Although Wyshynski is right that visors should be mandatory and seamless glass should be eliminated, he's on the wrong side of hockey history when he writes: "Not banning hits to the head across the board is, ultimately, a good thing, because it would severely limit the physicality with which the game is played. The NHL did the right thing by drawing a line in the sand and saying the cheap-shot plays that target a player's head gotta go."
Wyshynski's more recent posts have been counterproductive.
The truth is that it is wrong to ask the referee to decide about the player's intention in any particular hit. It's even worse to ask the corrupt Colin Campbell to make that judgment.
He does get some interesting posts (and a lot of profanity) when he asks readers if violence made them consider quitting the NHL.
Recognizing the need for change
Back in the real world, The Montreal Gazette says that hockey's management "isn't using its head": "No suspension for Boston's Zdeno Chara, nada. Once again the National Hockey League had a chance to send a strong message to protect its players, and once again it blew the call. It's a miracle this decision, or non-decision, didn't launch a modern day version of the 1955 Rocket Richard riot in Montreal. Then again, in a sense, it did."
This after hockey's general managers decided not to ban head shots -- but did call for longer suspensions.
One former general manager and current blogger for The Hockey News called for the league to recognize a distinction between the violent and the dangerous, saying that the league needs to eliminate danger, not violence. Dangerous hits -- those that can end careers -- include hits to the knee, ankle, and head. Player can come back from bruises and even broken arms but the league has recognized that head and knee injuries can end a career (the league has failed to crack down on ankle injuries).
Journalists outside of the profession are quicker to call for change. Bob Herbert of The New York Times said that the NFL needs to protect players' heads.
It seems possible that the NFL will act before the NHL does and if that happens -- the NHL general managers will take the blame for failing to crack down on danger and for failing to fire Colin Campbell.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Looking back at Matt Cooke
So, is Matt Cooke chicken excrement, as Roenick said? Was the suspension long enough?
Clearly, the short suspension of Matt Cooke sent the message that head shots are okay.
Clearly, the short suspension of Matt Cooke sent the message that head shots are okay.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Colin Campbell is Killing the NHL
The NHL needs to enforce the rules consistently, and Colin Campbell will ensure that never happens. The hit by Chara on Pacioretty was deliberate and nasty. But the Boston Bruins had purchased several insurance policies.
First, they hired Campbell's son Gregory. After the hit on Savard, the Bruins knew that Campbell was for sale. Savard angered Campbell when Campbell was the incompetent manager of the NY Rangers. Campbell let many great players go, most of them Russian (such as Zubov), but none left with more rancor than Savard. Savard wanted more money and Campbell would not give it to him. Years later, Savard had proved Campbell wrong by becoming one of the game's best players, when Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke effectively ended his career with a deliberate concussion-causing hit.
Zubov was let go because he angered Campbell by insisting on not playing with a broken wrist.
Colin hated Savard because his son Gregory had hit Savard in the face with his hockey stick. In a note to referees, Campbell called Savard "a little fake artist," in effect calling open season on hits to Savard.
Cooke received no punishment for ending Savard's career in March of 2010. During the summer of 2010, the Bruins acquired superstar Nathan Horton and also Gregory Campbell from Florida in exchange for several valuable draft picks and underrated defenseman Dennis Wideman.
In Campbell, the Bruins acquired not only a fourth line player earning less than a million dollars per year. They also acquired a license to kill from Colin Campbell.
The Bruins increased their investment in Colin Campbell by helping him get a contract extension that's work $35 million over five years.
The NHL has to change.
Campbell's policies are a joke to some, but they cause real harm to the league, the players, and the sport.
Even journalists in Toronto, hockey's corporate HQ, are losing their patience. "The league did once kick out two players – both with the Bruins – for life. But that was for gambling back in the 1940s. In 2011, it is the league itself that is gambling. But not on games – on lives."
The game is getting ridiculous and Campbell's part of the problem. "If it wasn't embarrassing, it was at least another extremely awkward moment for the NHL, vis-à-vis its Director of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell, and the involvement of his son, Gregory, in Thursday night's WWE-style game between Boston and Dallas. It had to be awkward for Commissioner Gary Bettman to see his chief of discipline forced to recuse himself from meting out punishments for a game that had several fights -- three within the first four seconds -- and one cheap, blindside hit that earned its perpetrator a four-game suspension."
