In a rare and somewhat shocking move, the New York Rangers insisted yesterday that Alexei Cherepanov’s death and the subsequent request to acquire a pick with the goal of replacing him was not in an effort to capitalize on his tragedy, but to receive fair treatment.

Cherepanov was the Rangers 1st round draft choice a couple years back, and his death rocked the hockey world hard, especially after young guns Luc Bourdon and Micky Renaud lost their lives too young and too soon this past summer.

Brian Compton from NHL.com has more on this, I’d make a nicer writeup, but I’m in a bad mood after a crappy Habs loss to TO tonight.

The New York Rangers are seeking compensation in lieu of the death of former first-round pick Alexei Cherepanov and have requested the 17th selection in the second round of the 2009 Entry Draft, according to local media reports.

“At this point, the League has taken no position on the Rangers’ request,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told the New York Post.

“The matter is in front of the League’s general managers, who will address the subject at their next meeting in March. It’s possible that the language of the CBA would need to be amended to address situations such as this one. If that’s the case, then we would need to negotiate that with the Players’ Association.”

Cherepanov passed away on Oct. 13 after collapsing during a game in Russia while playing for Omsk in the Continental Hockey League. He was 19 years old.

The team is citing Article 8.3 (b) in the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, which mandates compensatory selections be provided when teams are unable to sign first-round draft picks, according to the New York Daily News.

The question is with the one parenthetical phrase in Article 8.3 (b) that refers compensation for an unsigned first-round draft pick who is “… again eligible for the Entry Draft or becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent,” Rangers assistant GM Cam Hope told the Post. “That language was inserted to clarify that a team would be owed a compensatory pick even if they were to re-draft that player or sign him as a free agent.

“It seems now as if that phrase is unintentionally precluding the deceased from being included as eligible for compensation. We understand that this is a sensitive issue, but with all due respect to Alexei’s family and his memory, he is technically eligible to be drafted again next year.”

The Post reported that Rangers GM Glen Sather first addressed the issue at the League’s GM meetings in Chicago last month.

“We are not attempting to capitalize on a tragedy, but there would be no question regarding the Rangers’ right to a compensatory pick if Cherepanov had been revived and survived the incident and were on life support,” Hope said. “If an unsigned player sustained a massive injury on or off the ice, the drafting team would get a compensatory pick.”

The 2009 Entry Draft will be held from June 26-27 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

So another game in which the Penguins decided to show up for a portion of the game rather than the full 60 minutes. One would think that Therrien would have rallied his troops after Oilers game in which they almost blew a 5-0 lead, but sadly they did not. The first period the Islanders showed up while the Penguins decided to start their 20 minutes of suck in the 1st period. In the 2nd they turned it up a notch with Kennedy’s 4th goal of the season which was then followed up by 2 goals by the Islanders (Jackman & Hilbert of all people who finished with a 3pt night). At least they ended the 2nd with a beautiful goal by Jordan Staal who has now scored 2 goals in his past 3 games.

Penguins Celebrate Shootout Win

In the 3rd however, Kennedy ties up the game with his 5th goal of the season and 2nd of the game with a deflection from Goligoski’s point shot which was the only tally for the period. Overtime solved nothing and the Pens almost lost the shootout had it not been for Sabourin’s left pad saving the day. You could see Therrien freaking out starting in the 3rd period when Talbot was taken off the 1st line and Michel started up his usual line juggling instead of trying to build chemistry. This has got to stop, playing for half the game and coasting the other half. The ice was brutal and that excuse is only good for so long till you realize your play just isn’t good enough.

The problem, at least from my point of view, is Therrien’s inability to fire up his team. What happened to Mad Mike during the post game interviews? That Therrien was never pleased with his team’s performance and would call a spade a spade when they were not playing well. We all know Marc-Andre Fleury was a victim of his tirades many a time. How about calling out Crosby? Sure he is hurt but if he is ok enough to be in the line-up he should be ok enough to lead the team he is the captain of. Scoring just three goals is not acceptable considering his 8.7m/yr contract kicked in this season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins need to find units with each line, like most great teams, there are units or rather lines that stay together and are effective because of chemistry. Most of these lines show sparks throughout a few games and then start to click when they get each other’s timing right. Therrien can’t seem to keep players together long enough for that to happen. So far this season he has kept Malkin and Sykora together – which is the usual duo on the 2nd line, but Fedotenko, Staal and Kennedy, have shown great chemistry as well as Crosby and Talbot in the few games they have been together. A player like Satan will find a way to score and when Malkin was with Crosby, he did just that…on the third line.

