Ilya Zhitomirskiy

Personally, fighting is not the reason why I watch hockey. I watch hockey for the goals and passing, and skill players. Outlawing fighting might be a good change, but it would radically alter the culture of the game, especially the unwritten rules. For instance, a cheap shot or unwarranted contact with the goalie will lead to a fight from the opposition's enforcer, but there would probably be a different means of retaliation if fighting was banned. Currently, fighting is punished by a major penalty, but this will not be enough to keep enforcers out. I would rather have fewer people play hockey, even if this means excluding players like Tiger Williams and Bob Probert who could score as well as fight. The European players tend to fight less, but no one calls them chicken or sissy the way they were called in the 1970s. The Europeans in the NHL play a less physical, more finesse-oriented style, but can hit if needed, so the NHL might absorb more European players than there are currently. And if the NHL changes, then the OHL and other junior leagues will change the way they enforce fighting. This will be a radical change, but there will have to be some alternative system to deal with cheap shots. Now, the players punish cheap-shooters, but maybe add cheap-shotting as a category of diving as a penalty?

Tuuka Rask was not originally the franchise goalie: Tim Thomas was. Now that he quasi-retired, Tuuka had to take over as a starter, and he performed admirably. He is top-10 caliber, because of the saves that he makes and the way he can keep his team in a game even when they are offensively off. He is a hybrid goalie, unlike Lundqvist who is a pure butterfly goalie, and his flexibility in styles is effective. I would not place him within the top 5 yet, but he does have talent and the intangibles, so he is at least 6 or 7. I would look at him as my franchise goalie, with Bryzgalov as my number 2, because Bryzgalov has experience but Tuuka has the rings.

It is straightforward for a team such as the San Francisco Bulls, which is only affiliated with the San Jose Sharks, and can call up its players to the Worcester Sharks if the W-Sharks need a defenseman for instance. But how would call-ups work for a team such as the Wheeling Nailers or the Toledo Walleye that are affiliated with two teams? Would the team that drafted the player get to call him up into there own system, or is there something else? Or would the controlling teams flip a coin to see who gets to call up the Nailers goalie?