Welcome to the Hotstove! As always, I'm your host, Travis Yost.
The fallout from a series of ghastly incidents between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins is already starting to come to light, with Pittsburgh winger James Neal docked five games for a knee to the head of Bruins F Brad Marchand.
The Neal hit (video below) could have, in my estimation, earned an even more severe suspension than the one handed out by the Department of Player Safety. Neal defended his play emphatically in the post-game, suggesting that the hit was nothing more than accidental, unavoidable contact. Clearly Brendan Shanahan, et al. saw it a bit differently.
Which, of course, brings us to Shawn Thornton -- the other guy who is going to get dinged badly by the league in lieu of Saturday's incident. Thornton, upset with Brooks Orpik for a previous play, slew-footed him after the whistle, then proceeded to punch a defenseless, unwilling combatant into the ice.
It's clear with Thornton's in-person hearing set that the league is going to take him out longer than James Neal, but the million-dollar question is with respect to how long the league will staple him to the press box. There are two schools of thought to this, I think: the first, one in pseudo-defense of Thornton for his actions, justifying to an extent what he did due to mitigating circumstances, including a questionable hit by Brooks Orpik on Loui Eriksson. I don't subscribe to this theory, but it's definitely out there. And, as such, I'm guessing this crowd are calling for something in the range of a 7-10 game suspension.
There's another school of thought that wants Thornton sat for a long, long-time. They do not see the Orpik play as any justification for what Thornton did, and see the fight as more of an assault due to Orpik's completely unwillingness to engage in a fight. Thornton's slew-foot, combined with punches to the head on a knocked-out player on the ice deserve a massive suspension, and that excoriating this sort of play will not only make a statement to Shawn Thornton, but a statement to the rest of the league's players.
The Department of Player Safety is going to hand out a ruling by the end of the week. Here, I ask you a question, if only because I'm interested in how hockey fans would treat an incident like Thornton's. Are you willing to consider the circumstances in something of favor of Thornton, or do you see no place for the enforcer and his respective actions in hockey, knocking him out of omission for a long, long-time?
I've put together a poll for suspension length ranges, but I'm more curious to hear how you would treat the play. Let me know in the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!