C’mon Elliotte. It’s not about the hit being “clean” or “dirty” anymore. It’s about protecting guys from suffering severe head injuries (or even not-so-severe head injuries… if you believe such a thing exists) that can lead to even worse problems later in life, like the depression that has struck some former NFL players and resulted in their suicide.

It’s time for the NHL and PA to get serious about this. To me, a hit to the head, regardless of the “clean” or “dirty” under the old definitions of those terms needs to be made irrelevant. I think “clean” or “dirty” is important in the context of suspensions or fines, but I think that headshots should be punished in the game, much the way high-sticking is punished, regardless of intent.

Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 11/02/09 at 07:58 PM ET

I don’t understand how anyone not named Marc-Andre Fleury could be Canada’s starting goaltender.

Really?  Okay, let me break it down for you.  Real simple.

Fluery’s best year ever, he had a 0.921 save percentage.  That was just over 35 games, so there’s a lot of luck in that sample.

In his start so far this year, over 11 games, Fluery’s save percentage is 0.918.  That’s an excellent number for Fluery (way above his career average of 0.907), and would be an excellent number for almost any goalie in the league.

But that’d be so-so for Roberto Luongo.  His career save percentage, over 556 games, is 0.919.  Since turning 21, Luongo’s worst season ever was a 0.914--better than all but one of Fluery’s seasons.  His last three seasons were 0.920, 0.917, and 0.921.

But maybe you’re one of those people who believes in playoff goalies--make the saves when the pressures on, or they don’t mean anything.  And Fleury’s 0.916 career playoff save percentage is pretty good.  But Luongo’s is 0.930.

And then there’s that Brodeur guy.

Fleury being the starting goalie for Team Canada would be an absolute joke, even if the current season stats don’t change at all until the Olympics.

Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 11/02/09 at 08:03 PM ET

How many Cups has Luongo won? Hell, how many playoff rounds has Luongo won? Fleury’s a winner. Luongo’s a playoff choker.

Posted by cs6687 on 11/02/09 at 08:55 PM ET

Fleury has gone 7-1 in his last 8 playoff rounds…

no matter what Broudeur does or did, what i’ll remember first is that he’s more a product of the teams/systems he played on/for and how he choked against Carolina last year.  He’s less responsible for the Devils success, than the group he played behind.  Still great, no doubt.

Luongo is the unknown factor, its fair to say it’ll be these three goalies, but he’s not done much in the playoffs at all.

Posted by Greg on 11/02/09 at 09:03 PM ET

If you can say brodeur is a product of the team, how can u not say that against a stacked pittsburgh team with Malkin, and Crosby, let alone, gonchar, letang, staal, etc etc.If anything, Pittsburgh is waaaaaaaaaaay more stacked then newjersey ever was.
Fleury IMO is a tad bit better then Osgood.  NOthing to brag about.  Put him on the NY islanders and see how well he fairs.  Hes not even on dipietro(when healthy)’s level

Posted by Luongo-is-my-hero on 11/02/09 at 10:05 PM ET

Luongo is my hero, the difference is obvious. Jersey plays their defense first style while Pittsburgh often times plays their offense first leaving MAF out to dry on two on ones and breakaways.

Posted by Kstewy16 on 11/02/09 at 10:48 PM ET

Jersey plays their defense first style while Pittsburgh often times plays their offense first leaving MAF out to dry on two on ones and breakaways.

Then it sounds like maybe the selection committee should take into account how the team is likely to be constructed in choosing a goaltender.  Some goaltenders play better with a ton of shots, some play better with very few.  Some goaltenders would be great in a playoff series because they bounce back so well after bad games, while some might collapse after a bad game but rarely have a poor performance, and that might be better in a tournament constructed like the Olympics.

And I wonder how much the “hockey is just a physical game and things happen” attitude would change if everyone knew at the moment of a thunderous concussion-causing hit that the player was gone for a calendar year.  David Booth, gone until next fall.  Jonathan Toews, gone until next Halloween.  If at the moment of the hit, seeing a player insensible on the ice, everyone watching knew for a fact that he could put his skates and his uniform away for the next twelve months, would they think differently about how much fun those hard hits are to watch?

I have to think that some people would.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 11/03/09 at 07:35 AM ET

And I wonder how much the “hockey is just a physical game and things happen” attitude would change if everyone knew at the moment of a thunderous concussion-causing hit that the player was gone for a calendar year.  David Booth, gone until next fall.  Jonathan Toews, gone until next Halloween.  If at the moment of the hit, seeing a player insensible on the ice, everyone watching knew for a fact that he could put his skates and his uniform away for the next twelve months, would they think differently about how much fun those hard hits are to watch?

I have to think that some people would.

Totally disagree.

I’m going to say it—it might damn well take someone dying for these dinosaurs to wake up.

Hopefully the push from some of the respected pundits like McKenzie will wake up the players and league before we get to that point. It’s good that now we’ve had a GM (Ken Holland) and a coach (Ron Wilson) come out and say something about this (even if I don’t necessarily think their solutions are the right ones). It at least gets the discussion going, especially when Ken Holland says it. People listen to him.

Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 11/03/09 at 09:38 AM ET

But that’d be so-so for Roberto Luongo.  His career save percentage, over 556 games, is 0.919.  Since turning 21, Luongo’s worst season ever was a 0.914--better than all but one of Fluery’s seasons.  His last three seasons were 0.920, 0.917, and 0.921.

And this year?  .902

Thanks for coming out.

Not to mention that he is the complete antithesis of a big game goalie.

Ask the 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Vancouver Canucks how clutch he is in the playoffs....

Posted by Garth on 11/03/09 at 11:03 AM ET