Five people the NHL could do without

As the end of the NHL season arrives, hockey analysts are examining the future for non-playoff teams and making picks for the Stanley Cup playoffs. With the end of the season upon us however, I'm thinking of something else. I'm thinking about 5 people the NHL could do without. In no particular order, here they are:

1. Chris Chelios: The fact that Chelios made it back to the NHL at age 48 is less of a testiment to his ability, than it is to the sad state of the Atlanta Thrashers blueline. Chelios has no business playing in the National Hockey League let alone the American League. If you had the opportunity to watch any Thrashers game that featured Chelios, you'd know that he caused more damage, and directly caused more goals against, than he did good for the team.

2. Pierre McGuire: For the love of all that is good in the world, Pierre McGuire needs to go. Listening to his moronic analysis (if you can even call it analysis) of plays makes me want to throw myself out a window. Seriously, look at the Facebook groups, read about the drinking games, search his name on Twitter; Pierre McGuire is undoubtedly the most hated and least respected announcer in the history of hockey.

3. Brian Burke: Now I know this will never happen, not with all the brain washed idiots in Toronto that actually think the Phil Kessel trade was a smart idea. Tyler Seguin or Taylor Hall, a 2nd round pick, and another 1st round pick for Kessel? Ridiculous. And how about that "Monster" Jonas Gusttavsson? Monster is right. Gustavsson finished 36th out of 44 goalies in both Save Percentage and Goals Against Average. In the most talked about hockey city on the planet, Burke is the most overrated GM on the planet.

4. Gary Bettman: If you've ever read my blog, you should have seen this one coming. I firmly believe Bettman has done more damage to the National Hockey League over the last decade than anyone. Bettman's crowning jewel of the last year has been the Phoenix Coyotes. Until Bettman can figure out that protecting his image is less important than protecting the players and teams of the NHL, this league will struggle. It's time for Bettman's dictatorship to end and for a breath of fresh air to rejuvenate the NHL.

5. Matt Cooke: It was the year of the head shot, and no one has dominated the press for dirty hits over the past few seasons more than Matt Cooke. Is he a decent hockey player? Definitely. Could the NHL do without him? Definitely. Big, open ice hits, even one's involving the head, are a key component of the NHL. Blindside hits or knee on knee hits aren't, and these dangerous plays are a specialty of Cooke.

I know my list is a little lopsided and I know none of them will likely be leaving the NHL anytime soon, but these are five men the NHL could do without.

Basking in our disconnected social power

After reading the recent hate spread across the web about NHL player Matt Cooke, it caused me to take a step back while looking at social media.

People, we'll loosely call "fans" seem to use sites such as Twitter and Facebook as a form of catharsis, and places to spread hate. I thought these sites were designed to be social?

Instead, people forget that what they write is being read by hundreds, thousands, even millions of people. On my evening Twitter visit, I came across several Matt Cooke related posts while his name was trending.

After concussing Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins with a dirty hit, Cooke and the Pittsburgh Penguins faced the Bruins only a week later. Cooke was forced to fight in the game, but fans wanted it to go a step further and voiced their ideas.

These posts said things like, "I want to see Matt Cooke get paralyzed by the end of the night," and "Matt Cooke can suck it, I hope that felt nice fa&&ot," and "F#$@ U Matt Cooke." I've used symbols to attempt to clean up the comments.

Even more of you are calling Cooke "gutless." You know who is gutless? Anyone making that comment, sitting behind their computer screen, making idle threats to impress their Twitter followers. Guess what? It's not impressing anyone. And if you did end up facing Matt Cooke in a fight, I'd bet my last dollar that he would beat the tar out of you...cleanly.

Here's a thought people, of the three quotes I showed, I checked out the peoples profiles, all of these individuals used a real name and location, and if you followed the links that they posted, it gave even more personal information.

Why would people connect themselves to such ridiculous, hateful, and inappropriate comments? Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint, and I've seen and heard it all. You're reading an article from someone who played 7 years of Junior hockey in Canada with and against several current NHLers.

