Morning Musings: Give Ray Emery a break

For the past few days there have been a number of articles detailing the driving incident between Ray Emery and an Ottawa motorist. The details are murky at best, and most of what has been reported on both sides is purely speculative. Nonetheless, Emery has received a fair amount of bad press about the incident. The question I have is: Are we holding athletes up to standards that are unreasonably high? In all honesty, how many of these driver-rage incidents happen in any given day, in any given city? I am pretty sure the number is extremely high. While Emery obviously would have been better off ignoring the other driver and driving off, he had a bit of a fit, something many drivers do everyday. Do not take this opinion to be a complete defense of Emery’s actions, but rather this writer merely wonders why we have even heard about this incident? If Emery wasn’t a hockey player, would the driver still have reported the incident? The guess here is that he wouldn’t have.

On to the morning papers:

• J.D. Corbin is trying to break into the Avalanche organization any way he can. The University of Denver forward is on an amateur tryout agreement until camp ends, with the hope that the Avs find some place for him within the organization.
• Brett Hull is back with the Stars in an advisory role and the team is trying to determine how to use Hull’s knowledge and maximize his effectiveness in a managerial role.
• The Red Wings played the Royal Oak Fire Department in a charity softball game on Sunday with all the proceeds going to the Detroit Red Wings Foundation and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
• The people of Yellowknife treated the Oilers‘ rookies with great respect and the youngsters did their very best to give back to the community during their stay up north writes Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal.
• After loading up on forwards and defensemen during the off-season, it appears as though the Kings may be lacking in the goaltending department; Lonnie White has the story in this morning’s L.A. Times.
• Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette has a piece about habsinsideout.com that is most likely of interest to any avid blog readers. Let’s just say that there is no such thing as an off-season in Habs country or anywhere on the internet for that matter.
• The Canadiens‘ oldest rookie, 25 year old Janne Lahti, is hoping to eventually make the big squad but understands that he may have to earn his stripes down in Hamilton to begin with.
• While Jack Todd of the Gazette wonders why there was so much outrage over the seemingly sensible comments of long-time Habs captain Saku Koivu a few days ago.
• According to the Tennessean, Predators fans should not expect the NHL Board of Governors to vote on the sale of the team any time soon.
• Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun has the recap of yesterday’s Battle of Ontario, rookie style.
• Bryan Murray has admitted he is looking for a veteran winger, however, it may be November before anything gets done.
• Steve Downie is at Flyers‘ camp with a tough guy reputation that precedes him. Nonetheless, those who have seen the 20 year old play before know that he is the real deal. That being said, Downie may have been born in the wrong generation, because he would have fit in perfectly on the Broadstreet Bullies of the 70’s.
• Penguins’ prospect Ryan Stone is almost all the way back from a wrist problem that limited him to 41 games last season and is hoping to crack one of the last roster spots on the team as a fourth line grinder.
• After getting over the initial shock of John Tortorella’s conditioning drills, Chris Gratton took some time to sit down with Erik Erlendsson of Tampa Tribune and answer a few question.
• Is Scotty Bowman still an option for the Maple Leafs? Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun thinks so.
• Jannik Hansen impressed Canucks‘ coach Alain Vigneault at camp on Sunday. In contrast, Vigneault had some harsh words of advice for defensive prospect Alex Edler.
• Patrick Coulombe may have a difficult time sticking with the big club writes Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province.
• Grant Kerr of the Globe & Mail has the story of the tremendous experience the Canadian juniors had in their utter domination of the Russians in the eight game Super Series.