[sa226]

To this day in my hockey Fandom, the 2 most "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills" things are the Wideman incident (How people think that he intentionally and maliciously concussed a linesman is a line of thinking I don't understand)

And Tkachuk. Tkachuk is a rat, don't get me wrong, but I don't see this great villain that the rest of the league sees. I don't think he's even really dirty. He seems to have more notoriety than Marchand or Burrows and one is licking dudes and the other is biting fingers.

He lays huge clean hits on Kassian, then perpetual screw loose man goes beserk. I'd need to see a replay again but did Tkachuk ever get the opportunity to fight? Or did Kassian just horse collar him? On the ice, fair enough, Tkachuk knew exactly who he was hitting. In a way it sorted itself out. But the media narrative of dirt bag Tkachuk targeting honorable Kassian and then unwilling to fight was embarrassing. To boot, it seems the Sportsnet stock photo for the battle of Alberta is Kassian throwing punches at Tkachuk. What about the photo of Tkachuk looking back over his shoulder at a crumpled Kassian? You don't see that picture anywhere. It's kind of embarrassing really. It's even crazier that in a dual of star power and credibility, seemingly in this incident, in everyone's eyes Kassian comes out on top. Zack freaking Kassian.

I'm not losing sleep over this stuff, but I do sometimes feel like I'm taking crazy pills.