Malkin hit on Girardi

[Echolalia 2,961]

I don't think that's the point. The point that someone is willing to stand up for you clean hit or not shows they care. Besides the fans love it.

No kidding *sarcasm*

If they don't know that their teammates care for them without them trying to pick a fight for every hit, then the team has much bigger issues than guys getting laid out. And for the record, a lot of fans don't love it, myself included. I think it takes away from the pace of the game, and 90% of the time an actual fight doesn't even occur. The only thing that picking a fight after a clean hit serves is to try to mend up a bruised ego, or to satisfy some macho persona that everyone thinks necessary for hockey players to have.

Someone alluded to it already, but I remember watching the Wings' Avs' rivalry and yes, there were a ton of fights. But there were also a ton of hits, clean or otherwise that didn't immediately result in the game being stopped so everyone can mend their bruised egos. The game continued on. And it was awesome and exciting, and I doubt that any player from either team felt unloved because their teammates didn't play big brother immediately after someone got checked.

[WorkingOvertime 536]

Great hit. I don't mind the Rangers going after Malkin- although clean, it was a dangerous hit. Malkin went after Phaneuf for a clean hit recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m27yocJ4HEo

[MidMichSteve 1,115]

Looked like, if anything, they could have called charging. Malkin took at least 3 strides before turning around for the hit

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42.1 Charging - A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player who skates or jumps into, or charges an opponent in any manner.

Charging shall mean the actions of a player who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner. A “charge” may be the result of a check into the boards, into the goal frame or in open ice.

[wings87 1,290]

Looked like, if anything, they could have called charging. Malkin took at least 3 strides before turning around for the hit

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You know I never got the charging rule, seems like it's something that could be called on a lot of hits.

[TheXym 2,606]

I can understand the case for charging, but that was a clean hit, imho.

Edit: fixed keyboard lisp.

Edited November 17, 2014 by TheXym

[Euro_Twins 4,485]

I can undertand the case for charging, but that was a clean hit, imho.

Nice lithp

[TheXym 2,606]

Nice lithp

It's the damn ipod touch keyboardth. It's tho fabulouth.

[toby91_ca 620]

There are easy charging calls where players jump and hit a guy. Then there are the others that are more subjective like distance travelled, etc. For those, the way I have always looked at it is that a player is going out of there way to do nothing other than to try and level a guy. Typically you'll see a player leave one side of the ice in the zone and skate all the way to the other, or skate from the point into the corner to nail a guy. Basically, those players are leaving their position to make a hit.

In the case of the Malkin hit, he was skating around the net to go after the puck like he would normally be doing. It's probably a very poor explanation, but I don't see charging as even being considered here....but at the same time, I do agree that charging is often very tough to call.

[rrasco 1,312]

Looked like, if anything, they could have called charging. Malkin took at least 3 strides before turning around for the hit

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This was my thought. He did hit him square in the chest, but how many times have we seen that called (and even suspended) when it occurred in that spot on the ice?

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Players don't know when their teammate has been cheapshotted or not. They just see a guy down and react without thinking, in the heat of the moment. And it's not their job to attend to an injured Girardi. They're not doctors. The team doctors can do their jobs better.

I have no problem with it. It deters players from taking shots at your stars, whether they're clean or not. I don't want Datsyuk getting hit with a nice, clean hit either, and would have no problem if someone went after the guy that did it.

Retaliation isn't what will take hitting out of the game. The NHL's new rules and views on player safety are doing that by itself.

Edited November 17, 2014 by GMRwings1983

[frankgrimes 1,836]

I don't mind seeing it after big hits. Because just like someone said as a player you don't know if it was clean or dirty most of time. But standing up for your teammate is te right thing to do.

I actually hate it more when watching the wings and a dirty play happens and everyone just sits there with their thumb up their ass.

I think it was a clean and monsterous good hit too but as a player, adrenalin is running high and if the first thought is damn that guy tried to knock him out...I'd rather see revenge than doing nothing or trying to beat them at the scoreboard. If I'm Vigenault my first action would have been a thumbs up to McIlrath go berserk mode (if they had him in the lineup).

But overall I agree, hockey is tough, physical and emotional (all the things soccer isn't !) so scrums after every hit are useless but I can understand when players are trying to send a message after huge hits that result in injuries.

Edited November 17, 2014 by frankgrimes

[toby91_ca 620]

Well, McIlrath wouldn't have been an option, obviously. He's played a total of 8 minutes in the NHL this year.

[nawein 324]

Players don't know when their teammate has been cheapshotted or not.

It deters players from taking shots at your stars, whether they're clean or not.

Yes, they do. It's a fast game but they're not blind.

