Current Hockey Topics

2 years ago  /  Kuklas Korner

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,


- Symbolism cannot replace the amount of grass-roots work necessary to educate and combat the scourge of ignorance, bigotry and bullying that exists within hockey’s subculture. That is understood.

But though retiring No. 22 league-wide in recognition of Hall of Famer Willie O’Ree, who broke the NHL’s color barrier as its first black player when he joined the Bruins in 1958, would be a symbolic gesture, it would be an important one....

-...  Kenny Holland, the general manager of the Oilers, who as GM of the Red Wings refused to oversee a necessary rebuilding while instead worshipping at the altar of a consecutive-years playoff streak, has not had one of his teams win a playoff round since 2013.

And there have surely been worse people who have committed far worse acts than Kane who have found employment in pro sports and in fact, are cheered without reservation every time they take the mound or come to the plate or record a sack or hit from three-point land.

But when Kane said at his Oilers introductory press conference that he wanted to, “clear up a lot of the misinformation, a lot of storylines painting me in a negative light that are completely untrue, inaccurate and false,” the 30-year-old steadfastly was hardly forthcoming in addressing such alleged misinformation.

- If it’s Claude Giroux’s decision to ask out of Philadelphia as an impending free agent in search of the Stanley Cup, uniting him with close bud Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado would seem to work, no?

- While No. 30 was being honored at the Garden on Friday, the Stars retired No. 56 in honor of Sergei Zubov that same night, and how is it possible that Zubov and Pavel Bure are the only two Russians to have ever been so commemorated?

Which is to say, it is well past time for the Ilitch Family and Jim Devallano to let go of their grudge against Sergei Fedorov for signing the Carolina offer sheet in 1998 and then bolting to Anaheim as a free agent in 2003 and get his No. 91 up to the top of the building in Detroit.

The absence of recognition for Fedorov makes everyone in Detroit management look mighty, mighty small.


more on topics #1 and #2 plus additional notes......

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