3 Phoenix Coyotes vs 6 Chicago Blackhawks

[maplesyrup]

That's honestly hilarious. It won't mean anything if Shanahan doesn't keep this up though. Torres is an easy guy to suspend, but I don't think his past warrants an extra 20-23 games that he's getting if a star with no past makes that same hit. If this is the start of harsher suspensions in general, great. But I think this is just Shanahan taking an opportunity to take some heat of the NHL in a situation where nobody but Torres will care.

Yeah, I agree. I'm curious if we'd have seen this kind of suspension with a higher profile player with a similar track record.

 

[Deebo]

25 games. Jokes. My god this really has all gone to clown town.

edit: by jokes I mean him coming down this hard on Torres is good but the fact the previous suspensions are so lame compared to this is the funny part.

Personally, I don't think any of the other incidents compare to what Torres did.

 

[bustaheims]

Personally, I don't think any of the other incidents compare to what Torres did.

Neither do I. Nor do the other perpetrators have the same track record as Torres - I mean, seriously, he was disciplined twice this season for hits to the head.

 

[Tigger]

Wow, Shana bin bana fo fana banana, now that's a suspension.

 

[Bates]

The Keith hit was far worse. He elbowed a guy in the head intentionally as retribution for a previous hit.  Torres hit was bad as he hit the head but you can argue he did not intend to hit head.  Try argueing that Keith did not intend to do exactly what happened.  Shanny has bowed to the pressure of plugs like Damian Cox on this one.

 

[bustaheims]

The Keith hit was far worse. He elbowed a guy in the head intentionally as retribution for a previous hit.  Torres hit was bad as he hit the head but you can argue he did not intend to hit head. Try argueing that Keith did not intend to do exactly what happened.  Shanny has bowed to the pressure of plugs like Damian Cox on this one.

Considering his history and the fact that he launched himself in an upwards direction, I'd have an awful lot of trouble buying that argument.

 

[Bates]

My point was to say that there is a defense to the claim not that it is a fact.  In the Keith hit there is no defense that he didn't intend to hit head.

 

[pnjunction]

Wow his history is ridiculous and effectively banning him from this this years playoffs was the right thing to do.  Overdue for a 20+ game suspension IMO.  I wonder if he comes back next season and does it again, do they have the balls (and authority?) to ban him from the NHL forever.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Derk]

Personally, I don't think any of the other incidents compare to what Torres did.

Neither do I. Nor do the other perpetrators have the same track record as Torres - I mean, seriously, he was disciplined twice this season for hits to the head.

I bet Matt Cooke is sitting back today being thankful that this wasn't him. He was arguably one dirty hit away from something like this.

 

[hockeyfan1]

My point was to say that there is a defense to the claim not that it is a fact.  In the Keith hit there is no defense that he didn't intend to hit head.

I agree that the Keith hit was terrible.  Should have gotten a lengthier suspension (more like 5-7 games).  But, the difference between Keith and Torres is that Torres is a multiple repeat offender with plenty of history of having dished out headhits.

All in all, as I said in a previous thread, the only way to give a message once and for all, is for the suspension to be as lengthy as possible.  Hopefully, now, Torres changes his act and stops headhunting, so to speak, the same way that Matt Cooke and Mike Richards changed.

 

[Corn Flake]

The Keith hit was far worse. He elbowed a guy in the head intentionally as retribution for a previous hit.  Torres hit was bad as he hit the head but you can argue he did not intend to hit head. Try argueing that Keith did not intend to do exactly what happened.  Shanny has bowed to the pressure of plugs like Damian Cox on this one.

Considering his history and the fact that he launched himself in an upwards direction, I'd have an awful lot of trouble buying that argument.

The Shanny video shows the 5 other hits he delivered that were all almost exactly the same, all clearly direct attempts to hit the head. There is no mistaking he was going for Hossa's head and the history backs it up for sure.

 

[bustaheims]

My point was to say that there is a defense to the claim not that it is a fact.  In the Keith hit there is no defense that he didn't intend to hit head.

Sure, but that defence is so flimsy and weak that holds absolutely no weight. It basically involves ignoring everything that lead up to the hit, the way the hit was delivered and the history of the player delivering the hit.

 

[crazyperfectdevil]

after seeing the footage of his previous offenses ..this was the right call ...it doesn't mean the nhl hasn't screwed up on other calls..but they got this one right..and i find it hard to believe that's a bad thing

 

[oldman]

Finally a real suspension. 25 games sends a message. Now why did James Beal get 0 for the same hit? Both repeat offenders, both hits are the same. A stretcher adds 25 games?

 

[Bates]

While I would generally agree that history should be part of the decision the way someone in the NHL becomes a repeat offender tends to take my faith in the process away.  As an example a few games ago Malkin had to 2 obvious headshots in the game but wat not disciplined for either.  So he now has no history and no repeat offender status.  His 2 hits were as bad as most of Torres hits.

 

[Kin]

It's a lot of games and hopefully that curbs stuff like this but it doesn't really do Chicago any good.

 

[Chev-boyar-sky]

I'm all for this suspension, having watched the video.

Now hopefully there'll be some consistency.

Having watched the Asham and Backstrom videos I don't understand the difference in length of suspensions between those 2 incidents.

2 players who've never been fined or suspended who both cross-check the opposing player high, and only one makes contact with the head (Backstrom). I originally thought Asham had a history so he got an extra 3 games, but if he doesn't it must come down to an extra punch thrown (which was rather light) while Schenn was down. On the other hand Backstrom actually contacted the head of an opposing player with a cross-check which I would've thought was more serious (but evidently I'm wrong).

Apparently that punch was so bad it got Asham an extra 3 games, which I find rather extreme (as it's no worse than what Weber did to Zetterberg, slamming his face into the glass IMO).

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

My point was to say that there is a defense to the claim not that it is a fact.  In the Keith hit there is no defense that he didn't intend to hit head.

How is the argument that Torres didn't intend to hit the head any different than the argument that Keith didn't intend to?

 

[Bates]

Because Torres at least attempted to hit the body of Hossa.  Keith made no attempt at a body check and extended his arm to elbow Sedin in the head, there really is no way to argue any different.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Because Torres at least attempted to hit the body of Hossa.  Keith made no attempt at a body check and extended his arm to elbow Sedin in the head, there really is no way to argue any different.

By jumping, you argue Torres intended to hit him in the head, or else he didn't need to jump.  By extending his elbow, you argue Keith intended to elbow him in the head, or else he didn't need to extend his elbow.

The argument against them intending to do it is the same - they tried to hit cleanly and didn't mean to hit the head first.  You can't know what their intentions are, so on the facts, both players altered the course of a normal hit so that they hit the player in their head.

Seems pretty much the same to me.