AHL to experiment with one-minute minors in OT

Greg Wyshynski, over at Puck Daddy, has reported that the AHL will, at the behest of the NHL, experiment with one-minute minor penalties in regular season overtime games next season.

The theory is the same one that Jacques Martin has used every time his Panthers team commits a penalty in overtime. The four-on-three advantage for a full two minutes is usually too much for the offending team to deal with. He links to an article in the Toronto Star, which tells us just how damaging that scenario is:

This season, 39 per cent of the penalties in OT that have resulted in a 4-on-3 power play have produced the winning goal in NHL games. It stands to reason, Campbell said, that one-minute penalties will produce fewer goals, and therefore more games will go to shootouts.

He goes on to bring up another of the points behind this experiment. A two minute minor in regulation is 10% of a period, or 3.33 % of the entire game. A two minute minor in overtime is 40 % of the period. The argument is that the punishment is much more severe for the same crime.

The way it would actually be practiced is kinda silly, especially in regards to carry-over penalties. Any remaining time from a regulation penalty would be cut in half entering the overtime period. If a player commits a hooking penalty at 19:20 of regulation serves the first 40 in regulation, then only has to serve 40 more seconds in overtime as opposed to the 80 that he actually owes. Wyshynski tells us what he thinks of that:

"Raise your hand if you think a defensive player might kill or maim to prevent a goal knowing that his team would only be shorthanded for, at most, under a minute in the OT?"

I'm with Puck Daddy on this one. I don't like it. You put youself in a serious hole if you commit penalties in overtime, so the solution is to be better disciplined. In my opinion, that is exactly the point. It should be set up so that you're very much behind the eight-ball if you commit an overtime penalty. That's the beauty and the difficulty of it. Every mistake is magnified.

I don't like the idea of comparing overtime to regulation. They're not the same. Nothing about them is the same. We all know that officiating standards are not the same in the extra frame as they are in regulation. Teams are already getting a break on law enforcement, and I don't think they should get an additional break on sentencing.

I suppose the next thing will be to play the full overtime period instead of sudden death. Either that, or they just stop playing overtime altogether and go straight from regulation to shootout. I'm against both of those ideas. They seem like ideas that might be brought up in rules committee meetings, but I hope they never are. The first quote that I lifted seems to suggest that the NHL wants more games going to shootout. They think that the fans and players like it. They think wrong.

In addition to the one minute minor experiment, the AHL is going to modify its rulebook to parrot that of the NHL. Specifically, they're going to change their rules about icing, high-sticking and delay of game (puck over glass).

Sutter scores game winner

On Friday, while the big team crapped the bed, the Albany River Rats continued to play good hockey. They beat the Norfolk Admirals 5-2, and Brandon Sutter notched the game winner in just his third AHL game. In three games, the 2007 Hurricanes top pick has one goal and one assist.

With four games remaining on the schedule, the Rats have all but locked up a Calder Cup playoff spot. They need just one standings point, or for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to lose just one of their remaining six games.

Rookie sensation Jerome Samson, who may vie for a spot on the Hurricanes, scored his 21st of the season.

Michael Leighton, who leads the AHL in all goaltending categories, picked up his 28th win of the season. Look for him to join the big team next season.

The same two teams will square off tonight, and again on Wednesday.

canes, river rats on tv tonight

Tonight the Hurricanes will play the Rangers in the fifth game of a six-game homestand.

While the Hurricanes attempt to extend their hot streak, their top minor league affiliate Albany River Rats will be playing a game against the Rochester Amerks. That game will be part of the NHL Network's AHL coverage.

I won't be able to watch either game, but I'll have the dvr working overtime.

As expected, Tim Gleason will not play tonight. The good news is that defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (ankle) has a good chance of playing.

The other good news is that Tuomo Ruutu (henceforth referred to as "Rudy" or "Rooty" or "Ruuty") will be back in the lineup. Our friend The Sliding Pokecheck has a great post about the amount of character this guy is already displaying. There's also a great picture of him at a press conference yesterday. Looking like Frankenstein's monster, but with a huge grin on his face like he couldn't be happier.

He'll play with a cage mask tonight. At least he'll attempt to play.

Eventually, I'll have a NHR post about the completely ridiculous display of asshattery last night in a college basketball game. In brief: In the Duke/Georgia Tech game, a GaTech player took a charge and hit his head against the floor very hard. He was clearly, clearly concussed. Instead of being taken to the room, he sat on the bench with his eyes rolling around in his head. He sat there for a while, then was SENT BACK INTO THE GAME by their idiot coach. On the floor, he looked worse than he did on the bench. His eyes were rolling and fluttering. He was shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, trying to remove the cobwebs and regain his focus. It was a completely asinine move by the coach, putting the boy's health in very serious jeopardy. His mother was in the stands, and I hope she went to kick the coach's ass after the game.

Anyway, both the Canes game and the River Rats game begin at 7:00. The Rats are on a bit of a streak of their own, and it should be a treat to watch.

As far as the Canes game is concerned, it will be another Staal/Staal matchup and a chance for Canes fans to lustily boo Sean Avery.

Hurricanes to have their own AHL team. Plus, musical chairs

This is something that hasn't been talked about very much, and it is sort of a big deal, so here goes...

Next season, the American Hockey League will expand from 27 teams to 29. Every NHL team has at the very least, a joint affiliation with one or more AHL squads. For the last four seasons, Carolina has split an AHL team with another NHL squad. Now they will be back to having an exclusive affiliation.

For the 2003-04 season and also during the lockout, Carolina split the Lowell Lock Monsters with Calgary. This is how the Canes became familiar with, and how they ultimately courted Mike Commodore.
For the 2005-06 season, Carolina split Lowell with Colorado.
Last season, Carolina split the Albany River Rats with Colorado.

For next season, Colorado will be affiliated with the "expansion" Lake Erie Monsters. They technically aren't an expansion team because they're just the rebirth of the dormant Utah Grizzlies franchise. Now that the Avs are gone, Carolina will have Albany all to themselves. It's always been the case that the AHL team bore the Carolina logo somewhere on their sweater, and Carolina was always the "primary" interest, but now it will be all theirs. No more figuring out if the Rats players are ours or theirs.

The other "new" team will be the Rockford (Illinois) Ice Hogs. They are a rebirth of the dormant Cincinnati Mighty Ducks franchise. They will be the sole property of the Blackhawks.

Annnnnnnd..... there's a game of musical chairs.

Chicago had previously used the Norfolk Admirals as their AHL Affiliate. The Admirals will now be affiliated with the Lightning.

Tampa had previously used the Springfield (Massachusetts) Falcons as their affiliate. The Falcons will now be associated with Edmonton.

Last season, Edmonton had their hands in five different AHL teams. Two seasons ago, they forced the Edmonton Road Runners out of business, and the scrambled to share AHL affiliates for the 06 and 07 seasons.

So far as I can tell, the Panthers will still latch on to the Rochester Americans. who are primarily operated by the Sabres.

And speaking of the River Rats, the Hurricanes have signed 22-year old centerman Jakub Petruzalek to a two-year two-way contract which will pay the Czech $475K at the NHL level or $55K at the AHL level. After being acquired via trade with the Rangers last autumn, Petruzalek amassed 28 (10/18) points in 54 games with Albany. He also added four points (2/2) in five playoff games for the River Rats.