The issue will be high on the agenda when the NHL's general
managers meet again in March, but this time they should have a body
of evidence to help them. International rules that will be in place
for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver are much stricter than the NHL's
when it comes to hits to the head.
Pop somebody in the puss during the Winter Games or drive
someone's head into the glass, which seems to happen every other
shift in the NHL, and you're facing a minimum two-minute penalty
and a 10-minute misconduct. Add some extra oomph, and it becomes
five minutes and a game.
And if the victim is injured, it's an automatic ejection.
Makes pretty good sense, no?
Fans are guaranteed to see some of the best hockey in years
during the Olympics, absent the moronic cheap shots that have
become part of the daily routine in the NHL.
The league for years has dropped hints that it was going to
crack down on hits to the head but very little has been done.
The NHL players' association has done almost nothing. For
every day the NHL and its so-called union waits to implement
better, stiffer rules, players show less respect for one another.
What's required for change? Is the league going to
procrastinate until some headhunter causes brain damage? Do we wait
for someone to die or wind up in a wheelchair?
Florida's David Booth has been sidelined with a concussion
since Oct. 24 after Philadelphia's Mike Richards caught him with
his head down.
Clean hit? Yes. Necessary? Definitely not.
The Rangers' Chris Drury missed five games after Calgary's
Curtis Glencross drilled him when he wasn't looking.
Phoenix defenseman Ed Jovanovski was suspended for two games
this month for a cheap shot to the head of Minnesota forward Andrew
Ebbett. Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke was banned two games after a hit on
Rangers' Artem Anisiminov.
Two more names were added to the scroll last week when Ottawa
winger Jarkko Ruutu caught unsuspecting Sabres winger Patrick
Kaleta with an unnecessary hit to the noggin and drove his head
into the glass. Washington defenseman Mike Green had his head
smashed into the glass on a hit from behind by Colorado stiff David
Koci.
If such shots were delivered on the street, they would be
arrested. When it happens on the ice, they're applauded.
Ruutu's hit on Kaleta was asinine, plain and simple. Koci hit
Green below the shoulders, but he provided the extra force —
from behind — that sent the defenseman kisser-first into
glass. Neither was necessary and, in a perfect world, both players
would have been suspended.
Instead, NHL warden Colin Campbell fined both even though
their victims were gone for the remainder of their games. You can't
help but wonder if Ruutu avoided a suspension because his hit was
on Kaleta, who has a reputation for stepping over the line himself.
If Ruutu delivered the same hit on, say, Sidney Crosby, he would
have been locked up in solitary.
Understand, nobody is looking for a sissy league. Players are
going to take shots to the head in the natural course of hockey,
and making split decisions at high speeds is difficult. But when
players are faced with the decision to A) go for the cranium; or B)
make a good, clean check, too often they pick A.
In the good ole days, when the players were allowed to police
themselves, justice would be served in the form of retribution.
Nothing makes players think twice more than a good pummeling, and
the Sabres should have responded to Ruutu. It's rare these days
because players fear the instigator penalty or being ejected.
Wouldn't the same mentality apply if perpetrators suffered
similar punishments for hits to the head?
