General Hockey Talk - Injuries, signings, factoids + other news from around the league

I'll just quote:

https://twitter.com/#!/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/45584838610259968

I am surprised to the extent that it was an illegal play (interference) causing injury and that usually results in a 1 to 4 game suspension.

Bush league

Not really any different than Pronger's hit on Holmstrom in my mind.

Bob Mac is a joke when he talks about things like this. If people want hitting out the game, just say so, at least they won't come off as someone who is totally full of BS.

If that play is not allowed than neither is hitting. If people don't want to see things like that happen A) don't watch or B) Change the rules of the game, it's literally as simple as that.

Hoags wrote:I'll just quote:

https://twitter.com/#!/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/45584838610259968

I am surprised to the extent that it was an illegal play (interference) causing injury and that usually results in a 1 to 4 game suspension.

Bush league

You can't make that distinction Hoags, neither can anyone else in the world - with the possible exception of Chara. He hit him into the boards and his head hit the partition. Was there intent? Who the heck knows, but that partition is pretty darn dumb - and that's what caused all of this.

You can't just suspend someone because someone got hurt - especially when it's someone who has an A1 record - that would lead to dissension within the NHL - a thousand times more than a non-suspension would.

Look, if people want to get really into this argument, fact of the matter is it's a matter of time before someone gets killed by a play on the ice, it really is. Could be tonight, could be in 10 years, but it's coming. Hockey is more dangerous than it ever has been, players are bigger, the game is faster, and the respect is at an all time low... maybe it is time to take body contact out of hockey.

When people talk about old time hockey now I am starting to change my tune. Old time hockey had no helmets, no plastic equipment, and no one piece sticks. The skates were like wieghts on your feet and the equipment players wore to protect themselves was basically made of leather and straps.

As t stands right now hitting/contact is allowed, maybe it is time to toally re-examine the game because it was never made for people of that size and people going that fast. The only difference between hockey and NASCAR at the cars have seatbelts.

It's not about intent guys (we can't prove or disprove it either way).

It's not about taking hitting out of the game.

If you get penalized on a play where the other player was seriously hurt, there should be a minimum several game suspension. The NHL has done this in the past.

To me this is no different from elbowing, slashing, spearing, boarding, charging etc. where the other player gets seriously hurt.

If this was a clean hit then there would have been no penalty on the play and I'd be OK with the NHL decision. Last year Volchenkov broke Cammaleri's leg on a clean hit. That was an unfortuneate accident.

Hoags wrote:It's not about intent guys (we can't prove or disprove it either way).

It's not about taking hitting out of the game.

If you get penalized on a play where the other player was seriously hurt, there should be a minimum several game suspension. The NHL has done this in the past.

To me this is no different from elbowing, slashing, spearing, boarding, charging etc. where the other player gets seriously hurt.

If this was a clean hit then there would have been no penalty on the play and I'd be OK with the NHL decision. Last year Volchenkov broke Cammaleri's leg on a clean hit. That was an unfortuneate accident.

You are basically saying it should be a split second reaction based on what happened in front of your eyes. That's what a penalty is. It's also at the discretion of one person on the ice.

Hoags wrote:It's not about intent guys (we can't prove or disprove it either way).

It's not about taking hitting out of the game.

If you get penalized on a play where the other player was seriously hurt, there should be a minimum several game suspension. The NHL has done this in the past.

To me this is no different from elbowing, slashing, spearing, boarding, charging etc. where the other player gets seriously hurt.

If this was a clean hit then there would have been no penalty on the play and I'd be OK with the NHL decision. Last year Volchenkov broke Cammaleri's leg on a clean hit. That was an unfortuneate accident.

That's because it was a 2 minute penalty - if at all. The puck wasn't there when Chara hit him, but that play really does happen all the time. IMO, he can't be suspended because the hit was close to being within the rules - if they want to crack down on interference then they can go for it, but as it stands in today's game, that's barely a penalty.

What we're questioning here is if that hit was a suspendable hit - never mind what happened to Pacioretty - although, I realize it's tough, but try to just look at it as if that was a hockey hit and the turnbuckle wasn't there. The hit's fine, Chara wanted to rub him out against the player bench - or probably knock him off balance and into the bench. If Chara wanted to kill him, he would have crossed checked him at the last second so his head hits even harder - if that's even possible, but he didn't he hardly even hit him that hard - unfortunately the partition did that for Chara.

My opinion is: that's not the hit from behind that we're used to seeing, nor is it the blindside hits that are getting more and more dangerous - that's a fair hit - a little late mind, but fair enough, the end result is what people are up in arms about more than anything - that and was the intent there - and seeing as how Chara's never, ever done anything like that before - ever - I'd say he gets the benefit of the doubt on this one.

But that's the point of this topic, we all have different opinions, I respect yours and everyone elses as well.

SpezDispenser wrote:That's because it was a 2 minute penalty - if at all. The puck wasn't there when Chara hit him, but that play really does happen all the time.

