Laraque suspended 5 games

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

"It was an accident, I'm not worried at all, d-oh ho ho."

In the words of Porky Pig, p-p-p-p-pa-pa-piss off Laraque.

[Carman 387]

"It was an accident, I'm not worried at all, d-oh ho ho."

In the words of Porky Pig, p-p-p-p-pa-pa-piss off Laraque.

Not saying he isn't an idiot. But what do you expect him to say? He can't come out and say anything else. Saying he is sorry is admitting guilt and in today's age honesty is not rewarded. It would hurt him more to admit to being dirty and get suspended longer, then to not admit being dirty and get suspended shorter...

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Not saying he isn't an idiot. But what do you expect him to say? He can't come out and say anything else. Saying he is sorry is admitting guilt and in today's age honesty is not rewarded. It would hurt him more to admit to being dirty and get suspended longer, then to not admit being dirty and get suspended shorter...

I would expect someone with any decency to apologize for causing someone else injury. I always like to see players who accidentally injure another, and either quickly check themselves to see they're okay, or who make a point to contact them afterwards and to apologize. Laraque did neither, instead resorting to be an arrogant assclown. Believe it or not, there are still people that put character above all else. Laraque doesn't have any, and I never expected him to apologize. Maybe someone like Pronger, who seems to be a nice guy off the ice, would admit to playing a rough game but add that he absolutely had no intent to injure, and had apologized to whomever he hurt.

[skyphoenix 153]

I would expect someone with any decency to apologize for causing someone else injury. I always like to see players who accidentally injure another, and either quickly check themselves to see they're okay, or who make a point to contact them afterwards and to apologize. Laraque did neither, instead resorting to be an arrogant assclown. Believe it or not, there are still people that put character above all else. Laraque doesn't have any, and I never expected him to apologize. Maybe someone like Pronger, who seems to be a nice guy off the ice, would admit to playing a rough game but add that he absolutely had no intent to injure, and had apologized to whomever he hurt.

Reminds me of the article about how Kane injured Lidstrom by spearing him in the testicles and Kane actually called him to apologize.

[Carman 387]

Reminds me of the article about how Kane injured Lidstrom by spearing him in the testicles and Kane actually called him to apologize.

That was Sharp, and it was a little while after the incident.

Although I'm going to draw back my position after rereading his quotes again. I can agree he didn't show much remorse if any about the situation and that's pretty unfortunate, I expected better from him.

[skyphoenix 153]

That was Sharp, and it was a little while after the incident.

Although I'm going to draw back my position after rereading his quotes again. I can agree he didn't show much remorse if any about the situation and that's pretty unfortunate, I expected better from him.

Oh it was Sharp. My bad. Although, in my defense, they are both named Patrick

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

this is far from an original thought, but I think Laraque should sit out as long as Kronner is out. An eye for an eye -- or knee, in this case. Seriously, they lose Laraque for as long as we lose Kronwall.

I am glad he got five, it's better than nothing, I guess.

^ This.

It's not a love tap on the wrist like Pronger in the playoffs, twice, in 2007, but 5 games for something like this is still too generous IMO. 10 games I think would send a stronger and pretty much the apporpriate message.

EDIT: Scott Burnside brief blurb on Laraque on ESPN.com http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/stor...&id=4682390

Bad Georges

We know Georges Laraque is a good guy who does lots of charity work, but we continue to be baffled about how he still has a job in the NHL. We watched as the Canadiens winger got caught out of position Saturday night. Then we saw him throwing a knee into Niklas Kronwall, sending one of the Detroit Red Wings' most important players to the sideline for as many as eight weeks. That prompts us to ask: To what end is Laraque's ice time at all valuable -- ever? Needless to say, Detroit coach Mike Babcock was not impressed by the knee-on-knee hit and called it dirty. He was being charitable. The NHL's Star Chamber style of discipline is on display once again; as of Monday, the league remains silent about supplementary discipline for Laraque. For the record, Laraque has one assist in 10 games and is averaging 7 minutes, 4 seconds a night in ice time. He's making $1.5 million in the first year of a two-year, $3 million deal. Money well spent, no?

Edited November 24, 2009 by SouthernWingsFan

[toby91_ca 620]

Given it's Laraque, should have been 20 games.

