As a welcome change of pace, there has been a rash of stupidity in hockey that has surfaced in the news over the last few days, and it didn't have anything to do with the lockout. To answer Justin's prayers, I'll tackle Markus Naslund's comments on Steve Moore's lawsuit first.

Long story short, Naslund has been ripping into Moore because he's launching a lawsuit in the first place. "This isn't about the hit," Naslund said about the suit. Of course it is, Markus. If there was NHL hockey to be played right now, Steve Moore wouldn't be able to participate in it because he was hit with a vicious sucker-punch, and at some time during the scrum that followed - likely when Todd Bertuzzi fell on top of him - his neck was broken. "Hockey players take hits and give hits," Naslund continued. Well, sure they do. I bet that's the first thing that Donald Brashear thought of when amateur lumberjack Marty McSorley took a swing at his head during a Canucks/Bruins game a few years ago: "Gee, that sure did hurt, and it was cheap (I should know); but getting my head taken off in a particularly brutal manner is just part of the game." Moore has lost his ability to partake in his livelihood - at least for the moment - and both Canadian and American law give him the right to seek financial restitution, whether or not his teammates indicate to Mr. Naslund that Moore "doesn't have a lot of support in hockey." This just reminds me of when Naslund whined that the seven-second delay on Coach's Corner should have been longer, because Don Cherry's comments offended him so deeply (when fellow Swede Daniel Alfredsson was asked his opinion about Grapes, he responded that he really didn't care, and that he found Cherry's quotes humourous and entertaining, if memory serves).

Meanwhile, the coach of the UHL's Motor City Mechanics has been suspended for putting a $200 bounty on the head of Flint General Kevin Kerr. Kerr expressed his displeasure with NHL "hypocrites" who came to play in the United Hockey League just a day before the incident allegedly took place, and it isn't a long leap in logic to speculate that Mechanics coach Steve Shannon wanted to get back at Kerr for badmouthing the team's new acquisitions. Shannon reportedly offered the money to his players in the hopes that one of them would take Kerr out. I find this absolutely disgusting, not just as a hockey fan or a sports fan, but as a human being. It's not the first time a coach has told his players to go headhunting, and it certainly won't be the last, but that doesn't make it any less despicable of a manoeuvre. At any rate, Shannon has been suspended for the remainder of the regular season as well as the playoffs, with assistant coach John Blum being suspended for the next 10 games. It's good to see that the league's brass are taking a no-nonsense approach, but they have to be disappointed that after the Mechanics first announced the signings of Chris Chelios and Derian Hatcher, sending a ripple of interest throughout the North American hockey community, Motor City's team has lately become a magnet for bad press (also see Feb.12 post, "Hi, I'm Sean Avery, and I can't shut my yap"). On top of all this, the team currently occupies last place in the league. I'll bet that's a fun dressing room to sit in!