Quote:
Originally Posted by valo403
Odds aren't in favor? Why? This isn't statistical analysis. Scott's actions don't support your conclusion. Everything about what he did showed a desire to go after Kessel, or at least makes that a reasonable conclusion of his intent. You can assume he wouldn't have thrown a punch if you want, but that's really irrelevant. What's relevant is what Kessel saw coming for him and his response. He saw Scott coming looking to throw punches, and reacted to defend himself. If you're expecting Kessel to read Scott's mind and determine that he actually wanted to hold him in his arms like a baby koala I think you may need to lay off grandpa's old cough medicine.
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It actually is a statistical analysis in the post mortem, but I agree, you can't expect Kessel to think that through when Scott comes towards him. Kessel's first swing was a reaction, one of self defense that I can live with.
The subsequent reactions and slashes, when the danger was no longer there, are acts of aggression and intent to injure.
We absolutely can't leave acts of aggression and intent to injure, from a league perspective, in the hands of the players to decide when and where are ok. The NHL needs to eliminate any form of using the stick as an aggressive weapon from the game, there can be 0 scenarios where this is ok. Kessel was using his stick in aggression not self defense after the initial swipe, and the league failed to communicate that it's not ok.
You are attempting to justify him using his stick as though Scott had him and was delivering a beating. That never happened, and once Kessel was aware that wasn't going to happen, there is 0 justification for stick swinging.