No Suspensions for Malone, Edler

[UltimateHockeyFan]

NHL players have to learn one simple rule: Keep your head up.

I learned that at a very young age. Keep your head up and you'll see what's coming.

[habsheaven]

NHL players have to learn one simple rule: Keep your head up.

I learned that at a very young age. Keep your head up and you'll see what's coming.

I agree, but that was in the old NHL. The new NHL is all about "no headshots, period!", no hitting players in "vulnerable positions", etc.

[jonpop]

Brendan "Captain Limelight" Shanahan is going to turn the NHL into the NFSL. (New Figure Skating League). Please stop with the idiotic recorded verbal explanations and National News paranoia.

Now let's have a fight.

[bojohnson]

i cant wait until people talk about hockey, and not headshot suspensions/non suspensions.
every time i go to tsn the only news is who got suspeneded, no news about the game of hockey

[bojohnson]

I agree, but that was in the old NHL. The new NHL is all about "no headshots, period!", no hitting players in "vulnerable positions", etc.

problem is 6"6 hitting 6"0 will always be a headshot no matter what

[Estovia]

Actually I think the "New NHL" under Campbell was headed for taking hitting out of hockey under the guise of protecting the players. While the discipline decisions did seem to be almost completely random, there was one major commonality: Many of the harshest penalties were totally reactionary. Discipline doled out not because of the hit, but because of resulting injuries. Complete accident or Vicious Intent be damned.

So far under Shanahan, we've seen the hammer used frequently, and now we're reminded that there is responsibility on players to protect themselves.

I look at it this way ~ if Shanahan wanted to do Yzerman a favor and look like he was still being strict, he could have suspended Malone for the rest of the preseason. It would be a meaningless suspension as far as the team is concerned, but still have the façade of the discipline department being strict. Instead what we've gotten was a truth - that people sometimes get hit in hockey and it's not deserving of penalties, fights, and discipline. A controversial truth, perhaps, but it's unlikely that everyone will always agree on every decision he'll make.

It's actually my sincerest hope that if Shanahan can do this job properly, we'll actually see less post-body check fighting. Over the last few years it seems like every time someone gets hit, someone else has to fight the guy that hit him. In some senses it's the players policing their own game, but for the most part it's excessive and detracts from the game. So far he's done a good job (IMO), and just maybe the end result will be better hockey for everyone.