B’s learn how to hit ’em
Players need to keep it clean
It’s not the same NHL as it was when David Backes started playing.
He and the Bruins will be in Vancouver on Saturday, where the B’s will face a Canucks team likely without Elias Pettersson. The winger is in concussion protocol after taking a hit from Florida defenseman Mike Matheson, who was suspended for two games. It’s the same league that suspended Washington’s Tom Wilson 20 games for a high hit this preseason.
But there’s also a precedent being set that’s far different than when Backes was a younger player.
“There’s a little of self reflection, I think, that has to happen, a little of respect throughout the league,” Backes said. “But there’s a certain physicality, I think, it’s just a trend that needs to be more spoken and talked about. Five years ago, plays like that, he (Matheson) would be getting rewarded for. It’s a rough and tumble (defense) that you don’t want to play against.”
With concussion awareness at an all-time high, dirty hits are taken more seriously than a little less than a decade ago when the Bruins forward Marc Savard’s career was essentially ended by a nonsuspended Matt Cooke hit. That incident sparked some of the harsher discipline seen today, but there’s still inconsistencies.
The Bruins haven’t been immune to the “trend” either. Brad Marchand has had his share of meetings with the league office and has been suspended, which as he’s reached further into stardom, has hurt the team.
Fighting has gone down in the past 10 years, and “big hits” have a higher level of consequence. Last week, the Edmonton Oilers responded with a chippy game after the B’s Chris Wagner laid out an openice hit early in the game.
The line between a momentum-changing check and a dirty play has been crossed a bit, and veteran players are having to adapt.
“If you’re going to be questionable, you better be as clean as possible and look out for the welfare of your fellow opponents,” said Backes. “Otherwise you’re going to be suspended and you’re going to cause injury to other guys.”
Some players have an easier time making the transition. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy recently lauded Noel Acciari for his ability as a clean checker.
“His elbows are never up,” said Cassidy. “It’s usually contact square to the chest. For all the hits he throws, keeps his stick down. I always look at him like a linebacker the way he hits, hits hard and (his) center of gravity.”
Cassidy also sees where a big check is necessary to change the course of a game, especially when unnerving younger players while also keeping the game safe.
“The kid in Vancouver, he was playing great and he made a move on the defenseman and he didn’t like it, so played him hard and crossed the line,” Cassidy said. “Or that’s what the NHL decided. Those guys just have to get used to, for him it’s knowing, if you pull a move on a guy who’s been in the league, just prepare for him to come at you a little harder.”
The Bruins have their share of young players who can “make moves,” and Cassidy tries to keep them moving on a straight line instead of zig-zagging cross ice and putting themselves in vulnerable positions.
The hit in Vancouver is just one example of how hits are being penalized instead of rewarded. Whether that cleans up an already dangerous game or creates more conflict, there’s still plenty of time to decide.
One way or another, it’s an adjustment.