Grabovski suspension is deserved

News comes this afternoon that the league has suspended Mikhail Grabovski for three games for abuse of officials after his little temper tantrum last night.

And you know what? They got this one right.

I'm as thrilled as any Leafs fan to see the normally timid Grabovski get a little bit fired up for a change. I think he'd be fun to watch if he played with a bit of an edge, and I hope he keeps it up. But there is a line, and he went over it last night. You can't get physical with an official. Period.

Is it right that Grabovski gets three games for a little shove on a linesman, while Tom Kostopoulos gets the same for nearly ending Mike Van Ryn's career? Of course not, but it's an apples and oranges comparison. The rules are different for fellow players than they are for officials. And it goes without saying that they should be.

The league has specific rules in place for dealing with abuse of officials. Minor incidents are three games, major ones are ten or more. Once the league decides that abuse has taken place, there's very little room for judgement calls. Grabovski's case was clearly a minor offence, so the three games was automatic. And that's fair.

And while we're at it, let's bring it down a notch on the praise for Grabovski's tantrum. Yes, it's nice that -- for once -- a Maple Leaf seemed cranky about being on the receiving end of yet another lopsided loss. But Grabovski wasn't looking to fight. He knew where the linesmen were, he knew the situation was under control, and he was putting on an act. Let's not pretend our little guys are suddenly enforcers because they can pretend to want to fight and then wave to a crowd. That's what Sens fans are for.

So settle down, Leaf Nation. It may not have been much, but it was something and Grabovski deserves a short vacation for it.

Leafs/Habs post-game thoughts

• I think I'm enjoying the Brad May era. You?
  
  
• You know those cartoons you see around New Year's, where the weak and hobbled old man representing the forgotten past gives way to the energetic baby who represents the possibilities of the future? Didn't this week kind of feel like that, with the Battle of Ontario playing the old man and the renewed Leafs/Habs rivalry playing the little baby?
  
  
• Kudos to Mayers for taking care of business, and to May for reinforcing the point. He even seemed to have fired up Grabovski, who managed a draw in his fight. Yes, it was against a linesman, but we're taking baby-steps here.
  
  
• And let's be honest, Grabovski-Kostitsyn would have made Semin-Staal look like Clark-McSorley
  
  
• In all seriousness, anyone questioning the May deal is missing the point. It's not about helping the team win games. It's not even about winning fights. It's about the fact that this team had a terrible dressing room for three years, where losing was fine and excuses ruled. Fletcher rolled a grenade into the room, and it got better -- for a while. Based on Wilson's comments after the Florida game, they're heading back to their old ways.
  
  You can not develop young players in an environment where losing is acceptable. If May can remind the younger guys how to work hard and compete, he's worth a sixth-round pick and more.
  
  And if all of that sounds like an indictment of the current veteran core of the team, well, it probably is.
  
  
• By the way, where is it written that May can't come in, play regular minutes for eight weeks, remind the young guys what a professional looks like... and then be dealt at the deadline? And if he looks anything like he did against the Habs over the new two months, don't you think the Leafs can get more than a sixth for him from a contender?
  
  
• Seriously, what did Grabovski do that has the entire Habs team hating him so much? Is he just that much of an obnoxious prick off the ice (and face it, he kind of has that vibe), or is there a bigger story here? Did he Leeman somebody's wife? Was he one of those guys who can't have a normal conversation without quoting a Simpsons episode? Did he just walk around holding a knife and pineapple at all times and creep everybody out? What?
  
  
• We only got the French broadcast here in Ottawa, so I was a little confused when I saw Felix and Wendel being honored before the game. For a second, I thought the league had finally got around to reversing the Fraser/Gretzky non-call and the Leafs were being awarded the 1993 Stanley Cup retroactively.
  
  
• Hey, do you think the Habs front office invited Dave Keon to the ceremony, just to twist the knife into MLSE? And couldn't you imagine him thinking about going?
  
  
• Unrelated note: word is just in that the Sens had to take cabs to the airport after tonight's loss to the Bruins, since their team bus has Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza stuck under it.
  
