There's been quite a bit of backslapping going on over the NHL's (and temp discipline honcho Mike Murphy's) four-game suspension of Vancouver's Aaron Rome after he concussed Boston's Nathan Horton in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Finals.

It's been pointed out only three players have ever been suspended during the Finals, and each of them received a single game. Of course, I haven't taken the time to see if any of those players intentionally attempted (and succeeded) in removing one of their opponents' most valuable pieces for the remainder of the postseason, and in any case, I don't think using the NHL's terrible history of disciplining its players in the measuring stick to use.

So forgive me if I don't think the Canucks losing some schlub that doesn't even appear on the depth chart matches up properly with the Bruins losing Horton. In fact, I bet there are some Vancouver fans out there who think this is a pretty good trade -- we lose Rome, they lose a player with 17 points in the postseason.

How to square things?

Pretty simple. Let's go back to the depth charts.

According to the Boston chart, Horton is the top-line right winger. For Vancouver, that's Jannik Hansen. So in addition to Rome, the NHL should remove Hansen for the remainder of the Finals.

That's not really even enough -- as Hansen has had nowhere near the impact Horton has -- but it's a start. It sends the message that taking a shot at an opponent's head doesn't just mean one of your idiots sits. It means you lose a piece arguably as valuable as the one you took out.

As another example, you can decide whether Washington's David Steckel or Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman gave Sidney Crosby the concussion that sidelined him for most of this season. But do you think either of those players would have done what they did knowing Alexander Ovechkin or Steven Stamkos would sit as long as Crosby?

Would it be fair to either Ovy or Stamkos to have to sit? Of course not. But is it fair to any player to have their health and livelihood threatened by some moron who doesn't care about his fellow player's well-being?

Under my system, I'm betting coaches might be a bit more interested in making sure their players aren't out headhunting. They might not even put those meatheads on the ice in the first place.

And that would definitely be worthy of a little backslapping all around.

Well, my Blues are out of the playoffs after being swept in the first round by Vancouver. I'll still apply my Blues stickers to my new Blackberry, but it will be done with a deep sadness.

It was good for the youngsters to get a taste of the playoffs and be better prepared for next season, and it certainly doesn't hurt the organization to pick up the revenue from a couple of extra sellouts.

Still ... damn you, Luongo!

For some lighter fare, stop by Elvis Has Left, where our intrepid reporter, errr ... reports on the results of wearing a Malkin 3rd jersey to a playoff game in Philly.

By now we’ve all read or heard or seen National Hockey League forward Sean Avery’s amazingly insulting comment about his former girlfriends and their NHL beaus.

Avery has been suspended indefinitely by the league, as he should have been. Gamesmanship is one thing, but seeking out the camera to deliver personal swipes is crossing the line.

This is what we expect from Avery, a mildly talented buffoon who has spent his career being sought and then rejected. Now on his fourth team, he comes in and makes himself welcome by aggravating the opposition, but eventually wears out his welcome with his attention-whoring ways.

And yet franchises continue to hire him and the public continues to enable his behaviour. He gets paid – and very well – to be a jerk.

So if Avery, who has managed to pile up all of 177 points in 402 career games, isn’t the problem, who is?

We are.

We, the hockey-loving public, who continue to mouth platitudes about how it’s necessary to have a “character” guy on a winning team – we’re to blame.

No team on which Avery has played has advanced past the second round of the playoffs. He did play 36 games for the Red Wings in their run to the Stanley Cup in 2001-02, but he was deemed expendable and left off the postseason roster. The next season, same deal.

And “character” is an interesting word. If a guy is wearing your rival’s jersey and he makes remarks about someone’s bout with cancer, he’s a complete tool. But if he does it in your team’s sweater, he’s a “character” guy.

No, he isn’t. He’s just a tool whose parents did a poor job raising him.

The NHL is.

The league inadvertently protected Avery by suspending him before he could take the ice against Calgary on Tuesday. Had he played, Avery would have faced Dion Phaneuf (who is dating one of Avery’s ex-girlfriends) and the rest of the Flames, who would have been likely to run him repeatedly.

Or perhaps they wouldn’t have. The NHL is also protecting Avery and other idiots like him by keeping the instigator rule, which penalizes those who would ask Avery to back up his mouth with two fists.

The rule was created with good intentions, but instead has allowed a proliferation of headhunting, boarding and other chippy play to go unpunished. That’s ridiculous, and it’s going to get a superstar’s career ended.

Drop the rule and let the players police themselves, NHL – they’ll do a far better job than you have.

