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Watching wingspan and caught the planes number so I checked out its flight. Just thought it was cool so ill share it http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N682RW

If Gillies was smart (which he is not) he would take the instigator on Clutterbuck, wreck his s***, then sit the 17 minutes. It's not like he deserves much ice time anyway. Hell, if he is deemed the aggressor and gets a game for it then the Isles are better off.

You seem to overlook the fact this is not an amateur sport we are talking about, in which case you would be right - fighting is not necessary for participants to enjoy the sport and get something positive out of it; and that is actually the case - college hockey and age group hockey (even beer leagues) have much less tolerance for fighting than the NHL. But the NHL is a professional sporting league, and as such their source of income is 'entertaining' fans. Fans pay good money to be entertained by the best athletes in hockey, but also for the excitement of a decent toss every once in a while. Fighting has been a part of professional hockey for almost a 100 years - it has been ingrained in the culture of the fans as well as the players (over 90% whom regularly vote in players polls that fighting should remain a part of the game), and arguably even helps keep players honest and reduces cheap shots (which I would prefer not to argue about at this point) - fighting is one of the aspects which makes hockey unique and draws fans which might not otherwise clamor to watch lacrosse players on ice. As professional entertainers, players are paid huge sums of money to risk bodily harm on a nightly basis - it's not exactly 'the children' we are trying to protect - or else we would all be striving to outlaw boxing and the MMA, to impose speed limits on race car drivers and eliminate tackling from football. Selling professional hockey in North America, without fighting, is a losing proposition - to the players, fans and owners.

Just get rid of him.

Gillies is a cancer in this league. Cmon Howard haters get talk about rebound control

There are actually accelerometers that are small enough to fit inside someone's ear, so it wouldn't be too hard to turn it into a hearing aid (to allow the player to hear around him, obviously) to measure the g-forces to the brain, as that's the closest to the brain that you can get without doing surgery. You can fit them to a player that has had a concussion and have it calibrated to alert the trainer if the player has received a preset number of gs, something like 100gs (as that's the threshold of a concussion). If the player's accelerometers registers gs above 100, then the trainer would be notified and would examine the player for any signs and symptoms of a concussion and could have him sit for a shift or for the rest of the game (especially if the gs were really high). These accelerometers might be too expensive for a team to equip all of the players with, but it would work if a team has a player (or players) that has had concussions in the past, so their value to the players would far outweigh their costs, especially as some players command money in the high millions. Fun fact: These accelerometers were developed for IndyCar racing in the US in the 90s in conjunction with Wayne State University to better determine whether a driver suffered a concussion after a crash (which, when you're going at 210+ most of the time, they're going to be big crashes).

If repeat offender even plays into it at all, Matt Cooke's minimum suspension should've started at 20 games years ago. He is the definition of a repeat offender with way more infractions (called or not) than Gillies yet he gets puny suspensions. But hey, he chips in pucks every now and then so he's all good. Das Boooools***. esteef

Leino just tripped Schenn on an icing, sending him in to the boards. I thought the league was trying to come down on this dangerous play a few years ago. There will be no suspension or anything (shouldn't be IMO) but the play is easily as dangerous as Gillies. The difference is no one here would call for a suspension because Leino is a "skill player". The Gillies hit was dirty, there is no arguing that. My problem is that he will get a big suspension from it while similar hits will happen with no league intervention. This is targeting the name on the sweater and not the offense. This is evidenced by Cal getting the benefit of the doubt for his hit from behind. If anyone sees any homerism in my posts, please point it out. This situation is similar to Malkin having his instigator recinded in the playoffs a couple years ago. People complained because they thought the league recinded the penalty because Malkin is a star player. To me this falls under the same argument but posters here are less likely to support a lesser suspension because Gillies is an enforcer.

Wouldn't mind having this guy on our team someday. And no, I'm not kidding.

Oh yay! PTI will be discussing this for :20 seconds today. This is why I hate when players do boneheaded things. It causes discussion of hockey by those who have no understanding of the game. ...and no, I don't consider Wilbon's blind homerism for the Hawks as understanding of the game.

