Naples39 wrote:
The NHL is dying for someone with the balls to throw the book at these guys .
Here I also agree with you and since you are unwilling to take the job, I like Pk's idea
pk500 wrote:
The NHL needs Roger Goodell. NOW.
I dont like some of what he does but he isnt hiding under his desk collecting his huge check, He is balls in taking care of business.
Don't disagree gentlemen...
10spro wrote: Then a petty fine to S. Weber for banging one of the leagues stars' head WWE style last week. And no wonder you see guys like A. Asham who from his perspective knows will be suspended but probably 3-4 games, while a rising star sits on the shelf.
And it'll get worse as the playoffs intensifies, this league just has to go the NFL route and make suspensions really mean something.
IMO, Shanahan didn't have the stomach to give a longer suspension to Neal for taking a run at Claude Giroux while giving him a glancing head shot that dazed him. Along the non suspension to Shea Weber, he sets a precedent, a dangerous open season for players to take matters into their own.
Although the new Sheriff does explain more in context for the decisions he makes, Shanahan doesn't explicitly mention another facet of the play that went on game 3 between the Flyers and Pens. The game was over at that point, and it was after a series of other violent acts between both teams. It was in that context that Neal was skating around, looking for cheap shots, looking to hurt people.
Here's a guy that was suspended once, fined once and warned twice by the NHL. That doesn't count?
The NHL has established how important injuries are to the process, and a shot to Giroux's head that could have been much worse needed a more stern suspension. As everyone knows, certain injuries, concussions for example, are not always immediately apparent. Especially if a player is hiding symptoms to stay in a line up. They very from person to person and some players are more prone to them than others.
Why not take that benefit of a doubt and suspend people longer that shots to the head are just not accepted.
Naples39 wrote:Still, the NHL gets it wrong sometimes, and the Neal video is somewhat befuddling. That they "are willing to accept Neal's assertion" that he was bracing himself when he leaped into Couturier, despite the fact that seconds later he makes another illegal charge, is laughable.
Laughable is right, his assertion is obviously false given what he did just 42 seconds later.
So Torres will miss Thursday's game and is suspended indefinitely, yet Neal got ZERO games for his hit on Couturier. Actually Neal jumped a lot worse into Couturier than Torres jumped into Hossa. Yes, Torres has a history, but so does Neal. In fact Neal has had more than a few run-ins with the NHL office over the past few years. And somehow Asham gets 4 games for crosschecking high during a game and Backstrom gets 1 game for doing the same thing, but after the game, which is supposedly a bigger offense according to league rules. Honestly, whoever is making these inconsistent dumbass decisions should be relieved of their duties. I have no problem with any of the aforementioned players getting suspended, but the inconsistency is simply ridiculous. A leaping hit into the head is a leaping hit to the head, regardless of any feeble explanations. Thankfully both Hossa and Couturier should be fine, but that is beside the point. The league talks a big game about protecting players, but when it comes down to it they show with their actions that player safety is not important to them. Philadelphia is probably not too highly steamed since they are up 3-0, but imagine the ire if the series was 2-1 Pit. The NHL could all but eliminate vicious hits with intent to injure if they would simply have a zero tolerance policy and quit pissing around and trying to be too cute with their decisions. I think Bettman has done some positive things as commish and the league is actually growing in popularity, but when it comes to league discipline and player safety he has been an abject failure.
It's been a wild series in Penn and I will be rooting for this guy tonight to extend the rivalry. Nothing better than pumping the tires of the other guy.
Canucks will steal one tonight D. Sedin or not, but guys like Kesler, Booth, Burrows and Higgins will need to step it up in their do or die night.
Naples39 wrote:Bettman, Shanahan and Campbell haven't thrown a single check, and at some point the players have to bear some responsibility. I don't buy the argument that well the league is clueless on discipline so I have no choice but to throw a dirty headshot. The recurring cheapshot artists like Torres are the ones doing the most damage to the integrity of the league.
Really? What about scorers like Neal and Backstrom?
You expect thuggery from idiots like Torres. But when the epidemic has spread to players like Neal and Backstrom, then the NHL has a problem.
And if Crosby suffers another concussion because a foe responds to one of his cheap shots, then he gets what he deserves. It's pure hypocrisy for the Penguins and Crosby to whine about head shots last season and earlier this season and then pull this head-hunting sh*t in the first round against the Flyers.
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
Toon nailed it above: The NHL does not give a flying f*ck about player safety.
The NHL only will make changes when media starts unearthing stories in 10 years about retired players drooling in a cup or suffering dementia due to head shots.
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
pk500 wrote:
The NHL only will make changes when media starts unearthing stories in 10 years about retired players drooling in a cup or suffering dementia due to head shots.
Again. They are waiting for a player to be killed.
10spro wrote:Don Cherry thinks Torres will get 10 games for his transgression last night, I think Shanny will give him 6 max.
Gotta wonder if Shanny is feeling the heat from all the criticism in the media and from fans over his leniency. If Torres makes that hit in game 1 he probably wouldn't get as big a suspension as he will now get.
I know the league plays favorites. I know they own the Coyotes. I know they suck east coast cock but there is more than one team playing hockey and its about damn time the wimps at the nhl recognize that all the teams and players are equal and hammer this f***.
toonarmy wrote:Pit is playing some seriously dumb hockey. I guess they will never learn. 3 PP goals already for Phi and Fleury is just awful tonight.
Neither of these teams will advance past the second round if they continue to play such shoddy defense, with lousy goaltending as the cherry atop the sh*t sundae.
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
10spro wrote:Don Cherry thinks Torres will get 10 games for his transgression last night, I think Shanny will give him 6 max.
Gotta wonder if Shanny is feeling the heat from all the criticism in the media and from fans over his leniency. If Torres makes that hit in game 1 he probably wouldn't get as big a suspension as he will now get.
Another example of the irrational sliding scale of NHL justice.
The NHL needs to SLAM each and every one of these offenders, regardless of injury, prior offenses or the status of the series. Then players will change their ways.
Matt Cooke is a perfect example. He was one of the league's most notorious head-hunters, like Torres. Then he was suspended the last 10 games of the regular season and for the first round of the playoffs -- which the Pens lost -- last year for his brutal hit on the Rangers' Ryan McDonagh. From what I've read, and Pens' fans can support or refute this, Cookie felt he really let the team down by missing the playoffs and vowed to change his ways.
Guess what? He did. Cooke had 44 PIM's this season compared with more than 100 each of the last three seasons. Yet he's still a physical, effective player.
Last edited by pk500 on Wed Apr 18, 2012 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