The team is 8-4-2 through luck, consistency and chemistry throughout the line-up needs to be worked on by Therrien. The passive Michel Therrien is clearly not working with the work ethic this team has shown through 14 games. Maybe they will show a little more emotion when they face the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night. It’s the first time they face their Stanley Cup Finals opponents as well as ex-teammate Marian Hossa (No word on Conklin starting against his old team).

Mats Sundin this summer continued, over and over to say he did not know where he wanted to play this year. Throughout the summer, he still could not make a decision. This continued into the fall, and to this very day and counting. Some Leafs fans are hoping he comes back to the Leafs, while some just do not really care anymore.

I am one of those who sort of cares about whether he comes back to the Leafs. He would help this team dramatically, but only in the short term. This team would definitely be a playoff team with the way they are playing. Grabovski is playing very well, Antropov is also playing up to his “top 6 forward” ability. Right now, the Leafs are around a 10th place team. They are better than last year with a better coach and a better, more defensively sound game. Sundin would lift this team into a playoff position. He gets 30 goals a year consistently enough, and even at his age did it last year.

The Leafs are one team that are still in the running for him, but who else would like him on their team? The answer would probably be every team, but the other two teams that still really want him are the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks put a mammoth $10 million a year for 2 years deal on the table on July 1st.  For Mats, I do not understand why he has not taken this deal yet. It is an amazing amount of money to play on a team that could make the playoffs, and with him could go kind of deep into the playoffs. Oh, and it’s $10 million a year. Who would not like to have that as their yearly salary.

The second team, as stated, was the New York Rangers. This team has come right out of the gate with one of the best records in the NHL, and second best in the Eastern Conference. I am not sure of the contract numbers of the deal, but the Rangers would be a great team for Mats to play for. Of the teams that still really want him, this team has the best chance at winning the Stanley Cup, something that Mats deserves so much. They have guys like Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky, a good young talent. Oh, and Lundqvist in net (who?). They are one of the most complete teams in the league, and as stated above, the best team of the three still in the running for Sundin.

Who do I think Mats will sign with? The most logical would be the Rangers. If he wants to win the Stanley Cup, the Rangers would be the best team to be a part of. He could, however, feel a bit of loyalty and come back to the Leafs. Or feel a pinch of money and sign with Vancouver. Only time will tell, and right now, it is a bit of a crapshoot to where he goes.

My thoughts on tonights game as a whole are the same as I’ve pretty much thought all season.

“WHY AREN’T THEY THE FIRST LINE?”

Niklas Hagman, Mikhail Grabovski, and Nikolai Kulemin are by far the top line on this leafs team and they continued to prove it tonight with a stunning 6-3 win that would’ve been much better if Toskala hadn’t continued to be mediocre.

To start off, I can’t say enough about Grabovski. He’s just simply been on fire the last 4 games, getting six goals and two assists in that time. For a guy who had three goals in his 27 game career with the Montreal Canadiens, he’s looking pretty good now, with 7 in 15. That second rounder is looking less and less meaningful by the night, with him scoring a goal and adding an assist tonight.

Hagman was also fantabulous, potting two goals, with Nik Antropov, Pavel Kubina (my personal favourite leaf), and Alexei Ponikarovsky scoring the other goals. For the 11th straight time, the Leafs have outshot the opponents, and are now 6-5-4 on the year.

Robert Lang, Tomas Plekanec and Captain Saku Koivu scored for the Habs, who fall to an only somewhat amazing 8-2-2. They defintely didn’t go out quietly, with both Tom Kostopoulous and Sergei Kostitsyn being sent off by the end of the game.

Kostopolous made a boneheaded play, hitting Mike Van Ryn from behind. Van Ryn would be hurt on the play, and the most recent word coming from Toronto is that Van Ryn is in the hospital with a “head injury”, though CBC seems to think its just precautionary.

As for Kostitsyn, he felt as if he was entitled to being the 382nd guy of the night to run Mikhail Grabovski, and proceeded to request a fight from Grabo. Grabo seemed just as interested, but thanks to the referees already trying to get Sergei into the box, and Hagman telling Grabo to shut the **** up, that never happened and SKos got an extra ten minutes.

A goal was disallowed with 6:49 left to go, because Chris Higgins apparently doesn’t know where to place his stick.

All in all, a good game. Also, the pre-game ceremony was great. They had the normal HOF game honoring, plus their rememberance day extravaganza rolled into one. It was quite nice, really.