April 10, 2012, notes column for HockeyPrimeTime.com

Penguins enveloped in unanswerable maelstrom

Columns
	Written by Denis Gorman
Monday, April 09, 2012 22:56
The Pittsburgh Penguins get a negative perception from opposing coaches and players. Is their visibility the cause or is perception actually reality?  It is not exactly breaking news that the Pittsburgh Penguins have long been one of the NHL’s most visible teams. This week, though, the organization’s notoriety has focused on its league-wide perception as Peter Laviolette, Craig Berube, Danny Briere and John Tortorella proffered pointed charges against Western Pennsylvania’s Atlantic Division franchise in a five-day span. Words such as “gutless,” and “arrogant” were used to describe the Penguins as a whole while “whining” and “dirty” were attached to stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Which, in turn, led to questions about whether or not the Penguins enjoy most favored franchise status from the league.   Let’s be clear. The debate of whether or not the Penguins are villains is one that will not end with unilateral concurrence. But it should not be overlooked that the Penguins have employed reprobates in franchise history — just ask Cam Neely about Ulf Samuelsson — and continue to utilize athletes who specialize in crossing the line.    Matt Cooke finished the regular season with 19 goals, 38 points, a plus-five rating and just 44 penalty minutes, leading the Pittsburgh chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association to nominate him for Masterton Trophy. Cooke has been a remarkably effective contributor to a team that many believe will win the Stanley Cup. Yet it should not go ignored that the only reason Cooke authored his career year is that owner Mario Lemieux, general manager Ray Shero and coach Dan Bylsma threatened the left wing with banishment if he continued to be a serial headhunter. It remains to be seen if Cooke’s reformation is legitimate and lasting. In the interim, Joe Vitale has earned the ire of opponents, starting with Briere, who claimed that Penguins center was “obviously trying to hurt me,” following a thunderous late game check in the Philadelphia Flyers’ 6-4 win over Pittsburgh last Sunday afternoon at the Consol Energy Center. The hit sparked an end-of-game melee that saw the Penguins and Flyers combine for 52 penalty minutes, three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, two misconducts, a fight and Laviolette and Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato standing on the edge of their respective benches screaming epithets at each other in a surreal scene. For their roles in the fracas, the NHL announced Laviolette and Granato were fined $10,000 and $2,500, respectively. The open-ice hit on Briere was not Vitale’s lone incident as he and Brooks Orpik injured Flyers' defenseman Nicklas Grossmann Sunday and second-year New York Rangers center Derek Stepan Thursday night with leg-on-leg hits. Orpik’s hit on Stepan sparked an explosive postgame rant from Tortorella. The tirade earned the coach a $20,000 from the league, dismissals from Bylsma and Crosby, and caused a sport to ponder the tactics used by Penguins. Are the Penguins dirty? Is perception reality? *****   No matter where one falls on the are-the-Penguins-a-dirty-team? argument, there can be no debate that there is no place for Mike Milbury’s despicable misogyny.   ***** There are storm clouds forming as the league prepares for the playoffs. Two mayors of U.S. cities, Newark’s Cory Booker and Glendale’s Elaine Scruggs, publicly criticized the ownership of New Jersey Devils and the NHL, respectively, last  week. Booker attacked Jeff Vanderbeek on Twitter and in a press conference Wednesday after arbitrators ruled that Newark owes the franchise nearly $600,000 in parking lot income despite the Devils owing the city a reported $13 million in rent for The Prudential Center.      Scruggs believes the NHL has dangled the Coyotes to interested municipalities — there is a great deal of speculation that the franchise may relocate to Quebec City — while waiting on the $25 million Glendale owes the league in order for it to run the team.     It has to be concerning to the NHL’s powers-that-be that civic leaders have visibly questioned the business practices followed by the league and its franchises. And it is fair to wonder if those criticisms will cause potential destinations to hesitate to do business with the league in the future. ***** Pat LaFontaine and his two sons were honored for winning the U16 USA Hockey National Championship during a stoppage in play at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. In response, Charles Wang has permanently barred James Dolan from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. You can follow us on Twitter @HockeyPrimeTime (http://twitter.com/#!/hockeyprimetime) and @DenisGorman (http://twitter.com/#!/denisgorman)

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