329 replies to this topic

[Bar Down]

Im in no way saying that some suspensions shouldn't occur. But do you really thin Wiz should get 8 games for that? suspended? yes prolly, 8 games? no


And instead of suspending everyone, they could just bring the game back to pre lockout, those barely noticeable holds can prevent injuries. I just want hockey 2 be like it was in the 90's.

Absolutely Wisniewski deserved 8 games for that. He targeted Clutterbuck's head with his elbow after the game had ended. Clutterbuck didn't even have the puck, either.

On top of that Wisniewski has been suspended four times since 2008. He's a meat head.

[P. Marlowe]

These new rules are dumb. Bring back old school hockey. The game was better when players were only allowed to pass the puck to players behind them.

With all the money coming in, Bettman can stop looking for a new buyer in Phoenix.

The money goes to Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

[GMRwings1983]

Shanahan is doing a wonderful job. This should have happened sooner.

Goons and enforcers will soon have no place in the game. I'm loving it.

And yes, 8 game suspension and a $500k fine is appropriate. Shanahan 'gets it'. Hockey as we know it will be such a better sport in no time.

Oh brother.

Edited by GMRwings1983, 27 September 2011 - 11:55 AM.

[SweWings]

Oh brother.

I don't really agree with that conclusion either. Fights will not be eliminated by this but hopefully some of the more reckless behavior will.

[GMRwings1983]

I don't really agree with that conclusion either. Fights will not be eliminated by this but hopefully some of the more reckless behavior will.

The comment I responded to was an idiotic thing to say.

There were a lot fewer cheapshots 20 or 30 years ago then there are now, despite the fact there were tons more enforcers and fights in those days. Do people not understand that fact?

And a guy like Wisniewski isn't even an enforcer, so I don't see how this will deter players like him from playing in the NHL. Guy is going to be Columbus's top D-man this season. It was just a stupid comment. What Wisniewki should have done is fight Clutterbuck, instead of blindside him. That's what fighting is for, if you feel your teammate needs to be defended. Instead, he blindsided the guy.

Guys like Cooke, Ruutu and Kaleta are also not going to be eliminated from the game. Those guys can actually take a regular shift, but are dangerous dirty players. They're the ones who have caused the most concussions and injuries over the years. Not the pure goons.

Edited by GMRwings1983, 27 September 2011 - 01:25 PM.

[13dangledangle]

Interesting tweet from EJ Hradek on the Wizniewski suspension...




I for one am glad Kenny didn't go out & overpay for him like C'Bus did. Makes me like that Ian White signing more & more.

Not to keep this off topic for long but I seriously can't believe White wasn't really on the radar. Of all the names I saw he wasn't one of them, though on that day when I stepped out of work to check LGW on my celly we had signed White. I was stoked, being within an hour from Toronto I saw him play alot. The main thing about him was he was the most consistant player they had. He'll do good things with Lids.

[Heaten]

The comment I responded to was an idiotic thing to say.

There were a lot fewer cheapshots 20 or 30 years ago then there are now, despite the fact there were tons more enforcers and fights in those days. Do people not understand that fact?

And a guy like Wisniewski isn't even an enforcer, so I don't see how this will deter players like him from playing in the NHL. Guy is going to be Columbus's top D-man this season. It was just a stupid comment. What Wisniewki should have done is fight Clutterbuck, instead of blindside him. That's what fighting is for, if you feel your teammate needs to be defended. Instead, he blindsided the guy.

Guys like Cooke, Ruutu and Kaleta are also not going to be eliminated from the game. Those guys can actually take a regular shift, but are dangerous dirty players. They're the ones who have caused the most concussions and injuries over the years. Not the pure goons.

Who here said he was an enforcer? Nobody.

The fact that teams can start phasing out "enforcers" who's sole job was to beat the s*** out of players like Wisniewski (sp?). Now those type of players are being punished on an entirely new level and costing them their careers. If Wiz comes back and pulls this same stunt again, his next suspension could be a year off without pay + fines... perhaps bankrupting said player. Shanahan is making a statement.

Players can still fight without dressing 'enforcers'. More skilled players will play instead of unskilled goons. That's progress and the direction the new NHL is (and should) go. Who wants to see star players careers end short by retards who can't play hockey or by dirty players?

The fact is, GMs won't need to blow money and roster spots on Downie type players anymore because Shanahan is taking out the Ruutu's and Cooke type players antics out of the game. If these players cost their teams (Wiz sitting in the press box instead of playing hockey is hurting his team) GMs are going to avoid signing those type of players in the future because they are more of a liability than their worth.

