Quote:
Originally Posted by Matty81
You can have the passion and make the game interesting without risking injury to this extent.
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It's one thing to try and legislate the ideal amount of passion in the boardroom to please all marketing and health objectives...but it's much harder to expect that rational behaviour on the ice. These are grown men (some less intelligent then others), full of adrenaline, taunting each other, under the spotlight. It's naive to think that you can have the "passion" of a guy like Tkachuk going around taunting and trolling other players, and then expect a meathead like Kassian to always act rationally in response. At some point, a little face-wash will not cut it. And I think Tkachuk is more than aware of that.
Kassian went too far, and was punished for it with penalties and shame...whether he deserves more is up for debate and that's why he's having a hearing. The reality though is that if you want passion and drama in this sport, this is the type of stuff that inevitably will happen at times. We either have to be ok with some added risk, or we need to be ok with a more clinical product. I get (and agree) with the injury argument, but from an entertainment perspective, I know which one I prefer.