NHL Discussion

[kirbypuckett]

Anyone else think Washington strange for making so many moves? They've introduced 5 new players over the last few weeks. 4 today and one a week or so before the Olympic break. And its like Joe Corvo is a defensive force on the blue line, he's more a liability. Not like Washington needed more offense.

I agree with you big time. Too much going on, maybe there won't be chemistry.

Washington needed D and they got the opposite.

[cj]

not sure on the thinking of the Muller/Wolski trade. both are young guys with tons of talent, but i think Muller > Wolski in the long run. may be a bad move for the yotes.

i dont know... wolski is young too and is a lot more proven than mueller is.

also were you on the tsn tradecenter blog yesterday? there was a guy called andrew13 who had a question posted

[sgoodcore]

Wolski is surer thing at this point than Mueller. For the most part the Yotes are an older team with Doan, Jovanovski, etc.

[andrew13]

not sure on the thinking of the Muller/Wolski trade. both are young guys with tons of talent, but i think Muller > Wolski in the long run. may be a bad move for the yotes.

i dont know... wolski is young too and is a lot more proven than mueller is.

also were you on the tsn tradecenter blog yesterday? there was a guy called andrew13 who had a question posted

nope. what was the question? i was working yesterday so missed most the fun.

[troymess]

Currently at the Pens/Stars game in the Burgh. 3rd period about to start and Pens are up 4-3.

[vittywatt]

so cooke seems like a stand up player

[swankymodes]

so cooke seems like a stand up player

Savard got knocked the fuck out. If it goes down anything like the Richards/Booth hit, Cooke can look forward to a huge bullseye on him every time he plays the Bruins.

[vittywatt]

what's crazy is that the SAME exact play happened earlier in the year,

cooke was the hitter...2 game suspension...

so I would assume he'll get double that right for second time infraction?

[drabley]

Let the endless editorials on the NHL hitting policy begin.

[sgoodcore]

Cooke should be gone for the rest of the year. There's was intent to hurt and a major history. I really do dislike the way Matt Cooke plays hockey. No respect for anyone he plays against. He, Avery, Clutterbuck, and a few others are the major reason I do not like the instigator. Chara should have put Cooke through the ringer.

And frankly, Richards not getting a thing for the Booth hit was unacceptable too.

Let the endless editorials on the NHL hitting policy begin.

I do not give a flying iota of a fuck whether Cooke's hit or Richards' hit was "legal." They should NOT be legal, hitting a guy with a flying elbow or shoulder in their head is not right and we all know it. When the only argument is, "hey, its legal" than ones either brainwashed by Don Cherry or has no morals. I want to see Savard make plays not Cooke irritate people. I want to see Booth playing in the Olympics and scoring highlight reel goals, not shoulders to the head and stretchers.

[drabley]

^^

Hey Sammy -- pretty sweet goal by your boy Kopitar the other day.

Silky.

[sgoodcore]

^^

Hey Sammy -- pretty sweet goal by your boy Kopitar the other day.

Silky.

I want to have his babies. I love the man more than words can explain.

[swankymodes]

Cooke should be gone for the rest of the year. There's was intent to hurt and a major history. I really do dislike the way Matt Cooke plays hockey. No respect for anyone he plays against. He, Avery, Clutterbuck, and a few others are the major reason I do not like the instigator. Chara should have put Cooke through the ringer.

And frankly, Richards not getting a thing for the Booth hit was unacceptable too.

Let the endless editorials on the NHL hitting policy begin.

I do not give a flying iota of a fuck whether Cooke's hit or Richards' hit was "legal." They should NOT be legal, hitting a guy with a flying elbow or shoulder in their head is not right and we all know it. When the only argument is, "hey, its legal" than ones either brainwashed by Don Cherry or has no morals. I want to see Savard make plays not Cooke irritate people. I want to see Booth playing in the Olympics and scoring highlight reel goals, not shoulders to the head and stretchers.

I'd agree, clean shots to the head (not just elbows) should be banned and I'm betting they will be next season. I'll be curious to see what the league does and how they word the rule if they do actually take action.

[vittywatt]

COOKE on Savard:

three months ago:

COOKE on Anisimov

anything less than suspended for the rest of the year is bullshit

[drabley]

On the head hit topic, aren't they essentially banned now?

I fail to see what an official "ban" will accomplish. I'm pretty sure kicking someone with a skate is "banned" but don't see it written anywhere officially.

Moreover, unless he got on the ice from the bench and made a b-line straight for his victim, how on earth could one interpret intent to injure? And truly, isn't that the intent of every hit? Being crunched into the boards at high velocity isn't supposed to tickle, you know. These lads are out to bruise one another.

I think hockey is becoming saturated by candy asses just like everything else good in the world. It's unfortunate that a handful of players draw attention to the more violent and physical aspects of the game, but changing the rules to punish less than 1% of players is just stupid.

