NHL, Get Rid of Touch Icing Now!

Newsflash touch icing is dangerous! The powers that be in the NHL believe it is an exciting play and is a good way for “hustle guys” to show partly why they are so valuable. It matters not what the argument is the bottom line remains the same, touch icing gets a lot of players seriously injured and one too many times puts players in harm’s way even if they do not end up suffering a long-term injury. If you watch Coach’s Corner (with Ron MacLean and Don Cherry) at cbcsports.ca from November 15^th there are a few videos put together from various moments over the years where guys have been hurt from touch icing. Overall the game is very well played and has many exciting moments, so much so that taking away touch icing would not take anything away from the game. Most other levels of hockey have automatic icing (once it crosses the goal line) and it hardly takes away from the excitement of those games. In Europe they had touch icing until years ago when somebody died as a result of an injury suffered from a touch icing play. The NHL needs to be proactive rather than reactive so that nobody suffers a career ending injury or is killed.

Toskala Hurting Leafs’ Chances

The Toronto Maple Leafs have certainly started to turn the corner toward becoming a good team. They are not stacked with talent but they have done well with who the put on the ice every night. Although the Leafs are not winning as much as they would like they are always competitive and are much improved from the last few years. If the Leafs are ever going to enter into the company of the NHL elite they MUST get rid of Vesa Toskala. I have never been high on Toskala but the Leafs have been patient with him and I kept telling myself he had a good team in front of him his performance would reflect that. Unfortunately for Leafs fans everywhere it has not improved, in fact it does not seem as though he has improved at all. As this team continues to grow they are leaving Toskala far behind them and it is getting to the point where—as Don Cherry so brilliant stated on coach’s corner—he has become a liability. Not only is Toskala not helping the Leafs achieve success but he is letting in weak goals and is costing his team games. He has a 3.24 goals against average, an embarrassing .878 save percentage and is showing no signs of improvement (not to mention he only made 19 saves on 22 shots Monday against Boston). I know back-up Curtis Joseph is past his prime and under normal circumstances I would agree he is no longer an everyday goalie, but one thing he will not do is cost the team wins.