News Article: Revisiting the Marc Savard Incident & NHL's Lack of a Response (repeat offenders etc)

[deeshamrock]

THis is an article about head injuries and other infractions that lead to skilled players being injured, their team suffering and the fact some of the repeat offenders are getting away with it far too often.

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey...savard_incident_and_the_nhls_lack_of_a_r.html

A couple sections stood out. This one because I was watching that game and losing Barrie was HUGE for the Avs, he's their top D. That did affect them and their chances of going forward into the playoffs. Losing Cooke in a suspension doesn't hur the Wild, and isn't nearly the same impact. IT also mentions players like Torres and Kalenta whose effectiveness is limited and often measured by how often they leave their team shorthanded.

Then there’s the simple fact that hockey’s miscreants may need to be excommunicated from the league to weed out the problem players. Cooke has, and continues to be, a cancer in the league. The 35-year-old received his seventh career suspension last season after kneeing the Avalanche’s Tyson Barrie during the playoffs. And there were plenty of other repeat-offenders on last season’s suspension list. John Scott, Zac Rinaldo, and Zack Kassian were a few others who were banned last season, and not for the first time in their respective careers. And add up the illustrious accomplishments of that small group of four players (Cooke, Scott, Rinaldo, and Kassian), and you get 1,547 combined NHL games played, and 197 goals scored.

And this one:

A rundown of last year’s list of NHL suspensions, of which there were a combined 47 handed out to players, 15 of the offenses were categorized as an “illegal check to the head.†Those penalties drew a combined 56 suspended games.

But a quick double-check of the entire list reveals other transgressions that put an opposing player’s head in jeopardy. Like Brandon Prust’s assault on Derek Stepan, which broke his jaw, which was later labeled interference. Or Brent Seabrook’s decapitation of David Backes, labeled a charge. In total, 21 other incidents that drew a suspension that were not labeled “illegal checks to the head†categorically put someone’s head in a dangerous position

And that is the area they need to revisit.

Click to read more...

 

[lumbergh]

Jarrett Stoll has dolled out at least two concussions (Ian White, 2011, and M-E Vlasic, 2014) in the playoffs during last three years, one after being given one. No one is accusing Stoll of being a cancer in the league.

I say this to make the point that there are lots of guys who play right on the edge but are really valuable to their team. You can't just point to the riffraff and guys who spend a lot of time on the bench and say they're the only problems.

 

[Sacha Baron Corbin]

Jarrett Stoll has dolled out at least two concussions (Ian White, 2011, and M-E Vlasic, 2014) in the playoffs during last three years, one after being given one. No one is accusing Stoll of being a cancer in the league.

Sharks fans disagree

 

[Reclamation Project]

Sharks fans disagree

Didn't he end Fowler's career?

 

[Herby]

I don't consider Stoll to be a malicious cheap shot artist. I think Stoll just plays the game at one speed and it has it's up's and it's downs, the downs are he takes a lot of stupid penalties because he doesn't know when to slow down and analyze the situation. Same reason he never thrived as a scoring line player, his game sense is quite poor.

He is certainly not on a Torres or Cooke level.