room has a history of grit and iron will… and the Penguins are talented enough to turn this back into a real series. What remains to be seen is if they can.
T: Both teams have incredibly potent forward corps who can pummel an opposing team with a large amount of very high quality shots. Even Lundqvist, Thomas, Rinne, and Quick would have trouble with that.
D: Lundqvist has no trouble with it against the Flyers this year. The Rangers swept their season series. That’s a wrap for the East. Let’s talk West, as we are contractually obligated to do: Kings are on the verge of a sweep of Luongo’s Vancouver Canucks. Where did THIS come from?
T: Let’s not forget that the Kings were very close to being the third seed. The pacific was weird this year.
D: We both banked on this series going 7 games, and it may be done in 4. I felt that Vancouver would mail it in again, but I honestly didn’t think it would be quite this bad.
T: It hasn’t all been on Luongo, even if Schneider did lose game 3. Los Angeles has just been flat-out better. Their role players are playing their roles better, and their big game players seem to notice it’s the playoffs. Maybe this is an artifact of Vancouver’s attempts to get “tough” after the cup final last year. The Hodgson-Kassian trade, among other things.
D: How about that Dustin Brown (4G, 1A, 5P), eh?
T: Yeah, I bet those analysts who wouldn’t quit with the “he’s a bad captain, trade him!” stories during the deadline are having a nice time with this. He’s really taking charge of the series. Note to LA equipment managers: If this works out well for you guys, double check those stick curves, yeah?
D: The Canucks are looking at bringing back Daniel Sedin (is he Thing One, or Thing Two?) Injection of some much needed offense for Vancouver, or a reckless move by a desperate club?
T: Brown’s hit on him was unfortunate, but clean. He has to come back in Art Ross form to give Vancouver even a slight hope of getting back into this series.
D: Can he?
T: Without his brother? Without Hodgson? I don’t think it’s inconceivable that Vancouver could win one game, maybe even two. But I think it’s over. I think a lot of people fell into the low seed trap with LA. Maybe the Canucks did too. I think they’re up a creek now. Speaking of trap, how about St. Louis?
D: I’ll recall that you were one of the folks so entrapped. You called the series for Vancouver in 7.
T: I did. I’m kinda dumb.
D: That’s how we learn! Onto my favorite to win the Cup, the St. Louis Blues! They’re up 2-1 over San Jose, and all that despite both Halak and Elliott bothered with injury trouble.
T: Poor Jaro. That was awful. San Jose is just not the team they used to be.
D: Think they have any chance of evening things up?
T: Yeah. But wouldn’t Setoguchi and Heatley be nice right about now for them?
D: They’d be a lot more useful here than they are on the golf course right now, for sure. So, will San Jose take another game, or is this all she wrote?
T: I’ve lost all faith in them. Niemi would have to steal the game. What a disappointing series for the Sharks. The Hitchcock train will roll on.
D: Here’s something unexpecteD: Nashville is poised to send the Red Wings home! The Preds lead their #4 vs. #5 matchup 3 games to one.
T: The trade deadline moves made by David Poile are looking both good and bad at the moment. Gaustad got his first playoff goal, Hal Gill hasn’t played a game, and Andrei Kostitsyn shows up every seventh or eighth shift, just like he did in Montreal.
D: Rinne has been brilliant in this series, and I feel it erases any “overrated” sentiment folks may have had.
T: Absolutely, but he’s still playing behind two of the best, if not the two best, defensemen in the game right now. Let’s hold off the crown for at least a little bit.
D: In Game 3 he made 40 saves against one of the most storied powerhouses in hockey history, and he only allowed 1 goal, while at the other end of the ice his skaters managed three goals on a mere 17 shots. I don’t care who your defensemen are; you could be playing behind Mark Howe and Paul Coffey in their prime, and 1 goal on 41 shots is still a stamp of excellence on a goalie.
T: He’s been good, no doubt, but Jimmy Howard has made some game-deciding errors, too. It could easily be tied at 2 now if he didn’t do his best-worst Patrick Roy impression at a critical moment.
D: What do you think is Detroit’s weakness right now, and how do they right the ship? Can they?
T: It’s easy to say, and everyone seems to, but I kinda agree: I think they’re just getting a little bit old, and they’re needing a lot more than they can get out of certain players like Kronwall and Datsyuk. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at last year and say older players like Lidstrom and Rafalski were weighing down the lineup.
D: It really has seemed like the Wings have become the Joe Louis Retirement Home for Guys Who Still Want to Play Hockey (and a couple of young kids tossed in for speed and flavor)
T: You’re going to give me a death stare through the internet for this, but I think the officiating has not been even and equitable in the series, which has hurt them, too. I’d like to very clearly note I’m not implying any kind of intentional skewing, just simple incompetence.
D: I think officiating has been somewhat questionable around the league so far this round. There’s been a high number of missed and/or blown calls.
T: Agreed. Shea Weber’s complete lack of punishment, however, should not go un-noted.
D: Indeed. Shanahan’s started to lower the boom (as we speak, word is on the wire that Raffi Torres is prohibited from playing in any NHL action until after the results of his Disciplinary Board hearing this week)… but the Weber incident sticks out like a sore thumb in that it has gone almost completely disregarded. Weber was fined, but a fine is a disproportionate measure when other players are being suspended for less.