I'll ask again -- how is this different from Ovechkin's shove on Campbell? If it happens at center ice it's 2 minutes for interference or maybe even cross checking, but because he did it 4-6 feet away from the boards and ended up injuring Campbell, he got 2 games.

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:That's because it was a 2 minute penalty - if at all. The puck wasn't there when Chara hit him, but that play really does happen all the time.

I'll ask again -- how is this different from Ovechkin's shove on Campbell? If it happens at center ice it's 2 minutes for interference or maybe even cross checking, but because he did it 4-6 feet away from the boards and ended up injuring Campbell, he got 2 games.

I'd say the difference is how they view a "careless" play. Sending a guy head first into the boards when chasing a puck is careless IMO. Running a guy into the boards as interference isn't really careless.

The injuries sustained are clouding people's view on this, and that's human nature.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Hoags wrote:It's not about intent guys (we can't prove or disprove it either way).

It's not about taking hitting out of the game.

If you get penalized on a play where the other player was seriously hurt, there should be a minimum several game suspension. The NHL has done this in the past.

To me this is no different from elbowing, slashing, spearing, boarding, charging etc. where the other player gets seriously hurt.

If this was a clean hit then there would have been no penalty on the play and I'd be OK with the NHL decision. Last year Volchenkov broke Cammaleri's leg on a clean hit. That was an unfortuneate accident.

That's because it was a 2 minute penalty - if at all. The puck wasn't there when Chara hit him, but that play really does happen all the time. IMO, he can't be suspended because the hit was close to being within the rules - if they want to crack down on interference then they can go for it, but as it stands in today's game, that's barely a penalty.

What we're questioning here is if that hit was a suspendable hit - never mind what happened to Pacioretty - although, I realize it's tough, but try to just look at it as if that was a hockey hit and the turnbuckle wasn't there. The hit's fine, Chara wanted to rub him out against the player bench - or probably knock him off balance and into the bench. If Chara wanted to kill him, he would have crossed checked him at the last second so his head hits even harder - if that's even possible, but he didn't he hardly even hit him that hard - unfortunately the partition did that for Chara.

My opinion is: that's not the hit from behind that we're used to seeing, nor is it the blindside hits that are getting more and more dangerous - that's a fair hit - a little late mind, but fair enough, the end result is what people are up in arms about more than anything - that and was the intent there - and seeing as how Chara's never, ever done anything like that before - ever - I'd say he gets the benefit of the doubt on this one.

But that's the point of this topic, we all have different opinions, I respect yours and everyone elses as well.

For those interested, and to the best of my pausing ability:
The play starts with 23.2 secs remaining in the period
Max pushes the puck up ice at 20.6 secs
Chara makes initial contact with max at 20.2 secs
Max hits the turnbuckle at 19.4 secs

So, 0.4 seconds after Max has the puck, Chara is making contact... and then 0.6 seconds later he hits the turnbuckle.

Not a lot of time in there... fast fast game...

Stamkos with his 42nd tonight...

Will be interesting to see how Chara reacts to all of this. I'm sure it's weighing very heavy on him and the fact that Max broke his neck is having some impact on his mind...

Reminds me of Sutton when he had that big hit in the playoffs... was not the same after...

shabbs wrote:So, 0.4 seconds after Max has the puck, Chara is making contact... and then 0.6 seconds later he hits the turnbuckle.

Not a lot of time in there... fast fast game...

The game is so fast now they need to do something about such hits.

Sooner or later someone will break their neck and end their career and then they will have a real mess on their hands.

Hoags wrote:

shabbs wrote:So, 0.4 seconds after Max has the puck, Chara is making contact... and then 0.6 seconds later he hits the turnbuckle.

Not a lot of time in there... fast fast game...

The game is so fast now they need to do something about such hits.

Sooner or later someone will break their neck and end their career and then they will have a real mess on their hands.

If they can get rid of that friggin' turnbuckle, that will help...

Hoags wrote:

shabbs wrote:So, 0.4 seconds after Max has the puck, Chara is making contact... and then 0.6 seconds later he hits the turnbuckle.

Not a lot of time in there... fast fast game...

The game is so fast now they need to do something about such hits.

Sooner or later someone will break their neck and end their career and then they will have a real mess on their hands.

Done and done, isn't it?

Hoags wrote:

shabbs wrote:So, 0.4 seconds after Max has the puck, Chara is making contact... and then 0.6 seconds later he hits the turnbuckle.

Not a lot of time in there... fast fast game...

The game is so fast now they need to do something about such hits.

Sooner or later someone will break their neck and end their career and then they will have a real mess on their hands.

Short of taking hitting out of the game there isn't much you can do.

shabbs wrote:

Hoags wrote:

shabbs wrote:So, 0.4 seconds after Max has the puck, Chara is making contact... and then 0.6 seconds later he hits the turnbuckle.

Not a lot of time in there... fast fast game...

The game is so fast now they need to do something about such hits.

Sooner or later someone will break their neck and end their career and then they will have a real mess on their hands.

If they can get rid of that friggin' turnbuckle, that will help...

They can probably put some rounded glass to make that corner somehow.