Paul McCann: Back to Work - Scenarios, Photos, Torres and Notes

Two problems with your suspension suggestion, Paul.

1) many clean hits injure, and many dirty hits don't. The type of hit needs to be adjudicated, not the injury
2) Hossa could have been out the rest of his career, 1 year or 1 month. How do you slap a suspension on Torres that is commensurate when there is no way of knowing how long Hossa will be out? Or any player with concussion symptoms where a return is almost impossible to predict?

We can play St Louis if....

#1 Vancouver comes back to Win
#6 Chicago comes back to Win

Reseeding would be:
1. VAN
6. CHI

2. STL
4. NSH

Am I missing something here?

I would be careful throwing the Bertuzzi incident and Weber headsmashing around in the same breath.

What would of happened if Zetterberg suffered a similar injury to Moore on that play?

The two incidents are closer than some would want to admit, the difference.

the lack of injury.

Two problems with your suspension suggestion, Paul.

1) many clean hits injure, and many dirty hits don't. The type of hit needs to be adjudicated, not the injury
2) Hossa could have been out the rest of his career, 1 year or 1 month. How do you slap a suspension on Torres that is commensurate when there is no way of knowing how long Hossa will be out? Or any player with concussion symptoms where a return is almost impossible to predict?
- John Jaeckel

The whole issue is that the ruling is subjective. There are way too many variables to make it a fail-proof scenario. I agree it needs to be black and white, but there is too much unsure... Take for instance a scenario where a Teows type player takes out a 4th liner/minor leaguer, even if it is unintentional.... Does that victimized team have their player sit indefinitely in a competitive nature so Teows doesn't get to play? Too much possibility for unfairness.

What if the league made a chart. Hits between the shoulder and the bottom of the crest on the pre-determined front side of the player are deemed clean, regardless of the force or injury that could possibly happen. As long as the hitters feet remain on the ice PRIOR to the hit (elevation inevitably can happen upon huge impact hits). Hits on the pants down (aside from brilliant hip checks) are subject to a ruling on the ice for tripping/interference. Any contact happening with body force to anything from the pre-determined shoulder line and up are deemed as a reviewable hit to the head. The referees are free to call the game as they see it on the ice, but ANY hit above that line is and will be subjected to league ruling. I think there needs to be a no-questions-asked league minimum 1 game suspension for this hit. Even accidental, even with no injury. There is a justice system for rulings beyond that. Whether or not you agree with the ruling or not, justice has been served.

I would be careful throwing the Bertuzzi incident and Weber headsmashing around in the same breath.

What would of happened if Zetterberg suffered a similar injury to Moore on that play?

The two incidents are closer than some would want to admit, the difference.

the lack of injury.
- BooBoo997

Injury needs to be taken out of the equation. The league needs to make a matrix that if the hit is or at least resembles something similar to the example infraction, it is a pre set time for suspension.

It's a couple of days late, but nice series win Preds

fundraising link not working?

We can play St Louis if....

#1 Vancouver comes back to Win
#6 Chicago comes back to Win

Reseeding would be:
1. VAN
6. CHI

2. STL
4. NSH

Am I missing something here?
- jmayfield

No you're not. That's correct.

I would be careful throwing the Bertuzzi incident and Weber headsmashing around in the same breath.

What would of happened if Zetterberg suffered a similar injury to Moore on that play?

The two incidents are closer than some would want to admit, the difference.

the lack of injury.
- BooBoo997

Both incidents are close but Hossa didn't put his knee on Torres knee or embellish the fall to the ice.

Ran in to Klein this morning. Resisted urge to genuflect.. MVP of series IMO.

Blood Sugar sensing Dogs.. What will they think of next. Type 1 is a serious pain in the butt. I can vouch that pretty much every arena in the world is no friend to the diabetic. Bridgestone had sushi last two yrs in playoffs but not this year. Too bad. Sashimi was always a good option.

Is the practice open today and what time?

Two problems with your suspension suggestion, Paul.

1) many clean hits injure, and many dirty hits don't. The type of hit needs to be adjudicated, not the injury
2) Hossa could have been out the rest of his career, 1 year or 1 month. How do you slap a suspension on Torres that is commensurate when there is no way of knowing how long Hossa will be out? Or any player with concussion symptoms where a return is almost impossible to predict?
- John Jaeckel

You are reading too much into what I wrote... Clean hits that cause injury are not part of my suggestion... the hit needs to be adjudicated, I agree... but the punishment needs to be clear... bad hit gets penalized... bad hit that cause lengthy injury, you may lose your career...

