Pointless...

Believe it or not, there will be NO Rider news/discussion in this post. Rather I just wanted to take a few minutes to share my thoughts on the NHL's decision making over the last couple of days.

First off, yesterday I spoke of how, even though it was against the team I cheer for, the Edmonton Oilers, I didn't feel Zack Kassian deserved a suspension for the incident involving Sam Gagner and his broken jaw. That being said, he got the remainder of the regular season and the first five games of the regular season. Tell me how Brendan Shanahan deems this intentional and worhty of much more than a game or two? If Sam Gagner doesn't break his jaw on the play, is there any supplemental discipline? Does this mean that if Milan Lucic hits a guy into the boards and tears the guy's knee up that he needs to sit? Call it what you will, but it is essentially the same principle. I get that you should be in control of your stick but the broken jaw was a freak incident to go with the freak play. If Gagner skates away unharmed, am I wrong to think that Kassian gets a double minor and we move on?

What compounds this and makes it more aggravating for me is that Dale Wiese, who deliberately sticks out his elbow and pastes Taylor Hall on the chin gets only the remainder of the pre - season. Dale Wiese has presumably made this team so this is essentially a holiday for him. Truly the fact that Taylor Hall was fine probably played into this, and should it have? Absolutely not. Give Dale Wiese the five game regular season ban if anyone.

And then there was the showdown at the ACC on Sunday between the Leafs and Sabres. Granted John Scott acted like a moron, and granted Phil Kessel was probably scared spitless but the way he swung his stick at Scott TWICE followed by a spear was complete abuse of the stick in your hand. While he was protecting himself from a bit of a pummelling, how does he NOT get a single game for those actions? I mean really NHL, when are you going to wake up and move in the right direction when it comes to these rulings? I don't care who you are or the scenario that is playing out, you can NOT use your stick as a weapon the way Kessel did and walk away scott free.

All this adds up to for me is presumably several more blog posts over the next eight months bemoaning the NHL discipline and trying to make sense of it, something I, along with several other NHL fans will probably never accomplish.

On that note, how can you not be cheering for the Pittsburgh Pirates. If you are Canadian and like the sport of baseball, they have two great Canadian kids on the team in Catcher Russell Martin and 1B Justin Morneau. Add that to the fact this is their first winning season and post - season berth since 1992 and you have to be a fan. Can you imagine an Oakland / Pittsburgh World Series?

Off to bike ride with the kids...

HM