IIRC, they actually warned the players about blindside hits to the head. You basically have four types of hits in hockey:
1) Blatent intent to injure or recklessness (Cooke)
2) Accidental (illegal or not) (Carter on Salmela)
3) A penalized one
4) Legal
The NHL simply added a #2.5 that says if you hit someone in the head even if you didn't mean it, your ass is suspended. So, Carter's hit would have been suspendable even though it was all Salmela's fault (leaning in and forward). Correct me if I am wrong.
I would classify Sutton's hit as accidental, at worst. He was going for the hip check, Leopold moved and was leaning forward, and the tucked-in elbow made contact.
here you go... right from an article from the nhl.
"Andy Sutton grabbed the Penguins' attention with his knockout hit of defenseman Jordan Leopold, but the NHL is unfazed.
The head shot has been reviewed by the league, and Sutton, who was not penalized on the play, will not be suspended.
NHL has been making headlines lately because of its desire to crack down on head shots — the league won't be suspending Sutton because he did not extend his elbow in the collision.
Also, it was considered a "north-south" hit, which league general managers did not want included in the new rule.
One of the Penguins actually didn't have a problem with Sutton's hit.
"I didn't think it was a bad hit," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "You don't want to see anybody get hurt, but that's just him playing hard."
TSN had it about 3:00pm PST-I honestly wasn't sure-I'm an old school Dman that loves to rough as hard as is "gentlemanly" is the term I'll use even though some might snicker. Stevens was one of my idols, loved his hits and style of play, except for the submarine stuff-never my gig. Anyways, I asked my wife to look at the replays and they had one of the overhead shot where he clearly leaves his feet. She is not really a sports person, god love her (so she acts as an excellent objective observer) and as I defined nhl rules as I understand them she thought it should have been a penalty. At any rate, I think the nhl as a business model is a laughing stock-the central issue here is that the hit itself is debatable. It may not be the best motto but I would tell the Sens "maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow..but I'll see you again.." Anyhoo, good discussion lads! Cheers to wins tomorrow, give me your thoughts on the games
man you dont know what the **** your talking about, clearly youve never played hockey at a high level before, there was nothing wrong with that hit, get a clue
Hey Morgan-I put myself through univ playing hockey, now teach Phys Ed and coach hockey camps and discuss hockey with some of the show boys regularly... Like I said as an old school dman I have no prob with big hits, the ref called nothing so that settles it-where I'm from you don't "call the league" you settle things on your own. How much hockey did you play?
oh i expect at some point down the road, and i expect it might not even be until next season, but someone, somewhere is going to get run. best thing about hockey is when refs don't police the game, the players do.
the NHL is becoming a garage league again. if you don't know who labeled it a garage league 18 years ago, stop reading now.
so now their position changed from head shots are illegal to head shots are legal as long as your elbow makes contact, but doesn't get extended. additionally, the rule is now that it depends on which directions players are skating in? you either want to protect players or you don't. either way, you need clearly defined rules. toward the end of the year physical play did tail off and i read several quotes from players saying they didn't know what would be a penalty and what wouldn't.
i think it gets even funnier that if he did plaster him to the boards he would have been called for either charging or boarding.
the difference between myself and the average fan is if the shoe was on the other foot, i would also call it a cheap shot.
let me guess, the two-hander on Vanek wasn't a cheap shot either.
best rule ever should be if you knock a player out with a cheap shot, you are suspended for as long as that player is out.
The beefed-up instigator rule ruined it all. I often take shit for sounding like some savage that wants blood-spewing brawls. However, armed with only anecdotal evidence, once they strengthened the instigator rule to include basically anything but a schedule bout, the chippiness went up.
SBR Top-Rated Sportsbooks
Reply With Quote