The suspension is easy... when the injured player returns, you return.

Do you think that a player like Torres would continue to be signed if he had that kind of suspension hanging over him?

Predicting when the player will return should not be a consideration. In a case like Torres... the Coyotes penalty would be not being able to predict the return, and still having to pay the salary...

You kinda make my point for me...

Injury needs to be taken out of the equation. The league needs to make a matrix that if the hit is or at least resembles something similar to the example infraction, it is a pre set time for suspension.
- jmayfield

Disagree... the injury is a part of the action.

Let me draw a different parallel... you shoot someone... the penalty is different depending on the results of your action...

- An injury that is recovered from is Assault with a deadly weapon

- An injury that leads to death is manslaughter or murder

Both carry consequences... the injury drives a lot of the punishment.

No L.A or Blues eh!
Dam, u guys are atleast going to the conference finals!

We can play St Louis if....

#1 Vancouver comes back to Win
#6 Chicago comes back to Win

Reseeding would be:
1. VAN
6. CHI

2. STL
4. NSH

Am I missing something here?
- jmayfield

Missed that one... good point... will edit.

fundraising link not working?
- dpard

Sorry... bad HTML coding on my part... fixed

Holy s h i t . Can those dogs actually do that ?? I'm 30 , been type 1 diabetic since birth , pretty succuessful , 6.1 A1c .

But for older diabetic or families with children that are diabetic I can see where those dogs would help a great deal. How cool.

Holy s h i t . Can those dogs actually do that ?? I'm 30 , been type 1 diabetic since birth , pretty succuessful , 6.1 A1c .

But for older diabetic or families with children that are diabetic I can see where those dogs would help a great deal. How cool.
- mrpaulish

you can check the org's website at www.eenp.org

Congrats to the Preds from a Hawks fan on your series win against the Dead Wangs.

I admire your coach
The way your team plays hockey

And if my Hawks can't win I'm pulling big time for the Preds to take home Lord Stanley.

But they aren't going to win after the Hawks win this series in 7 and the Preds series in 6

Congrats to the Preds from a Hawks fan on your series win against the Dead Wangs.

I admire your coach
The way your team plays hockey

And if my Hawks can't win I'm pulling big time for the Preds to take home Lord Stanley.

But they aren't going to win after the Hawks win this series in 7 and the Preds series in 6
- CaptainBlackhawk

keep the faith brother... keep the faith

Disagree Paul

Shanny created this mess, Torres just offered him the perfect chance to "show" the NHL is serious about headshots.

Disagree... the injury is a part of the action.

Let me draw a different parallel... you shoot someone... the penalty is different depending on the results of your action...

- An injury that is recovered from is Assault with a deadly weapon

- An injury that leads to death is manslaughter or murder

Both carry consequences... the injury drives a lot of the punishment.
- pmccann

No way that will ever happen. Players will often come back the next game or the next shift and play after the full effects are felt. What happens then.

Say this rule is in effect and blues and preds are playing in the conf finals. Weber hits one of the 4th line guys up high and wow hes out for the rest of the series with concussion like symptoms. Guess Weber will be out as well. To hard to manage/ prove or disprove.

Disagree... the injury is a part of the action.

Let me draw a different parallel... you shoot someone... the penalty is different depending on the results of your action...

- An injury that is recovered from is Assault with a deadly weapon

- An injury that leads to death is manslaughter or murder

Both carry consequences... the injury drives a lot of the punishment.
- pmccann

Paul, I think the only time injury should be a factor is when a panel determines there was an intent to injure.

Bad hit w/ an injury is a bad hit regardless of injury.

However a flying elbow to the face obviously is intended to injure so the punishment should be the suspension for the bad hit plus whatever extra for the intent to injure.

Holy s h i t . Can those dogs actually do that ?? I'm 30 , been type 1 diabetic since birth , pretty succuessful , 6.1 A1c .

But for older diabetic or families with children that are diabetic I can see where those dogs would help a great deal. How cool.
- mrpaulish

Not only can dogs do that, but there are dogs that can sniff out cancer as well. Amazing animals.

For all that Ron Zolkower has done for us over the years, I was more than happy to make a donation.