Dropping the Gloves

ESPN's Scott Burnside

Atlanta-based sports journalist Scott Burnside has been covering hockey for ESPN.com since 2005. The award-winning writer took time away from the 2010 Stanley Cup Final to talk with PSR's Alex Nseir.

PSR: We saw some nasty headshots to players like Marc Savard, David Booth and Jordan Leopold this year. No suspensions were handed out for these plays. How serious is the NHL about preventing head injuries?

Burnside: I think they are serious about it but I think they are paralyzed in some way by trying to determine what is going to be a legal hit…and how they want players to play. What constitutes a legal hit and what constitutes something that is illegal. And I think they're scared of taking the physicality out of the game. For me…the NHL discipline has long been inconsistent. There is no rhyme nor reason for how suspensions are handed out or not. For me, Matt Cooke should have been suspended. He could have been suspended for intent to injure. Mike Richards could have been and should have been suspended for intent to injure on David Booth and it didn't happen. Now they have moved to introduce the rule to prevent blindside hits, which would in theory take care of the David Booth and the Marc Savard hits. Players would get a major penalty and be suspended. The GM's just voted on that the other day. So I understand being cautious about that element of things, but I think the league has been, in general, too inconsistent on how they hand out punishment for dangerous plays. Hopefully this penalty that they're going to introduce next year will eliminate some of those kinds of hits. And in fairness we haven't seen any of that kind since the Marc Savard hit. The Leopold hit for me, that's more of a straight on hockey shot. I didn't have a problem with that hit. It's a straight on, shoulder-to-head hit. That's the price you pay if you have your head down. We'll see how it turns out next year I suppose.

PSR: Should the NHL have taken a different route with the Winter Classic instead of putting the Penguins in again for the second time in four years? For example, could they have gone with the Capitals versus the Rangers at Yankee Stadium?

Burnside: No, I like what they've done actually. Yankee Stadium, certainly old Yankee Stadium, was a possibility, but there were all kinds of logistic elements to it. And now if I'm not mistaken Yankee Stadium is committed to hosting bowl games, so that makes that difficult to do. Frankly, this should not be a democracy. This shouldn't be a shared thing. With all due respect to teams like Atlanta, they should never be in the Winter Classic. To me, it's about showcasing your greatest assets. Maybe at some point when Atlanta wins a Stanley Cup, OK maybe they can be in the Winter Classic, but it should be about showcasing your best talent on the best possible stage. That's why Wrigley was so successful, and the game at Fenway last year was dynamic. I have no doubt that the game at Heinz Field will be just as dynamic, with two of the greatest stars in the game on the ice. I don't think it matters if it's a smaller group of teams that plays this game on this stage, because that's just what the stage is about. And I don't think you have to pander to the lowest common denominator – to markets like Atlanta and Carolina. They get drafts; they get All-Star Games. So there is a mechanism to allow those markets to share an NHL experience. But to me (the Winter Classic) is really about who are the best teams, what's the best stage. And that's the way it should be.

PSR: Even with the superstars and outdoor games, will the NHL ever capture the elusive casual American hockey fan-base?

Burnside: I think they are, though. You look at the ratings for this Stanley Cup Final are through the roof. The ratings for the Winter Classic have been strong. I think that's why you can't afford to (put every team in the Winter Classic). Again, no disrespect to a team like Nashville, but will the casual fan watch a game between Nashville and Columbus? No, they won't. They're not going to watch that. If Nashville gets to a Stanley Cup Final, who knows. Maybe the casual fan will love them as an underdog team or whatever. But I think we spend a lot of time worrying about ratings and how the game plays. Again, I think the Winter Classic is a great stage for that. The Olympics were that kind of event that appealed to the casual fan. When you see Canada and the U.S. playing in the Gold Medal game, and the game goes to overtime, is there a better vehicle to promote your game? I'm not sure there is. That's where you see the casual fan. And I think maybe that's what we're seeing this spring with two good, big hockey markets that are in the Final, but maybe that's a function of why the game is on an upsurge. Its got all kinds of great young talent. The game is compelling. Playoffs this year have been unbelievable, with Montreal upsetting Washington and Pittsburgh, and Philly coming back from 3-0 against Boston. All of this goes into making the game much more appealing to the casual fan.