Mario Lemieux has threatened to leave. "If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to rethink whether I want to be a part of it."
Lemieux needs to stay, Campbell needs to leave, and someone in hockey journalism or among hockey's owners needs to call out Colin Campbell.
First, they hired Campbell's son Gregory. After the hit on Savard, the Bruins knew that Campbell was for sale. Savard angered Campbell when Campbell was the incompetent manager of the NY Rangers. Campbell let many great players go, most of them Russian (such as Zubov), but none left with more rancor than Savard. Savard wanted more money and Campbell would not give it to him. Years later, Savard had proved Campbell wrong by becoming one of the game's best players, when Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke effectively ended his career with a deliberate concussion-causing hit.
Zubov was let go because he angered Campbell by insisting on not playing with a broken wrist.
Colin hated Savard because his son Gregory had hit Savard in the face with his hockey stick. In a note to referees, Campbell called Savard "a little fake artist," in effect calling open season on hits to Savard.
Cooke received no punishment for ending Savard's career in March of 2010. During the summer of 2010, the Bruins acquired superstar Nathan Horton and also Gregory Campbell from Florida in exchange for several valuable draft picks and underrated defenseman Dennis Wideman.
In Campbell, the Bruins acquired not only a fourth line player earning less than a million dollars per year. They also acquired a license to kill from Colin Campbell.
The Bruins increased their investment in Colin Campbell by helping him get a contract extension that's work $35 million over five years.
The NHL has to change.
Campbell's policies are a joke to some, but they cause real harm to the league, the players, and the sport.
Even journalists in Toronto, hockey's corporate HQ, are losing their patience. "The league did once kick out two players – both with the Bruins – for life. But that was for gambling back in the 1940s. In 2011, it is the league itself that is gambling. But not on games – on lives."
The game is getting ridiculous and Campbell's part of the problem. "If it wasn't embarrassing, it was at least another extremely awkward moment for the NHL, vis-à-vis its Director of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell, and the involvement of his son, Gregory, in Thursday night's WWE-style game between Boston and Dallas. It had to be awkward for Commissioner Gary Bettman to see his chief of discipline forced to recuse himself from meting out punishments for a game that had several fights -- three within the first four seconds -- and one cheap, blindside hit that earned its perpetrator a four-game suspension."
Mario Lemieux has threatened to leave. "If the events relating to Friday night reflect the state of the league, I need to rethink whether I want to be a part of it."
Lemieux needs to stay, Campbell needs to leave, and someone in hockey journalism or among hockey's owners needs to call out Colin Campbell.
In Football and Hockey, Players Fear Concussions
Terribly sad stories recently. Two football suicides have been connected to brain injuries, that of 21 year old Penn State player Owen Thomas and of retired Chicago Bears pro player Dave Duerson.
"Duerson sent text messages to his family before he shot himself specifically requesting that his brain be examined for damage, two people aware of the messages said. Another person close to Duerson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Duerson had commented to him in recent months that he might have C.T.E., an incurable disease linked to depression, impaired impulse control and cognitive decline."
"Owen Thomas was in the early stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disease that has been linked to depression and impulse control, primarily among NFL players."
The NFL has donated $1 million -- which is pocket change for the league -- to Boston University School of Medicine's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.
The NHL should match the donation, because it has the same problems. NHL professional fighter Bob Probert died at 45. "Hockey's enduring tolerance for and celebration of fighting will almost certainly be tested anew now that Probert, more pugilist than playmaker, has become the first contemporary hockey player to show C.T.E. after death."
Probert knew that something was wrong. "Probert, however, knew the 16 seasons of pounding he absorbed as one of the league's foremost pugilists as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings had taken a toll. Before he died of a massive heart attack, Probert asked family members to forward his brain to researchers known best for studying concussions in football players."
The NHL needs to act. Clearly, appeals based on the health of the players and of the sport won't work, so journalists who care are pointing out that the NHL should act in order to preserve its own financial health.
The first thing that the NHL should do is to enforce the rules clearly and consistently, and to fire the man who's currently in charge of enforcement, the corrupt Colin Campbell.
