Matthews has missed more games than Kadri the last couple of years, no?
People trust injury prone players to dress up in the playoffs. It should be no different for suspension prone players, really.
people trust their superstar injury prone players yes.
I mean Bergeron is what one could call injury prone, but you know when he comes back, he's not really missing a beat and continuing to be impactful out there. Hell, we all remember the time he was playing with a collapsed lung and broken ribs and he was still making a positive difference on the ice. (and for the record, I never condone people playing through injury). if it got to the point where Bergeron was
never healthy to the point he was detrimental to the team i'd reckon that yeah. people would stop trusting him to help the team move forward and want to move him out and make moves to replace him.
When Lupul was the engine that helped make this team go. (good gravy) - a lot of his injuries were not "preventable." He could not prevent having a bad back, he could not prevent having an infection from the surgery. He could not prevent Dion's slapshot breaking his arm, and he could not prevent two Philadelphia Flyers playing ping-pong with his body. and when it got to a point that his injuries were impacting the team (among other things), the Leafs stopped trusting him and literally made him go away.
Unless someone was completely stupid out there, i don't know if i'd say that "every injury is preventable." as you put it, ie: Matthews keeping his head up (as his concussion actually came from he and Rielly colliding into each other accidentally. There a lot of people who can take that Trouba hit (which was a clean shoulder on shoulder, Matthews driving to the net ) who could walk away from that. Injuries are weird because the same hit could leave someone concussed and someone completely fine. it's just where you end up hitting them.
I will call dirty is as dirty as, and Marchand (for example) was (and is) one dumb dirty bunny. and his teammates and management took him to task (several) times. But has Marchand actually been suspended in the playoffs?
If we're actually going to argue preventable, then sure. Kadri's back to back suspensions were preventable. as in he didn't need to do it. if people want to claim "but he was defending his teammate tho." fine. he didn't need to smash Wingles the way he did. He didn't need to take his stick and cross check DeBrusk in the head. regardless of how people want to justify it. (and i'm not exusing the reffing or DeBrusk's actions). but people never want to put the blame where it belongs.
On Naz. it was
his action that ultimately got himself suspended. he's almost 30. He's not a rookie.
If he needs a babysitter, or certain type of players so he can not be a bonehead then he needs to be traded (note: we've had these type of players on the team and he still got himself suspended).
if he's incapable of not being dirty and hitting people in the head and then getting suspended for it (constantly) - then he needs to be traded.
if he's incapable of not being able of picking and choosing his battles to defend someone (or himself - which I will argue that you should do), then he should be traded.
If he's incapable of playing really good third line minutes and producing really well, then he should be traded for someone who can play with limited opportunities (which isn't even a slam. some players need a lot more time/ice/opportunity to get things going. some people can generate a lot playing third/fourth line minutes).
not to mention (on top of it all). we'll have to trade him eventually. he'll want more money than what we can afford, and i'd rather trade him while he still has more value to us vs. continually shooting his trade value and our team in the foot.
I have the faith that Matthews can continue to grow into his body pack on more muscle and prevent some of these injuries from happening (same with Malkin, same with Bergeron, same with Crosby).
I do not have the faith that if someone pisses Kadri off, he won't do a dirty hit in retaliation, preventing the team from potentially winning not only the game - but the series and potentially the cup.
and to me. that should trump
anything. even liking a certain player, but apparently not.
