Demons play dangerous game with Jack Hughes stars after ugly blows

What the hell is going on with the demons? They allow Jack Hughes to be attacked in open ice by Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov, And in the same week they stand by and do nothing when Jesper Bratt is destroyed behind the net by Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak?

Players shouldn’t be forced to fight after landing clean hits, as both Romanov and Cernak did, and I believe that. But teams certainly have an obligation to protect their skilled players from harm, and that’s something I believe in implicitly.

The Devils failed to do that twice in three games this week. In fact, the other game in Detroit ended with Hughes lying on his back and Michael Rasmussen posing as Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston in Lewiston, Maine, in 1965, after the number 86 bounced off the Red Wings forward while trying to unsuccessfully defending an empty field. net.

The three-ring circus could have come with sound effects from the old Batman TV series: SPLAT! CRASH! ZA! PRISONER OF WAR!

If there is an open season for Hughes, not only will the Devils have no chance, but they would also deserve what they get. If they allow their most skilled guys to be bullied, they won’t stand a chance. You’d think that would be evident in the living room and in the coaching rooms, when Sheldon Keefe should have learned a long time ago during his tenure in Toronto that skill alone doesn’t win championships (or even multiple rounds of the playoffs).

It’s early, the demons are just coagulating. But it’s never too early to protect Jack Hughes. Because one of these times it’s going to be too late.

If the Senators had offered Shane Pinto-plus to the Rangers in exchange for Alexis Lafreniere during the summer of 2023 before the betting sites issue arose, I’m not so sure that would have been an automatic no from the Rangers.

I’m not sure if baseball is better when the Yankees win the World Series (caller Steve from Queens would surely disagree), but I do think the NHL is better when Montreal is a perennial contender. Or maybe I’m dating myself like the Habs.

The Canadiens haven’t lifted the Cup in 32 years. I guess that’s good compared to whether your standard is the Maple Leafs, in year 58, or the Flyers, going on 50 years since the last parade down Broad Street.

But the franchise that set the historical standard in the 50s, 60s and 70s, the one that produced Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Doug Harvey, Larry Robinson, Guy Lafleur and Ken Dryden; The one that won 15 Cups in a period of 24 years between 1956 and 1979, is something like the Yankees of Bobby Murcer, Mel Stottlemyre, Jerry Kenney and Horace Clarke, after the M&M Boys and Whitey Ford.

The hierarchy that includes executive vice president of hockey Jeff Gorton, general manager Kent Hughes and head coach Marty St. Louis has put the franchise on the right path after the bottom fell out a few seasons ago. But the club is in no man’s land, a conglomerate of exciting young talent, already established (Cole Caufield) and trying to gain ground (Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson), but without a strong middle class to offer significant support.

If the steps taken by Gorton mirror in some ways the steps he took as the Rangers’ general manager after the Charter, the problem is that there is no equivalent of Artemi Panarin or Igor Shesterkin. But the pressure will mount the same way it did when the Rangers stagnated.

Aside from the surprising run to the Cup final in 2021 following a COVID-impacted 56-game season, the Canadiens have won nine playoff rounds since they last won the Cup in 1993, with, by the way, perhaps the weakest squad in modern history. to lift the chalice.

The Senators are ahead in their rebuild, same for the Sabers and same for the Red Wings. None of these teams have made the playoffs for at least seven years. This doesn’t reflect particularly well on the Habs’ track record.

The leaguewide save percentage has dropped to .899, the first time it has fallen below .900 since 1995-96, when the total number reached .896.

The infusion of skills and youth, plus the impact of teams needing low-cost, entry-level contracts to offset the top of the food chain, have produced an environment where the savings percentage has steadily declined annually since 2014- 15 and 2015. -16, when netminders posted a combined .915.

That, however, is not a good enough explanation for the Devils allowing 23 goals in this four-game losing streak (0-2-2).

John Tortorella kind of set it up, didn’t the Flyers head coach, predicting how worried he was about the team’s goaltending before the season even started? Don’t blame anyone for the 1-5-1! Back to you, Jonesy.

There’s an explanation for the Penguins honoring the legacy of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin-Kris Letang triumvirate the same way the Yankees honored the legacy of the Core Four.

But the decision to honor Tristan Jarry’s legacy with the five-year extension through 2023 didn’t seem to have the same historical foundation, did it?

Finally, I see that Chris Pronger jumped to Jacob Trouba’s defense on the No. 8’s latest (not really) controversial hit when speaking to the estimable Pierre LeBrun. But I’m not sure it’s a winning strategy to call one of the NHL’s most notorious and unapologetic scouts to the stand as a character witness.