Veterans Day for the NHL

Happy October 5^th everyone!

It’s a great day to be a hockey fan, for months of waiting and three grueling weeks of pre-season, tomorrow is the cut-off date for NHL rosters at 3pm et!

Observe the following names… One of these things just doesn’t belong here, and its ---!

Zack Kassian

Bill Guerin

Nazem Kadri

All of these players are those of which have been released from their NHL training camps thus far, two of those players (Both under the age of 20) have junior teams to report back to, while the other veteran of 18 NHL seasons must report to his living room couch to watch sports center.

Looking at the list above, Bill Guerin’s name seems to jump off the list. Guerin is at the seasons start a 39 year old vet in the NHL, what’s your point? We are looking at a fiery forward who scored 45 points last year in Pittsburgh, including 11 power play goals. Guerin’s 45 points were of course, a drop off from his career high of 85, this could obviously be a reasonable explanation, if only that high wasn’t from say… Ten years ago.

What we are looking at is a case of discrimination against age in the NHL. The Calgary flames have most recently signed forward Brendan Morrison, who opted out of his professional trout contract with the Canucks after receiving a slap in the face from their GM Gilles, in the form of a 2-way contract. Morrison was faced with his only option this season to play in the NHL, when the canucks handed him a chance to try out for their roster, of course being a 35 year old veteran he has not yet had a chance to prove he can play in the NHL apparently. Morrison has come off of a season in which he scored 42 points playing in Washington, surely after scoring only 20 fewer points that his career high in his prime, is assurance he can still keep up to the NHL’s new faster pace… Well apparently not.

Granted these players were both playing on highly touted offenses last year, playing on lines on and under Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, they still proved they can play the game of hockey. Vancouver is as they sit, 3 million over the salary cap. The reason they offered Morrison the contract was that of a selfish child hiding their toys. They cannot currently afford him, but with a two way contract they can send him to, and from the AHL without being penalized or having run the risk of him playing for another NHL team, he deserves better than to be Vancouver’s Yo-Yo.

My question raised is why these players would be forced to take their chances on a try-out contract after successful seasons in 2009/2010.  The NHL is full of young stars that have come to make it big, but if they aren’t ready to pull of the points the old dogs are, then why are teams accepting being cut short? We have all seen the commercials, the hotline numbers are there, yet we are sitting by here doing nothing to help them! All it takes is one person to get the ball rolling, pick up the phone, dial that number and file a complaint against the NHL… For Elder Abuse! The symptoms are there; do you want to be responsible for allowing this to happen?

I think we should make tomorrows Wednesday the sixth a national holiday.  An occasion in which we will honor our veterans of the NHL by holding a minute of video montage of their NHL careers, and maybe jog the minds of some general managers to take a gamble on them. Our veterans have shed blood, teeth (20 in Keith Tkachuks case) and probably several years off their life expectancy, to play the sport we love, for us to watch. Take a moment tomorrow to remember these players from last season that you may not have the chance to play again.