  
• Finally, let's play a round of "write Damien Cox's Friday column for him":
  
  "Knuckle-dragging Leafs fans begging for fisticuffs got their wish on Thursday as the Brad May era kicked off with two fights, surely pleasing Brian Burke. But the thuggish Leafs were blown out by the speedy and talented conference-leading Habs. There's absolutely no logical connection between those two statements, but I will still attempt to passive-aggressively imply one!"
  
  Am I close?
  

Leafs/Habs - Guest preview

In anticipation of tonight's renewal of the Leafs/Habs rivalry, I received an invite to participate in in a Q+A session with fellow Score Network bloggers Lions in Winter. Both sides would send a half-dozen questions of their choosing, and post the answers they received.

You can see his answers below. My answers answers to his questions can be found here.

Is the Leafs/Habs rivalry still meaningful to you? How does it compare to, say, the Bruins these days?

I didn't grow up in the 60s, so aside from a few years when my University friends were enjoying playoff hockey and I wasn't, I've always hated the Bruins more. I'm finding it hard to hate anyone as much as smirky Lucic and his smug- (and at the same time blank-) looked coach Claude Julien. Adding Brian Burke should help stoke the fires...

What are Habs fans doing to keep busy these days, now that they've finished shoveling the last few clumps of dirt on whatever credibility the all-star game had left? Will you feel a special sense of pride when the NHL is forced to scrap fan voting next year?

You give too much credit to the Habs fans here. The credibility is as long gone as Leafs first round picks under Pat Quinn. The thing that upsets me is that the management saw it fit to make the game the centerpiece of our "100th" season. It was as shrewd a choice as choosing Tremblay over Roy in '95. It is akin to taking your wife to Tijuana for your 25th anniversary. It was tacky and wrong.

That said, I am glad the league might rethink the voting where people can vote for a bloc of players. Maybe they'll also give some thought to nominating duds in the first place...

While you were obviously happy to roll over the Kings in 1993, isn't there at least a small part of you that feels ripped off that you didn't get to play the Leafs that year? What would a Leafs/Habs Cup final have been like? Would the entire country have shut down for two weeks?

If I'm honest, the Leafs didn't become an object of obsession or rivalry until they were put into the East. Once Pittsburgh was eliminated by the weak weak Islanders, we were all thinking Cup no matter who here. It could have been Toronto, I suppose. had it been Toronto, I think I would have learned a thing or two about hockey history and this country. As it was, I had to wait for that lesson.

Knowing what I know now, I think it would have been mayhem, especially in Montreal and Toronto. There probably would have had to be some shutdowns had there been a game 6 or 7. Kinda like a European town during a WC elimination match. The fallout for you guys watching us parade the cup would have been worse than any high-sticking affair...

It's been widely reported that Mats Sundin would have been dealt to the Canadiens if he had agreed to waive his no-trade clause. The Habs went on to finish as the top seed, then lose to a #6 seed underdog in the second round. Could Sundin have made a difference? Does it bother you that a deal couldn't get done?

Had we traded for Sundin and still traded Huet, it would have been clear a two-headed monster was in charge. It nearly happened that way too. Carey Price was shaky long before the playoffs and for most of the season before his call-up from the AHL in late January. Huet was no saviour, but wouldn't let in every high wrist shot on offer. Sundin would have watched those goals go in all night like the rest of the Habs, and then he'd have left in the summer. With a contingency plan in goal like Huet, Sundin could have made a difference. He couldn't have scored less than Plekanec say in that series.

I am bothered though that a deal couldn't get done, because Gainey seems to be full of rumored deals and ends up coming up with the Robert Langs in the end - lots of consolation prizes. Some of us feel he needs to take a few risks. Trade a few of the "prospects" before they either leave or turn into "once-prospects". If this playoff team is to become a contender, the feeling is Gainey will have to go beyond his comfort zone at some point.

This season, the Canadiens are celebrating their centennial by retiring numbers, hosting the all-star game, hosting the draft, and holding about a lengthy ceremony before every second game. Do you have anything planned for next season, when the team's 100 anniversary will actually occur?

It may come as a surprise to you guys in TO, because this may be the first season the CBC has shown the Habs in three decades, but Montreal has a lengthy ceremony before most games, centennial, 92 years, whatever. And the sweater retirements have been going on for three seasons straight now too. The special events are the all-star game (see above) and the draft (yippee).

