The Happenings of the NHL

I've lost my touch with the National Hockey League, or the NHL, living in Oregon, but I want to relive what I had in Canada by looking up different websites, newspapers and other blogs to see what I can find.

This week in the NHL, injuries were the main story as the NHL, The Sports Network (TSN), The Score and The Province Newspaper websites have stories related to the "depleted Red Wings", "Eberle close to returning" or "banged-up Habs' (referring to the Montreal Canadiens). Thescore.ca has also reported that Ryan Whitney, a defenseman for the Edmonton Oilers is sidelined for the entire season with an ankle injury.

Another important story this week was the suspension of Aaron Nichol, a forward for the San Jose Sharks. He "has been suspended four games for his elbow to the head to Phoenix Coyotes defenceman David Schlemko on Monday night and will forfeit $16,344.08 in salary," reports tsn.ca.

Also, in other news, the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) had their prospects camp this week showing such prospects to the NHL world like Daniel Catenacci, who won the fastest skater competition before the actual prospect game. Catenacci is "one of those guys that's, 'Give me the puck, I want it, I want to be the guy who makes the play,'" said one NHL scout, according to nhl.com.

It's almost midway through the season as well and we all know what that means! The NHL All-Star Game. An exhibition, which none of the players care about, to show off the greatest players the NHL has to offer. The captains, which were selected by the other all-stars, are Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings. Which makes this more compelling than any other year is because the captains now draft their team from the all the all-stars. The all-stars were selected by you, the fans.

I have noticed a couple things about the articles and blogs written about the NHL. One is how headlines begin with the one of the team's goaltenders. For example, "Jurco steals show", "Fleury, Penguins shut down Red Wings, 3-1", "Khudobin stops 31 shots as Wild defeat struggling Oilers", "Thomas key as Bruins finish sweep of Canes", and "Quick lets one slip away in 2-1 loss to Blues". I mean it is ridiculous. Give some credit to the goal scorers and defensemen every once in awhile.

The other thing I noticed is how big of a deal the All-Star Game is. This, to me, is a joke. Every All-Star Game in every sport is a joke, except for Major League Baseball. The athletes don't care. Their only wish is to not get injured. Hockey players pull out of the All-Star Game all the time because they want rest or they are a little banged up and do not want to injure themselves more. This is the same with the National Basketball Association.

The audience just wants the facts. Who won? Who lost? Who got injured? Who got traded? If the audience wants to know who did well, they can look at the statistics of the game.

Lastly, another tidbit of information, the websites of TSN and The Score have the same photo on their home page: Mike Cammalleri, a Montreal Canadien, bent over holding his arm after an injury to his shoulder.