Crosby obviously has a great deal of ability - this is not in contention . The aspect of Crosby which is the cause for debate is character . In this regard, what have impressed me most about Crosby are: 1) his displayed lack of character in fights, 2) his tendency to take senseless cheap shots at opponents who play close defense on him, and 3) his captaincy of a team that plays as dirty as any in the league . These issues can all be illustrated with examples from the 2009 season - not the distant past .

Pro athletes are frequently advised to set up a personal charity - both as part of a tax strategy and for public relations benefit . Of course, only time will tell if he matures into a hockey player of some real character . If, when he is inducted into the HOF, people who've watched him all thru his career say, "What a jacka__ he was - all thru his career," then it is what it is . Some of you will, no doubt, still be on here - telling stories of how he cured your warts or psoriasis by means of meditating over his SI retirement special edition . If he grows some character then folks will wax on about him as the recently did about Steve Yzerman .

Penguins in general:
The Penguins seem to be aspiring to be a dirty team, at least in these last couple seasons . The two bright stars on the team, when played close and physical, tend to lash out with cheap penalties; but you generally don't see either of them in a straight up fight . Malkin seems mostly to punch people who are being held by the refs and Crosby has that ridiculous incident during a brawl earlier this season (December 18, 2008), wherein he repeatedly punched Boris Valabek of Atlanta in the groin, from behind, while Valabek was engaged with Orpik (you can google: "Crosby punch groin" to find the video) . And there has been a cast of others like Cooke the knee-er and Colby Armstrong the head hunter .

You people who think it's okay for your favorite team to do something dirty because someone else did it too need to grow up . I don't accept that excuse from my 2-year-old . I feel like the bottom line should be: if you hit another player in a way that is outside the rule book on how to deliver a legal check, then you are penalized . You want to grow the hockey audience ? People will never take hockey any more seriously than professional wrestling until rules enforcement and consistent, accurate officiating are worked out . A new viewer can't even figure out what the rules are in the NHL, so how can you build fan base from that .

A few thoughts ...

In a professional "sport" that has rules, why should it matter what bad call or ruling was made in past cases ? What should matter is enforcing the rules . This should be done in a consistent manner . "They made a previous ruling in contradiction to the rules in a past case; therefore, they should rule incorrectly in this current case as well" is a 5-year-old's rationale .

I haven't seen the Ovi/Gonchar hit/injury, so I have no opinion about it . I have seen the alleged Eaton slew footing of Ruutu and Cooke's leg strike to Cole's knee . I watched the game on a crystal clear 50 inch HD plasma thru an HD dvr . In both cases I rewound and replayed and slo-mo-ed enough times that my wife left the room .

Eaton:
In the video one can plainly see Eaton skating directly at Ruutu's back and, when within say, 5 feet, he widens his stance way out and, in a fluid motion, with one foot in between Ruutu's and the other foot outside, sort of sits down and lets his momentum carry him thru Ruutu's legs . Ruutu did not get up and skate away . He started to get up like normal, then pulled up, and hobbled straight to the bench, and did not really play in the series again after that . Eaton wasn't skating fast, so it wasn't like a hit . It was more like a sweep . But Eaton never seemed like he was trying to stop either . This was one of the strangest things I've seen in a hockey game - it seems a deliberate set of movements, but not very violent . We apparently won't be able to know what was in Eaton's mind during those moments . He has lost most of at least one season to a torn ACL caused by a slew foot delivered by a Boston player, so he knows what slew footing is and the damage it can cause . Does that mean he wouldn't intentionally use the technique on another player ? I don't know .

From subtlety, to the absurd ... in video, Cooke's knee on knee seemed obvious as hell . Cole didn't have the puck, but was cutting thru traffic in the middle to get to the weak side . You can plainly see Cooke lined up to skate past Cole (who doesn't have the puck but is skating thru a narrow space between players), when at the last second Cooke suddenly extends his left leg out behind him in the air like a figure skater - his leg contacting Coles knee, Cole crashing to the ice like a sack of potatoes . Even if Cooke had hit Cole as he claims he was trying to do, it would be interference anyway (no puck) . Cooke's comments in his own defense don't bear much resemblance to reality . He says he tried to hit Cole, but Cole turned at the last moment, and that he, Cooke, almost fell down too . Once again - there was no puck involved; Cole turned away from Cooke which should have made contact less likely; and lastly, Cooke didn't almost fall down - he did fall down . So not only is Cooke not very good at making an attempt to injure another player look like an accident, he's not even good at lying about it afterwards . Cooke did something very like this, only more obvious, to Zack Bogosian (video on you-tube), and he's done other acts of thuggery .

