Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
The onus is also on Trouba not to take advantage of an unsuspecting player. Why doesn't Trouba have to have awareness? You might be right that it's a hockey play, but I think the argument is that it shouldn't be.
The Athletic article sums it up nicely to me. End of the day, the rule states that head contact is allowed if the hit is unavoidable. Was the hit unavoidable? Absolutely not. If we're going to fault Meier for not having enough awareness, equal blame needs to go to Trouba for the same.
The rules need to be more stringent to protect players in these positions. If you "never want to see anybody hurt" then the least the league could do is remove grey areas in the rules that cause guys to keep getting hurt. Trouba loves walking the line and goes over it plenty. The solution is to pull the line back. |
Yeah, I mean I get that sometimes hitting the head is unavoidable if a player puts themselves in a prone position and the player making the hit doesn't have time to react, but Trouba seems to have a knack for finding players in prone positions and takes advantage of it. I don't consider that as unavoidable. It can't simply be just bad luck that it always happens with him.
Besides the hit last night, he was suspended in the past for targeting the head (Mark Stone). There were hits on Athanasiou, Khaira, Mackinnon, and Crosby that were right on the line as well. He seems to have mastered the "accidentally on purpose" angle.