Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan
Surprised it was so light. I thought that because it was so similar to such a recent suspension (poking a player with a stick while on/off the ice) that they would dish out a harsher penalty. Basically they're saying, "it's an almost identical incident, so we'll give out an identical penalty. We don't care about repeat offenses."
I'm not mad as a Flames fan, but as someone who wants the league to keep a lid on repeat offenders, no matter what team they play for, this decision sort of bugs me. Not a lot, but a little.
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I don't know. Sure I'd be on board with a step up if the Department of Player Safety was consistent on that with actual dangerous plays that were intended or actually caused injury. As it is, what we see is a department headed by a fighter who takes provocative behaviour from someone like Tkachuk more seriously than really dirty plays like a spear to the nuts from Crosby, Marchand taking guys out regularly with blindside hits and slashes that break fingers. Still wildly inconsistent compared to any other credible professional sport.
Someone brought up Sean Avery. Don't think Tkachuk is at that level and sure of course no one like Sean Avery. But there's something screwy in the culture of the league when someone like Matt Cooke can find a job with multiple teams for years but Avery is beyond the pale.
Anyway no harm done. I'd like to see Tkachuk reign it in and be a bit smarter. Don't think this will hurt his actual play on the ice in the least. In fact, if he's more focussed on his on-ice play, it may help his overall game.