Once again the NHL front offices have outdone their incompetence. Just when you thought it was safe to continue enjoying hockey, they continue to make decisions off the ice that baffle. Raffi Torres was suspended recently for this hit on Jordan Eberle:

It wasn’t the suspension that’s questionable, it’s a clear heat shot, but it’s the two regular season, and two playoff games that he won’t be able to play in that is the issue.  Where is becomes a suspect decision is where the league had established as the standard for these types of punishments. Coming out of the GM meetings, the league had promised that they were going to be tougher on head shots, especially in the wake of the Chara debacle. Almost immediately they had two incidents of head shots that were sent to them for review, one by Dany Heatley and one by Brad Marchand. 


 

As we all waited with baited breath as to what this new punishment was going to be they gave them both 2 games for their head shots. Later on in the month we were treated to more incompetence when they didn’t give Marion Gaborik or Kyle Clifford any supplementary discipline for their hits from behind.

Now hits from behind used to be a hot topic before head shots started to become an issue,  which is incredible especially because both of those hits from behind resulted in injury. Compare all of these hits and try to figure out which ones are the most dangerous, and then try to figure out how they came to the conclusion that Torres’ was worth about 6 games, while Gaborik’s and Clifford’s didn’t even warrant one. So it seemed that nothing was going to change in regards to how they were going to punish head shots until the Raffi Torres incident. Why have they suddenly decided to take a hard stance now, when they had the perfect moment with Heatley and Marchand? Could it be that Colin Campbell didn’t want to punish his sons team, the Bruins, by suspending Marchand more than two games, and therefore couldn’t with Heatley?  Did Colin Campbell not want to punish the team he used to coach with the Rangers? Is there a directive to try and help the big market teams like the Rangers and Kings get into the playoffs? It sounds incredulous to bring that up as being truth, but that’s what happens when they come up with these baffling decisions that make no sense. The Raffi Torres hit is a suspendable one, but the ruling is unprecedented, so perhaps this now is the new standard for head shot punishments. Surely we can count on the NHL now adhering to this new standard for any further disciplinary measures that need to be handed out, right? There’s nothing else that we could question the NHL about when comes to its own standards, right?

On Wednesday during a crucial game involving the Chicago Blackhawks, Marion Hossa was credited with a goal that would start a come back that saw the Blackhawks win in overtime 4-3.

Now with so much at stake, it shouldn’t be this hard to make the right call, when you have guys sitting around a TV with the luxury of multiple angles.  The whole notion that it was called a goal by the referee so it has to be “overwhelming evidence” to overturn is call, is nonsense. He called it a good goal because of the close play of the puck crossing the line, but he never actually touches the puck with his stick after he kicked it. At full speed it looks like he touches the puck, but it’s because it ricochets off the post, and when you slow it down you can clearly see that he misses the puck. There’s nothing subjective about it, it’s just common sense. Its simple physics, with the direction his stick is going, any slight touch should have nudged it over the line. It’s a horrific call that may cost teams like Dallas and Calgary from making the playoffs, but the NHL wouldn’t want that right? A big market team like Chicago, defending Stanley Cup Champs, any little edge the NHL can do to help their suffering ratings they’ll do.

Originally posted at Betfair.net