NHL injuries on the rocks

Dirty hits in the NHL are such a hot topic that if I collected the two cents that seemingly… Dirty hits in the NHL are such a hot topic that if I collected the two cents that seemingly every single sports writer is putting into the debate, I might be able to afford NHL tickets. But there is one thing that analysts are leaving out: common sense.

Reckless hits came to the forefront of NHL talk last week after the Penguins’ Matt Cooke hit Boston Bruins Marc Savard in the head shortly after Savard shot the puck. Savard laid on the ice unconscious for several minutes, and the once-rowdy Mellon Arena crowd fell silent.

Cooke didn’t receive a penalty for the hit (to be fair, neither team’s coach saw the hit, so it’s not surprising that the refs didn’t either), but there was much speculation that Cooke would receive a suspension once the league reviewed the hit. Cooke has been suspended for dirty hits in the past, including once this season.

However, Colin Campbell, the NHL’s discipline czar, couldn’t find anything in the rule book to suspend Cooke. Campbell cited a similar incident in which Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards hit Florida Panthers’ David Booth in the head, and since Richards wasn’t suspended, Cooke shouldn’t be either.

The general managers of the NHL met that weekend and quickly proposed a new rule against blindside hits to the head, but the rule will likely not come into effect until next season and the punishment for such hits is vague.

Campbell may not have found anything in the rule book, but Canadian hockey personality Don Cherry did. On Hockey Night in Canada, he expressed his outrage over the lack of a suspension and pointed out Rule 21.

“A match penalty shall be imposed on any player who deliberately attempts to injure or who deliberately injures an opponent in any manner,” the rule reads.

Cherry then showed a montage of Cooke’s prior infractions. Several knee-to-knee hits were shown as well as other hits to opponents’ heads. Cherry made a strong case to prove that Cooke “deliberately tries to hurt people.”

That might be, but the real problem in the NHL isn’t players who deliberately try to hurt opponents. The problem is the word “deliberate.”

Many sports writers in the Boston media claim that Cooke had a clear “intent to injure.” But how can we ever truly know? After the hit, Cooke looked surprised and upset that Savard was injured.

After the game, he tried to contact him to apologize. Does that indicate that he didn’t mean to do it? We will never know.

A similar incident happened this weekend when Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin shoved Chicago Blackhawks Brian Campbell into the boards after Campbell had played the puck. Campbell fractured his clavicle and a rib.

The referees were watching this one, and Ovechkin received a 5-minute boarding penalty and was ejected from the game. After a hearing, the NHL suspended Ovechkin for two games.

Saying the NHL disciplinary system is inconsistent is an understatement. “Random” might be a better word for it.

The analysts keep arguing over whether Cooke deliberately injured Savard or whether Ovechkin deliberately injured Campbell (for the record, Ovechkin said he didn’t mean to injure Campbell in a press conference and even offered a public apology).

But again, how can we ever truly know if a player deliberately tries to injure an opponent. The answer is never. Alas, we have found the source of the inconsistency.

These hits often happen so quickly that referees cannot see everything that happened. How are they supposed to determine what the player’s intent was? Even when the NHL’s discipline team reviews hits in slow motion, they cannot gage intent.

Therefore, I now come to the point where I throw in my two cents.

Get rid of the highly subjective word “deliberate” altogether from the NHL rulebook. Instead, make any reckless hit — whether to the head or into the boards — subject to a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct.

Everyone will argue over the intent of the hits, but even the most biased of Penguins fans can agree that Cooke’s hit was reckless, the same goes for Ovechkin’s hit.

When the referee sees a reckless hit, the player will be penalized right away. They won’t have to wait for discipline hearings. And for the occasions where it happens when no refs are looking, then allow the NHL to review it that evening, and assess a one game suspension to the player for the next game. So even if a player isn’t kicked out during a game, he will be for the next game and everything will even out.

Yes, reckless is still a subjective word, but it is nowhere near as subjective as the word “deliberate.”

This has got to be better than the current system, where we have Matt Cooke setting up goals for his team one game after his extremely reckless hit, while Ovechkin will be watching from the press box for similar recklessness.

Instead of looking to past rulings to try to be consistent, the NHL needs to address the reason for its inconsistency and try to fix it.