PSR: What are your thoughts on Washington's recent 10-year, $67 million signing of center Nicklas Backstrom? Do the Caps have too much time and money tied up in Backstrom and Ovechkin?

Burnside: With these things you're always rolling the dice. I mean, with Ovechkin I don't see how you can go wrong. If you can lock him up for 20 years, why wouldn't you? He's a dynamic player, one of the greatest players in the world. The same way that the Penguins will always want to lock up Crosby, and I'll assume they'll always want to lock up Malkin long-term, too. The longer you have them under contract the more stable your franchise is. The downside is if a player goes into decline. What is Nicklas Backstrom's contract – 10 years? What happens when halfway through that, he starts to decline. But he's young enough that that shouldn't be an issue. That's the risk that management takes. Other than signing him to a five-year deal and then finding out that he's worth twice as much money when he enters the fifth year of his contract. It is a risk-reward thing. To me, the danger is when you give a young player that much term and that much money, I think it's fair to ask at what point does motivation become an issue. I think you have to believe in your heart of hearts that Nicklas Backstrom is going to bring it every single night, regardless of whether he's coming into a contract year or whatever. That said, he's a world-class talent. He's among the top three or four centers in the NHL right now.

PSR: Montreal's Cinderella Story was compelling. But is it fair to say that they were often outplayed by both Washington and Pittsburgh?

Burnside: I think certainly that was the case in Washington. I think less so against Pittsburgh. It was a very strange series for Pittsburgh. Having covered all 14 of those games, I'm not sure that Pittsburgh did outplay them by wide stretches. They couldn't get the job done, and frankly Marc-Andre Fleury didn't play as well as he needed to play to give them a chance to win that series in five or six games, which would have been optimal for the Penguins. And he didn't play very well in game seven. But certainly against Washington the Canadiens were outplayed. They were down 3-1, and even for them to come back - a lot of that was the goaltender, Jaroslav Halak, and very opportunistic scoring by the Canadiens. At the end of the day the Capitals allowed a 3-1 series lead to get away from them. I think that was probably the bigger upset than the Canadiens beating Pittsburgh, because I thought that series was much more even.

PSR: Marc-Andre Fleury has been the target of criticism and doubt after this season and playoffs. Is he worthy of his salary and status?

Burnside: I've got all kinds of time for Marc-Andre Fleury. I think anyone who is overly critical of him needs only to look at how he played in the last two springs, and specifically how he played in the Stanley Cup Final in Detroit. There is a man who stood on his head, made absolutely crucial stops in game six and seven and game four before that. The kid was a rock. In fact, I had argued all along that he should have been given a shot to be the starter of the Canadian Olympic team, which frankly was never really in the cards. He just didn't play that well in the playoffs. That's the reality. He just did not play well enough for that team to succeed. And I think next year will be interesting to see how does he battle back, how does he respond. Because he's obviously shown that he can deliver the goods when it matters most. Bottom- line is he didn't do it this year, and now he'll have to redeem himself next year. But for what he's done for that franchise, I don't think anyone should be throwing him under the bus.

PSR: Which free agents should be the biggest priority for the Penguins this summer?

Burnside: I assume there is going to be room for Bill Guerin. I think he wants to play and I think they'll find room for him. Obviously the big one is Sergei Gonchar. What do you do with Gonchar? Can you give him enough term to keep your dollar value down, so that it works against the salary cap? Or does he want too much? I guess that's going to be the issue. He's a terrific player. I don't think he had a particularly good series against the Canadiens, either. He certainly didn't have a good game seven. He's a great player and a world-class talent. He was a big part of that Cup win and the Final run the year before, so if you can keep him, you keep him I think. But if you can't, and I think when you look at the Chris Letang signing, maybe that does pave the way to Gonchar being cut loose, in which case now there's money that maybe you can try and find a younger player. There a couple of people – a guy like Paul Martin, (29-year-old defenseman from the New Jersey Devils). If Sergei Gonchar is not there then maybe you commit your assets there. But if you can keep Sergei Gonchar I think you do. I think Fedotenko is going to be gone, Jordan Leopold will be gone. I think they'd like to keep Matt Cooke. I think he is a very effective player, and obviously playing with Jordan Staal represents one of the best penalty-killing duos in the NHL. So I wouldn't be surprised to see Guerin, Cooke and Gonchar all stay, as long as Gonchar's contract demands aren't too out of line with what the Penguins' salary cap constraints are.