This is the direction the new NHL is going and it's brilliant on Shanahan's part to start enforcing this. Hockey just got better!

[Barrie]

Is it just me, or is the NHL getting dumber by the day? Every day there's another head hit to talk about, and Avery is pissing and moaning about a homophobic comment, when he's one of the worst trash talkers in the league.

I hope Shanny continues with his tough love, because they players don't seem to be getting it. Eventually I think this will lead to a ban of all kinds of head shots.

[GMRwings1983]

Who here said he was an enforcer? Nobody.

The fact that teams can start phasing out "enforcers" who's sole job was to beat the s*** out of players like Wisniewski (sp?). Now those type of players are being punished on an entirely new level and costing them their careers. If Wiz comes back and pulls this same stunt again, his next suspension could be a year off without pay + fines... perhaps bankrupting said player. Shanahan is making a statement.

Players can still fight without dressing 'enforcers'. More skilled players will play instead of unskilled goons. That's progress and the direction the new NHL is (and should) go. Who wants to see star players careers end short by retards who can't play hockey or by dirty players?

The fact is, GMs won't need to blow money and roster spots on Downie type players anymore because Shanahan is taking out the Ruutu's and Cooke type players antics out of the game. If these players cost their teams (Wiz sitting in the press box instead of playing hockey is hurting his team) GMs are going to avoid signing those type of players in the future because they are more of a liability than their worth.

This is the direction the new NHL is going and it's brilliant on Shanahan's part to start enforcing this. Hockey just got better!

I highly doubt it.

Wisniewski is a guy that can score a lot of points from the blueline. He's overpaid, but guys like him will always have a place in the game because he's a good player. Downie is an ******* and a dirty player, but he spent time on Tampa's top 2 lines last season, and put up good numbers. Cooke is a well liked guy in the Pens lockerroom. These players will always be around whether they get suspended a lot or not, because they are important to the team when in the lineup.

As for pure enforcers, they'll be around as long as fighting is allowed in hockey and as long as they're paid cheaply. I want the NHL to be more physical than their European hockey counterparts. That's one of the things that makes me love hockey. I like seeing pure goons fight. What I don't like is people like Ruutu, Cooke, Tootoo, etc. but those players won't ever disappear as long as they can contribute something else to their team. Now a guy like Shelley, I don't mind seeing get punished, because he's a pure goon but he's also a dirty player who has no business being out there.

What I really want to see is an elimination of both the instigator rule and the suspension for instigating at the end of games. Then maybe Wisniewski would have challenged Clutterbuck and not tried to take his head off. I think the instigator has resulted in many injuries that could have possibly been avoided. Of course you can still get injured in a fight, but when a guy is blindsided to the head, he has no chance of defending himself.

Edited by GMRwings1983, 27 September 2011 - 03:28 PM.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros]

I highly doubt it.

Wisniewski is a guy that can score a lot of points from the blueline. He's overpaid, but guys like him will always have a place in the game because he's a good player. Downie is an ******* and a dirty player, but he spent time on Tampa's top 2 lines last season, and put up good numbers. Cooke is a well liked guy in the Pens lockerroom. These players will always be around whether they get suspended a lot or not, because they are important to the team when in the lineup.

As for pure enforcers, they'll be around as long as fighting is allowed in hockey and as long as they're paid cheaply. I want the NHL to be more physical than their European hockey counterparts. That's one of the things that makes me love hockey. I like seeing pure goons fight. What I don't like is people like Ruutu, Cooke, Tootoo, etc. but those players won't ever disappear as long as they can contribute something else to their team. Now a guy like Shelley, I don't mind seeing get punished, because he's a pure goon but he's also a dirty player who has no business being out there.

What I really want to see is an elimination of both the instigator rule and the suspension for instigating at the end of games. Then maybe Wisniewski would have challenged Clutterbuck and not tried to take his head off. I think the instigator has resulted in many injuries that could have possibly been avoided. Of course you can still get injured in a fight, but when a guy is blindsided to the head, he has no chance of defending himself.

I don't mind seeing guys suspended for hits like the one Shelley threw. What i'm scared of is the overreaction of every single hard hit. I don't want the good, hard-hitting physicality of the game eliminated. I do want the hits from behind, especially, gone.

I agree with you on the instigator part, many injuries could have potentially been avoided, and you wouldn't have the surplus of mega-agitators (Cooke, Kaleta, Avery, Clutterbuck, Ott, Tootoo, etc.). Sure, there were agitators in the pre-instigator era.

As for Heaten's comment, "goons" being eliminated has nothing to do with the crackdown on blindside hits. Not sure where he got that from. Fact is, as long as the agitators can still contribute to the team in other ways, GMs will still give them contracts.