Gillies is a career 4th liner who was brought up to check and provide energy (and knock the s*** out of people ). His point totals are irrelevant. esteef

"Since the lockout, however, the league is trying to tame the frontier justice. The problem is that their solution - the ill-named "instigator" penalty - actually punishes the enforcer and NOT the instigator, the guy running around and stirring the pot. Not surprisingly, those guys are stirring harder and faster than ever, with no end in sight." Couldn't have said it better myself. Oh wait! Great column by the way. More good stuff..."The current "fighting has no place in our game" moralizing from the league is complete hogwash, frankly. It's self-serving, and allows Bettman and Campbell to sound correct while actually doing things that are the exact oposite of helpful. The goon who does nothing but fight is bad for the game, they say; well, what about the goon who does nothing but endanger other guys' health and careers? The enforcer would be far less necessary if you cracked down on the behavior he's there to punish! Heck - enforcers might even need to be able to carry their weight for 8-10 minutes a night. Wonder of wonders, if you curtail dirty play, you might just improve the quality of the hockey being played. Once you get past the tribal instinct of "my team good, all others suq lulz !!!one!!1!" the fans get that; they know punishing the enforcer more than the troublemaker serves, in practice, to protect the troublemaker. That's the real reason why dirty play is on the rise." esteef

Wow! I'm not even sure what to say, but I'll try. I'd call a boarding penalty on Clutterbuck, but the hit wasn't that bad at all. The Isles player was skating up the ice when Clutterbuck committed to the hit and then the Isles player lost control of the puck, looked down and turned towards the boards. Clutterbuck even looks to let up on the hit. You have to blame Clutterbuck here, but those are tough hits to avoid at times and happen on the time. I highly doubt any player sticking up for a rookie woudl decide the best course of action would be to jump into the guy, with elbows up and drive the guy's head into the glass. Gillies will get extra time because he's a repeat offender and because he was literally 2 minutes into coming back from a 9 game suspension for the same thing, but if a guy like Lidstrom did the same thing, he'd get suspended too. However, that's a mute point because we all know that Lidstrom would never do that.

Clutterbucks hit was worse than Gillies. Only difference is Clutterbuck is one of those players that dishes out the cheap hits but when it happens to him he drops like a lemon. Gillies did what any player sticking up for a rookie who was hit from behind in his 2nd ever NHL game would do.

I actually agreed for a change with what Milbury said on versus regarding this...gotta get guys like this out of hockey

New to posting here, nice to meet all of you. I agree, instigator rule or not, that is one of the times where if you are going to retaliate he should drop the gloves and square up with him. I mean look at how people like Probert, Kocur and McCarty gave retribution. There is a correct way and a wrong / gutless way (in my opinion) and he chose the wrong one. No room in the NHL for goons like this. I do believe that at some point in his career he will get what is coming to him if he continues to play like this.

My thoughts exactly. If there was no instigator rule, Gillies would've likely grabbed Clutterbuck and whooped his ass, instead he delivers a quick (and cheap) hit and hopes to get away with it. Oh well... Sign him Kenny! esteef

Obviously Gillies commits this hit because of Clutterbuck's board, hit from behind, whatever you wanna try and call it, interpreted from him on the ice. It's clear he didn't like Clutterbuck's hit. Yeah, obviously the hit is not acceptable, yeah, he's gonna be suspended. However, look at the on-ice culture of retaliation for hits, dirty or clean. Look at the lack of respect displayed on the ice for opponents, especially those who do not play dirty, or simply make clean hits yet take punches to the face or stuff like this. The NHL levies discipline by technicality but really players learn by other players on the ice. Throwing another suspension at Gillies is not going to help the bigger picture. That and I don't think Milbury is much in a position to try and start psycho-analyzing anyone else with the issues he has.

Gilles whole game is pre meditated, he only knows how to do one thing and that's be a goon. The funny thing is that the box score has Gilles for 5 for hitting from behind? Clusterf*** is a tool and plays on the edge to say it nicely but to say that a guy deserves an elbow to the head is the exact mentality that is leading to all these concussions and dirty hits.

buttercup deserved it. he is a chicken s*** who runs around and hides behind his shield and gets others to do his dirty work.

Disclaimer: Playing devil's advocate here. Gilles cares whether Clutterbuck's hit was clean/questionable or not... That's why he's there... to "protect" young players (DiBenedetto - 22y/o - second game) ...and the incidents are mere moments apart. They are tied together. Clutterbuck delivers a hit Gilles sees as questionable. He delivers his retaliation/protection. He's just doing it wrong.

People like him do not belong in the game. 10 games.

I may be... but you're a simpleton.

the NHLPA should really be fighting this kind of stuff. contracts over 1 or 2 mil should have a no AHL clause except for conditioning stints, if a team doesnt want the player anymore they have to buy him out.

Wait a minute, Commodore lifts weights? esteef