"Duerson sent text messages to his family before he shot himself specifically requesting that his brain be examined for damage, two people aware of the messages said. Another person close to Duerson, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Duerson had commented to him in recent months that he might have C.T.E., an incurable disease linked to depression, impaired impulse control and cognitive decline."
"Owen Thomas was in the early stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a disease that has been linked to depression and impulse control, primarily among NFL players."
The NFL has donated $1 million -- which is pocket change for the league -- to Boston University School of Medicine's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.
The NHL should match the donation, because it has the same problems. NHL professional fighter Bob Probert died at 45. "Hockey's enduring tolerance for and celebration of fighting will almost certainly be tested anew now that Probert, more pugilist than playmaker, has become the first contemporary hockey player to show C.T.E. after death."
Probert knew that something was wrong. "Probert, however, knew the 16 seasons of pounding he absorbed as one of the league's foremost pugilists as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings had taken a toll. Before he died of a massive heart attack, Probert asked family members to forward his brain to researchers known best for studying concussions in football players."
The NHL needs to act. Clearly, appeals based on the health of the players and of the sport won't work, so journalists who care are pointing out that the NHL should act in order to preserve its own financial health.
The first thing that the NHL should do is to enforce the rules clearly and consistently, and to fire the man who's currently in charge of enforcement, the corrupt Colin Campbell.
Head Shots are Killing the NHL
Too many great players have concussions. Unlike broken bones and teeth, these head injuries may never heal. Every new injury carries with it the risk of permanent paralysis or even death.
The NHL All Star game was harmed by the absence of Sidney Crosby. "Crosby is far from the only player to miss time or even the all-star game because of a concussion - according to team releases and media reports, more than 30 players have suffered concussions this season, including Edmonton all-star Ales Hemsky - but the Penguins star's injury has sparked greater debate about how the NHL regulates hits to the head and handles a growing need for concussion awareness."
Players are critical of NHL policy. Florida Panthers star David Booth said, "over time, I think they'll get more strict because there are still a lot of injuries now, the best player in the game is affected."
So many players have had concussions this year that you could create an All Star team with them:
Centre: Sidney Crosby, Brad Richards, Marc Savard, David Krejci, John Tavares, Bryan Little
Left wing: Johan Franzen, Andy McDonald, David Perron, Max Pacioretty, Rene Bourque
Right wing: Marian Gaborik, Ales Hemsky, Jason Pominville, Mike Knuble
Defence: Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Brad Stuart, Toni Lydman, Dan Hamhuis, Andrej Meszaros, Nick Schultz
Goal: Jonas Hiller, Ondrej Pavelec
But the NHL believes instead that violence should be encouraged. "Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be. But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn't hockey. It was a travesty," Lemieux said. "It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that."
Kudos to those hockey journalists who are tackling this important issue. The solution is simple: "legislate it out."
The NHL All Star game was harmed by the absence of Sidney Crosby. "Crosby is far from the only player to miss time or even the all-star game because of a concussion - according to team releases and media reports, more than 30 players have suffered concussions this season, including Edmonton all-star Ales Hemsky - but the Penguins star's injury has sparked greater debate about how the NHL regulates hits to the head and handles a growing need for concussion awareness."
Players are critical of NHL policy. Florida Panthers star David Booth said, "over time, I think they'll get more strict because there are still a lot of injuries now, the best player in the game is affected."
So many players have had concussions this year that you could create an All Star team with them:
Centre: Sidney Crosby, Brad Richards, Marc Savard, David Krejci, John Tavares, Bryan Little
Left wing: Johan Franzen, Andy McDonald, David Perron, Max Pacioretty, Rene Bourque
Right wing: Marian Gaborik, Ales Hemsky, Jason Pominville, Mike Knuble
Defence: Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Brad Stuart, Toni Lydman, Dan Hamhuis, Andrej Meszaros, Nick Schultz
Goal: Jonas Hiller, Ondrej Pavelec
But the NHL believes instead that violence should be encouraged. "Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be. But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn't hockey. It was a travesty," Lemieux said. "It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that."
Kudos to those hockey journalists who are tackling this important issue. The solution is simple: "legislate it out."
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