Brendan Smith suspended for 5 games

[wings1110 184]

Wings have all the cap space in the world but I'd like to know if a suspended player counts against the roster limit.

yea, thats what i met. this s*** has me drinking already at least, getting pumped for the tigers game

[MacK_Attack 108]

Wings have all the cap space in the world but I'd like to know if a suspended player counts against the roster limit.

Yes, they do. They have to be on the roster in order to serve games. They can send him down, but the suspension can't be served in the AHL.

The AHL can issue a suspension of their own if they feel necessary, but it would be separate would not count towards his NHL suspension.

Edited September 30, 2011 by MacK_Attack

[Carman 387]

This is tough for me, these open ice, 1 on 1 hits are so difficult to actually complete for the defender that adding any more punishment will impact open ice hits in the future, and will harm the physicallity tool for the defensemen and therefore impact the forwards that will get used to being able to get away with doing moves that would put them in a more vulnerable situation.

I understand, and will accept suspensions for hits to the head like this. In my perfect world I would prefer this to be a legal hit, as a shoulder check should not be a problem at least not as much of a problem I have with the shoulder pads nowadays which completely remove the hitter from impact. I was hoping though, that this hit would be a shorter suspension, mainly due to the puck carrier not protecting himself, and knowing that there was going to be impact along with the fact that Brendan Smith really has a tough job in that situation. I could of lived with a 2 game suspension for a head shot, not that I'd like it but I could understand the league trying to stop the Mike Richards/Matt Cooke hits.

I'll just hope that Shanny can start changing the shoulder equipment sooner rather than later before the game changes and it becomes even more rare to see great open ice hits.

[edicius 3,269]

I was figuring it would be 4 or 5 games. Not surprised at all. Shanny's doing a good job up there.

And Holland gets props for admitting it was reckless. Unlike some other GMs and owners *coughSheroLemieuxcough* who can't admit when their players do wrong.

[P. Marlowe 748]

Yes, they do. They have to be on the roster in order to serve games. They can send him down, but the suspension can't be served in the AHL.

The AHL can issue a suspension of their own if they feel necessary, but it would be separate would not count towards his NHL suspension.

Thanks. So it takes an injury (and LTIR) for Wings to call Smith up just to serve his suspension off. I wonder if they'll do that. Does the suspension still exist next season if Wings won't call Smith up during this season?

[dragonballgtz 273]

This board is freakin amazing. One day Shanny is the hero laying down the law then the next he is a villain and hurting the game.

[P. Marlowe 748]

This board is freakin amazing. One day Shanny is the hero laying down the law then the next he is a villain and hurting the game.

[hillbillywingsfan 792]

This board is freakin amazing. One day Shanny is the hero laying down the law then the next he is a villain and hurting the game.

where is that? who is saying shanny is a villain and hurting the game. If there is 1 or 2 people that said it ok...but the whole board?

[MacK_Attack 108]

where is that? who is saying shanny is a villain and hurting the game. If there is 1 or 2 people that said it ok...but the whole board?

Eh, don't worry about it. People love to paint with a wide brush. As a Leafs fan, people (on message boards and the such) always assume I'm an idiot.

[Winterberg 6]

http://espn.go.com/n...tal-eight-games

Games, I meant GAMES!!

Edited September 30, 2011 by Winterberg

[Guest Shoreline]

What's wrong with this topic?

[wings1110 184]

i remember my first beer, I mean post!

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

Someone has to sit down with Mr. Smith, as soon as possible, and impress upon him the fact that this is not how to make a name for himself in this League.

[ogreslayer 1,069]

This board is freakin amazing. One day Shanny is the hero laying down the law then the next he is a villain and hurting the game.

Personally, I consider the jury still way out on that either way. I will say that the transparency into his decisions are great but we are still talking about a small number of suspensions in the overall scheme of things. I think Smith's suspension was a bellwether moment, telling the players that any contact to the head, regardless of intent, will all be viewed in the same light. As long as that message stays consistent over the long haul, I'm fine with that.

For me, the next big test is what happens when an Ovechkin, Chara, or similar high profile player is in the same spot Brendan Smith just got himself into. If it's less than the 5-8 games mark that's been set, that's where I'll have an issue with it.

[Crashnburnluder 385]

Personally, I consider the jury still way out on that either way. I will say that the transparency into his decisions are great but we are still talking about a small number of suspensions in the overall scheme of things. I think Smith's suspension was a bellwether moment, telling the players that any contact to the head, regardless of intent, will all be viewed in the same light. As long as that message stays consistent over the long haul, I'm fine with that.

