Today is Daniel Alfredsson's 40th birthday. If this lockout doesn't end his career, Father Time soon will.

Here is my present, a list of low-lights from Alfredsson's distinguished career.

All of a sudden the NHL has reverted back to the wild, brawl-filled days of the 1970s. Earlier in the week the Bruins and Canadiens exchanged pleasantries which ended in the Habs questioning whether they need an enforcer after the Big Bad Bruins savagely beat a few Canadiens during the final minutes of the game. The final score was also 8-6 Bruins – another indication that it was the 70s. The league did not hand down supplementary discipline, which prompted some pundits to question whether the league’s silent acceptance of the violence led to the melee that occurred in Long Island on Friday night.

The Islanders exploded and scored nine goals against the Penguins, which was overshadowed by a fight filled night that bears an eerie resemblance to the night Todd Bertuzzi sucker punched Steve Moore, leaving him severely injured. There were almost 350 minutes in penalties, a despicable sucker punch, a goalie-on-goon fight, and a player leaving the bench to jump into a fight.

I know this blog is titled Five Minutes For Fighting, which seemingly encourages ‘old-time hockey’ in all its forms, but as Puck Daddy succinctly put it, “there’s old time hockey, and then there’s a prison riot”. Well said. Friday night was not a good ol’ game where the refs let the boys settle their scores like men, it was a disgusting display of cowardice and goonery that has no place in the game of hockey. All this game lacked was a serious injury to prompt the View to explain to the world that this is the norm in the NHL.

I like Alexander Ovechkin. I know I just ranted and raved about Sidney Crosby and I’m now about to criticize Ovechkin, but I really do like Ovechkin. He’s the most fun player in the league to watch. His goals are ridiculous and he’s physical. Unfortunately, his physicality is beginning to cross the line in certain instances. This isn’t a Crosby vs. Ovechkin thing. It isn’t a Canada vs. Russia thing. This is something that I find extremely grating about one of the most exciting players in the league. It’s got to the point where I am slowly turning on Ovechkin and I don’t want that.

At this point I’m sure everyone has seen the clip of the Ovechkin-Downie near-fight. Ovechkin should be embarrassed by this.



I understand the rationale of Matt Bradley and the entire Capitals team for not allowing the fight to happen. It’s never a good thing when your best player is off the ice for five minutes and it is especially worse if that player becomes injured fighting. It's also never a good thing to have your best player goaded into a fight with a little rat, but Ovechkin dropped the gloves and at that moment the fight should be between those two players. The fight didn't happen because Ovechkin is the best player in the league and Washington can't lose him.

However, Alexander Ovechkin needs some sort of accountability. The majority of his hits are legal and this is a very valuable part of his game. It makes it much harder to play against Ovechkin when he takes as much pleasure in physically punishing opponents as he does lighting up goalies. But because he plays with so much exuberance and energy he periodically crosses the line and throws dirty hits. This was clear in last year’s knee-on-knee with Sergei Gonchar and again with this season’s knee-on-knee against Tim Gleason. These are not even isolated incidents. He has hit Briere from behind and slew footed Rich Peverley. His hits also border on charging numerous times. The way he runs around the ice unchallenged is wrong.