Quote:
Originally Posted by formulate
Here's the problem:
Even if your theory is 100% correct, it goes from Matt Cooke attempting to check an opponent with his knee to Matt Cooke attempting to check an opponent while leading with his knee. Either way, the intention is there, malicious or not.
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This, plus he has spent all of his "benefit of the doubt capital" with the league. He knows that. He simply cannot put himself in that situation without assuming he will not be given the same margin for error that other players - who don't have his record - would be given.
Wild fans saying "but Barrie had loads of time to get out of the way of that knee" are missing the point: that Cooke had the same amount of time to make a better decision than the one he made, which was "I'm going to knee him." Or at least, "I'm not going to avoid kneeing him."