Sheriff Shanny

[Rylan]

Not sure it was malicious, then again, no real reason to have your elbow up that high.

This is part of the reason why I think there should be an all-inclusive rule for headshots. You can't determine intent, but there is no reason Tanguay should have his elbow up there, like you said.

The players NEED to learn to keep elbows down. Period. There is no valid reason for players keeping their elbows at head level. None.

Then the Sarich hit on Hall gets suspended which would be lulztastic.

[Rylan]

Also, that was a 2-minute penalty. No more no less. It got called and we move on.

[Physical_Graffiti]

Also, that was a 2-minute penalty. No more no less. It got called and we move on.

[Pavel Bure]

Not sure it was malicious, then again, no real reason to have your elbow up that high.

This is part of the reason why I think there should be an all-inclusive rule for headshots. You can't determine intent, but there is no reason Tanguay should have his elbow up there, like you said.

The players NEED to learn to keep elbows down. Period. There is no valid reason for players keeping their elbows at head level. None.

Then the Sarich hit on Hall gets suspended which would be lulztastic.

Oh my God that Sarich hit is going to be the battle cry for everyone that says head hits should remain. That hit happens what once every couple years maybe? The other head hits that cause concussions and injuries seem to happen every other game but lets not get carried away and stop those because someone might fall perfectly and get hit in the head every couple years get out of here.

[Rylan]

No it is the exact reason an all inclusive is asinine. It happens to be a recent example that supports my opinion. That hit happens a good bit. The only thing is it generally does not result in injury. Another fun fact about concussions, not all concussions are caused from head contact. In fact, a solid shoulder to chest contact can cause a concussion. The rapid deceleration of the body forces the brain to smack the inner walls of the skull. Ban those hits to?

Obviously that will come across as being unrealistic. But that is what it is with concussions and banning all headshots. Not every hit to the head is a malicious attempt and to treat it as such is again silly. That would be like going 5 over the speed limit and get a ticket for 500 bucks. Little excessive.

Again, concussions are not a preventable injury. Whether you think they are or not, they aren't. They never have been. They never will be. Banning all headshots is just another case of PR moves.

And to be quite honest, no one even really cares about the good for every NHL player. No one ever talks about preventing concussions when its about a fringe NHL'er. This only gets airtime because Sidney Crosby suffered a concussion and this season saw many "star" players suffer concussions at some point in the year. Those star players are the only people anyone cares about protecting and I wish that admission would occur.

[Physical_Graffiti]

No it is the exact reason an all inclusive is asinine. It happens to be a recent example that supports my opinion. That hit happens a good bit. The only thing is it generally does not result in injury. Another fun fact about concussions, not all concussions are caused from head contact. In fact, a solid shoulder to chest contact can cause a concussion. The rapid deceleration of the body forces the brain to smack the inner walls of the skull. Ban those hits to?

Obviously that will come across as being unrealistic. But that is what it is with concussions and banning all headshots. Not every hit to the head is a malicious attempt and to treat it as such is again silly. That would be like going 5 over the speed limit and get a ticket for 500 bucks. Little excessive.

Again, concussions are not a preventable injury. Whether you think they are or not, they aren't. They never have been. They never will be. Banning all headshots is just another case of PR moves.

And to be quite honest, no one even really cares about the good for every NHL player. No one ever talks about preventing concussions when its about a fringe NHL'er. This only gets airtime because Sidney Crosby suffered a concussion and this season saw many "star" players suffer concussions at some point in the year. Those star players are the only people anyone cares about protecting and I wish that admission would occur.

[penmyst]

And to be quite honest, no one even really cares about the good for every NHL player. No one ever talks about preventing concussions when its about a fringe NHL'er. This only gets airtime because Sidney Crosby suffered a concussion and this season saw many "star" players suffer concussions at some point in the year. Those star players are the only people anyone cares about protecting and I wish that admission would occur.

Who do you want to admit to "only caring about star players?"

It ain't the league. They aren't stopping these head assaults with any severity. And there have been plenty of stars getting knocked out by cheapshots to the head.

So it can't be them.

Who could you be talking about?

