By Allan Muir

A guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• In Philly, they’re calling it a huge bolt of energy. But did Zac Rinaldo go too far in his fight with Tampa Bay’s B.J. Crombeen? Looks like it to me.

• Mike Richards earned himself a Gordie Howe hat trick, but it was Brandon Dubinsky’s boarding major that will be the topic of conversation after L.A.’s 4-2 win in Columbus.

• The Washington Capitals gave away Nicklas Backstrom garden gnomes to fans and two points to the visiting Maple Leafs on Tuesday night. The Caps now “boast” a league-worst 2-7-1 mark after their 3-2 loss. There already are calls for Adam Oates’ job, but I have to believe that GM George McPhee makes a personnel move before canning the rookie coach.

• Maybe the Leafs should barnstorm the rest of the season because they’re historically (and hysterically) bad at home.

• I mean, yeah, it has the makings of an epic steal, but was the Phil Kessel trade really the best in Boston sports history?

• SI.com’s own Adrian Dater has the latest on the Ryan O’Reilly contract talks.

• David Clarkson scored twice in a 3-1 win over the Rangers, giving him seven on the season. Maybe that 30-goal campaign wasn’t a fluke after all.

Read More…

John Erskine has always played the game close to the edge, but on Friday night the big, physical defender stepped over the line.

As a result, Erskine will miss the Washington Capitals next three games for his blatant elbow to the head of Philadelphia forward Wayne Simmonds.

In making his ruling Saturday night, NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan noted that there was “no malicious intent” and Erskine was just reacting to being beaten at the offensive blueline, but “this was a reckless elbow to the head that caused a serious injury.”

Simmonds didn’t return after the hit in Washington’s 3-2 victory, and was initially said to be suffering from a mild case of whiplash. He’s not skating tonight in Philly’s game against Carolina and there’s no timetable for his return. (UPDATE: Flyers confirm Simmonds suffered a concussion on the play.)

Shanahan noted that Erskine had no previous suspension history — a factor that always plays into his decisions — but you have to wonder if that weighed a little too heavily into this ruling, especially with Simmonds’ status still up in the air. Three games (and the loss of more than $24,000 in pay) will probably get the point across. But considering how dangerous the play was, there was room for this suspension to keep Erskine off the ice for as many as five games and make a stronger statement to the rest of the league. Quick reaction play or not, this was a pretty vicious hit. The next guy who tries this shouldn’t get off so lightly.

By Allan Muir

No one should have been surprised to learn that Brayden Schenn got a call from the NHL after his leaping hit leveled New Jersey defender Anton Volchenkov on Tuesday night. Dirty? Maybe not. Dangerous? Yeah, for sure.

The consensus opinion of puck pundits held that a fine was likely, but league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan took it a step further this afternoon, suspending the Philadelphia winger for a game. He’ll miss Thursday’s home game against the New York Rangers.

It seems like a reasonable call. As Shanahan notes, Volchenkov wasn’t hurt on the play and Schenn has no history of suspensions. But the league takes a dim view of any player who launches himself off the ice before making contact, so a message needed to be sent.

What remains to be seen is whether this will be a precedent-setting suspension for similar hits this season (heads up, Niklas Kronwall). Consistency would go a long way to making sure the message gets across.

The Great One is rumored to be looming over Toronto’s perennially fallen Leafs.  (Nick Turchiano/Icon SMI/Getty)

By Allan Muir

• Purple Monkey Dishwasher. Does Wayne Gretzky want to be president of the Toronto Maple Leafs? Probably not, but someone speculated about it on the radio, then the internet got ahold of it, so apparently now it’s a thing.

• Don’t jump! Is this the first suspendable hit of the season? Nick Kypreos was the first to report on Twitter that Brayden Schenn would hear from Brendan Shanahan today after he leapt off the ice just prior to making contact with Anton Volchenkov. Hard to determine the first point of contact from this video, but it doesn’t appear to be the head. Still, there’s a desire to eliminate hits that involve leaving the ice, and since there was no penalty called on the play, the guess here is that Schenn will face a fine if nothing else.

Read More…

Should he stay or should he go? Roberto Luongo is valuable to the Canucks either way. (Bob Frid/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

• Maybe they can get that Strombone guy in return. If Vancouver GM Mike Gillis is saying on record that there’s a provisional deal in place for Roberto Luongo, the early season’s biggest drama must be about to close. Or not. Who knows. Key point is buried at the end of the column: Luongo’s been the consummate pro during all this trade speculation, preventing the process from turning into a soap opera. This time around, being the anti-Tim Thomas is a good thing.

• Let’s not discount this free beer idea. The special warmup jerseys and pregame speeches were swell, but the healing process actually began with a competitive effort last night in Columbus. New GM John Davidson promised that his team wouldn’t be outworked, and the Jackets backed him up in theirt 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit.  A consistent, focused effort will go a long way in C-bus…at least for now…

• Must be the cooking. The Leafs have lost 12 of 14 at the ACC after being dropped 2-1 by the Sabres last night. At least it was a freebie for season-ticket holders.

