Truth or consequences
When a player is cross-checked on the head, suspension should be mandatory
I’m inclined to believe Matt Niskanen when he says he never intended to injure the NHL’s best player during a Stanley Cup playoff game Monday night in Pittsburgh.
And the Washington defenceman is absolutely right when he says his cross-check to Sidney Crosby’s head – one that resulted in the superstar’s fourth concussion – was an unfortunate play that happened “really quick.”
I’ll even go along with Washington sniper Alex Ovechkin when he suggests “this stuff happens.” Presumably, this “stuff” would include the chop he took at Crosby that threw the Penguins star off balance before he was cross-checked by Niskanen as he fell to the ice.
Added Ovechkin, “It’s hockey.”
That, sadly, is also true.
It has to change.
Few would argue the game has changed over the past decade, mostly for the better. It’s gotten a lot faster. Fighting has practically been eliminated. Equipment has drastically improved. I remember the days when some goaltenders didn’t wear facemasks and most players didn’t wear helmets. But in some ways, playing the game today is more perilous than ever.
An alarming number of players use their sticks to chop and hack at opposing players to slow them down. It happens at lightning speed on ice surfaces that probably should be a lot bigger for this brand of hockey, and too often it leads to split-second decisions that end badly.
Like Niskanen’s hit on Crosby. It forced the league’s leading scorer out of the game and quite possibly, out of the series and maybe longer.
For this, the NHL has to take responsibility. The game may be faster and more exciting for the fans, but the league can and must do more to protect its players.
In the short term, it must send a clear message that hits to the head will not be tolerated – under any circumstances. Niskanen was assessed a minor penalty and a game misconduct. But even if intent can’t be proven, lengthy suspensions in cases like this should be automatic.
In the longer term, I agree with Calgary Flames executive Brian Burke when he suggests the arenas should be five feet wider.
“The players have gotten so much bigger and stronger,” he said in a recent interview with TSN. “There’s not enough room out there, it’s too congested. An extra five feet would make a big difference.”
Today’s gratuitous stickwork
may also be a product of a game that promotes speed and agility and frowns on the idea of “policemen” or “enforcers” who used to be on every team to protect their stars.
In the absence of these enforcers who, by their very presence, helped players on the opposing team make better “split second” decisions knowing there would be a swift and likely painful consequence, it’s up to the league to implement its own consequences.
Gone, thankfully, are the days of teams like Philadelphia’s Broad Street Bullies, who won two Stanley Cups in the early ‘70s with an equal mix of skill and intimidation. The days of on-ice donnybrooks and benchclearing brawls have given way to a much faster game that most fans find more entertaining.
Cutting out the kind of stickwork that sidelined one of the NHL’s brightest stars this week by mandating suspensions that are serious and mandatory would make the game even better for the fans but more importantly, safer for the players.