Ilya Kovalchuk to be Suspended? Think Again

Eric over at the FanHouse brought up a game of "Guess the Suspension" which, with Colin Campbell as disciplinarian, is always a crapshoot.

However I think this one has an easy answer. Zero.

The league has always gone a little soft on suspensions for star players and I can't see this one being any different.

Fortunately for Kovalchuk, you could spot Roszival glance over his shoulder and see Kovalchuk coming. That might be all Campbell needs to say "Players need to protect themselves better" and then hope it all goes away.

Remember the Ovechkin hit on Briere? Not only was he not suspended, Campbell didn't even give him any sort of verbal reprimand.

If that's not a double-standard, I don't know what is.

UPDATE: Shortly after publishing this, Kukla put up a link to the official announcement of a one-game suspension. I bet that'll teach him a lesson.

Notable quote from Kovalchuk:
“I just tried to finish my check, and he kind of turned right before I tried to hit him,” he said.

Dude, we've got it on video. Roszival had his back turned the whole time.

Related Links
Kovalchuk Hits Roszival Video

Ovechkin Signs Record Contract

It was reported very early at On Frozen Blog, TSN then said "Hang on a sec..." and now TSN is declaring it officially finished.

Yes, Alexander Ovechkin has shockingly re-signed with the Washington Capitals. My condolences to all Habs and Preds fans.

"What's the price?" you might be asking? Well it's the steepest price in history. It weighs in at a 13 years and a whopping $124M US. I have trouble fathoming having that amount of money.

"What is he going to do with it?" you might ask next? Whatever the hell he wants!

Alexander Ovechkin now has the richest contract in the NHL and the dollar values are well-deserved. He's scored more goals over the past 3 years than anyone in the NHL and he did it with virtually nobody around him.

However that begs the question of how you build a team when nearly 1/5th of your cap amount is going towards one player?

Add in contracts to Michael Nylander and Alexander Semin, both around $4.5M next year, and you've got the makings of a Tampa Bay Lightning squad.

Of course for now they have Olie the Goalie to shore up the pipes but he's a UFA at the end of the year and is 37 years of age.

He's not a long-term solution and they may not be able to afford a top-tier goaltender once they fill up their roster for next year.

Hopefully Mr. Mcphee can pull it off and start drawing some crowds so the other teams aren't paying for the privilege of having Ovechkin score against them!