Why? Because his reputation is that he is one of the nicest guys in the league.....too much of a nice guy to be a fighter to be honest and that's a knock on him because he doesn't have much else by way of hockey skill. He's pretty good down low due to his size and strength, but he's a terrible skater.

The only times that anyone can even accuse him of being involved in a dirty play are largely the result of him being less than agile. Take the Kronwall case, I don't see that as Laraque being a dirty headhunter looking to injure, I see it as a poor skater who lacks the agility to deal with someone that make a quick move on him, he shouldn't have stuck his leg out, but those that play know that instinct has something to do with it.

Had Kronwall not been injured, no one would have though about that play any further, it woudl have been 2 min for tripping and that's it, these plays happen all the time, but he WAS injured an Laraque ended up getting suspended, which I have absolutely no problem with. I don't see Laraque as a dirty player though and I doubt most of the players in the league would disagree. I wouldn't put him in a group with Cooke, Ruutu, Avery, etc.

[rage 24]

lol. You all expecteded more than 5 games???????

Wow!!!

Well............Good Morning!!

[StormJH1 231]

I'll accept it. I said that 5-10 games was the range of suspension I thought appropriate for the offense. But the league has boxed themselves in so often under-penalizing other actions, so 5 games is realistic given that unfortunate history.

For those keeping score at home: Careless clubbing a guy in the face with a stick blade and then blantantly tripping someone and causing ligament damage within a 15-second period are worth only one less game than talking about your ex-girlfriend's ****** in front of a television camera. Got it.

[StormJH1 231]

If that were the rule, Todd Bertuzzi wouldn't be playing for us right now.

Yeah, I was gonna say, we should just retire Bertuzzi now then. The league should've grown a pair and made him sit out 2005-06 after the lockout, rather than pretending like they actually punished him for what he did.

[OsGOD 3]

Oh it was Sharp. My bad. Although, in my defense, they are both named Patrick

Kanesy beats cabbies for pennies on the dollar!

Maybe credit card companies could hire him to enforce the deliquents?!

Why? Because his reputation is that he is one of the nicest guys in the league.....too much of a nice guy to be a fighter to be honest and that's a knock on him because he doesn't have much else by way of hockey skill. He's pretty good down low due to his size and strength, but he's a terrible skater.

sounds like he is sandbagging... he made it pretty quickly down the ice to injure to players in 15secs

Edited November 24, 2009 by OsGOD

[Guest zackmorris]

Not saying he isn't an idiot. But what do you expect him to say? He can't come out and say anything else. Saying he is sorry is admitting guilt and in today's age honesty is not rewarded. It would hurt him more to admit to being dirty and get suspended longer, then to not admit being dirty and get suspended shorter...

Well, there's much to be said abotu the human being who can stand up and say yes, I did it on purpose. It was a bad judgment call, I regret it and won't do it again. I apologize. Kind of sad that as a society, we know full well that won't happen?

Laraque showed no remorse and didn't give a s***. He couldn't be bothered to show up to his own discipline meeting and instead opted to simply use the phone. The guy is a dumbass and doesn't give a s*** what he did.

Why? Because no one is afraid of 5 games, especially when he's a poor enough player to be a healthy scratch anyway. Hell, if it's your first offense, all the better because odds are you'll get a little wrist slap and be sent on your way. Like a free pass. You've got to McSorley someone or stomp on a player with a skate to get anything seriously done to you and sigh.....even then...

Edited November 25, 2009 by zackmorris

[Carman 387]

I recanted that statement by the way, but what I meant is I expected him to say something along the lines of, "That wasn't my intention, and I hope Kronwall a quick recovery." or something to that extent. Not what he said in "it was an accident, I'm not worried."

He has a history of "cheap shots", but rarely is refereed to as a dirty player atleast before this incident. And I made that post thinking he would of said something a little more respectable.

[skyphoenix 153]

Georges Laraque went from proclaiming his innocence to throwing himself at the mercy of the court.

Laraque was suspended for five games Monday for sticking out his leg and tripping Detroit Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall, and his only complaint Tuesday was the length of the suspension. The hit left Kronwall on the sidelines for at least four weeks with a sprained knee.