For me, the next big test is what happens when an Ovechkin, Chara, or similar high profile player is in the same spot Brendan Smith just got himself into. If it's less than the 5-8 games mark that's been set, that's where I'll have an issue with it.

Agreed, yes overly extreme punishments can be bad for the sport, but the most important thing is consistency. Ask any player, a ref can be calling a bad game, as long as it's being called bad both ways it doesn't have near the same problems as inconsistency.

[toby91_ca 620]

For those asking, the other big difference, which I forgot about, to the Wisniewski hit was the resulting injury. If the Wisniewski git resulted in a serious injury, his suspension would have been "significantly" longer than the 8 games he got.

[Barrie 900]

I'm ok with the suspension.

Keep up the great work Shanny . It seems like the NHL has finally clued in to how serious concussions are.

[Carman 387]

Someone has to sit down with Mr. Smith, as soon as possible, and impress upon him the fact that this is not how to make a name for himself in this League.

I completely disagree, telling a defensemen to concentrate hard on not hitting a forward coming right at him and challenging him to the inside ice is asking way too much. Hockey is a very fast game and this hit is due to the speed of the game more so then the hitters meaning to head hunt.

This hit should never be held against Smith in a way that would paint him as dirty, this hit was completely legal just a few seasons ago, it wasn't a malicious elbow, charging/jump, slash to the head, check from behind.

I don't know the next time brendan smith is on a one on one situation with an NHL player the last thing I want on his mind is worrying about being suspended if he misses the target on an NHL forward who is doing everything he can to avoid a body check by the defenseman.

Now if he starts checking people from behind, throwing elbows or slashes people then I'd be ok with talking to him about not becoming Matt Cooke.

Then again maybe it's not the worst thing in the world, Pronger has been pretty successful afterall.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

I know Smith the guy that hit him. He's a young kid. He's not a repeat offender, but it's still pretty hefty for a first [suspension].

link

[Nhurdi 42]

I don't know the next time brendan smith is on a one on one situation with an NHL player the last thing I want on his mind is worrying about being suspended if he misses the target on an NHL forward who is doing everything he can to avoid a body check by the defenseman.

I agree with this, the mental side of the game is huge. I believe Bert is a prime example of what your mind can do to you as he is half the player he used to be.

Smith should learn from it, and move on.

I also think Shanny is doing a good job, but i want to see if he sticks with it or if he gets soft when a superstar is involved.

I think in a few years there are gonna be allot of repeat offenders at this rate.

[PrairieDawg 52]

I don't get it. Shanahan in his video says Ben Smith didn't significantly change his course enough for it to cause the hit, but the thing is that brendan smith missed the shoulder by like an inch and hit his head. So I'd be more willing to say that because of that very slight move to the inside by Ben that it ended up causing Brendan's hit to miss his shoulder and hit his head. Also as Ben is trying that inside toe drag his head is going forward a little more which sticks out to be hit. I'm not going to bash Shanny because of this but I think this is a little extreme suspension for a first time offender on an accident. I don't believe this is wreckless because if Ben wouldn't have done that move it would have been a clean shoulder to shoulder hit.

I'm just surprised that this is the 2nd longest suspension of the preseason when I believe this is the hit that is closest to being clean of all the others.

Edited September 30, 2011 by PrairieDawg

[RusDRW 155]

I completely disagree, telling a defensemen to con

[CUTTED нахер]

, Pronger has been pretty successful afterall.

don't hit Crosby anymore, please! Pleeeeease!!!! Pleeeeeeaaaaaase!

[Carman 387]

don't hit Crosby anymore, please! Pleeeeease!!!! Pleeeeeeaaaaaase!

Yep thanks for bringing him up, I didn't talk about him enough in my post.

[Winterberg 6]

What's wrong with this topic?

http://www.letsgowin...-brendan-smith/

That one is no good.

[Guest Heaten]

I'm not happy about this suspension because I don't want any Red Wings to ever get a suspension. But if this was another player on a different team, I'd say "good job, Shanny!"

But what bugs me most is now Smith will be considered a "repeat offender". It's amazing that 3/10ths of a second late and 10mm off the mark can determine a players future 'status'. Brendan would love to have this play back and retry it from a different angle. Maybe he wishes he bent down low and took out Ben's hips/legs. I mean a torn ACL wouldn't have been a suspension, right?

Now I am wondering how long fights like the Winchester will be suspendable because the hit he took was to the point of contact where Ben took his hit... At the end of the day, that's reckelss too, right? I mean in the Nu:NHL's world.