Good, hockey doesn't belong in Carolina...

Two of my oldest friends live in Carolina, so certainly not a slight on the state. My point was, that hockey down south (and that includes Washington DC too!) makes as much sense as baseball in Italian

-Spiny Norman

??? You???re right ! Why, weuns didn???t even know what ice wuz ???til that danged ol??? hockie team came here . I would like to say that nothing but curling belongs up north . By the way ??? Italian is not a place .


I wonder who they'd want from the B's for him?
-bostongm

No one .


Last true Whaler on the team. Now I can completely hate them.
-Whalers

Get a life . You are a beautiful part of our hockey heritage in Carolina ! We look up to you ! We admire those years ! I see many Whalers jerseys and hats at Hurricanes games . I have a couple whalers pins and I???ve never even been to Hartford . You hate OUR (yours and ours) team ? Let go of the hate ??? just let it go !


As for the Canes, yes we did collapse, but that was due to Staal being forced into a leadership role he wasn't ready for. When Brind'Amour went down there was no-one around to fill those mighty big skates. We have alot of good, young talent in Albany and I think the Canes will take back the Southeastern crown and we can prove again that we are the most underestimated team in the league.
-James the Aussie

James,
If you???re going to try to defend the team, please get your facts straight . Staal played much better hockey after Brind???Amour was injured than he did down the stretch . So did the rest of the team on average . The Hurricanes had started a run of their own just before Brind???Amour???s injury ??? going 15-9-0 in their last 24 from the night of Brindy???s ACL tear. Their fourth game out they lost at the Lightning and in their final game, a too-late- comeback came up short at home vs. the Panthers (of all teams) who played an excellent spoiler game . The issue in those final games may have been the wholesale substitution of several of the injured star players back into the lineup, for some of the AHL call-ups .

I am sorry to say that many of you have a great deal to say in regard a topic about which you obviously don't know much . The Hurricanes played their best hockey of 07-08 in the first month and (approximately) the last month of the season - in between they were spotty . That's right, the team played better after Brind'amour went down than they did most of the season with him in . By that point in the season (of Brind'amour's injury), due to all the injuries, and the resulting call-ups and late season trades, the flavor of the team had changed; and, (perhaps shocked by the loss of their captain) the team apparently found themselves in a more effective dynamic than they had through most of the season . Without Brindy, Whitney, Williams, Stillman, Commodore, Ladd, etc., they found a way to get it done . That says a lot about coaching and players .

Cam Ward was more consistent and played better in general after Leighton was called up and won a game - maybe that's maturation . I didn't think Ward was ready to be a No. 1 after the Cup Season and neither did some of the experts - if they wanted to win more games, maybe they should have brought Ward along more slowly, rotating him with a seasoned A-list goalie .

Soft D corps ... I don't know about that . In the games I saw this season, most of the breakdowns of defense occurred amongst offensive players . All you had to do was watch the games or look at the plus/minus . Staal, for example, who was on fire the final month of the season, seemed uninspired through the middle stretch - carrying a double digit negative plus/minus and foundering on scoring . The major shortfall of the defensemen was on offense - the team wasn't getting as much production out of Kaberle and the others weren't so much that kind of quick offensive-minded d-man this system wants - thus the trade of Commodore for Corvo .

This year's team lost more time to injury than most clubs in the NHL, and yet only missed the playoffs by one win . It's the way the one win was missed that causes the grief . Playing some of their most effective hockey of the season coming down the home stretch, the Hurricanes sputtered at the end just enough to miss post-season . So they lost to the Caps, in DC, ... well Ovechkin & co. were white hot toward the end of their Cinderella season and with Huet playing that well behind them, the loss is understandable.

The Lightning and the Panthers on the other hand, ... not so much . The thing that the last three games of the season have in common is the early return of the injured veteran players: most notably Williams (ACL) and Whitney (leg cyst surgery) . They were suddenly deemed ready to play for the last Caps game . Williams went right back out in the first period with back spasms and Whitney seemed slow - bobbling passes on what had become a lightning-quick breakaway offense when the replacements were in there . Whatever process made that decision happen needs to be reviewed and revised accordingly .