If you haven't heard already, Carl Hagelin of the New York Rangers was suspended 3 games for his elbow on Daniel Alfredsson and Matt Carkner of the Ottawa Senators was suspended 1 game for wanting to permanently imprint the face of Brian Boyle into the ice at MSG. The Ranger fans were predictably unsatisfied with the rulings and couldn't believe it happened.
Now I already wrote a little bit about the Hagelin suspension in this post here. (note: if you read the comments on that post, you'll pretty much get the gist of what I'm going to write here.) So ya, I wrote an explanation in the comments there so I decided I may as well copy some of the points over into one post here.
If you want to hear Shanahan's take on all three cases in a radio interview, I highly suggest you read this article by PuckDaddy
NOTE: THIS IS NOT ME BACKING UP THE OPINION OF BRENDAN SHANAHAN. THIS IS JUST MY EXPLANATION FOR WHY THEY RULED THE WAY THEY DID.
One point that Rangers fans have made was that suspensions occasionally have to do with the situation of the game. If a team is down by a lot and takes a dumb penalty, it'll be different than if the game is close. Boyle's hit came when the Rangers were holding onto a 1 goal lead. I would respond, however, that this was most likely a rookie getting caught up in a physical match and letting his emotions get to him. The “situation of the game” was a physical matchup. The whole Carkner-Boyle situation was quite ugly and both teams were physical all night. I’m not saying the NHL saw this as revenge for Carkner jumping Boyle, but the fact that the game was aggressive doesn’t exactly help his case.
Another point that the Ranger fans jump on is that Hagelin is not at all a dirty player. He doesn't play like one and his 24 penalty minutes this season (with 0 five-minute majors) testify to that. This was a great point that's hard to account for. True, Hagelin is not at all a dirty player and this is what is troubling. I wrote how Keith also isn’t a dirty player and got 5 games for a somewhat similar hit but then again, Keith’s play was a tad different (for the worse). I know this answer won’t satisfy anyone but maybe the punishment would have been worse had it been a player with a history of illegal hits... (I know the question here is better than the answer but it is a very valid point).
Now I connected Hagelin's hit to other dirty hits from earlier this season by the end of this post. People have pointed out that they were different plays though.Those were players leading in with their elbow and 100% going in to injure the player. However, I still feel that this is a play that the NHL wants to get rid of and this was essentially the case of a rookie getting caught up in the moment in a physical game. I said I wouldn't be surprised with a 2-3 game suspension. The NHL went with the upper.
The Ranger fans pointed out how Alfredsson seemed to be on the rise health-wise and that the suspension was too severe for a case where the victim is almost already back. True, Alfredsson did practice today with the Senators after passing his baseline test this morning. But the NHL made the announcement the day before and they only had information that was available at the time (As far as I know, Shanahan does not use a crystal ball for his suspensions). At that time, all the NHL knew was that Alfie missed the rest of the game with a concussion and could perhaps miss more time. Alfredsson did not play tonight. But the injury could have added another game to Hagelin’s suspension.
Next, they may point to opinions who said that Weber got off easy and that he wasn't suspended because he was a star for Nashville. To that, I'd like to say that I have been stressing that to a lot of people that you can't compare the Weber play with this play because A) it was a completely different situation and B) the NHL, in my opinion, should have given supplemental discipline there so it was a mistake. As for Hagelin's vital role on the Rangers, it’s a bit different than a star player like Weber (not backing up the NHL on not suspending a star player, I’m just saying). Hopefully the NHL doesn’t look into this THAT much, but a player like Hagelin (a rookie who fills the top line and creates space for Richards and Gaborik while adding speed and hard forechecking) will not be given the green light while a player like Weber (heart and soul of Nashville’s team, top defenseman, top of the powerplay, and, arguably, Nashville’s most marketable player) will.
And last but not least comes the complaints about the Hagelin suspension vs. the Carkner suspension. How can Carkner justifiably receive a 1-game suspension, with the Hagelin 3??? Carkner has a history of suspensions and fines and what he did was complete revenge for Boyle roughing up Ottawa player Erik Karlsson in game 1. There was clear intent to injure and this was completely behind the play and extremely dirty.
Now I already wrote a little bit about the Hagelin suspension in this post here. (note: if you read the comments on that post, you'll pretty much get the gist of what I'm going to write here.) So ya, I wrote an explanation in the comments there so I decided I may as well copy some of the points over into one post here.
If you want to hear Shanahan's take on all three cases in a radio interview, I highly suggest you read this article by PuckDaddy
NOTE: THIS IS NOT ME BACKING UP THE OPINION OF BRENDAN SHANAHAN. THIS IS JUST MY EXPLANATION FOR WHY THEY RULED THE WAY THEY DID.
