I had a model employee running late one morning. He ran a red light, hit another car and killed the occupants. Now, there was no way the man woke up and said to himself. “This morning I will runs a red light and kill some folks in a carâ€. He made a bad decision in a split second and it cost him plenty.
IMO Marleau, like many others in his position, made a split second decision when he seen a prone Rust to make a hit. That decision was the last second bad decision that now goes un-punished for whatever BS reason the NHL spews. Regardless of Marleau’s clean history, he made primary contact to the head and should have been suspended. Plus we make excuses like Rust had his head down.
My former employee took the stand and tearfully explained how sorry he was and how fast it all happened. His defense attorney spoke about how good of a family man he was, how he volunteered at his church, how he sponsored and worked 1 weekend a year at Ronald McDonald House and how much his scout troop would miss him. The problem was, he was late and was speeding. 55 in a 25 zone, and rather than hit the brakes. He accelerated when he seen the light go from yellow to red. No doubt it’s something many of us have done in the past, but without killing a car full of folks.
Plus we see cars blow red lights all the time. Only in this specific case, a car with a family was also in a hurry and when they seen the green, they accelerated into the intersection and was struck and killed. Had they hesitated for 1 second, my employee would have sped past and that family would have made it to their destination
Would you be as will to forgive my former employee if it was your family or the Judge. What if a judge made his ruling…
“Well he hasn’t killed anybody in the past, they need him at work or a project will be late and it will impact the profitability of the company. Speeding isn’t like setting a house on fire with a family in it, or breaking down their door and shooting them. All he did was run a red light and is really that is only a moving violation anyway. And if that other family hadn’t been in such a hurry and looked before they entered the intersection they would have seen the car and would not have been hit.
Based on the past history, the incident being a moving violation and the other family being in a hurry and not looking all we will do at this time is let the defendant off with a warning at this time. But be rest assured if he runs a red light again and kills another family he will get jail time.†I would not be satisfied, I would be pissed seeing a guy who killed my family be set free because he was good in the past. The past has nothing to do with what you did today.
Maybe not on a parallel with the Marleau hit, but again. The rule is there, it’s plain as day he made head contact, previous folks did get suspended so why not this time.
IMO the NHL too many times worries about the impact to the game and the costs to the owners. Rather than the incident and the protection and safety of the players. If hits to the head were 4 game minimum suspension no questions asked, and multiplied 10 times for each hit after that . The hits to the head would stop overnight. There will be some growing minor pains, but if the NHL truly wanted to stop the head shots, they could.
If strong long suspensions happened owners would be on the hook and teams wins would suffer. With losses comes less fans, less fans = less money. But because NHL doesn’t want owners to pay the price, the craziness continues.
But the main problem is the NHL isn’t about player safety, it’s about ownership safety and wealth. When a player gets a shot just like Rust took and falls to the ice and dies, maybe the NHL will step up to the plate. But until then, don’t count on it. Because there is always another Rust in the minors, junior, college or overseas all too willing to step in. And we as fans all too willing to let the NHL off the hook.
That is what the 666th reply to this thread has given us.