“When I talked to you guys after the game [saturday], I didn’t really know what I did,†Laraque said. “I didn’t think it was that bad. Sometimes in the action you don’t know what you did until you see it. After I saw it, I clearly thought it deserved a suspension.â€

That’s what Laraque told NHL vice-president Colin Campbell in a telephone hearing Monday morning.

“I didn’t try to get out of a suspension, I tried to explain that it wasn’t premeditated and I had no intent to try to hurt the guy,†Laraque said.

“I’ve been in the league for 13 years and it’s not something I try to do. I’m not a dirty player. I’m deeply sorry I did that. That’s not the way I play the game and I hope that Niklas recovers from that.â€

Laraque said he thought the five-game suspension was steep and asked what would have happened if the roles had been reversed and Kronwall had hit him.

But Laraque didn’t get a lot of sympathy from general manager Bob Gainey.

“I don’t spend time saying this guy got three and this looks like this and that guy should get four,†Gainey said. “We need to take those kinds of things out of the game. We’re concerned about the safety of the players. We have five or six players injured now.

“We want our players on the ice playing. We need, as a league, as a team, as individual players, to point in that direction so that [we ensure] the safety of the players and the participation of all those who deserve to be in the game.â€

Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/p...x#ixzz0XqrSDqSR

I'm not sure if his comment about the roles being reversed was based on race or based on it being Kronwall, who has a history of big hits. I'll have to assume the latter, because the former is just ridiculous. I don't know how he thinks 5 Games is steep.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

5 games is a love top given what Laraque did, especially for a guy for doesn't play every night or 20 minutes a game or whatever.

Kronwall stated that it wasn't a dirty hit. There may be some truth to that and it's entirely a perception thing, but it wouldn't shock me if a reaeson he said that was not to spout off any extra flames to the press and media, given how press/media can get stupid and go overboard on stuff.

Is Laraque a good guy in the grand scheme of things? Yeah. Was the play dirty? Yeah. Does it suck? Yeah. Is 5 games too lenient? Yeah.

Hopefully it's just a 1-time deal for both Kronwall and Laraque. Time to move on from this (I know I know, say that to KRownall who's still injured, etc.).

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

I was going to say this. If it's deemed intentional without a doubt, send them out until the other person gets back.

Looks like a lot of folks around here have been eating genius sandwiches again.

As it stands, right now it's hard enough to tell a person's intent. Unless its Chris Simon swinging his stick into Hollweg's face, "intent" is a very gray area that's left up to nothing more than interpretation.

That said, you want to potentially put players on suspension indefinitely/or as long as the injured player is out??? And you're leaving it all up to guesswork?

Punishing people based on how severely they injure another person is absolutely the WRONG way to go.

Forget about the intent to injure part, which is often arbitrary and no more than a guess by the league. You're just opening up a pandora's box of mismatched punishments that don't fit crimes, while other players potentially get off b/c they happened to get lucky and the other guy wasn't injured.

The league has said a million times that along with intent and the offender's history, they have to make a concerted effort to make suspensions fair and that they follow some type of logic.

Do people realize just how hard it is to interpret intent? I guarantee you, under this proposal, that the day somebody like Datsyuk faces a season long suspension for tearing somebody's ACL and MCL, every single Wings fan here would swear on the Holy Bible that they know 100% Pavel's intent and that it was not to injure the other guy. Lot of good that will do you if the league sees differently.

Believe me, nobody wants to face that situation. The league has to have a system in place for handing out suspensions that makes some kind of sense. They have to be as consistent as possible, taking into account intent and the offender's history.

The system is arbitrary enough and full of enough guesses already. At least the way it is now we're limiting the guesswork to referees handing out a 5 and a game or the league handing out a multiple game suspension.

We don't want "guesses" about intent costing players entire seasons should the player they injured suffer such a fate.

[Vladifan 680]

Looks like a lot of folks around here have been eating genius sandwiches again.

As it stands, right now it's hard enough to tell a person's intent. Unless its Chris Simon swinging his stick into Hollweg's face, "intent" is a very gray area that's left up to nothing more than interpretation.

That said, you want to potentially put players on suspension indefinitely/or as long as the injured player is out??? And you're leaving it all up to guesswork?

Punishing people based on how severely they injure another person is absolutely the WRONG way to go.

