Before January 1, 2011 most NHL fans would say who the hell is David Steckel. Now the former Washington Capital and current New Jersey Devil center is best known for his hit on superstar Sidney Crosby at the 2011 Winter Classic. Some consider it dirty saying “Steckel knew what he was doing,” others say it was accidental contact.
But nobody can dispute the fact that during the second intermission of the Classic, Crosby was scene telling teammates, trainers and coaches he did not remember anything about being hit. To me, not a professional trainer... that’s the biggest sign he might have a concussion. But no, the Penguins allowed him to return and play the third period, on top of that he was allowed to play the next game against Tampa Bay. In that game, Crosby was smoked from behind by defenseman Victor Hedman, we all know since then he’s not played another game.
Since then everyone has jumped on the bandwagon, calling for changes against head shots, concussions. Some have gone to extremes blaming the violence in hockey, wanting it completely removed. No one seemed to care that St. Louis Blues forward David Perron missed over 65 games with a concussion after being blindsided by Joe Thornton. With the exception of those in Montreal, not many seemed to care that Zdeno Chara slammed Max Paxcioretty’s head into the turn buckle (fracturing his 4th cervical vertebra along with a severe concussion). Can you imagine if Chara did that to Crosby? A Holy War would have been started in the game of hockey, the NHL would have had no choice but to suspend Chara.
If you to take out Thornton and Chara out of the equation and replace them with Sean Avery or Zenon Konopka, can imagine the length of suspension it would have been? I’d say 5-15 games minimum is what they would have gotten, despite Avery and Konopka having less suspensions or fines in their past. Am I suggested a double standard? Your dam rights I am. If Steve Ott would have elbowed Danny Heatley instead of the other way around, how many games would have the Dallas Star forward have gotten? Seven games maybe Ten? Not the two game joke that Danny got.
For some reasons players like Heatley, Thornton, Chara have reputations of being clean players. That is itself is a complete joke. How does Chara have a positive reputation, after he jumped and rag dolled Mathias Timmander on March 24th 2004? I don’t have enough time to get into why Heatley or Thornton have never been nominated for a Lady Byng trophy.
What needs to happen?
Some will suggest we eliminate all violence. Take fighting out, what hits should be allowed what should not. Think about the 80’s and 90’s, look at the treatment Lemieux and Gretzky dealt with compared to a Cam Neely. You touched or looked at #66 or #99 the wrong way it was quickly dealt with by players like Marty McSorley, Jay Caufield or Tony Twist. Neely on the other hand had to fight his own battles and because of this his career was cut short. What do we need to do, to ensure this does not happen to a Crosby or a Stamkos?
#1> Change the instigator rule. Take away the 10 minute misconduct away. That penalty deters players from standing up for their teammates after being hit legally or illegally. Let the players look after each other, this way the cheap shot artists, Maxim Lapierre, Jarko Ruttu, Patrick Kaleta might have second thoughts before acting recklessly.
I was watching a game the other night, March 23, 2003, St. Louis @ Dallas. Late in the first period Philippe Boucher laid out Petr Cajanek (knocked him out of the game). The hit was declared legal, too most observers the hit was borderline at best. Early in the 2nd period, St. Louis enforcer Reed Low instigated a fight with Boucher and was subsequently ejected from the game. Then Blues Captain Chris Pronger, visiting TSN’s play by play team at the time, TSN’s Gord Miller asked him why does Boucher need to defend himself? Pronger replied back saying, “we can go over Dallas’s best player” similar to watch Boucher did to Cajanek. Later on in the Blues-Stars game, Derain Hatcher jumped Blues star forward Pavol Demitra during a line brawl, forcing Blues de-man Jeff Finley to leave the penalty box to intervene.
The mindset Pronger had has gone away, mainly because of the instigator penalty. You did not hit Gretzky, if you did your star player would get the same treatment or the player who hit #99 would be seeing stars all night in his head.
#2> When it comes to league discipline have the same standard for first time offenders, whether it be a fourth line enforcer or a #1 line center. If the players a repeat offender, treat them the same as every other repeat offender would be treated. If Nicklas Lindstrom elbows Darryl Boyce, he should be suspended the same as if Boyce elbowed the Red Wing defenseman.
What goes around comes around
For some reason I’ve got very little sympathy for the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans. Is it my wish for Crosby to be out with a concussion? Absolutely not, I like others wish he’d be 100%. But it’s their antics on the ice that piss me off. People want us to believe they’re sweethearts and the last thing they want to do its hurt others. We all know by now they employee Matt Cooke, I was going to compare him to Dale Hunter, but even Hunter had the balls to fight his own battles when need be. But, it was others like former Penguin Max Talbot, current Penguin Chris Kunitz and Brooks Orpik that in my opinion are less than honest players.
But another Penguin pisses me off just as much as Cooke. Once in a blue moon we’ll come upon a defenseman like doesn’t like to be hit, and flips out when he does. Kris Letang’s stick work (slashes and cross-checks) is dangerous. He has little or no respect for his opposition, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets a broken ankle or ribs because of his stick work. Another thing that drives me nuts about him, is his tendency to embellish/dive, then again he is French Canadian... you give me a choice of players I’d like to sucker punch, Letang would be at the top of my list even more so than Cooke.
I could throw up every time I hear the Penguins refer to themselves as victims. I wonder how many New York Islanders suffered concussions because of Talbot and Cooke. Marc Savard he’s a victim, I can never and will never join the Pittsburgh Penguin Pity Party.
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