Yet for all their failings, they have still done a lot of good things - reconciled with Roy, put some statues up (Morenz finally), etc. The best for me has been their history website, which if you've ever tried to write much about hockey history, is a true pleasure to look at and navigate.

As for next year, they haven't announced. A lot of people want an outdoor game (vs. Leafs at Big O?) probably on the anniversary. Who knows what else.

Mikhail Grabovski has had decent numbers for the Leafs this year, and occasionally shows some incredible moves out there. Is he the real deal? The Habs couldn't find a spot for him, what do they know that Leaf fans don't (yet)?

Grabovski is a good player, and like Ribeiro he'll put up decent numbers over his career. Also like Ribeiro, he had bad habits like fighting with teammates, showing total disregard for them and the feeling is he would be about as successful in the playoffs. But you see we (that's you guys and us over here), we don't like the same players. Grabovski might be right up your alley so long as he keeps it up with the talent.

Thanks again to Lions in Winter for participating. Be sure to bookmark them for all your Habs-taunting needs.

May-Day! May-Day!

New Leaf Brad May, seen here punching a man who
for some reason is naked from the waist down

The Leafs have acquired Brad May, in an attempt to partially fill their glaring toughness void.

Not much to get excited about here, although he did come cheap, costing only a conditional sixth-round pick in 2010. Acquiring a veteran scrapper also clears the way to deal Jamal Mayers at the deadline for a mid-rounder (or did you think he's suddenly killing penalties on merit?)

And, of course, we all look forward to Damien Cox's predictable "OMG, Leafs once again trading draft picks for veterans" column tomorrow.

The Prattle of Ontario

Some observations from a Battle of Ontario debacle that may have finally shovelled dirt on this rivalry once and for all, not to mention broken my spirit as a hockey fan.

• The Senators are terrible. I mean, the Leafs are terrible, and they still had a relatively easy time with Ottawa last night. Toronto is bad in a "well, maybe kind of sort of getting better" way. Ottawa is bad in an "abandon all hope ye who enter here" kind of way. Luckily, they have Buffalo next and you can always count on the Sabres to roll over and die in any post-Pominville game against a struggling Sens team.
  
  
• Hey, you know what else is terrible? Leafs/Sens games. I'm seeing lots of stories in the papers and online today describing the game as "gritty". Really? That was gritty? A half dozen guys on each team all trying to play the agitator role, trying to get bumped into and then flopping to the ice and looking for a referee? We call that gritty now? Tie Domi is rolling over in his grave.
  
  
• Word is Sidney Crosby wanted to play in last night's game but couldn't find anyone with two balls to punch.
  
  
• Speaking of which... so Chris Neil thinks that even though the Sens dumped Brian McGrattan and signed Jarkko Ruutu, he should still try to be a "pest" who runs from Kimbo Hollweg but goes after Ian White? Really? He's thinks that's his ticket to sticking around in the NHL? OK, just checking.
  
  
• It's official: Mike Fisher has entered the "golden boy" zone where announcers will refer to him as one of the best players on the ice no matter how awful he is. Yes, he threw some hits. He was also pointless, a minus, and lead both teams in giveaways. Also, he makes $4.2M/year. Through 2013. But he's scored three goals this season, so obviously none of this can be his fault.
  
  
• Yes, Jason Spezza deserved a spearing major based on the rulebook, but he barely touched Dominic Moore and Moore's hunched-over attempt to sell an injury was embarassing. Remember when Toronto didn't do that stuff? At least against Ottawa?
  
  
• And while I don't expect or want Tomas Kaberle to drop his gloves or even give Spezza so much as a girlish shove, wouldn't it be nice if his instinctive first reaction to seeing a teammate get speared wasn't to throw his arms in the air and look for a referee to whine to? Kaberle is the best player on the team, but sometimes he reminds you that he's the holdover from the old "leadership" core.
  
  
• I'll admit, I get way too excited whenever a Leaf goalie tries to score a goal. Unfortunately, Toskala's effort ended up fluttering harmlessly into the air and was easily gloved aside by a defenceman. You know what that means: he could play on the third line of either of these teams!