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Question: In light of Michel Therrien taking issue with Philadelphia coach John Stevens' decision to keep his top guys on the power play late in an 8-2 drubbing of the Penguins earlier in the year, did you find it odd when Therrien sent Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Co. over the boards in the latter stages of the recent win against Toronto? I know Toronto was serving a double-minor so there was more power-play time to deal with, but why not send out guys who don't normally get a chance on the power play, like Adam Hall and/or Jeff Taffe, or maybe even reward a guy like Jarkko Ruutu for the good game he had played?

Eric Majeski
Washington, PA

MOLINARI: Yes, it was quite surprising, given that Therrien's complaint last month stemmed from the fact that the outcome had been decided by the time Stevens deployed his top power-play unit in that game at the Wachovia Center. While a four-goal lead like the one the Penguins had late in the Toronto game isn't quite the same as the six-goal edge the Flyers had when they incurred Therrien's wrath, not even the most partisan Maple Leafs loyalist believed Toronto was a threat to come back after Andy Wozniewski picked up a double-minor for high-sticking at 16:38 of the third period.

As the moderator of this forum wrote in the Post-Gazette a few days after that game in Philadelphia, Stevens was completely within his rights to use whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted without worrying about whether anyone -- especially anyone employed by a division rival -- thought he was running up the score. The same applies to Therrien.

At the same time, Stevens' decision to use his top power play seemed terribly short-sighted, because he did it in an emotionally charged game, and could not have been certain that one of the Penguins wouldn't have had a momentary lapse of judgment, presumably born of frustration, and done something that caused a serious injury to one of those key Philadelphia players. That doesn't mean such an attack -- whether it was done with a stick or a fist or whatever -- was called for or appropriate or could, in any way, be justified. One would think, though, none of that would be much consolation to the Flyers if they had lost the services of someone like Daniel Briere or Michael Richards for an extended period.

Now, the threat of a malicious attack by one of the Maple Leafs late in the game last Thursday seemed remote, at best; a few high-octane fights aside, the game was nowhere near as nasty as the one between the Penguins and Flyers. Even so, there always was the danger the Penguins could have lost, say, Crosby or Malkin to the kind of injury that sometimes happens during the course of a game: A high ankle sprain, for example, or a broken bone caused by an errant shot.

Mind you, players and coaches can't let the possibility of injury dictate what they do -- that would lead to some awfully timid decision-making -- but there are times when caution is the best way to go. What's more, giving a guy like Ruutu more power-play time than the two seconds he logged against the Leafs would have been a nice acknowledgement of the contribution he made to the victory.

Therrien later pointed to Ruutu's furious exchange of punches with Darcy Tucker midway through the second period as a pivotal point in the game. Giving him a chance to get a man-advantage goal to go with his fight and two assists hardly would have been out of line, and might have helped to ease a bit of the sting Ruutu clearly has felt over filling such a limited role during his season-and-a-half with the Penguins.

Question: Is there a formal rule which prevents goalies from being a team captain, or is this just a tradition?

Ryan Wise
Baltimore

MOLINARI: The thinking here is that a number of goalies over the years -- Ken Dryden and Martin Brodeur come immediately to mind -- have had the presence and temperament and respect to serve as highly effective captains, but there is, as you suggested, a rule against it. And the applicable portion of Rule 6.1 leaves very little to interpretation. It reads: "No playing coach or playing (general) manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as captain or alternate captain." No exceptions, no explanation.