[Rylan]

The crusading fan fighting for the good of all against those evil headshots. Except like every single crusade in history, its only to protect the certain few. Sure others will benefit, but it truly is just to protect the good players. I just want people to admit that.

I mean come on if it was TK out for 14 months would anyone really care? Probably not.

[Froggy]

Id care...

[Rylan]

I thought about adding a cept for Froggy clause.

[Physical_Graffiti]

[the wicked child]

5... http://espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/story/_/ ... five-games" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Froggy]

5... http://espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/story/_/ ... five-games" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

more than i expected... still not enough

[brwi]

Keith and Doan got off a little light, but not as light as others in the past, so I guess this is "progress" in some respects.

I would have liked to have seen Keith get about 10 because he's a cheap punk who will sometimes shrivel up when the game gets rough and tough, and that was such a cowardly and dirty hit. No more 1st offender at least.

[penmyst]

Keith and Doan got off a little light, but not as light as others in the past, so I guess this is "progress" in some respects.

I would have liked to have seen Keith get about 10 because he's a cheap punk who will sometimes shrivel up when the game gets rough and tough, and that was such a cowardly and dirty hit. No more 1st offender at least.

I would have liked to see him get a minimum 10 (preferably rest of season + 1st round ala Cooke) simply because it was an intentional shot to the head.

The rest of what you said doesn't really impact the assault.

[penmyst]

I mean come on if it was TK out for 14 months would anyone really care? Probably not.

I'm sure TK's family would care.

Sure, we don't have to get sick of seeing their faces 50 times a game like the Malkins or Staals. But that doesn't mean they don't care about their boy.

[Sarcastic]

I'm fine with 5, considering everything. At least he's on the list now. But it really shows us what kind of raw deal Cooke got.

[Pavel Bure]

The crusading fan fighting for the good of all against those evil headshots. Except like every single crusade in history, its only to protect the certain few. Sure others will benefit, but it truly is just to protect the good players. I just want people to admit that.

I mean come on if it was TK out for 14 months would anyone really care? Probably not.

Of course it's focused on the good players because they are what sells the game. Just like quarterbacks in the NFL you have to protect your stars.

[Henry Hank]

I'm fine with 5, considering everything. At least he's on the list now. But it really shows us what kind of raw deal Cooke got.

I still don't have a problem with Cooke's suspension, it was fitting for a totally unnecessary elbow to the head by a guy who had been repeatedly suspended for dangerous hits. Cooke got such a harsh penalty because he was a repeat offender several times over and I think that's the way to do it. The problem is not that someone like Keith only gets five games for a totally unnecessary and apparently intentional elbow to the head. Personally, I'd like them to come down a little harder even on first time offenders in that case but it was still a relatively harsh suspension, especially for this time of year. The problem is that other repeat offenders haven't had the book thrown at them the way Cooke did. They obviously just made an example of him and did the easy thing and it's a shame that they couldn't build off that in punishing other players because it clearly worked to make him change.

Of course it's focused on the good players because they are what sells the game. Just like quarterbacks in the NFL you have to protect your stars.

Indeed. The league should want to protect their star players. Who wants to watch a league where guys like Crosby, Letang, Pronger, Backstrom, Toews, etc are taken out by concussions? I want to watch the stars, the best. I don't care about some generic grinder that is allowed to take the stars' heads off. A common thought problem I see is when people basically say "well you can't get rid of all headshots/concussions so why even bother trying to do anything about them?" Or since you might occasionally penalize a guy for an unfortunate incident like the one between Sarich/Hall, you shouldn't do anything. You can't let exceptions prevent you from doing anything.

[Physical_Graffiti]

Or since you might occasionally penalize a guy for an unfortunate incident like the one between Sarich/Hall, you shouldn't do anything. You can't let exceptions prevent you from doing anything.

/reasonwhykidsarepansies

Maybe we should remove the pegs from bases in baseball so that kids don't get hurt by them; oh wait: We already did that.

[Rylan]

I do want to point out that the concussions to Letang (first one), Backstrom, and Sedin (I can't find a video of Toews' receiving his concussion as his is the only one I never saw) were all hits that are already ILLEGAL. The Steckel hit was incidental contact considering Crosby skated into Steckel. The supposed second was a finished check.