Edited by Bring Back The Bruise Bros, 27 September 2011 - 03:51 PM.

[Opie]

Just a couple of points on topic:
1. I think Wiz got 8 games because Shanny wanted him to miss regular season games, so he gets a few preseason added to the tally, plus he is a repeat offender. (Very key phrase in these rulings apparently.
2. We haven't seen him explain why a hit wasn't suspension worthy yet. I think until that point we have to reserve judgement saying all big hits will be taken out of the game.

[e_prime]

Is it just me, or is the NHL getting dumber by the day? Every day there's another head hit to talk about, and Avery is pissing and moaning about a homophobic comment, when he's one of the worst trash talkers in the league.

No. They're right on point. Cracking down on nonsensical hits and dated social mores/wrongs is great for this league.
Just because he's the biggest trash talker doesn't mean Avery ever called someone a f** or that he hasn't learned that it's not socially/politically/morally acceptable anymore. Now if the league starts cracking down on "yo momma..." and "that's what she said..." Avery might be in trouble.

2. We haven't seen him explain why a hit wasn't suspension worthy yet. I think until that point we have to reserve judgement saying all big hits will be taken out of the game.

I'd love to see a non-call/non-suspension video on the Murry/Lapierre hit. (Mainly just to shut AV up.)

[Konnan511]

Looks like Neil has a suspension coming his way.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros]

Looks like Neil has a suspension coming his way.

No way he gets suspended. Its a s***show at HFBoards right now. More than 20 pages on the Neil "blindside hit to the head".

[Konnan511]

No way he gets suspended. Its a s***show at HFBoards right now. More than 20 pages on the Neil "blindside hit to the head".

He'll get suspended. Leaned in and shouldered the guy to the head away from the play.

[Shoreline]

Don't think Neil should be suspended, at worst it's an interference penalty (Neil was following the puck carrier, you can visibly see his face following the carrier, saw someone at the last second, braced himself, and collided with a few players), which wasn't called, but Shanny seems to be trying to send a message of his own. I hope emotions don't prevail in this circumstance.

As for his shoulder, someone who sees a collision coming generally isn't going to be retarded and drop their hands and shoulder so it can make it easier for them to get slammed to the ice and injured. I know there's quite a number of players who don't pay attention and get caught with their head down but often times players see someone coming at the last second and brace themselves. It would be stupid for Neil not to brace himself for impact like that, and this isn't a non-contact sport, which is why each time a collision happens involving someone who doesn't have a puck, doesn't inherently make it a penalty.

I don't mind some of the suspension calls so far, and mimic intent to injure penalties which certainly should never be permitted, but I seriously hope the NHL doesn't go the way of the NFL in doing this ticky tack s*** to appease to alarmists decrying injuries / head injuries in a physical sport where injuries will happen.

Edited by Shoreline, 28 September 2011 - 03:11 AM.

[Konnan511]

The hit looks very similar to the Steckel-Crosby hit. I thought that was intentional, and I thought this one was intentional as well. It looks like he see's him coming the whole time and then "acts" like he doesn't see him then bam, shoulder to the face.

[cusimano_brothers]

From TSN:

Anaheim Ducks forward Jean-Francois Jacques has been suspended for the remainder of the pre-season and for five regular season games for a violation of rule 70 which governs any player who on a legal line change comes onto the ice for the expressed purpose of starting a fight.
...

[toby91_ca]

Don't think Neil should be suspended, at worst it's an interference penalty (Neil was following the puck carrier, you can visibly see his face following the carrier, saw someone at the last second, braced himself, and collided with a few players), which wasn't called, but Shanny seems to be trying to send a message of his own. I hope emotions don't prevail in this circumstance.

Neil didn't just brace himself, he stepped into the hit, it's pretty clear. If he didn't make contact with the head, then no big deal, but if he did (I haven't studied the video enough yet), then a definite suspension should come, especially since the player didn't have the puck.

[toby91_ca]

The hit looks very similar to the Steckel-Crosby hit. I thought that was intentional, and I thought this one was intentional as well. It looks like he see's him coming the whole time and then "acts" like he doesn't see him then bam, shoulder to the face.

I think there are two differences between the hits:

1 - The Steckel hit was 100% contact with the head, the Neil hit was probably a head shot as well, but I haven't seen great video of it yet....at a minimum, it wasn't as clean of a hit directly to the head.

2 - The Neil hit looked intentional for sure, he was looking in another direction when he was coming in, but then took a step to the right to lean into the hit. With the Steckel hit, he's probably the only one that knows whether it was intentional or not (or anyone that he told).