T: The $2,500 CBA-maximum fine should not even be called reprimand, particularly for a player like Shea Weber. He makes more than seven million dollars this year; $2,500 amounts to one or two minutes of ice time for him. I don’t know if him getting off essentially scot-free started this mess, but it didn’t help it. Hockey, the NHL, and hockey fans have two serious competing interests to balance when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Historically, they have been more physical and less penalized. However, we know more now about head injuries and cannot tolerate them.
D: I can’t shake the feeling that there is more blatant headhunting going on than in past years. Frustrated players, looking to make their opponents pay a blood price for their victories, are aiming to deliberately injure. That was almost unheard of or, at the least, much harder to spot in the past.
T: I hate to think this, but could that be because of the greater knowledge about the dangers of concussions? Joint reconstruction surgery is more advanced than ever. Knee-on-knee hits are less likely to completely destroy a career than in years past. The realm of the dirty player has evolved from clipping and knee-on-knee contect to head hits.
D: I don’t know. I think that puts more thought into it than players can afford on the ice. I think these incidents are the result of simple, reflexive ethical lapses. Something snaps and the safeties go off, and suddenly drilling that guy who embarrassed your D-men into the boards seems like an OK idea.
T: The NHL’s limp response to it hasn’t helped defuse those impulses, either.
D: We can dedicate an entire discussion to the problems of intentional injury, poor officiating, and the league’s responses… but we still have a matchup to discuss. Shall we table this for an in-depth discussion after the playoffs?
T: Indeed.
D: So. Phoenix leads Chicago 2-1… but what should have been a heartwarming series lead for the down-on-their luck Coyotes has been overshadowed by this business with Raffi Torres.
T: Don’t forget Shaw, too.
D: I still think Phoenix wins this series, and I still think it’ll go 6 games. After Game 3, Chicago is going to be on home ice, and they’re going to be angry.
T: The Coyotes will do just fine without Torres. Chicago is hurt without Hossa much worse. I will stand firm on my seven games prediction, but I am less confident on the outcome.
D: If Kane and Toews cannot produce at least one more win without Hossa in the lineup, then they frankly didn’t deserve their playoff berth in the first place.
T: It’s not just the big line that needs to set up, though. The team as a whole needs to be a lot more in sync. For a guy who got a lot of bad press in the regular season, though, Corey Crawford has been pretty great.
D: Crawford has been awesome for the Blackhawks, but then so has Smith. They’re both sitting on GAAs in the low 2s, and have over a .910 save percentage.
T: Nobody expected this to be a goaltending duel.
D: Addressing what you said before, I feel Chicago’s “sync” issues, as you put them, have been their problem all season.
T: How about the overtime? I’ve stayed up for all three games, and they’ve been amazing. The last-second (literally!) moves by Chicago have made the series very exciting.
D: Heh. Sadly, I’ve only been able to catch highlights. I’m sure the fans are loving the extra frames.
T: Assuming they have strong cardiovascular systems.
T: So, you’re still comfortable with your cup favorite?
D: Yes. I still feel that St. Louis will take all, although if they face Nashville it will be a difficult road. Feel like amending your predictions? Right now your calls on the Wings and Devils are impossible, and several of both our calls are entering the realm of what we’ll call “remote likelihood”
T: Well, of course, but that’s not how it works. . I shall live with my hilariously wrong first round predictions, but as for who gets out of iT: Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville, and New York, Boston, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. St. Louis vs. L.A. will be a blockbuster series if it happens.
D: You still think Chicago can pull it out? You just implied that after losing Hossa atop their teamwork issues, they’re likely not to bounce back.
T: For now. C’mon, three games in overtime, tying games late, Crawford turning it on? Unless they lose the next game, I’m still high on them. I think it’ll be harder, sure, but these games have been so tight.
D: My calls are:
West: STL, LA, PHX, NSH
East: NYR, BOS, FLA, PHI
D: There’s no way New Jersey is coming back to finish off the Panthers.
T: I’ll hold you to that.
D: Not going to happen. I’ll drink a wine cooler if it does. Or even better: a “premium malt beverage”
T: But if they meet Boston in the second round, the cute little plastic rat throwing optimism in South Florida is going to turn into bitter sadness, hatred, and fury. And in record time.
D: You said that about New Jersey, and they’re on the ropes against these “rat throwing optimists.”
T: As fans, we have both lived through playoff series against Boston recently. You know what’s going to happen as well as I do.
D: We’ll see what’s left of Boston when Washington is done with them. I am not looking forward to another NYR vs. PHI series. That’s going to be almost as bloody as the Pittsburgh series… only with the reverse outcome. 
T: I just hope Brendan Shanahan has his ever-intimidating $2,500 fine pen warmed up for it. You’d better hope that Ottawa can pull it to six or even seven. You’re going to need a battered and tired New York to get very far.
D: Ottawa barely made it into the playoffs… they lost 6 of their last 10 to end the regular season and drifted into the 8-seed on the strength of earlier work. Expecting them to challenge the Rangers competently is just too much.
T: It is, but we’re allowed to hope. 
D: Alright, I know you need to get going, so we’ll talk again next week.
T: Until the second round!