And no, it doesn't. It just doesn't.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Players don't know when their teammate has been cheapshotted or not. They just see a guy down and react without thinking, in the heat of the moment. And it's not their job to attend to an injured Girardi. They're not doctors. The team doctors can do their jobs better.

I have no problem with it. It deters players from taking shots at your stars, whether they're clean or not. I don't want Datsyuk getting hit with a nice, clean hit either, and would have no problem if someone went after the guy that did it.

Retaliation isn't what will take hitting out of the game. The NHL's new rules and views on player safety are doing that by itself.

If it is effective at deterring guys from taking runs at star players, that means it is also effective at reducing hitting in the game.

[frankgrimes 1,836]

Some cheapshots are obvious while others are not.

Some players feel the need to come to a teammates aid when it's warranted (again - hard to tell what's going on in a players noggin when such things take place while the game is going).....We used to have that on the Red Wings, and we saw it often in the past, but that was then...

And we've won our last Stanley Cup with that philosophy. I highly believe that sticking up for each other is a bounding experience that can do a lot for the mood of a team. Look at the Isles other teams tried to take advantage off them till the team had enough and punched the s*** out of the Penguins score and fightingwise.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

If it is effective at deterring guys from taking runs at star players, that means it is also effective at reducing hitting in the game.

Not as much as the modern day rules do.

[wings87 1,290]

Every kind of hit?

You must be joking.

Obviously not every kind of hit, that was a bit of a hyperbole on my part. But, come on, stop being argumentative, you're acting like we haven't seen time and time again fights start over the slightest of things.

Clean hit=fight.(Sometimes this deserves a fight, but a lot of times these fights are complete overreactions)

Dirty hit=fight(this one deserves fighting)

Perceived dirty hit, but actually not=fight

Guys are so worried about being perceived as bad teammates, they go out of their way to protect a teammate-sometimes for no reason.

[jimmyemeryhunter 2,747]

Obviously not every kind of hit, that was a bit of a hyperbole on my part. But, come on, stop being argumentative, you're acting like we haven't seen time and time again fights start over the slightest of things.

Clean hit=fight.(Sometimes this deserves a fight, but a lot of times these fights are complete overreactions)

Dirty hit=fight(this one deserves fighting)

Perceived dirty hit, but actually not=fight

Guys are so worried about being perceived as bad teammates, they go out of their way to protect a teammate-sometimes for no reason.

I had two girls on my team in squirts, and I was constantly fighting for that same reason.

Like what if they thought I didn't like them?

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Hate Malkin but that's a good hit.

[TheXym 2,606]

Great Shanny quote. That attitutde helps bring a team together.

[TheXym 2,606]

It's not exactly what Shanahan said, but something along those lines...I'll have to search YouTube to see if I can find it.

I remember the interview vaguely. Good luck with the search.

[wings87 1,290]

Fights take place for just about any reason; a staged fight between 2 enforcers, a fight breaks out due to 'heat of the moment', or a fight breaks out due to a hit (be it clean, or dirty).

As long as fighting is tolerated at the pro level of hockey - some GMs/coaches will seek out players who are capable of doing so...A significant portion of guys that do engage in fisticuffs at the NHL/AHL level began fighting as teens while playing junior hockey in Canada...So standing up for a teammate is not some new, or original concept that sprung up at the highest level of the game.

The staged fights I can live with, or without.....I do however like seeing the team stand up for one another.....Shanny said it best some years ago while he was still a Red Wing; hoping his teammates don't mind killing off a pp if he is assessed an additional pen by going after an opponent who he feels took a run, or advantage of a teammate.

You can say - 'that was then, but this is now' in regards to how the game is being played...Well - that notion might be applied to the Red Wings since for the last several seasons we've seen Detroit at the bottom of the list for fighting majors, but lets be honest - other teams locker rooms would rather see justice met on the ice that night than a few days later in Toronto courtesy of a conference call.

I think you've got me all wrong, I think fighting is great, when it's called for. I despise staged fights, and I'm not a big fan of fights after clean hits(that don't result in injuries). Too many fights lately happen because of complete overreactions. It's hockey people get hit, some players need to learn to deal with it. That being said, fighting after a huge clean hit (as in this case) when emotions are riding high is part of the game, and those are the fights that get fans excited. Not the pushing and shoving after a soft hit in the corner.

[nawein 324]

It's hockey, when things break down, bad stuff happens. If Girardi took a peek up ice before, or even as he turned, the hit could have been avoided. If Lundqvist was communicating forecheckers, the hit could have been avoided. I'm sick and tired of all of the onus being on the hitter and none on the guy getting hit. Awareness and communication both would have stopped the hit from happening or at least made it a lot less solid and brutal.

[Holmstrom96 347]

Hate Malkin but that's a good hit.

I'm in the same boat. Dude got walled, and it was clean.