One point that Rangers fans have made was that suspensions occasionally have to do with the situation of the game. If a team is down by a lot and takes a dumb penalty, it'll be different than if the game is close. Boyle's hit came when the Rangers were holding onto a 1 goal lead. I would respond, however, that this was most likely a rookie getting caught up in a physical match and letting his emotions get to him. The “situation of the game” was a physical matchup. The whole Carkner-Boyle situation was quite ugly and both teams were physical all night. I’m not saying the NHL saw this as revenge for Carkner jumping Boyle, but the fact that the game was aggressive doesn’t exactly help his case.
Another point that the Ranger fans jump on is that Hagelin is not at all a dirty player. He doesn't play like one and his 24 penalty minutes this season (with 0 five-minute majors) testify to that. This was a great point that's hard to account for. True, Hagelin is not at all a dirty player and this is what is troubling. I wrote how Keith also isn’t a dirty player and got 5 games for a somewhat similar hit but then again, Keith’s play was a tad different (for the worse). I know this answer won’t satisfy anyone but maybe the punishment would have been worse had it been a player with a history of illegal hits... (I know the question here is better than the answer but it is a very valid point).
Now I connected Hagelin's hit to other dirty hits from earlier this season by the end of this post. People have pointed out that they were different plays though.Those were players leading in with their elbow and 100% going in to injure the player. However, I still feel that this is a play that the NHL wants to get rid of and this was essentially the case of a rookie getting caught up in the moment in a physical game. I said I wouldn't be surprised with a 2-3 game suspension. The NHL went with the upper.
The Ranger fans pointed out how Alfredsson seemed to be on the rise health-wise and that the suspension was too severe for a case where the victim is almost already back. True, Alfredsson did practice today with the Senators after passing his baseline test this morning. But the NHL made the announcement the day before and they only had information that was available at the time (As far as I know, Shanahan does not use a crystal ball for his suspensions). At that time, all the NHL knew was that Alfie missed the rest of the game with a concussion and could perhaps miss more time. Alfredsson did not play tonight. But the injury could have added another game to Hagelin’s suspension.
Next, they may point to opinions who said that Weber got off easy and that he wasn't suspended because he was a star for Nashville. To that, I'd like to say that I have been stressing that to a lot of people that you can't compare the Weber play with this play because A) it was a completely different situation and B) the NHL, in my opinion, should have given supplemental discipline there so it was a mistake. As for Hagelin's vital role on the Rangers, it’s a bit different than a star player like Weber (not backing up the NHL on not suspending a star player, I’m just saying). Hopefully the NHL doesn’t look into this THAT much, but a player like Hagelin (a rookie who fills the top line and creates space for Richards and Gaborik while adding speed and hard forechecking) will not be given the green light while a player like Weber (heart and soul of Nashville’s team, top defenseman, top of the powerplay, and, arguably, Nashville’s most marketable player) will.
And last but not least comes the complaints about the Hagelin suspension vs. the Carkner suspension. How can Carkner justifiably receive a 1-game suspension, with the Hagelin 3??? Carkner has a history of suspensions and fines and what he did was complete revenge for Boyle roughing up Ottawa player Erik Karlsson in game 1. There was clear intent to injure and this was completely behind the play and extremely dirty.
So I’ve done my best to kind of back this decision up. I have heard an incredible amount of complaints over the last day from angered Ranger fans (and rightfully so). I felt Carkner should have received about 2 games for the play. My main argument was that the NHL was all for player security. Brian Boyle did jump Karlsson in game 1. The enforcers of the NHL are needed to keep their star players safe so they can do what they do and not get into trouble with the opposition. I think the expectation (and yes, even in a different game. Do you remember all the aggression the Sabres took out on Lucic the next time they played after the Miller-run?) was that Boyle will receive some type of retribution for this. The play was extremely dirty and it was behind the play which makes it all the more unlikeable. This type of retribution does happen pretty frequently except it’s usually not as illegal. Carkner did not throw a punch with his glove on. The main issue was that Boyle was an unwilling combatant and that Carkner continued throwing punches even though Boyle was on the ice. Throw in that Carkner is a repeat offender (in a similar case where he stepped up for a teammate) and the ruling does not make too much sense.
I think that the NHL viewed this as a normal beginning of a fight. They didn’t look at it as Carkner cheapshotting him. They looked at it that Carkner just began the fight with the unwilling combatant. If that is the case, it makes a little more sense. The NHL saw a player defending his star (which, in my opinion, makes a good case for Carkner. I think there is a fine line between revenge and stepping up for a player). They tagged him for fighting an unwilling combatant. Now I said that it should have been 2 games especially because of his history and his role of being an enforcer on the team. But it appears the NHL didn't agree.
Now everyone is going to have their own view on this. I’m trying to withdraw my say as a Devil fan and am trying to keep this as impartial as possible. But Ranger fans are going to see one thing and Senators fans will see another thing and at the end of the day, both of them will feel that they are right. Department of Player Safety is not a perfect system and they do make mistakes (see Weber incident) but they are here to decide on plays like these.
note: while writing this post, Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 5 goals
No comments:
Post a Comment