• All things being equal, I’d take the blond. Ian Mendes has the scoop on the best behind-the-bench distraction since Taylor Stevens.

Read More…

Tyler Myers (57, far left) scores one of three power-play goals for the Sabres on Sunday. (Bill Wippert/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

• A couple months from now, we all may be applauding Hockey Night In Canada’s producers for the patience they showed while allowing the new five-man panel to work through some early growing pains. But hey, we might be raving about Lance Armstrong’s appointment as the head of WADA too, right?

If the group–host Ron MacLean, and commentators Elliotte Friedman, Kevin Weekes, Glen Healy and P.J. Stock — were simply an embarrassment of riches, then it might just be a matter of letting them find their rhythm. But outside of consummate professional MacLean and Friedman, who has established himself as the game’s top studio presence, the rest of the crew came off like the unprepared guy at the meeting who feels like he has to say something, anything, to impress the boss. They were bland and noisy as they flailed to claim some space as their own. It all made for lousy TV.

Read More…

Hockey starved Flyers fans get to open the season by welcoming the hated Penguins. (Len Redkoles/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

Yeah, I heard you last September. “Wake me up when the lockout’s over,” you said.

No one’s blaming you for nodding off while the finger-pointing, name calling, line-in-the-sand-drawing lawyers cost us nearly four months of NHL hockey. In fact, I got a little blurry myself listening to all that talk about  cap escalators and salary variance and rose ceremonies, but here I am with that call you’ve been waiting for. Time to rub the sleep out of your eyes, pull the team sweater out of mothballs, settle into that lucky couch groove and pop the top on your favorite frosty beverage. (And while you’re waiting for the first puck ro drop, some suggested reading..)

The abbreviated 2013 NHL season finally begins Saturday afternoon. And it’s gonna be a good one. (Kings raise banner in style.)

Make that really good. The 48-games-in-99-days, intra-conference schedule isn’t just “better than nothing.” This impossibly compressed timeline actually magnifies the importance of every moment, every slump, every streak, every injury. With so much on the line and no margin for error, it even makes an Islanders game worth watching. On a Tuesday. In February.

Read More…

Alex Ovechkin has a new coach to get used to, and the Rangers may pay a price for their reliance on blocking shots. (Will Schneekloth/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

Every NHL season starts with expectations and conjures up predictions about where teams might finish, but this is a season like no other. You can’t even compare it too closely to the lockout-shortened 1995 campaign, one played with a 26-team NHL, a different conference alignment and playoff format, no shootout or “loser’s point,” and far less parity. And even in a normal season, there is so much uncertainty in sports that preseason predictions are a waste of time.

SI.com colleagues Brian Cazeneuve, Sarah Kwak and Adrian Dater have their thoughts on the upcoming season and you can find them here:

Power Rankings | Milestones | Central | Northwest | Pacific | Southeast | Atlantic | Northeast

Our favorite preseason pastime at Red Light is trying to boil down each team’s success or failure to one or a few essential themes. Each club has them and the answers to these questions, theoretically at least, should go a long way to determining if it plays up to expectations and potential. Keep in mind they all take place within the framework of the shortened season imposing its own unique characteristics on the playoff chase, which we pondered in this post.

Below are the essential questions for each team in the East and here’s the link for teams in the West:

Read More…

One year after a tragic plane crash decimated the KHL team, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl returned to the ice. Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov (left, greeting former Capitals teammate Alex Ovechkin after a game) has been tending goal. (Photo by Yury Kuzmin/KHL Photo Agency via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

A big dark storm cloud lingers over any celebration of hockey in 2012. It’s the NHL lockout and it has been showering grief on the game and its fans for over three months. Now, it also makes my job here a bit easier compared to my colleagues who are covering other sports because so little has happened between June and December that the range of choices for my favorite stories of the year has been sliced dramatically. Still, I’d rather be burdened by having to choose from a full plate.

That said, here are my 10 highlights. (You can read other SI.com writers’ picks here and view a gallery of the 112 most amazing sports moments of 2012 here.)

Read More…

The spirited sell-out crowd at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall was treated to a worthy substitute for the recently cancelled NHL All-Star Game, with the proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief funds. (Tom Briglia/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Once upon a time, some hockey executive — it might have been Phil Esposito — plastered a motivational phrase on the wall in his team’s dressing room that read, “Turn Every Negative Into A Positive.” Well, things can’t be much more negative for the NHL than this ongoing, ridiculous lockout and nothing’s been more negative during the last few months than the destruction wrought by Hurricane Sandy. Yet a group of locked-out players turned both things into a positive on Saturday night in Atlantic City.

To once again see Steven Stamkos slithering through defenses, Daniel Alfredsson making tape-to-tape passes through traffic, Martin Brodeur lofting the puck halfway down the ice, P.K. Subban dropping his shoulder and carrying the puck one-handed deep into the opponent’s zone, Simon Gagne breaking free from coverage, linemates Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry reading and reacting to each other’s moves, James Neal threatening to score every time he had the puck, and Kimmo Timonen making a perfect outlet pass felt like a reunion with an old friend.

Read More…