[icehog3]

For what it's worth, Scott Burnside is questioning the "necessity" of the hit on ESPN.com as well.

EDIT...it is on "The Insider" (subscription based), so I posted it here.

Ouch! That's about all I can say after viewing the YouTube video of Dion Phaneuf's monster open-ice hit on Islanders winger Kyle Okposo during Thursday night's Isles-Flames preseason game in Calgary.

In a Scott Stevens moment, Phaneuf slid over from his position on right defense to crunch an unsuspecting Okposo, who'd actually been nudged into harm's way by backchecking Flames forward Nigel Dawes. The seismic blow left the 6-foot-1, 200-pound forward crumpled on the ice in need of medical attention. As a precaution, Okposo was taken off the ice on a stretcher. Late Thursday night, Islanders spokesman Seth Sylvan updated Okposo's condition via text message, saying: "[Okposo] had a mild concussion. He'd undergone a CAT scan and he was cleared to return to the team's training camp [in] Saskatoon."

We hope Okposo will be no worse for the wear after the mind-numbing hit. With head injuries, it's hard to form a clear prognosis for recovery. It could be a day or a career. In this case, we hope it's the former.

While I'm not going to hammer Phaneuf for taking his shot, I do wonder whether it's really worth the risk in a preseason game. I mean, if Okposo had made a split-second move or brought his stick up, Phaneuf could have ended up on the wrong end of it.

It also made me wonder about the league's training camp schedule. While I know today's players come to camp in terrific shape, I still find it odd that they have just a day or two or three of camp before jumping into their exhibition schedules. I don't how guys can be ready for game competition that quickly.

Perhaps the Devils have the right idea, playing only one game in the first 10 days of camp. It gives them more practice time to prepare and get themselves up to speed for game play. After all, these are competitive guys by nature. Under game conditions, even in a preseason game, that nature clicks in. It's why Scott Stevens just shrugged at me several years back when I asked him why he was blocking shots in a meaningless exhibition game. His wordless response simply said, "It's what I do."

Interestingly, the Flames and Islanders will meet again Saturday night in Saskatoon. I'll be curious as to whether new Flames head coach Brent Sutter opts to rest Phaneuf for that one.

There was another story that came out of Thursday's Flames-Isles game. It was the return of longtime Flames sniper Theo Fleury, who hadn't played an NHL game since April 4, 2003. The diminutive 41-year-old thrilled the home crowd by scoring the game-winning shootout goal. On the night, he received 10:56 minutes, recording one shot, one takeaway and one hit, as well as the shootout winner. I figure he's a long shot to make the club's NHL roster, but if he wants to continue playing, he could end up with Flames' new AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, British Columbia. I'm pretty sure he'd be a nice box-office attraction for the new franchise.