Hockey fighting, Team Europe and Nichushkin (Puck Daddy Countdown)

8 – Letting kids beat the hell out of each other

Good lord how does the NHL continue to allow guys to fight in rookie tournaments?

This has been a rather unfortunate aspect of these kinds of exhibition camps for some time now, and it’s easy to see why. Kids who have little to no shot at making the big roster think they can impress decision-makers by getting into fights to show they’ll stick up for their teammates even in the most meaningless of settings.

But then stuff like this happens:

And frankly, Hawryluk got off a little easy. A broken hand is one thing. A concussion that can potentially jeopardize your entire career is entirely another. And while very few players in their late teens and early 20s find themselves sidelined for the rest of their lives with concussions, even one can start the snowball rolling down the hill and picking up terrifying momentum.

The NHL is unlikely to legislate fighting out of the game, and if it ever does it probably won’t be for years to come. It can, however, take basic steps to ensure that kids with their entire careers and lives ahead of them don’t waste everyone’s time and their own health in these wholly uninteresting, inconsequential games.

This is something the league should have done years ago. Hell, junior leagues are already ahead of them on this issue. Why drag your feet?

7 – Oh actually, here’s another thing about fighting

Y’know how people have looked at a lot of data and found that having a guy on your roster who’s willing to fight doesn’t deter the “rats” from low-bridging, boarding, or head-shotting people? Turns out, there’s more data now to show it doesn’t even stop guys from taking hits.

The mathematical impact is this: With a “deterrent” on the team who’s willing to fight, the average player will absorb one fewer hit than he would without that guy. Oh sorry, that’s one fewer hit every 12 games. That’s about seven fewer hits a year. Of course that’s per-player, so really it reduces the number of total hits you absorb by like 126, or 1.5 for the whole team per game. That’s not nothing, but it’s also almost nothing.

Meanwhile, those deterrents tend to also be bad at hockey. So why have them around in the first place? Most teams don’t bother any more. That’s the good news. The bad news is that some still do, despite mounting evidence that it’s a bad idea.

That is, however, very predictable.

6 – Val Nichushkin

So off goes Valeri Nichushkin, the former No. 10 overall pick, back to the KHL and leaving the Stars with a bit of a question mark as far as right wing depth goes.

One imagines this will be a short stint overseas, as his contract comes with an NHL opt-out next summer. Nichushkin is an interesting study in the whole “fear of Russians thing.” He had a decent rookie season — 14-20-34 as an 18-year-old is pretty solid — but then was derailed by injury as a sophomore (just 8 games played) then shot just 6.5 percent last season.

And despite that, he was sixth on the Stars in 5-on-5 points per 60 — more than Patrick Sharp — and also got the third-fewest power play minutes on the team. Not like he was put in a position to succeed points-wise.

Nonetheless, there’s obviously room for improvement even if you account for injuries, usage, and bad luck, and certainly Dallas is trending in the right direction in terms of packing the roster with talent. But I have a lot of time for a player with his skill level, especially because he only turned 21 in March. If he’s back next season, maybe a full year in the top-six on a good KHL will have done him some good. Probably more than another year on the third line or worse in Dallas.

5 – Extinction events

Gnash over here like, “Tell me about it.”

4 – Boys will be boys

Remember when the North American kids tuned up Finland and everyone was like “THIS IS INCREDIBLE HOW DID THEY DO IT THEY’RE SO YOUNG!!!!”

Yeah, turns out having a team with five of the last six No. 1 overall picks is gonna really give you a good chance to beat a team with KHL players on it. Weird. Wild. The extent to which age and experience is overvalued in this league cannot be understated and indeed, here’s some well-intentioned words from Red Wings senior VP Jim Devellano:

“You give me Team North America and I’d win a Stanley Cup with them within two years. They’re better than 20 teams in the NHL right now.”

Sounds very nice of Devellano to say that, but the reality is they’re better than 29 teams in the NHL right now, and I might be convinced to go the full 30 depending upon who the coach is and given the ability to add another defenseman or two.

But the league-wide deference to seniority reared its head once again pretty much the second Matt Murray conceded the 2-1 goal on Monday night. Did you think they slew that dragon with one win?

Nah, dude. They lost because they’re inexperienced and got a reality check that they aren’t as good as we were all busy saying they were just 24 hours earlier. Extenuating circumstances — less rest than the Russians, missing their No. 1 defenseman, not getting any bounces, playing against a world-class goaltender, Russia flat-out needed the win — be damned.

Especially because, guess what: Once the kids were down a few goals (Murray conceded on three straight shots), they pushed all in. In the space of a little more than 20 minutes, they went from minus-5 in shot attempts to finish the game plus-30. Not a typo: Plus-thirty. They drew penalties, they created chances by the bushel. They just didn’t score all three goals they needed.

What do you think the odds are that a game in which you out-attempt your opponent 81-51 in all situations end up being a 4-3 loss on a consistent basis? Team North America’s adjusted possession is almost 63.4 percent through two games, and they’ve looked to be in charge for let’s say 115 of their 120 minutes so far. Russia scored all four of its goals in like nine minutes. Other than that they were getting shelled.

The ease with which a 23-and-under All-Star team would destroy the entire league would terrify the cavemen in the NHL and its attendant media. A full season of Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, and Connor McDavid playing in front of Colton Parayko and Aaron Ekblad? There’s only one way that goes. We all understand that fundamentally. But apparently lots of people hate seeing that in actual practice.

3 – Russell to the Oilers

If the Oilers sign Kris Russell I will legit never stop laughing. They balked at PK Subban’s $9 million price tag but paying Milan Lucic $6 million and then Kris Russell as much as $5 million is a good idea? Maybe that team just doesn’t deserve nice things at all. Maybe it’s all cosmic payback for Peter Pocklington and all those Cups in the 80s.

2 – Team Europe

Two wins from as many games, but hey, they played the minnows, right?

Honestly, it was easy to underrate this team because their defense is held together with scotch tape and spit. And the forward depth was, shall we say, lacking. But the top two lines and the team structure and (mostly) Jaroslav Halak are what’s keeping them going with two wins in as many games.

Good for them, too. Ralph Krueger is a good coach who got something of a raw deal in Edmonton — although y’know, get in line, pal — so for him to come out of this looking like a very smart guy seems only fair, to be honest.

1 – Fun hockey

I love those North America boys. They have this sport figured the hell out. Hopefully more people try to emulate their style.

(Not ranked this week: John Tortorella.

This isn’t going well for dude. Shocking turn of events.)

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All statistics via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)