Flyers Fan Sue Over Winter Classic Tickets

The Philadelphia Flyers are being sued by season ticket holders. Not over their recent series loss to the Devils, but over a possible breach of contract. Flyers season ticket holders bought tickets for 44 games before the season. That's 41 home games and 3 pre-season games. When the tickets arrived, there were only 43 tickets plus a fake ticket for the Winter Classic. It contained instructions on how to purchase Winter Classic tickets. And the threat that season ticket holders MUST purchase Winter Classic tickets. Not just the Flyers / Rangers game, but tickets to the Alumni Game and AHL game had to be purchased as well. And therein lies the rub. Past Winter Classic hosts have traditionally given Season Ticket Holders the first opportunity to purchase tickets to the Classic. But not forced them too. Even a force would be okay if it was understood before the purchase. ...more to come...

Massive Suspension for Torres

In the biggest, longest suspension for Shanahan and the longest by far in the NHL post season, Raffi Torres has been suspended 25 games.

Yes.  25 games. 

As in absolutely no chance of playing again this postseason and probably the first bit of next season.



Shanahan is making an example of Torres while easing investor's worries and sending a message to the rest of the NHL.  Stop playing dangerously in the post season.

From the NHL:

Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres  has been suspended for 25 games for launching himself to deliver a late hit to the head of Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa during Game 3 of the teams' Western Conference Quarterfinal playoff series in Chicago on Tuesday, April 17, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today.

Should the 25 games not be served by the conclusion of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the remaining games of the suspension will carry over into the following regular season. Torres will be prohibited from playing in any preseason games until he has served this 25-game suspension (playoff and regular-season games).

Should the suspension carry over to next season, because he is classified as a repeat offender under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Torres will forfeit $21,341.46 in salary for every regular-season game in which he is ineligible to play.

The incident occurred at 11:42 of the first period. Hossa suffered an injury as a result of the hit.

Torres already has served one game of this suspension, Game 4 of the series in Chicago on Thursday, April 19.  

More analysis later.

Torres Suspended Indefinately

Phoenix's Raffi Torres deferred his in person hearing for a hit on Chicago's Hossa. Torres has been indefinately suspended meaning he will not be in Game 4. From the NHL:

Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres has been suspended indefinitely, pending an in-person hearing Friday, April 20, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today. The hearing, which had been planned for today, was deferred at the request of the player and the National Hockey League Players' Association.

The hearing will be convened at the NHL's New York office for a hit Torres delivered to Chicago forward Marian Hossa 12:42 into the first period of Game 3 of the teams' Western Conference Quarterfinal series in Chicago on Tuesday, April 17.

Hossa left the game on a stretcher. Torres could be waiting to see how serious Hossa was injured to get the most appropriate punishment since Shanahan has said that suspension length is somewhat based on severity of injury. Because of the deferment, Torres will get a minimum 5 game suspension (as I understand it). He should get much much more.

Torres was fined $2500 for an elbow on December 29 and suspended two games for a charge on December 31.

All of this has left investors nervous.

"They're paying us a lot of money to associate with our brand," said NHL COO John Collins who came to the NHL from the NFL. "So when our brand is under attack in the press on issues as serious as player safety, they want to know that the league is on top of it and has a plan for dealing with it and hear the league articulate it. That feedback is always going to be there."

"It affects the business, our ability to attract new fans, to grow the business, to attract other blue-chip advertisers and brands (who want) to associate with the games," said Collins, who joined the NHL five years ago. "It also affects our ability to attract casual fans who maybe haven't watched all year and now they're hearing the buzz about the game."

Torres joins the list of suspensions as James Neal, Arron Asham and Nicklas Backstrom have all been suspended too.

Shanahan Explains Decisions

Shanahan has taken a lot of heat for his decisions. And he is doing exactly what I would want him to do: talk about it.

He has issued three suspensions so far in the post season, with more expected very soon.

While I'm a little surprised that Weber wasn't suspended, Shanahan says it was the lack of injury that was a deciding factor.

"I looked at that one, and I'm not happy with that play. I'll say on the bigger picture too: If I made a decision that people didn't agree with, or a day or two later, you got that one wrong, a week later they'd try to hold me to that standard and question by consistency if I move forward.

"The playoffs evolve. The game evolves. I have to try and keep evolving with them. It's not like the regular season where every team has 82 games to play, and there's equal footing. They change depending on the score of the series or how many games are left in the series.

"I investigated that hit. I called Detroit that night. I think that he pushed his face in the glass. I was very close to a 1-game suspension on that. When I talked to Detroit [GM Ken Holland], he basically said that the player was fine.

"I think it's a fair argument. A $2,500 fine is as high as we can fine a player."

He also addressed the three game suspension to Hagelin and the one game on Carkner:

"I think they're different plays. The difference between the two, right off the hop, is that there's a head injury and concussion on one and there's no injury on the other. Now, that doesn't mean one guy gets off and the other guy doesn't.

"But when we looked at the play between Carkner and Boyle, Carkner asks Boyle to fight in response to going after their small star player in the game before. [Ed. Note: Shanahan said Carkner asked Boyle to fight off the faceoff.] Boyle doesn't fight back, which I don't blame him — I probably wouldn't have either. He does hit 'em in the face, he drops 'em. As was said to us in the hearing, he hit him with five more punches, and they were in the arm, shoulder and back — not in the head. But he thought that was excessive.

"So Boyle stands up, is fine, doesn't miss a shift. Whereas unfortunately with an elbow to the head … I do think Carl Hagelin's a good kid, but he looks right at Daniel Alfredsson, skates at him and elbows him right in the head. Alfredsson has to leave a big game, an important game and doesn't come back."

Shanahan is doing a good job. I will argue that with anyone. There is a lot (a whole lot) of people thinking that he is not doing enough or really going to far. He's been accussed of playing favorites and selectively punishing. I don't think that's a fair arguement. He has explained every decision. With video for the suspensions.

He acknowledges the punishment is different in playoffs depending on situation. I'm not as big of a fan of that, but I am a fan of the fact that it's just the punishments that are being tweaked, not the whole concept of supplimental discipline. It keeps players in the same safety mindset they have (or will eventually build) in the regular season.

Look, say what you will, but the man has opened the curtain into the world of the Department of Player Safety much more than it has ever been before. And that is a great thing for the sport. Building this foundation is not easy or quick. I feel that, assuming this transparency structure remains in tact, that in five years it will be much less of an issue. Yeah, fans will still argue of favoritism and such. But that's what fans do. They are fanatics, die hards that root for their team no matter what and anything against their team is essentially bad. Neutral analysis though will hopefully be more fair.

The whole thing of having all these penalties, especially in the playoffs, will just take some getting used to. Like any new rule change.

Atlanta Braves to Retire Smoltz's Number June 8

The Atlanta Braves will pay tribute to former pitcher John Smoltz on Friday, June 8 by inducting him into the Braves Hall of Fame and retiring his uniform number. The uniform number retirement will occur in a pregame ceremony that night before the Braves take on the Toronto Blue Jays.

For tickets to the game, click here.

This is fantastic. Smoltz is one of my favorite players of all time.

I'm excited for this. It will be the 9th number retired by the team (10 including the MLB wide retirement of Jackie Robinson's 42).