Get over yourselves people. Respectfully give your opinions, blog about it, comment on a story, and then get over it. All of this Matt Cooke hate mail, and the Matt Cooke death threats, and racial, or sexist comments, it just makes you look like an idiot.

Cooke will wake up tomorrow in a comfortable hotel room, he'll have a big breakfast, read the paper, go for a morning skate, and play again. He'll go home happy because he's doing what he loves and he makes more money doing it than most of us will see in a lifetime.

Nothing we as fans, or as virtual bullies on Facebook or Twitter will ever change the way Cooke plays and our messages will never reach anyone that can change the NHL. All they do is make you look silly and put your future in jeopardy.

In all likelihood, no one important will ever read your Twitter posts or blog. The day they do, it will be a potential boss explaining to you that you are not a fitting candidate because your social actions they read on Twitter, do not represent the ideals of their business.

Feel free to Follow Instant Replay on Twitter, or don't. Just know one thing, you won't read me wishing terrible things on any athlete.

Alex Ovechkin threw a CLEAN hit

It seems like people want to find something wrong with the NHL these days. It's almost like hockey became too popular during the Olympic Games to be healthy. Now all anyone can talk about is dirty hits.

Here's a news flash people, the Alexandre Ovechkin hit on Brian Campbell was clean. At worst, it was wreckless, not malicious. Just as his hit in the Olympic Games that concussed Jaromir Jagr was clean. That hit was highlighted across the world as a positive.

The difference between what Ovechkin did and the hit by Matt Cooke on Boston Bruins Marc Savard is huge. Ovechkin throws hits to the body. Yes, they might injure the opposing player's head, as was the case with Jagr, but the hit is to the body.

Watching Matt Cooke's brutal hit over and over this week, he hit only Savard's head. Not only that, but he extended his arm to assure he made contact with Savard.

The NHL GMs have been doggedly working on a new rule to curb hits to the head over the last week. I think what needs to be done is obvious. If a player is injured from a hit that connects to the body AND head, it is clean. If the player mainly makes contact with the head without making significant connection to the body, then it is a suspendable hit.

Think about it, if you make significant contact with your "targets" body, it likely will not be a blindside hit. It is easy however, to reach out, or blindside an opponent and only make contact with the head. Yes, that would put Cooke in this category, along with the Mike Richards hit on David Booth earlier this season, but it would save hard, agressive plays like Alex Ovechkins.

Taking the edge out of hockey would be catastrophic, but allowing blatent hits to the head to continue would also have damaging affects on the game of hockey.

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NASCAR needs to better police drivers

We've seen it all before. A player throws a cheap shot on the ice, which is followed by the team enforcer fighting the guilty party. In baseball, it's the brush back pitch. Hot and high inside will teach you a lesson.

Often, players and athletes are able to police themselves. And then it goes too far.

Recently at a NASCAR race in Atlanta, Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski in response to previous nudges and bumps. Is this taking it too far? Edwards was closer to killing Keselowski then to teaching him a lesson.

For all of the heat the NHL takes for fighting, the league also has one of the best systems in place to deal with severe situations. NASCAR has no such policy and has promoted drivers policing each other on the track. In a sport where one mistake could take a life, NASCARs "policing" policy is a little ridiculous.

What about Major League Baseball? Well the brush back pitch and over dramatic bench clearing dust ups are all fine and dandy, but when it comes time for a suspension, even the MLB falls short. Players can challenge a ruling and be back in the line up the next night. If you're a pitcher, you might not even miss a start. Something doesn't seem right there.

The NHL has an interesting mix of self policing and league monitoring. In my opinion, it works. Sure you'll always have goons who go too far, but that is the case in any sport. There will always be dirty hits like Matt Cooke's headshot on Marc Savard regardless of the penalty attached to the action.

Look at Carl Edwards, he intentionally took a life in his own hands and luckily everyone walked away. He could have killed Keselowski and he could have killed fans in the stands. If NASCAR had dealt with Keselowski's antics earlier, this outrageous incident would never have happened.

League's like the NHL and the NBA have been properly dealing with player behaviour for years. It's time other sports including the MLB and NASCAR follow suit. If they don't, the results will damage their leagues, damage their image, and hurt or kill thier athletes.

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