NHL Blows... the call on Ottawa vs Buffalo

I'm still following the fallout from Thursday's brawl between Buffalo and Ottawa and a couple of things have jumped out at me.

First off, Lindy Ruff was fined by the NHL for the incident. The only plausible reason here is that Ruff is being fined for putting the line of Kaleta, Mair and Peters on the ice.

Ok, fair enough, fine away. The intent of that line change is quite clear.

So, let's skip forward to Saturday night. Ottawa pulls Brian McGratton (thanks James for pointing out my error on my post about Sat's game. ) out of the press box for the first time in 10 games.

My question is, why isn't the NHL fining Bryan Murray for putting McGratton into the lineup? How is that any different from Ruff putting his goons out on the ice after the Drury injury. In fact it is worse, Ruff could have at least plead heat of the moment, Murray slotted McGratton into the lineup with cold blooded premeditation.

I was browsing around the net and caught site of a post on the Checking Line that I found amusing. In short, Chris DeGroat is suggesting that Martin Biron should have checked out this video of Emery pounding the snot out of Josh Gratton in an AHL game a few years back.

Why is that amusing? If you watch the video the first guy to congratulate Emery after the fight is none other than Anton Volchenkov. The Ottawa Defenseman was on the ice at the time of the Sens/Sabres tilt and my original post about this fight mistakenly identified him as the guy who went for Emery after he pummeled Biron.

So, not only did I mistakenly identify the player, from the wrong team no less... but he is probably the one guy on the ice who knew better than to throw down with Emery from personal experience.

That would be why Blind Sight is 20/20.

Ray Emery kicks the boogers out of Marty Biron

Yep, you read that right.

Ray Emery beat the living crap out of Martin Biron and then threw down with Anton Volchenkov (I think it was him).

Seriousely. If your league counts PIM as a positive factor then Emery just got you 22 minutes in one go. Too bad he was booted out of the game and lost you a start for 0 points.

As soon as I find some video of this fight I'll put it up against the Potvin vs Hextall fight and see if it compares.

Bears, Buffaloes and other furry beasts

Good afternoon, finally came out of my stupor to look around and read some stuff today.

First off... Jagr, got no points last night... Tim Thomas threw another hanging curve in net and the Rangers smacked it out of the park.

Hannu Toivonen didn't do much better after replacing Thomas and let in 3 goals on 14 shots. Despite the poor showing by Hannu last night his play has picked up of late and you can expect him to get more starts in the future, including tonight against Buffalo.

If you own Thomas and you have room, you might want to pick up Toivonen as backup insurance. Or do what I did, drop his ass and pick up someone better. Budaj was on the waiver wire and my league and I decided that I liked his chances better than Thomas'.

The Buffalo Sabres seem to be generating some goaltender controversy as well lately. Ryan Miller has not been playing very well of late and Lindy Ruff has declared that Martin Biron will get the next two starts to give Miller some quality practice time.

Keep an eye on this situation and if you have Biron make sure you get him in the lineup tonight against the Bruins.

Goaile troubles

Quick note for Monday morning.

Frederik Norrena was injured in the second period of the Blue Jackets win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. The Blue Jackets are already playing without injured starter Pacal Leclaire who has been out since December 26th. Third stinger Ty Conklin finished the game with 15 saves. Conklin may be a decent short term pickup if you are in need of goalie wins. Columbus is on a 3 game win streak and have won 4 of their last 5. If Conklin stumbles be ready to drop him quick. Norrena is listed as day to day with the dreaded lower body injury and could be back as soon as Tuesday at Vancouver.

Ryan Miller has been off lately. The Sabres have lost 8 of 13 this month and Miller has been in net for 6 out of 10 losses. In those 10 games Miller has a 3.2 GA average and has let in 5 or more goals in two games. The Sabres will probably continue to go to Miller as Biron has not been much better this month. Biron has two losses in 3 starts and a 3.67 GA average in January. If you have better options you may want to sit Miller until he regains his form.

This is bad news for owners of Biron. With Millers shaky play the likelihood of the Sabres trading Biron at the deadline is pretty low.

On a better note, the Nashville Predators continue to be hot winning 10 of 12 in January. Both Vokoun and Mason are playing well right now. This is a mixed bag if you picked up Mason while Vokoun was on the IR. I wouldn't suggest dropping Mason anytime soon. The play of Mason makes one wonder if the Preds will be moving him at the deadline for some depth up front? That is certainly a nice little rumour to drop in your league if you are trying to trade Mason for depth on your roster.