The NHL finally did something about the head-shot epidemic that has diseased the league this season. It should seem like common sense that if you hit an unsuspecting opponent directly in the head, it should be illegal. Some major injuries have resulted this year to marquee players, and these hits have cost players games and future contract money, not to mention the effect a head injury can have on the rest of your life. It has cost teams their chance at the playoffs. If Boston doesn't make the dance, we'll know why. Florida might not have made it anyway, but it sure was a lot harder without their only 30 goal scorer from last season. When the best players are on the ice, the best hockey gets played and the more fans pay attention, which means more money for the league and the players.
While I am certainly in favor of punishment for players who deliberately target their opponents, punishment is not the name of the game: the name of our game is hockey. Sometimes it can be brutal, sometimes it can be violent, and players get hurt all the time in normal game play. It happens, it's the nature of the game and it's part of why we love it so much. Not everyone is trying to win the Lady Byng, either.
My hope for this rule is that players will think twice before making that hit so fewer players get hurt. Players sometimes forget just how much damage they can do, but there needs to be a level of respect for your opponent. You never know, you might be teammates tomorrow, and the only thing separating you is the logo on the front, so if you can't see that, don't hit him.
These are just two of the players victimized by head shots this season: Marc Savard and David Booth.
Matt Cookewill not be suspended by the NHL for "a lateral, back pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and or the principal point of contact" on Boston Bruins star center Marc Savard. Savard, who has scored 392 points in 361 games since the NHL Lockout, was carried off the ice on a stretcher after suffering a Grade 2 concussion and will miss significant time. Cooke, who has 127 points and 410 Penalty Minutes in 344 games since the lockout, is a repeat offender. Interesting to note their respective opinions on this matter in October of 2007.
I think this hit was worthy of a 10-game suspension. Cooke made a deliberate attempt to injure an unsuspecting opponent, and he did a fine job of it, putting Savard, a player people pay to see, in the hospital and maybe injuring him for the season. He has been suspended twice for that same offense, including once already this season. Colin Campbell gave himself a pass on suspending him saying the letter of the law does not address this hit, just like it did not address the Mike Richards hit on David Booth earlier this season.
The circumstances are not the same, no matter how you slice it. Mike Richards is an All-Star with no NHL history of dirty hits, and Florida hasn't been a playoff team since 2000, even if Booth was a 30-goal scorer last year. Matt Cooke has 3 suspensions and at least one fine on his record to go with a history of dirty hits and he hit the leading scorer of a team he might face in the playoffs.
Colin Campbell, you just gave a free pass to players to make blindside hits for the rest of the season, though I applaud the NHL General Managers for finally taking some kind of action.
