Each week, the NHL on TSN panel voices its opinions on the hot topics of the day in the Wednesday Night Hockey Quiz.
As a follow-up, TSN.ca offers you the opportunity to chime in on all the big issues with our insiders. Read up on all the questions and answers, and put in your own two cents on our popular Your Call feature.
Evgeny Malkin scored on a spin-o-rama in the shootout Tuesday after receiving a penalty at the 5:00 mark of OT. Should a player who receives a penalty in OT with time left to serve when the extra period concludes be able to participate in shootout?
Bob McKenzie: No. I know it's a skills competition and it's not part of the game, but if you're in the penalty box when the game ends then you shouldn't be there. Just like if you're kicked out of the game, you can't come back and be part of the shootout.
Marc Crawford: Yes. Teams would tactically try and get good players out of the lineup, especially the ones playing in the last minute of overtime. It is a skills competition so let's see the guys with skill do it.
Aaron Ward: No. Rarely used in sports, but let's apply logic here. If late in the game you decide to make a decision or you have a behaviour that you need to be penalized for, you should not be allowed post-overtime once it expires to go in the shootout. It's a continuation of overtime.
Simple yes or no question: If you were the Chicago Blackhawks or Detroit Red Wings, would you be pursuing the Islanders' Evgeny Nabokov in a trade?
Ward: Yes. If you're the Red Wings with Jimmy Howard playing a total of 23 playoff games over his career or Corey Crawford with a grand total of eight. Nabokov is not only serviceable, but he's starting to hit his stride in Long Island. He provides stability and insurance going into the playoffs.
McKenzie: No. Don't be a panic merchant. In the case of the Red Wings, Joey MacDonald has played pretty well and last year he was .500 with a .917 save percentage in a 15 game stretch when they needed him. Nabokov isn't going to come cheap either, it's going to take an expensive asset to get him.
Crawford: Yes. I think both those teams, Chicago and Detroit need better backups.
Question: Nail Yakupov was suspended two games for not playing in the Top Prospects Game; should playing in the Prospects Game be mandatory or optional for CHLers?
Crawford: Mandatory. That game really helps promote the league, it helps get players drafted. it's important that everybody is involved and you can't let anybody off the hook. If they are healthy they have to play.
Ward: Optional. if you need a 17 or 18-year-old to market your game, to sell your game, something is wrong with your game. I don't care who you are, if you feel like you have nothing to gain, there is nothing to prove, you've already done all you can. You're playing the whole season as it is, you might even be playing the world juniors, that's enough.
McKenzie: Mandatory. if you can play three games in three nights before the prospects, then you should have to go to the prospects. If Sarnia wanted to beat the system, sit him out the one game in your league game before right the prospects, you only miss one that way, they couldn't have suspended him then.
Question: Now that the NBA has copied the NHL all-star draft format, what should the Association adopt next?
Ward: No hugging before games. I sat beside Ted Lindsay when I was in Detroit, he instilled the idea, have a minute amount of respect for your opponent, but find a great level of hate. The only time you should hug your opponent is when you've eliminated him from the playoffs.
Crawford: Four-on-four overtime. I think it would be fantastic in basketball. Think about it, no zone defences, lots of one-on-one, all the skill.
McKenzie: No hugging before games. There is no hugging in the quiz and there shouldn't be any hugging before the game.
