Good luck to Jordan Eberle, nominated for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

It was great to see Eberle nominated for the Lady Byng. At times this award is joked about amongst the players in the NHL due to the nature of the league. Even the very name hurts! Still, I think he should be very proud.

Most NHL players view themselves as hard-nosed athletes. The concept of playing a whole season and only getting a few penalties goes against most players’ view of themselves. I played with a few guys, top end players, who would always want to get a five minute major over the course of the year. It didn’t matter if it was a fighting or highsticking major, they wanted to have an uneven number in the penalty minute column! They thought uneven number in the penalty column made them look tougher! Ha!

Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Kariya and Ron Francis are just a few of the great players to have won the award. Talk about elite neighbors to have your name next to.

Looking at the other players nominated – Brian Campbell and Matt Moulson – there’s no question that Eberle is in good company. Jordan elevated his game big time this year. I hope he wins and then moves on to other trophies like the Hart or Conn Smythe in the future.

I like Chris Neil of the Senators. He is the type of player the Oilers could use. He plays just barely within the rules, fights for the right reasons and scores goals by going to the hard areas. But I didn’t like what I saw last night.

He got into a fight with Brandon Prust of the Rangers. Midway through the fight he raised his hand to the crowd for them to cheer. Then on his way off the ice he again played to the crowd.

I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS!!!

This isn’t wrestling! Show that you have been in a fight before by not turning into Ric Flair. At its best, fighting in hockey is about earning another players respect, not getting on TV.

He isn’t the first guy to do this but if the NHL wants to change its rough image start here. I think the NHL should make a statement by at least fining him.