the on-ice official had called it illegal. He also apparently feels a sense of responsibility to those young men who may never go on to the NHL and to those who may want to play in the league.

under law, you’re liable for the severity of an injury. If you and your friend get into a fight at a bar with the characters from Unbreakable, and you hit Sam Jackson and your friend hits Bruce Willis, you’re S.O.L – you’re gonna lose a lot more money in the ensuing civil trial than your friend will. It sucks, but that’s just the way it works.

So, in that sense, I can understand where this comes from – if you’re unlucky enough to illegally clock someone who gets seriously injured, you’re gonna get a harsher penalty. But, I agree that I don’t really like it. I think they should penalize the process, not the result. Is the intent behind an illegal hit that doesn’t lead to serious injury really any better than the intent behind one that does? I don’t think so.

Anyway, just wanted to finally put my law school pedigree to work for once, haha.

It wasn’t a legal hit. I’ve watched it several times and you can count 5 strides in-screen and it seems like he was already winding up out of the picture. Then the Dman shows his back and the guy doesn’t even try to hold up a little bit. He buries his shoulder between the D’s shoulder pads. He’s a 20 year old CHL player with no offensive skill to speak of an a ton of PIM; it’s clear why he’s there. I have absolutely no sympathy for his suspension, especially given that every youtube “highlight” of his is either a questionable hit or a fight. The CHL includes players at a dangerous age range. Basically you have 16-20 and a few 21 year olds. That range spans a huge step in physical maturity, and as such you have some guys who are essentially grown men physically playing against what are still teenage boys. This guy falls into the former category and he makes his reputation praying on the latter.

The worst was listening to Bobby Clark talk about the hit on TSN. He said “I don’t like the suspension but what can you do? You can’t say ‘respect the other players’ because that’s crap.” Somehow it’s so fitting coming from him…

he is pretty clueless. Apparently he has had a history of brutal hits. You can knock someone off the puck without causing serious injury. It is done all the time. Maybe the focus on the result of the play is warranted. When you hit someone wearing a helmet hard enough to cause a skull fracture, you’ve crossed a line.

I used to be more resigned to “it’s a wild game out there, keep your head up” thinking, but the increase in speed and head injuries has got me adjusting my thinking. I don’t want things overlegislated, but some adjustments targeted at predatory hits might be in order.

When a defenseman has the puck behind his net, it’s hard for me to say any hit is “unexpected”; but some of the backchecking hits from the blindside are over the line for me and would require not so much restraint as a “hit the body, not the head” requirement on a checker who is coming up from the blindside of an unaware opponent. I think the game is too fast now to put all the burden on the hit recipient.

and 2 the rules forbidding goalies to play the puck in the corners and allowing D men to run a little interference leave these players more vulnerable to big hits behind the net/goal line

Interesting point, and reportedly at the next GM meetings they’ll be re-evaluating the trapezoid.