Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay Random
One of the big issues when this penalty was introduced was that the tall glass at the ends of the ice did not extend the same distance along the half boards in every arena. That meant that the same clearing attempt could go off the glass and stay in play in one place, and over the glass for a penalty in another. Even people who liked the penalty were complaining about that.
I imagine that problem was fixed long ago, but I don't recall hearing anything about it.
My own position, for what little it's worth, is that if you can get a two-minute penalty for putting the puck out of play, and a two-minute penalty for inflicting a concussion on an opposing player, something is seriously out of whack with the rules. If the punishment fits one offence, it most certainly doesn't fit the other.
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How often does that happen? If a player is seriously injured as the result of a predatory and dangerous hit, does the offending player not often get a major and possibly a game misconduct? In the rare cases where a player is concussed on a minor penalty or no penalty, it's usually accidental in nature and therefore must be accepted as a risk of the game.
And furthermore, we saw with the Matheson suspension on the hit to Petterson earlier this year that the league has no problem dispensing additional discipline should a player be injured on a "no call" during the game. Basically, even if the ref misses it or gets it wrong, the league is still managing the dangerous plays.
I'm not sure your statement holds up to be honest.