Fall out from the "cheap shot" on kaberle - intere

I swear they will turn NHL'ers to figre skaters one day...

I don't condone cheap shots (like the one referenced in the blog)

But this dude is on CRACK if he thinks the NHL doesn't "protect" (OVERprotect?) star players..

PROTEU'S BLOG (THN)


The “My NHL” advertising campaign has gone a long ways toward reconnecting fans to elite players this season.

Too bad it’s a complete sham.

As proven by the flaccid, yawning response to Cam Janssen’s despicable hit on Tomas Kaberle, this game doesn’t belong to the fans or the superstars. Just as it always was, the NHL is the personal, private fiefdom of a select few, complete with a set of twisted, barbaric notions as to what is and isn’t acceptable in an allegedly professional sport.

A three-game suspension is all the Devils goon received for his vile attack on the talented Leafs defenseman Friday.

What a sick, sick joke that is.

Three games is the same amount Andre Roy got for abuse of officials this year and the same amount Ray Emery got for slashing Maxim Lapierre. It’s as if there’s only one number still working on chief disciplinarian Colin Campbell’s keyboard.

But Campbell can’t be singled out for blame. The problem begins with commissioner Gary Bettman and the owners, and continues with every GM like New Jersey’s Lou Lamoriello – who said, after Janssen’s suspension was announced, “I’m not upset at Cam.”

You should be upset, Lou. You should be extremely upset at Cam, as well as the NHL. Because through Janssen’s actions and the league’s lack of action, your skilled players are now at risk the next time Toronto plays New Jersey.

We’ll see how upset you are when, god forbid, Patrik Elias or Martin Brodeur gets knocked loopy by some borderline B-leaguer out for the revenge Campbell refused to exact.

The contempt the NHL continues to show for its stars speaks volumes about its true feelings toward players. No other pro sports collective shows the total disregard for its chief moneymakers as this league does. They are slabs of meat destined for the grinder.

The spirit of Alan Eagleson lives on.

The league’s higher-ups must truly believe they can throw any old player out there, toss an NHL jersey over his shoulders, and you’ll pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege of watching him. They must really think everyone is a Leaf fan.

The case is often made that the problem with the NHL is a lack of respect amongst the players. I think the bigger problem is too much respect – too much for fringe talents such as Janssen’s. Too much for the Don Cherry philosophy – the one that stunk up the airwaves again Saturday night – that says the only answer to what Janssen did was more violence.

Listening to such garbage, you understand how arms races and blood feuds proliferate.

Until Bettman – and, to a slightly lesser degree, Ted Saskin – show some honest-to-goodness leadership in this area, the NHL will continue to cannibalize itself, all in the name of the so-called toughness some believe defines the sport.

All I know is, what Cam Janssen did Friday night wasn’t tough. Neither was what Colin Campbell and the league “did” Saturday. And when Janssen returns to the bench in a few games, well before Kaberle does, you’ll know all you need to about what is really valued in this business.

My NHL? My butt.


video link http://youtube.com/watch?v=4aV076QEzQo

It also goes to show that he is an idiot. They were winning and after that hit the Maple Leafs turned it up and ended up winning.

I honestly think Cam should have got fined a lot more and that his suspension should be longer.

This Proteau guy sounds a lot like Bleatings From a Caps Nut.

Just another moronic Damien Cox wannabe. Anyone who has ever read a Damien Cox column knows what I'm talking about.

A more sensible article concerning hitting...

OPINION: FALLEN LEAF DOESN'T MEAN LEAGUE IS FAILING

by Mike Brophy

One thing we have learned for certain since the lockout of 2004-05 – hockey fans will never be satisfied.

Think back to last year when the NHL returned vowing to drastically reduce obstruction. Goals and scoring chances were up early, but fans bitched and moaned about the lack of hitting in the game. “What is hockey becoming, ballet on ice?” They cried.

I never bought into that nonsense. I didn’t think hitting had been drastically reduced and, as players got used to what they could and could not get away with, hitting became all the more prevalent. But still some complained.

This year, the big hue and cry is about headshots. Now I am not about to sit here and condone flagrant headshots that are clearly attempts to injure opponents. That has never and will never be acceptable. But let us not be naïve. As long as hitting is a part of the game, there will be times when a player hitting another player accidently makes contact with the head. It is the nature of the beast.

When Ottawa’s Chris Neil decked Buffalo’s Chris Drury a week ago, Drury was knocked silly and remains out of the lineup. I feel bad for the Sabres scoring ace, but is there not an inherent danger for every player every time they step on the ice to play the game? Is it not accepted that, at some point in the game, you will most likely be hit?

Some say it was a late hit. Bull! Chris Neil, whose job it is to play physically, had completely committed to the hit before Drury unloaded the puck. Once a player begins the hitting motion, there is no turning back. Yes Drury was vulnerable, there is no mistaking that, but he was the puck carrier and Neil did his job by finishing his check on one of the opposition’s most dangerous players.

That it resulted in an injury is unfortunate.

We tend to make assessments of hits after watching slow motion replays on TV. Tell me please, how Neil was supposed to stop hitting Drury once he started the hitting motion? He was playing the game in real time, not slow motion. Or would you prefer teams simply let the opposition’s best scorers dangle freely in the offensive zone?

The latest crime against mankind is the Cam Janssen hit on Leafs defenseman Thomas Kaberle. If it was a Kurtis Foster hit on Mike Van Ryn, I doubt very much we’d be having this discussion. But because it involved a Leaf and Toronto is the center of the hockey universe, the sport now stands on trial.

Yes it was a late hit and a cheap shot. Yes Janssen was wrong to do what he did. Yes Janssen showed a complete disregard for his opponent’s safety, which may indeed be the bigger issue here. Yes it is very unfortunate Toronto’s best player was injured.

But to the NHL’s credit, the league suspended Janssen three games. Make what you will of the suspension, but it must be noted this is the first time the league has suspended a player for a late hit. It has acknowledged both Janssen’s wrongdoing and the fact player safety is an issue the NHL is not ignoring. You may say the NHL should mandate specific suspensions for headshots, but what happens the first time a superstar throws a hit and accidentally clips an opponent in the head and is automatically sat down for 10 games? Your team is in the playoff hunt and now you lose your top star because he accidentally hit an opponent in the head, with no intention to injure? My guess is you won’t be too happy with the suspension.

At the end of the day, we are left with grown men who are physically fit and playing a sport at break-neck speeds. Moving forward, the NHL must continue to monitor headshots and make it known flagrant hits to the head will not be condoned.

But let’s be careful we don’t change the entire fabric of the game by overreacting to a hit on a Maple Leaf.