I know who Wyshynski is. I wouldn't rank him quite as high and respected as you apparently do. He's basically a blogger who consolidates things he's read elsewhere and chimes in his two cents, but my apologies for referring to him as "a guy" and not "The Great and Respected Blogger..." He's also been a pretty clear fan of Backes for a while now. My point is you digging up some random article on yahoo where he mentions Backes isn't dirty as if that's some irrefutable evidence.
I've made no claims about Backes hit the other night. That was a terrible call. That doesn't change my opinion that Backes is a prick and often plays at and sometimes over the line. So like I said originally, when he gets a 5 minute major he didn't deserve for that hit, I certainly don't feel too bad for him. It's not the first time Backes has thrown that type of hit. This one was clean but he's had a few that are borderline late on a defenseman who's made a pass up ice. He comes east west and drills them after the puck is gone and they're looking up ice at the play.
That's not a misinformed opinion by the way, it's just one you don't agree with.
Well, I'm not the one ranking Wyshynski high. He's a respected hockey writer/blogger for Yahoo...I guess just not respected by you, which is convenient for you in this discussion.
I don't read the guy every day, but when I do, I usually enjoy his takes on things. It just came up right away when I did a quick search, and I thought it was funny how much it applied to this discussion, and how much he completely contradicted your (and some others here) opinion of Backes...so, like the thorough guy I am, I shared it.
You see Backes play a few games a year and form your opinion based on that. Understandable.
I see him play every game, every year and also spend time analyzing the Blues for my site and our podcast. So I'm going to defer to my own opinion of him over yours...or even Wyshynski for that matter, since I see Backes play a lot more than he does.
Maybe you just don't like Backes for various, understandable, divison rival-type reasons...but we're going to have to disagree on your idea that he is a dirty player. He has had some questionable hits in the past, like any player has who plays the game hard and plays a very physical game...that can't be avoided. But by saying he is dirty, you are saying he goes out looking to hurt other players, which just isn't the case at all. He doesn't have that type of reputation anywhere (except in here). With that said, I'm not going to pretend he is an angel out there either. He plays with an edge and it's not beyond him to give someone a shot, but to me, that falls under the "that's hockey" category, and is something you see everyone do from time to time...and it's never (at least not that I recall) an intent to injure.
Maybe we just disagree on the definition of "dirty player".
