Ovechkin knee-on-knee hit and Ballard's stick swinging on Vokoun

Is it two games effective now, or when he is cleared to play?

yeah could you imagine if they suspend him for games he can't even play in? They might...he just forks over the dough...

If he doesn't end his own career, someone will do it for him if he keeps up this play. What would people be talking about more - the guy that ended the career of Ovechkin, or the guy whose career was ended by Ovechkin?

Well, if he does it again.. he'll be a "repeat offender" and then they can't hide behind "he's never done this before"...

marakh wrote:I think if you give him 5 games the downgrade on the physical play would be too much

I like his physical play but the Dung he does has nothing to do with it. Its just him being stupid and pretending he doesnt know he's doing something wrong. He can hit great but no need to keep elbowing and kneeing everyone

Sens19 wrote:

marakh wrote:I think if you give him 5 games the downgrade on the physical play would be too much

I like his physical play but the Dung he does has nothing to do with it. Its just him being stupid and pretending he doesnt know he's doing something wrong. He can hit great but no need to keep elbowing and kneeing everyone

DO you think he intends to do it?

marakh wrote:

Sens19 wrote:

marakh wrote:I think if you give him 5 games the downgrade on the physical play would be too much

I like his physical play but the Dung he does has nothing to do with it. Its just him being stupid and pretending he doesnt know he's doing something wrong. He can hit great but no need to keep elbowing and kneeing everyone

DO you think he intends to do it?

You dont think he was aiming for the knee last night? There's no doubt in my mind that he never intends to injure anyone, but at this point he is injuring people and he needs to be more aware when going after a player like that

Exactly, and being aware means being less physical, at this point.

I think he is just a reckless player - he doesn't think before he acts. He does stupid things all the time, on and off the ice. The Segway incident, the golf cart incident, the Briere incident, now this... the list goes on. I don't think he purposely, or at least hope he doesn't, intentionally go out of his way to do some of the things he does, I think that he just does not think of the consequences.

marakh wrote:Exactly, and being aware means being less physical, at this point.

maybe, there are so many other players that are greatly physical but not stupid. I agree with Dash, he just doesn't think before he goes after a player. I think 2 games is enough anyways, it is afterall his first offense and its only fair he's not treated like a player with repeated offends

It is by no means his first offense. It may be his first suspension, but it's his second major/misconduct in, what, a couple of weeks, and he really should have been suspended for the hit on Gonchar last year.

I could care less about how long the suspension is. The NHL will do whatever is in it's best interest and having Ovie play is in it's best interest. The question I wonder is if this recent event will cause him to tone it down with the physical play? Eric Lindros is a great example of a guy who needed to play that physical style to be the elite player he was, and once he couldn't due to fear of career ending injuries his game suffered as a result.

If he doesn't tone it down then I stand by my prediction I made (not here damn it otherwise I would refer to it) back in Sept, that I give him 18 months before he suffers a major injury due to his aggressive and reckless physical play.

wprager wrote:It is by no means his first offense. It may be his first suspension, but it's his second major/misconduct in, what, a couple of weeks, and he really should have been suspended for the hit on Gonchar last year.

well by offense I meant "got punished for" major/misconduct. And agreed about the Gonchar hit