The NHL's Brendan Shanahan has decided to not suspend Matt Cooke for inflicting a lacerated achilles tendon to reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. The Ottawa defenseman will miss the rest of this season due to the resulting injury and the need for surgery.
The hit is right on the edge for me...in slow motion (as seen below) it appears to be absolutely brutal You cannot totally overlook reputation. This is Matt Cooke, who has a previous history of deliberately.... or at least recklessly.... inflicting injuries (usually with his elbow. It should be added that Cooke last year tried to straighten himself out and has done a very good job of not just saying he was remorseful for past actions but in putting those words into actions with much cleaner play on the ice. Still, even if last night's incident was totally accidental on Cooke's part, it was a very careless play by Cooke to have his foot elevated and come down on Eriksson.
This brings up all sorts of debates, the most obvious being..
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