The NHL has suspended Dallas Stars defenseman Mark Fistric for his hit on Nino Niederreiter last weekend. The hit resulted in a concussion for Niederreiter and Brendan Shanahan explained that Niederreiter was eligible for the hit. But according to Shanahan, "the degree in which Fistric's skates come off the ice is evidence of his dangerous launch."
So basically, charging and leaving his feet. Shanahan's full explanation video is below. Here is Defending Big D's take (please don't troll), and in the body of their post they make a good point about Kronwall, who delivers the leaping hit quite often. Again, new era ... one hopes.
Also below: Assorted links, and our weekly NHL Power Rankings and survey of rankings from several media outlets, who took notice of the Islanders 3-0-1 road trip where Niederreiter both scored and got knocked out.
Shanahan Explains Fistric Suspension
Links for Personal Betterment and Generally Avoiding More Important Tasks
- More coverage of last night's 5-1 thumping of the Lightning: Our LHH recap and plus/minus thread | Newsday | Keith's recap at IPB
- I'm not sure I want to call Matt Moulson "Tim Tebow." Maybe I'll leave that to his linemates.
- Michael Grabner skated today but will be re-evaluated afterward.
- In Praise of the Bridgeport Callups [Islanders official site]
- PHT: Al Montoya is the guy helping the Islanders win again | ProHockeyTalk
- Podcast: IPB talks to Kevin Weekes about goalies, other topics
- On concussions and suspensions: Here's a list of both this year. Here's why suspending to injury is dangerous.
- Islanders: Prospect three stars of the week.
- Did You Know? The 2003 Draft was a good one | ProHockeyTalk Yes.
- Slew of NCAA players on preliminary U.S. World Junior roster :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online
- This is what happens when you have a bitter football columnist write something about hockey. A carwreck in words.
- This is what happens when you're on probation and get pulled over driving with three wheels.
- The back-channel saga of realignment. More on that from Puck Daddy.
Media Power Rankings
And now on to the media power rankings survey. Obviously, the 3-0-1 trip did some good in the eyes of the Fractured Estate. All of these do not reflect last night's win.
Outlet | Rank | Last Week | Their Commentary |
CBSSports | 27 | 29 |
You have to wonder how organizations like Pittsburgh and Los Angeles let Matt Moulson get away for nothing. Coming off back-to-back 30-goal seasons, he seems ready to reach that mark again this season, and his four-goal effort Saturday night in Dallas didn't hurt that pace. [Ed. note: Even though it's an obvious reference to make, I'm tickled by their reference to the Bruins as "steamroller." Note CBS's top two teams and what they did to the Isles.] |
THN (Proteau) |
25 | 28 |
Four of next five are at home, including showdowns with Hawks and Pens. |
ESPN (LeBrun) |
26 | 29 | Seven of eight points in their past four games for the Isles, who are showing signs of life. |
CBC | n/a | 29 |
[pending] |
TSN (Cullen) |
28 | 29 | Aside from John Tavares, the Islanders' top-scoring forwards are like a thrift-shoppers dream, with P.A. Parenteau, Matt Moulson and Michael Grabner all gathered off the scrap heap in some manner. |
Fox | 27 | 30 | Matt Moulson scored four goals in a win at Dallas on Saturday and leads the team with 13. We wonder if the offensively challenged Kings wish they had kept him around. |
Average |
26.6 |
29 |
Thank goodness it wasn't Burnside's turn this week as it would be really hard to trash a 3-0-1 road trip. |
Real Power Rankings
Our weekly "real" power rankings are courtesy of Mike, or ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles (who is the one you'll find tirelessly compiling FIG picks in the game thread), conceived and delivers these week after week. They are calculated in true "power ranking" fashion -- i.e. how well teams fare based on their opponents' records.
As a special bonus, he's doing month by month power rankings now, to see how teams have changed (since our weekly power rankings are cumulative). Check out his FanPost on the October and November tables, and notice how teams like Washington and St. Louis have almost swapped places at opposite ends, while the "look at their rebuild!" Oilers November was very different from their October.
As for this week's ranking, the table below reflects games through Sunday.
Explanation of how he does it is in the original post. If you have any questions about it, leave them in comments and he'll likely answer. For reference, last week's post is here. Here is how things shape up through Sunday's games:
W | L | OTL | Pts | Win Pct | PWR | ||
1 | NY Rangers | 15 | 5 | 3 | 33 | 0.717 | 1998 |
2 | San Jose | 14 | 8 | 1 | 29 | 0.630 | 1951 |
3 | Minnesota | 17 | 7 | 3 | 37 | 0.685 | 1921 |
4 | Boston | 16 | 7 | 1 | 33 | 0.688 | 1916 |
5 | Pittsburgh | 16 | 7 | 4 | 36 | 0.667 | 1909 |
6 | Detroit | 16 | 8 | 1 | 33 | 0.660 | 1871 |
7 | Philadelphia | 15 | 7 | 3 | 33 | 0.660 | 1806 |
8 | Los Angeles | 13 | 9 | 4 | 30 | 0.577 | 1783 |
9 | Chicago | 16 | 8 | 3 | 35 | 0.648 | 1778 |
10 | Florida | 14 | 8 | 4 | 32 | 0.615 | 1768 |
11 | St. Louis | 14 | 9 | 3 | 31 | 0.596 | 1766 |
12 | Vancouver | 15 | 10 | 1 | 31 | 0.596 | 1687 |
13 | Phoenix | 13 | 9 | 3 | 29 | 0.580 | 1672 |
14 | Edmonton | 13 | 11 | 3 | 29 | 0.537 | 1644 |
15 | Dallas | 15 | 10 | 1 | 31 | 0.596 | 1618 |
16 | Toronto | 14 | 10 | 2 | 30 | 0.577 | 1613 |
17 | Buffalo | 14 | 11 | 1 | 29 | 0.558 | 1535 |
18 | Montreal | 11 | 11 | 5 | 27 | 0.500 | 1514 |
19 | Washington | 13 | 11 | 1 | 27 | 0.540 | 1512 |
20 | Nashville | 12 | 10 | 4 | 28 | 0.538 | 1494 |
21 | Colorado | 13 | 13 | 1 | 27 | 0.500 | 1475 |
22 | Ottawa | 12 | 11 | 3 | 27 | 0.519 | 1455 |
23 | Tampa Bay | 11 | 12 | 2 | 24 | 0.480 | 1437 |
24 | Winnipeg | 11 | 11 | 4 | 26 | 0.500 | 1422 |
25 | Calgary | 11 | 13 | 2 | 24 | 0.462 | 1394 |
26 | New Jersey | 12 | 12 | 1 | 25 | 0.500 | 1367 |
27 | NY Islanders | 8 | 11 | 5 | 21 | 0.438 | 1335 |
28 | Anaheim | 7 | 14 | 5 | 19 | 0.365 | 1228 |
29 | Carolina | 8 | 16 | 4 | 20 | 0.357 | 1130 |
30 | Columbus | 7 | 16 | 3 | 17 | 0.327 | 905 |