Sid the Kid's Press Conference

[nfreeman]

This is the heart of the whole issue ... after nine months and a billion viewings from every possible angle, we are still left guessing as far as intent.

 

Personally, because there is player safety involved, I would err on the side of caution and penalize if there is contact to the head regardless of intent (like the over-the-glass delay of game) but let the league sort out any suspension after the fact. In some cases it may never be clear as to intent, like this Crosby hit, but you do the best you can.

 

I know some want to no part of a mandatory penalty, even 2 minutes... the big arguments against it seem to be either 1., it will take all the hitting out of the game; or 2., guys will still get hit in the head accidentally so you are not solving the problem.

 

Let me say up front I actually hate the automatic delay of game rule, because every other penalty is a judgement call ... for some reason we trust the refs to tell the difference between a real trip or a dive, or a legal bump on a dump in as opposed to obstruction, but they can't be trusted to judge whether a guy missed the glass by accident or not. It makes no sense. I think it is a bad rule. BUT ... we are talking about saving careers and possibly a life at some point, so if it means even one fewer hit to the head a week it's worth it.

 

As for the arguments against it ... guys still shoot the puck over the glass. It hasn't stopped because of the automatic penalty, because it's part of the game. Guys still need to use the glass, and they are probably more careful about it, but sometimes they will miss. I believe it would be the same way if there was a mandatory penalty for contact to the head. The hitting is not going to stop ... hopefully guys will try avoid the head more, but it's not going to take the hitting out of the game. Will there still be headshots? Of course.

 

And the argument that "You can't eliminate the accidental headshots, so it's not worth making that rule" makes no sense to me. By that logic we should never call tripping because sometimes a guy will get a penalty for tripping someone by accident. We give automatic double-minors for accidental high sticks that draw so little blood that my 3-year old would not miss a shift. Yet guys get knocked out for months and careers are ended, and we're afraid to TRY to minimize this because it MIGHT have been an accident? Makes no sense.

good post.

[BetweenThePipes00]

Just so we are clear, I am not against having an automatic penalty for head contact, and I believe the league is installing a version of that this coming season. I am against the automatic suspension based upon the results of a particular play rather than the play itself.

 

I agree ... with your stance I mean. I have no idea what the league will do because they don't seem to know and could very well change the rules with a mysterious memo that no one actually sees well after the season has begun. Not that THAT's ever happened before.

[shrader]

I agree ... with your stance I mean. I have no idea what the league will do because they don't seem to know and could very well change the rules with a mysterious memo that no one actually sees well after the season has begun. Not that THAT's ever happened before.

 

And then does the NHLPA fight it? I don't know how they could justify putting up a fight, but when was the last time they did something that made sense?

[BetweenThePipes00]

Shane Doan's take on it: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=nc-cotsonika_shane_doan_head_shots_090911

 

I have a ton of respect for Doan, but his stance is right out of the old-school playbook I described above ... he says "risk is part of the game, if you don't like it, don't play" ... and then follows up with "it's impossible to get rid of all head contact, so how can you make a rule" and finally the classic "people like hitting! The hitting will be gone and it will make it shinny!"

 

As I said above ... guys getting clipped with accidental high sticks is part of the risk of the game too, yet we give four minute penalties for it. Doan says he was confused as to what was a penalty or not last season and there will just be more gray area ... I say tough, we're trying to save careers here. Refs blow hooking calls every night, every call has gray area, no one wants those rules thrown out because they don't stop the infraction 100 percent. As for whether it will become shinny, there's no way to prove it one way or the other ... but it's funny how the NFL banned any contact with the QB's head years ago, and somehow they still get hammered quite a bit. Ask Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers if they played a contact sport Thursday night when they woke up this morning ...

[Taro T]

And then does the NHLPA fight it? I don't know how they could justify putting up a fight, but when was the last time they did something that made sense?

Hard to say. Kind of like Bettman has to try to work for the small town owners and the Comcast guys, the PA works for the Ovies and the McCormicks. Considering their constituancy, I don't think they're as schizophrenic as they appear to be. That said, I think they side with the perpetrators far more often than they should and it would be nice if on occassion they sided in public with the victim.

[LastPommerFan]

Hard to say. Kind of like Bettman has to try to work for the small town owners and the Comcast guys, the PA works for the Ovies and the McCormicks. Considering their constituancy, I don't think they're as schizophrenic as they appear to be. That said, I think they side with the perpetrators far more often than they should and it would be nice if on occassion they sided in public with the victim.

 

This is true for every union in every industry, but the system is set up for it. They are required by law to represent their members in disciplinary cases regardless of the facts. Kind of like how public defender is required to represent his client regardless of how guilty he looks.

[wjag]

I just realized the irony of the Sid sitch. The Penns lobbied the league to get that Winter Classic game in Pittsburgh. They had already played in one and it seemed unfair to the rest of the league they should get another so soon. So the league bends and gives them the game. Their return, the face of their franchise is KO'd...

[Supersabre]

By all indications, the hit by Steckel that sent Crosby out was not intentional. How exactly does removing the instigator penalty bring Crosby back 'in a couple of weeks?'

 

Crosby plays on a team w/ one of the worst current headhunters in the league; do you really think that Cooke didn't retaliate because he was worried about getting a game suspension for instigating?

 

If you take away the instigator penalty, you will encourage the lousy teams in the league to add several goons to their lineup. (If you can't beat 'em on the ice, maybe you can beat 'em on the ice.) You will also then force teams such as Buffalo and Detroit that don't have a true goon in their lineup to add one (or more) as well. Would the Sabres really be more entertaining to watch with Andrew Peters in the lineup instead of Cody McCormick?

 

Adding more goons to the game and putting an added premium on physicality makes it that much tougher for a young Danny Briere or Tyler Ennis to get a chance to crack an NHL lineup as GMs and coaches get reluctant to see whether their skills can offset their huge size disadvantage.

 

I'm not certain how you plan on implementing your 'illegal hit resulting in an injury' getting an automatic 10 games either. Crosby played the next game after the Steckel hit (and had played the previous one as well, where he'd taken a pretty viscious hit as well), when Sid finally starts missing games, do you go back and retroactively suspend Steckel (for his non-illegal hit) or the Islander that hit Crosby, or both?

 

Head injuries are NOT clear cut. Doctors are finding out now that individuals can pass the tests and still have issues. They also on occassion can be unconscious for a brief interval and not suffer any noticeable ill effects.

 

Doesn't Todd "Bergoonzie" Bertuzzi count as the official goon of the "Dead Wings" already? Although one hasn't heard too much from him since the whole ugly mess in Colorado.