Forget about the intent to injure part, which is often arbitrary and no more than a guess by the league. You're just opening up a pandora's box of mismatched punishments that don't fit crimes, while other players potentially get off b/c they happened to get lucky and the other guy wasn't injured.

The league has said a million times that along with intent and the offender's history, they have to make a concerted effort to make suspensions fair and that they follow some type of logic.

Do people realize just how hard it is to interpret intent? I guarantee you, under this proposal, that the day somebody like Datsyuk faces a season long suspension for tearing somebody's ACL and MCL, every single Wings fan here would swear on the Holy Bible that they know 100% Pavel's intent and that it was not to injure the other guy. Lot of good that will do you if the league sees differently.

Believe me, nobody wants to face that situation. The league has to have a system in place for handing out suspensions that makes some kind of sense. They have to be as consistent as possible, taking into account intent and the offender's history.

The system is arbitrary enough and full of enough guesses already. At least the way it is now we're limiting the guesswork to referees handing out a 5 and a game or the league handing out a multiple game suspension.

We don't want "guesses" about intent costing players entire seasons should the player they injured suffer such a fate.

I don't have an answer as to how to clean up these calls, but I'm not sure where you're going with this, since the only alternative you suggest also involves guessing at the intent. But you also state that going with the extent of the injury is also wrong. So, what would be your suggestion for fixing it? But I do agree that the offender's history most definitely should be taken into account.

Meanwhile, from the quote SkyPhoenix put in here, it's a good thing for Laraque that once he saw the tape he knew it was a suspendable action. Now I really don't have to hire a death squad. But I too would like him to be out (OR play?!) for as long as Kronwall is out, over-reacting or not.

[Guest zackmorris]

Looks like a lot of folks around here have been eating genius sandwiches again.

Attribute it to my IQ, not my diet. K thanks, save the bulls*** for someone else.

It's not hard to tell his intention. If you're intending to be argumentative, then yes, but if you have half a brain you can see him stick his knee out to keep from allowing a golden opportunity. This is an easy decision for Laraque-allow a chance, give up a goal, lose the game because of it, be a healthy scratch. Hell, he's so poor he might be a scratch anyway. He stuck his knee out to keep the chance from happening. It required a quick decision and some people don't make good decisions under pressure. If you can look at that play and question his intentions, you're high my friend. It's as plain as day.

That said, you want to potentially put players on suspension indefinitely/or as long as the injured player is out??? And you're leaving it all up to guesswork?

I said if it's deemed intentional. If it's without a doubt obviously intentional, send him. Bye. See you in a few months. If you really have to guess, don't do it. If you don't and it's as obvious as water being wet and the sky being blue, we're all adults, let's save the bulls***.

But as was said earlier, the real punishment would be to make Laraque play 23 minutes a night until Kronner returns.

Punishing people based on how severely they injure another person is absolutely the WRONG way to go.

That's not the idea though.

Do people realize just how hard it is to interpret intent? I guarantee you, under this proposal, that the day somebody like Datsyuk faces a season long suspension for tearing somebody's ACL and MCL, every single Wings fan here would swear on the Holy Bible that they know 100% Pavel's intent and that it was not to injure the other guy. Lot of good that will do you if the league sees differently.

If he truly meant to do it, send him out. That's the thing, it has to be obvious it was clearly intentional. Laraque's play was.

Part of getting people to stop doing this is give out longer suspensions. 5 isn't enough to make someone, in a critical moment, think of the punishment. 5 games? Psshhh, who cares? You're going to first, naturally, think of the play. If you know in the back of your mind that you're going for 15 games without pay for an intentional knee like that, your first natural reaction will be "oh s***, I'd better not do that".

I think the real problem will be with anyone trusting the league. We love hockey but if any of us truly trust the board of governors and Gary Bettman, we're delusional. He's like a dealer-we don't trust the bastard, but he provides what we seek and thus we tolerate his existence. I wouldn't trust this league to call it down the middle. That's the real problem.

[Guest zackmorris]

For me there was intent; not more than 10 seconds before kneeing Kronwall - Laraque swung his stick in a reckless fashion, and hit Helm in the face...Seemed to me Laraque was on a mission to stir the pot.

No man, we don't know that. Apparently, common sense doesn't exist anymore and we aren't able to judge intent until computers can read thoughts.

How full does the shelf have to get before we grow a pair and slap one of these goons down?