Oooh, Brett, you're a real man

I finally had a chance to listen to Brett Hull during NBC's telecast yesterday of the Lightning-Devils game. And while he really didn't add much, I was left wondering what in the hell was he thinking when he ripped those shots past some poor kid in goal.

Let's see, a future Hall of Famer with a hair-trigger release on a cannon-like shot feels the need to reinforce a perception. It would be one thing if it were a Darren Pang, Glenn Healy or Brian Hayward helping out and playing goalie. But to take those caliber of shots against a kid shows Hull wasn't thinking things through.

C'mon, what happens if Hull hits that poor kid? Padding or not, it certainly would have, at the least, caused a bruise. What if it knocked out the kid? Broke his collarbone? Smashed the mask and crushed his face? I'll bet NBC's army of lawyers had a collective panic attack.

Even NHL on NBC co-hosts Bill Clement and Ray Ferraro seemed surprised.

It's one thing to take a shot from a peer. But when the shot comes from a player of Hull's quality -- and I'm talking only about his skill -- I'm pretty certain it was a surprise, and a rather unpleasant one itself.

Brett Hull, you're a class act. A real class act.

An addendum: You might want to check out this thread at hfboards.com.