Alexandre Burrows Is Meeting With The NHL To Discuss All The Terrible Things He Said To Jordin Tootoo

Fire&Ice-  Vancouver Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows will meet with league officials in Toronto Friday to discuss his verbal exchange with the Devils' Jordin Tootoo in the penalty box during the first period of Sunday's game at Prudential Center.The meeting was first reported by SportsNet's John Shannon.

The Canucks play in Toronto Saturday night.

Tootoo was angered that Burrows made, “some personal remarks regarding my family and it's just unacceptable.”  Tootoo discussed the incident with Devils GM Ray Shero, who then spoke with the league.

“I had a conversation with Ray about it and, from my end, I know I'm a better person,” Tootoo said Tuesday. “I'm going to move on from the situation and let the people up top deal with what they've got to do.”

Generally, the league only disciplines players for language involving race or homophobia. Tootoo, who is the first and only Inuit to play in the NHL, would not  reveal specifically what Burrows said.
Tootoo acknowledged that trash talking is part of the, but said, “There's a line not to be crossed.”


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​I got to say, when the story first broke that Alexandre Burrows said something of an inappropriate nature to Jordin Tootoo I was only mildly interested. After years of playing hockey, I am pretty immune to even the most tasteless of trash talk on the rink. Now that I know the league is involved, however, I am ready to fly back to New Jersey and do some actual investigative journalism. Get me off the edge of my seat Jordin. This is 2015 man. I need full disclosure, and I don't know if I will be able to sleep until I get it. What could Alexandre Burrows possibly have said for the league, that spends 23 hours a day getting it's jollies by handing out suspensions for hits to the head, to take action? It's a question that might never be answered, and one day I will be laying on my death bed and it may be my last wish to finally find out.  

I want to say that Alexandre Burrows deserves everything that's coming to him, and he does because it's well documented that he's a huge scumbag, but I still don't like the NHL involving itself here. As much as they want to clean up their game, there are things that just need to resolve themselves on the ice. You know what's a better punishment than a minuscule fine or a one game suspension? A fight with a tough son-of-a-bitch that has had his hatred for you festering for three weeks. I don't want to sound like too much of a caveman here, but there are rules to this game, and in hockey sometimes those rules resemble those of the street. There is already enough regulation being enforced on the physical aspects of the game, a focus on disciplining the verbal aspect of the game is sure to open up Pandora's box. I would venture to say that there are 5-10 things said per NHL game that would be worthy of a mental evaluation if uttered anywhere beyond the boards. I just don't think it's necessary to turn the sport into a police state, when it's been self governing itself for decades. I hate knowing that there is going to be an increased awareness towards making sure Jordin Tootoo and Alexandre Burrows don't get into it ten days from now, when the real way to handle this is to let Jordin Tootoo beat Burrows bloody head in. Impact correction. Sometimes getting your ass beat is a better deterrent than a proverbial slap on the wrist. It may be an antiquated way of thinking, but it's proven to be an effective way of thinking.

Obscure Reference Warning: Remember in 'First Kid' (yes, the Sinbad movie), when he lets the President's kid get his ass kicked because he was a shithead and probably deserved to get his ass kicked? That's exactly how I feel about this situation. Alexandre Burrows got himself into this mess, and he should be forced to fight his way out.