Letang's second concussion was brought on by him changing his body position which made him vulnerable. It was a typical hockey play to chip the man where the target was the shoulder/chest but still unfortunately got chin.

I am glad you didn't include Giroux's name like others have. (though not necessarily in this thread, but I do recall seeing his name in the prevent concussion talks)

The hit Sutton levied on Skinner was shoulder to shoulder yet left Skinner with a concussion. Hell when Skinner came back and Orpik just hit him there was fear of another concussion. Yet again no head contact.

Pronger's concussion is just a weird circumstance all around. Does anyone really know when he became concussed? Doubt it.

Mike Richards concussion was again point of contact was the chest but there also was contact to the head. A clean hit that clipped the head. Probably from height difference but you know...

But then of course you would start seeing more ejections for other hits with no head contact. An example would be the Letang hit on Blake Comeau.

I just find it funny people are willing to allow penalties, ejections, and suspensions all for hits that are unavoidable in a professional setting. By just removing them from the game, you will alter the game more than people expect. The chippyness will slowly dissolve.

When you compare international and college hockey to the NHL there is a very stark difference. That difference is that most of the edge is removed from international and college. That edge is just a component that makes the NHL my favorite league, remove it and I will still enjoy the sport but it will lose its appeal. There are so many talented players in the league, by catering to a few, marketing about the few, you forget to mention all the other great players. Crosby going down was bad, but it showcased Malkin, Neal, Letang, and Fleury. The Blackhawks have Sharp, Kane, and Keith. The Flyers without Pronger have countless talented players and I can keep going down the line that the NHL is stacked top to bottom. Obviously some teams have more star players (Penguins compared to say the Islanders).

Finally, this isn't a blood lust I have. Far from. What it is is a hope that people will stop trying to prevent the unpreventable. The Titanic could sink, and concussions will plague sports until the end of sports. In the end, penalize the already ILLEGAL hits. It just so happens that many of the concussions to the star players just so happen to also have been caused by Illegal hits. Its not the rulebook that needs fixed; its the disciplinarians and the referees that need to crack down on elbowing, intent to injure, and the already illegal hits that are part of the NHL. Not incidental contact.

[Physical_Graffiti]

[steelershark]

I am with Rylan, stop trying to take toughness out of sports! Sure illegal hits need to be punished, but good contact is different. Lindros was a great player that had a heavy tendency to watch the puck, which hurt his career. Did Kasper really try too end his career, NO WAY, but had an oppurtunity to smack him and nailed him LEGALLY. Gordie Howe has brain injuries but so did a college professor I worked for, life is not fair. Boohoo,

[bhaw]

I agree with HH on this.

Rylan- concussion will still happen, but it's getting rid of the avoidable ones. The notion that players just can't prevent themselves from hitting a guy's head is silly. You go through a player, not up into his head. The acceptance that Kronwall-esque hits are "textbook" is a huge part of the problem. They aren't... they are head hunting. It comes form the desire from fans to see a guy crumpled on the ice, staggering to the bench, and out cold. Fans want it, and that's why it has become encouraged for guys to jump up into hits. "He left his feet after the hit" was never a debate 5-10 years ago. Now it's shrugged off as normal play.

Intent to injure, plain and simple. Saying "things are fine the way they are" means we will literally be watching 3rd and 4th liners since the 1st and 2nd liners are the targets and the grinders are the weapons. Not what I want to watch.

The league has done a horrendous job in approaching this problem, as evidenced by the fact that egregious penalties continue to happen on a weekly basis. The fans being "ok" with it are the reason there is no change.

[bhaw]

I am with Rylan, stop trying to take toughness out of sports! Sure illegal hits need to be punished, but good contact is different. Lindros was a great player that had a heavy tendency to watch the puck, which hurt his career. Did Kasper really try too end his career, NO WAY, but had an oppurtunity to smack him and nailed him LEGALLY. Gordie Howe has brain injuries but so did a college professor I worked for, life is not fair. Boohoo,

Comments like this are why idiots still run the league.

"Stop trying to take toughness out of sports." Seriously? How about you go find an intelligent argument?