The hockey media is.

Was there really any reason to even talk with Avery?

Is he an integral part of the Stars’ game plan coming into Tuesday night’s contest? At 10 points (and 77 penalty minutes) through 23 games, no, he isn’t.

But the media knows Avery has a big mouth and either isn’t afraid to use it or is too stupid to know when to keep it shut. So the cameras and the recorders come out when he deigns to speak.

It's lazy and it's not journalism -- it's lowest common denominator junk. Use better judgment, media types. You know the difference between news and tripe, and so do we.

If you stop giving Avery a platform to spout his garbage, he’ll wither and die like the weed he is.

And we’ll all be the better for it.

Edmonton Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe finally fired back at Anaheim Ducks GM (and supposedly soon GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs) Brian Burke.

Read the linked article, and I'll post my thoughts tomorrow.

I've been asked by nearly all our store's customers who I like in the Stanley Cup Finals starting this week. Considering I had Montreal and San Jose in the Finals at the start of the season, I don't why my opinion would be worth a moldy octopus, but here it is anyway:

Detroit in five.

It hurts me to say that. I grew up in St. Louis cheering for the Blues and hating the Red Wings (many Blues fans hate the Blackhawks, but how can you do anything but pity them? Same thing goes for the Cubs), but Detroit simply has too much firepower for a mediocre Penguins defense.

The reverse isn't true. Pittsburgh has tons of offensive talent, but the Wings can counter with the best defense in the league. As for Marc-Andre Fleury, his coming out party continues, but there will be just too many breakaways and shots from close in for him to do enough.

Next year, Pens fans, next year.

According to this morning's Toronto Star, Leafs head coach Paul Maurice plans to continue running goalie Vesa Toskala in the ground. Maurice says Toskala's play has earned him the starts and that right now, the Iron Horse will be "playing important games right till the end."

First off, Maurice should be tipped off by someone that the Leafs stopped playing important games when they lost two in a row to the Devils last week. It's over, and to not accept that is to waste the opportunity to get Andrew Raycroft some work.

Why work Raycroft? Well, suppose Raycroft actually shows something down the stretch, a little spark of his former self. Now, instead of having to buy out his contract, perhaps you can get something for him -- not much, to be sure, but even a sixth-round pick would be better than the buyout.

And if Raycroft doesn't play well, does it matter? It just means the Leafs get a better draft position for next season.

As for Toskala, what good does it do Toronto to continue to run him out? Will Vesa be able to win them every game? Not with this roster -- that's been painfully clear all season. Playing him constantly could get him injured, and wouldn't that be terrific -- have your new No. 1 tear a knee ligament and have to go through an offseason of rehabilitation?

Do the right thing, Paul -- get Razor in the pipes.

I'm really puzzled by the lack of a secondary move by Toronto general manager John Ferguson Jr. Here's how I figured on things playing out right before the trade:

1) Leafs bring in Curtis Joseph for not much money on a one-year deal. Since the Leafs aren't going to win a Cup this year anyway, he mentors both Raycroft and Pogge while playing 20-25 games and taking some of the pressure off of Razor.
2a) Raycroft matures and shows marked improvement, solidifying his place as the No. 1 and giving Pogge time to develop slowly. The Leafs spend their draft picks and cap dollars on big wingers, and Curtis rides off into the sunset an even bigger hero in the GTA tham he already is.

or

2B) Raycroft fails to develop, and the Leafs hit the free agent market to pick up a goalie, or decide to move up Pogge and possibly resign Joseph for one more year as the back-up.

Picking up Toskala isn't a bad move -- it just underscores the lack of direction in the Toronto front office. I can only guess Ferguson figures he can play them as a platoon for the season, allowing Maurice to ride the hot hand, then deal one or the other next season.

That's not a terrible plan, but I can't imagine it's going to make either one of the Leaf netminders very happy -- and it's not going to thrill fans, either.

The Leafs have just made their first deal of the draft weekend, acquiring Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell from San Jose for (maybe)their first-round pick at No. 13 this season, a second rounder and a fourth-round pick in 2009.

I'm not thrilled about the loss of the first-round pick, but Toskala is the real deal. He was 26-10-1 with a 2.35 GAA and a .908 save percentage last year, and he'll only be better if he's the main man. The pick also can switch to the 2008 draft if the Sharks don't like who is available this year, but Toronto has Top 10 protection in that case.

