If the NHL really wants to-as it seems-come down hard on the fighting element of the game, it needs to become a much better officiated sport on the ice and a much more consistent judge off of it.
The next time Simmonds protects a team mate, he's going to be suspended for two games. In the case of Dubinsky on Voracek, there was a minor called and Simmonds was punished far more harshly than the guy who threw the knee-a guy who has a history of being suspended.
But we expect balance and consistency from a league where Jesse Boulerice gets 21 games-rightly so-for crosschecking Ryan Kesler in the head and where Brandon Dubinsky gets one for breaking his stick on Crosby's neck, and where a few weeks later a team mate of Dubinsky, Dalton Prout, cross checked another guy four times in the head and received a double minor.
- Jsaquella
This is the product the NHL wants. They don't want stars to flourish. They want violence to flourish. Those ridiculously light penalties from repeat offenders is not punishment. It's encouragement.
Read some of the "non-redacted" emails in the concussion case and it's very clear what the NHL is selling. Too bad such a great game is ruined by moronic management.
Modern litigation will eventually catch up to the dinosaurs running the sport and it's going to be hilarious.
