Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
this is about to get out of control
trainers fearing repercussions will now start taking players out of games just to be safe. Which could lead to fourth liners targeting start players, taking their three game suspension (Hendricks on Ekblad) and having say Toews shut down by his trainer regardless of symptoms.
Stretch? Sure ... but it's a slippery slope
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I don't really see how this is any different today, than 5 years ago.
Top players used to get run with a lot of frequency before, and the end result is that they would be injured on the play and didn't return. Concussions in which the player would just 'shake it off' is what is different in today's game. So that player that is 'shaking it off' has to go to the quiet room to get assessed. If he passes, he returns after a few missed shifts - maybe a period. If he is not, then essentially it is the same thing as him not getting up from the ice after the hit.
This is what the NHL has been TRYING to get rid of. So if this 4th liner who is willing to get suspended to take one for the team - well, his career will also be cut short. NHL is at least getting smarter with the repeat offender status - for example, Raffi Torres.
I think that all 4th liners - I think most players actually - want to get that big hit in when they can. Nobody is ever going to tell me that a big open ice hit - however in the rules it may be - isn't a possible career-ending incident. If a player is leveling someone on the ice, even within the rules - I would argue that the intent to injure is there, and never called. To me, the elimination of the red line has caused a lot more concussions than the elimination of fighting ever will reduce.
To be clear, what you are worried about happening has always been happening. Star players have always been somewhat targeted. Two things prevent them from being headhunted like you are saying - retribution (either from a crazy goon on the other side, but mostly because the other team will then obviously play chippy themselves and take runs at the other star players), or the NHL crack-down on headhunting with supplementary discipline.
I can't see additional enforcement of these protocols will impact what is already happening. The only way the NHL is actually going to reduce concussions (aside from fighting, which I do think does cause concussions as well) is to slow the game down and further tighten both the rules and the associated penalties.
I don't think the NHL has the appetite to change the game. I don't think enforcing protocols will change opposing player's behavior. Maybe I am not quite grasping what you are (which, considering I have only had 6 hours total sleep since Sunday, is entirely possible), but I just can't see the potential impact other than additional fines on teams and players possibly missing a couple of shifts while they get assessed as they should already be, rather than any increase in actual hitting (headhunting or otherwise).