Where this leaves Andrew Raycroft is up for debate. Raycroft wasn't the problem last season (hello, Kubina and McCabe!), but he wasn't the solution either. Dealing him or relegating him to the back-up spot would be an admission of defeat for Toronto GM John Ferguson, Jr., in the trade that sent Tuukka Rask to Boston last year. I have to think (and hope and pray) JFJ has a deal in place to move Razor and a defenseman.

It also makes you wonder whether the Leafs have already soured on Justin Pogge. I didn't hear anyone come away from last year's Marlies games saying they were overly impressed with Pogge, and the organization has been pretty mum. Pogge's way too young to write off, but if the right package came down the pike to move him and acquire either a high pick or a solid scorer, I think the Leafs would jump.

As for Mark Bell, he can't possibly play down to the lousy level of last year again, can he? Bell's 6-4, 205, so he's got the size Toronto needs in the corners and to free up Mats Sundin (hint hint), and he's only $2M a year. Wjat's the harm?

This is definitely a nice move by Ferguson, but keep your fingers crossed that another deal's coming.

Congratulations to Montreal Canadians thug Aaron Downey for illustrating why the National Hockey League's in better shape than it was before the lockout.

A little-used offensive liability who skates like George Bush orates, Downey took it upon himself to call out rising phenom Sidney Crosby after the latter went down following an unpenalized high-stick in Sunday's Pittsburgh-Montreal tilt. Of course, Downey did it from the safety of his own bench.

Crosby said Downey told him he shouldn't have ended up on the ice.

"He told me not to go down," Crosby said. "I said, 'If you get a stick in the face we'll see how tough you are. See if you don't go down.' It's funny, you get a high stick and you're not supposed to go down anymore."

For his part, Downey didn't do himself any favours in the postgame interviews.

"Agitating is part of my game," Downey grunted. "I told him that if you're going to be a superstar in this league, you shouldn't be acting like that."

It's a part of his game? It's all he's got.

Downey's crowning achievement to this point in his hockey career is twice topping the 400-minute mark in penalties in the American Hockey League. As for the NHL, he's racked up a staggering 13 points in 180 career games, which might explain his coaches' tendency to have him watch from somewhere high above the ice.

Whether Francis Boullion meant to whack Crosby in the face is questionable, and even unlikely, but it's tough not to think some of the Canadians weren't deliberately trying to injure the young star, especially after Thursday. In that game, Montreal's Maxim Laperriere butt-ended Crosby on the opening face off. Canadians head coach Guy Carbonneau, who should be above such skullduggery, sent out his meathead line to open the game and is squarely responsible for that incident.

The Canadians were apparently agitated by Pittsburgh's Colby Armstrong's hit on their captain, Saku Koivu. Never mind that it happened after Boullion speared Crosby, and that it was a completely clean hit. Montreal handled it well enough to give the Penguins a seven-minute power play. Smart boys, those Canadians.

The fans and many players have also pointed to Crosby's admitted tendency to complain to the refs about missed calls and his willingness to hit the rink when touched. However, it's difficult to fault him for dramatizing a tad when these two blatant penalties were greeted with a turned head.

Much of the discussion in the aftermath seems to be centering around why the Penguins haven't picked up a thug of their own to protect their kids. But the changes to the NHL's style of play -- less hooking and holding, more speed -- make reserving a roster spot for some menacing lummox a waste of space.

Those shifts have made no-tool Neanderthals such as Downey a vanishing breed in NHL arenas, and it's no big loss.

You'd also have to think at some point the league will take a look at a few of these incidents and decide, "You know, allowing one of our meal tickets to be manhandled like a blow-up doll at a shore leave party probably isn't a very good idea, is it?"

Besides, the Penguins are riding a 10-game point streak, sit sixth in the Eastern Conference and are leaps and bounds better than they were last season. Who'd fool with that chemistry?

Of course, it would also mean Pittsburgh would have to go out and actually try to sign an idiot in the same vein as Downey.

Who'd want some moron like that hanging around?

I was just watching some pre-game NFL coverage on Rogers SportsNet when one of their NHL promos ran featuring the tagline Hockey That Matters.

Guys, ditch that.

It's really demeaning to players in the Ontario Hockey League, the minor leagues and even the youth and rec leagues around Canada. The implication is that all those players should hang up their skates, because hey, you don't matter!

Guess what, SportsNet? They do. I guarantee you the players in an OHL game are, in most cases, playing harder and to the final horn more often than their NHL counterparts.

So get your geniuses in the marketing department to come up with something else, something that doesn't put down every other hockey player in the world.