PSR: Which direction do you see the Penguins taking in the draft?

Burnside: I don't think they have any glaring needs. For them I think it's always going to be about finding enough skilled wingers to play with Malkin, Crosby and Staal. As long as you can develop top young defenseman, you have Goligoski and Kris Letang, who have proven to be certainly better than average NHL defensemen. But (the Penguins) are a team that's built down the middle right now; so the more assets you have that can foreseeably play alongside guys like Crosby, and Malkin and Staal, if you can develop them yourself, then you don't have to trade for them. You don't have to sign them as free agents. The Penguins have done a very good job of identifying good, young talent. Their scouting staff is excellent – so I just expect that they'll be doing probably what they have been doing all along.

PSR: Speaking of skilled wingers, the Penguins sent Luca Caputi to Toronto to Alexei Ponikarovsky. Not an easy trade to swallow in retrospect. Will losing Caputi be significant for the Pens moving forward?

Burnside: Ponikarovsky won't be back, either. Ray Shero has a pretty good track record of finding trade-deadline wingers to bolster that lineup. This one turned out not to work. Frankly, I liked it at the time of the deal. He's a big body. He's shown he can score. He should have been able to fit in either with Malkin or Crosby, and simply couldn't hack it. To me, though, if you're a team like the Penguins and every year you are a legitimate Stanley Cup threat, then every year it behooves Ray Shero to go out and try and add that extra piece. That's how it gets done. Does Luca Caputi become an 80-point guy? I don't know. I don't think he's that kind of player. In hindsight could they have kept him and been better off? They certainly wouldn't have been any worse off given the way that Ponikarovsky played. But you don't get the do-overs in this kind of work. To me, it's a risk always worth taking. In this case it didn't work out. But Ray's got a pretty good track record of making these kinds of deals pay giant dividends.

PSR: Some people have suggested that player fatigue from playing so much hockey, and perhaps a lack of structure under Dan Bylsma contributed to an early exit from the playoffs this spring. Are these theories valid?

Burnside: I'm not sure that the structure thing is fair. I think it's fair to say fatigue was a factor. Look at the Red Wings, who played essentially the same number of games the Penguins did the last three years, and they crumbled against San Jose in the second round. The Wings went through a whole horrific series of injuries during the regular season, but I think it's fair (to say fatigue was a factor). It's a lot of hockey. It's not just the physical fatigue, it's the mental fatigue. When you think about the emotional drain of going to two Stanley Cup Finals in a row, the Olympics for the players that played in the Olympics – just what is demanded of players on an emotional level. It's enormous, and it's hard to stay at that level year after year. Again I think it will be interesting to see how they do next year, because they will have had that first real disappointment after winning a Cup.

PSR: Would you mind sharing your pick for the Hart Trophy?

Burnside: I voted this year for Alexander Ovechkin. I fear that for the second year in a row my vote will have gone for naught, though. I voted for Malkin last year and Ovechkin won, and I have a suspicion that it will be Sidney Crosby, although this year's vote is really interesting because Ovechkin missed 10 games and still his point total was incredible. I think the argument on behalf of Crosby, and it's a valid one, is that Malkin was hurt and had an off year for him production-wise; so it was Crosby that carried the team much more offensively this year. The Sedin thing is interesting because of the fact that the bulk of his point total is assists. I had him third on my ballot just because, fair or not, you have to score in the NHL, and it's harder to score than to get assists. I think it will be a very tight vote between Ovechkin and Crosby and will just add to the dynamic that exists between the two players.