NHLN notebook: Injuries, Stars taking liberties and prospects

Well folks, we are officially 1/5 of the way through the NHL season.

It is that time of year when the injury bug begins to claim its victims. Johnny Gaudreau, Steven Stamkos, Taylor Hall and Darren Helm are the latest four players to fall to the bug. Gaudreau broke his finger after being slashed, more on that below. Stamkos is out with a meniscus injury. Former Edmonton Oiler Hall suffered a meniscus injury as well, which will have him sidelined for three to four weeks. Helm suffered a dislocated shoulder, and will be sidelined for six weeks.

All three of these announcements game yesterday afternoon, and each will impact their respective teams in their own ways.

Hall and Stamkos will be missed greatly by their team, as both were major proponents to driving play for the Devils and Lightning respectively. Both players are elite NHLers.

While Darren Helm isn’t a barn burner, he is a bottom-six forward who is capable of holding his head above water. His individual point production is solid for who he is, but he has never been a possession driver for the Red Wings.

I think of all three injuries, Hall’s will effect his team the most. The Devils are clearly a team that has not had an elite level forward like Hall around for a while. Being an Oilers fan myself, I know how much he was missed when he wasn’t in the Oilers lineup.

We all want to live in a world where the NHL “protects” their stars. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case as Johnny Gaudreau took a few wicked slashes on the hand earlier this week. As we all know by now, Gaudreau is going to be missing sometime with a broken finger. 

To my knowledge, I think he is looking at being out four to six weeks. 

I listen to a lot of Calgary sports radio, and keep in the loop on the blogs and what not. I’ve seen a lot of people saying that “oh, if this was McDavid or Crosby we would be having a different conversation.” I’m not entirely sure that is true. 

I’ve watched a lot of Oilers hockey over the last two years, and I know for a fact that Connor McDavid rarely gets calls in his favour. In fact, he is often the one being penalized. 

While a dive is not nearly as egregoius as a slash, hooking and holding, tripping and steer wrestling are not allowed in the NHL. These are all dangerous penalty’s too and can cause guys to fall and get injured etc. It just goes to show that McDavid is not getting calls his way either, so I don’t buy the rhetoric that McDavid isn’t a targeted player.

The NHL needs to step in and lay the hammer down when it comes to the poor officiating the league is seeing. 

To start, if you haven’t listened to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie’s “Bobcasts” you really should. He is doing an A+ job so far with the show and is showing his non-hockey side that people are starting to get to know better.

“Bobby Margarita,” as he goes by in the offseason, spoke about Rasmus Dahlin who is a U-16 Swedish defenceman playing in Sweden right now. McKenzie noted that he was very impressed by the player in the recent U-16 tournament that recently took place in Sault St. Marie. 

Not long after his Bobcast was released, Dahlin did this dirty move:

Keep an eye out for him at the top of the 2018 NHL draft rankings. He is a player that is showing some No. 1 overall prowess.