– A little bit surprised by the moral outrage over the seemingly harmless incident between Chris Neil and Johan Franzen late in last night’s game. Franzen was the best player on the ice for the Wings last night but also the most annoying. Dirty stick work and then yapping at Neil after the whistle a couple times. I understand that Franzen is just returning from a concussion but if you’re worried about getting hit in the head, don’t run around instigating. Simple as that. I was actually impressed by Neil’s restraint considering the circumstance.
-The two call ups were probably the lone bright spots on an otherwise ugly night at the CTC. Mike Hoffman was flying from the moment the puck was dropped and looked like a guy that deserves to be an NHL regular. And hats off to Andrew Hammond who made his NHL debut in relief of Robin Lehner. He looked very good in his half a game audition.
-Speaking of Robin Lehner, sort of an intense moment at the Ottawa bench between the Head Coach and his goalie. I’m sure the message was all positive but I can’t recall ever seeing a moment like that on the Ottawa bench. Would be interesting to know exactly what was said during the exchange.
-Last night was a pretty strong indication that “rentals” should not be the approach leading up to the deadline. If Murray is going to make a deal, it should be for someone that has at least another year on his contract and fits in with the team beyond this season. Obviously defence is an issue that needs to be addressed but I really don’t think there are many reasonable (affordable) options on the market.
