Intimidation to Continue; No Automatic Penalty for Headshots
Kelly disappointed with league's decision
by: MSG.com
By Rob Del Mundo
MaxHockey.com
NHLPA director Paul Kelly made no secret of his disappointment of the league's decision on Tuesday to refrain from implementing an automatic penalty for hits to the head.
"The system we have been using simply hasn't been sufficient to deter these types of potentially career-ending injuries," Kelly opined. "Frankly, I'm surprised that the GMs don't feel a greater obligation to protect their players."
The issue has been contentious in the wake of recent head injuries to players suffered as a result of hits which are legal by the current rule book – most notably in the playoffs by Chicago's Martin Havlat, who suffered a concussion as a result of a check from Detroit's Niklas Kronwall. An oft-cited example from this past regular season involves the Islanders' Doug Weight clocking an unsuspecting Brandon Sutter of Carolina in open ice.
Perhaps the most vivid example of the 'legal but dangerous' headshot occurred in the 2000 Eastern Conference Final when New Jersey's Scott Stevens pummeled Philadelphia's Eric Lindros, putting the star forward out of commission with a concussion from which he would not recover until over a year later.
The intentions of Kelly and the NHLPA are certainly well-meaning, and all parties involved in the game of hockey – from the league executives to its fans – would certainly agree that safety is of paramount importance to the players.
However, the institution of a rule to automatically penalize a headshot is unfair to the aggressor. The game is played at too high a tempo and involves too many variables with regards to player size and body positioning to implement a piece of blanket legislation that outlaws head contact.
In the case of Weight, his job was to remove Sutter from the puck as the Carolina forward pursued through the neutral zone. Sutter, however, lowered his head – almost certainly puck-gazing – as Weight was coming towards him to make the check. In the instantaneous moment that Sutter's head position changed, Weight could not possibly be expected to make a decision to change his momentum. The consequence of the hit was unfortunate to Sutter, but could not be avoided.
Similarly when viewing the play involving Kronwall, his intention – which involved no malice – was to time his check with the arrival of the puck up the right-wing boards towards Havlat's stick. Havlat – who at 6'1" is actually listed at one inch taller than Kronwall – had placed his head down, lower than Kronwall's shoulder, in attempting to find the puck, leaving himself in a precarious position. Kelly told The Hockey News, "Kronwall could have accomplished the same thing by driving his shoulder or hip into the body of Havlat." But who's to say that the premise differs from Kronwall's original intention? It's easy to make a judgment when you're not the one on the ice being paid to make split-second decisions.
Perhaps players' equipment needs a review, in terms of how much of the armor plating that we see in today's game is actually necessary. Would Lindros have been incapacitated for as long as he was if Stevens' elbow pad didn't resemble one that may have suited the Michelin Man, but instead was the relatively miniscule size of those owned by his "bad boy" predecessors in the 70's, such as Dave "Tiger" Williams or Dave "The Hammer" Schultz?
Hockey's history is undoubtedly filled with episodes of unfortunate head injuries. At one extreme are the vicious, premeditated hits – either with a stick (Marty McSorley on Donald Brashear), an elbow (Tie Domi on Scott Niedermayer) or a sucker punch from behind (Todd Bertuzzi on Steve Moore). Almost everyone agree that each of those illegal, cowardly acts went harshly and justly punished.
At the other end of the spectrum are the hits deemed to be the result of "good, clean hockey plays", the end result of which has – in some cases – terminated the careers of star players, such as Pat Lafontaine being felled by Francois Leroux, or Keith Primeau being on the wrong end of a shoulder check from Alexander Perezoghin.
As unfortunate as those episodes have been for the victims in those cases, or for Lindros, Sutter, or Havlat, the NHLPA has been forced to accept – for now – that automatic penalties for headshots aren't the solution.
Kelly has repeatedly stated that it is the intention of the NHLPA to retain the same degree of physicality in the game, should his constituents' mandate be approved.
It's a good philosophy, but given the game's speed and mechanics, it's easier said than done.
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