All hits/acts that cause injury should be reviewed in front of a panel of League and NHLPA reps, fellow players and fans (like jury duty for hockey) to determine whether any punitive measures need be taken. It should be the same for every hit that causes injury, from Ovechkin to this asshole.

Who's to say Al McInnis wasn't sharpshooting the knees or ankles of his opponents with his legendary slapshot? How could you possibly prove it? How could you prove it didn't happen that way?

What everyone wants is not possible, I'm sorry. Watch women's collegiate hockey if you're that concerned.

[adammuzzy]

drabley, i pretty much agree with all of that.

i actually did watch women's college hockey last night. so lame!

i laughed watching that hit. fuck the bruins!

[sgoodcore]

Oh common, Dustin Brown doesn't go out to injure someone but to intimidate them, to take the puck away, or to hit back so they know they can't hit our guys. He doesn't, nor has he ever, stuck is elbow out to smack someone in the head. His stick and his elbows are always down and rarely does someone skate away with anything more than a bruised ego.

Matt Cooke on the other hand OBVIOUSLY put his elbow out there right where Savard's head was. He was intending to hit him in the head with his elbow. Just like Cormier he was intending to do damage. I think that's pretty damn obvious.

And no, to your question, hits to the head with shoulders are NOT banned, are NOT illegal - specifically they are legal. The only shot to the heads deemed illegal are the ones with a stick, a fist, or an elbow not a shoulder. As for McInnis, if people wanted to block his shot, he had a right to shoot it as hard as possible at them. And regardless its apples and oranges. Cooke's hit was obvious.

And not only it is possible, the OHL and THE OLYMPICS already are doing it.

[drabley]

Wasn't that kid from the OHL just suspended forever for a head shot that took a guy totally out a month or two ago? Can't remember and it may have been AHL, but still...

Spelling something out does not make it so.

It works in the Olympics because it is an entirely different brand of hockey, I think. Notice that there weren't any scrums or shoving matches in any of the games (or none that I noticed) except in the US/Canada games.

As for intent to injure, I'm still not convinced. It's not so black and white.

That said, I agree that an elbow to the chops should be a huge infraction. Just don't think a "ban" solves anything.

[sgoodcore]

I think a ban certainly puts the onus on the refs and makes things black-and-white. NHL found something like 1 penalty out of a large number of hits to the head. I hear you, just because you ban it doesn't mean it'll go away but it does mean it'll be penalized and suspended more vigorously.

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

well if cooke gets suspended for awhile that will solve the winger situation on the pens team. someones gotta sit, might as well be cooke for that hit

[swankymodes]

On the head hit topic, aren't they essentially banned now?

I fail to see what an official "ban" will accomplish. I'm pretty sure kicking someone with a skate is "banned" but don't see it written anywhere officially.

Moreover, unless he got on the ice from the bench and made a b-line straight for his victim, how on earth could one interpret intent to injure? And truly, isn't that the intent of every hit? Being crunched into the boards at high velocity isn't supposed to tickle, you know. These lads are out to bruise one another.

I think hockey is becoming saturated by candy asses just like everything else good in the world. It's unfortunate that a handful of players draw attention to the more violent and physical aspects of the game, but changing the rules to punish less than 1% of players is just stupid.

All hits/acts that cause injury should be reviewed in front of a panel of League and NHLPA reps, fellow players and fans (like jury duty for hockey) to determine whether any punitive measures need be taken. It should be the same for every hit that causes injury, from Ovechkin to this asshole.

Who's to say Al McInnis wasn't sharpshooting the knees or ankles of his opponents with his legendary slapshot? How could you possibly prove it? How could you prove it didn't happen that way?

What everyone wants is not possible, I'm sorry. Watch women's collegiate hockey if you're that concerned.

I agree, you can't really determine an intent to injure. Especially as an on ice official. But to fix the problem you don't need to determine an intent to injure. Clean head shots are the issue, there's no body checking, just shoulders to the head. They've already put rules in place for elbows, I don't see how shoulders would change the game. Obviously a ban on something won't stop it from happening, elbows to the head still take place, but it will increase the penalty making it a five minute major and a match penalty which brings an automatic suspension. In turn it will lower the occurrence of that type of hit. To say hockey is filling with candy asses just seems dumb to me. These guys are bigger and stronger than the players of the past and they're paid millions of dollars to play. The league and the team owners are going to protect their players/investments.

And kicking someone with a skate is definitely a penalty and in the rulebook. It's a five minute major and also a match penalty that will get you a suspension/fine.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26338

[mcm1610]

Chris Neil had the same hit on Chris Drury a few years ago and everyone said it was clean.

[Snaggle Von Swift]

DarrenDreger NHL's head checking group will submit a proposal to gm's that includes an additional penalty for shoulder to the head.

[vittywatt]

haha so awesome

same hit back in oct got him 2 games suspension

hit in march gets nothing

[sgoodcore]

Colin Campbell is seemingly a total moron.