Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman returned last week from the league GM meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., convinced that a proposed rule about hits to the head would be a major step forward for the NHL.
“As a group, we identified the problem,” the Avalanche GM said. “I think we addressed it in a succinct way.”
The rule would empower referees to penalize hits in which the “primary point of impact” is the head, with the emphasis on contact made from the side or behind.
“It’s another evolution piece of our game, coming out of the lockout, with the speed of our game and the rule changes that were made then,” Sherman said of the proposed rule.
The irony was that the GM session came in the wake of the much-replayed blind-side elbow delivered by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke to the head of Boston’s Marc Savard on Feb. 7, which left Savard with a concussion and Cooke without a suspension.
“That’s the type of hit we need out of our game,” Sherman said.
Referees would have the discretion to make the penalty either a minor or major, and the offending player would be subject to “supplemental discipline” — i.e., an additional fine or suspension. The league’s competition committee — made up of five players, five GMs and Flyers owner Ed Snider — will review the proposal during the NHL Finals, and then it would go before the league’s board of governors for possible adoption for next season.
Sherman, who was promoted to the GM job last summer and was attending his first March meeting in that role, said many examples were brought up. The most notable, he said, was the open-ice, shoulder-to-jaw hit from the side by Philadelphia’s Mike Richards on Florida’s David Booth on Oct. 24. “That would be illegal next year,” Sherman said. This season, though, Richards didn’t draw a suspension for that, either.
The tricky part will be the definition as it evolves on the ice and not in the rulebook, and by extension, enforcement. If it becomes only means to protect stars (e.g., “Matt Hendricks? Who cares?”) and to penalize hits for their effects, but not their potential danger (i.e., only if they cause injury), then it wasn’t such a great idea, after all. Also, the enforcement has to be across the board, meaning that Mike Richards and other stars aren’t immune to suspension. And everyone involved still needs to get beyond the tendency to predictably react to hits at 180-degree extremes, depending on whether your player was the “hitter” or the “hittee.”
Still, Sherman said it was his interpretation that straight-on hits with shoulders to heads would remain legal, and he said that Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson’s hit on New Jersey’s Patrik Elias in mid-January would have fallen into that category.
“There’s no gray area there,” he said. “North-south is a legal hit, with the use of the shoulder.”
After the meetings, NHL discipline czar Colin Campbell told reporters: “Where we are going is taking a completely legal hit now, with the shoulder, and saying from a certain aspect in the future, next year, that’s going to be an illegal hit if delivered to the head. Part two of that, which is a huge statement in the game, we’re shifting some of the responsibility from the player getting hit to the player delivering the hit, which was never part of the game.
“You grew up, you always had to have your head up, you’d get (grief) from your dad if you got hit when you were watching your pass. But now there’s some responsibility on the guy delivering the hit.”
More reaction.
Avs coach Joe Sacco, only seven years removed from his 13-season NHL playing career, said of the proposed rule: “Moving forward, the hits from the lateral side and behind, those are the things in our game we want to avoid. Straight-on shoulder contact to the head, that’s going to happen.
“As a player, when you do have the puck, you do have a responsibility to keep your head up, but at the same time, there is contact that can be avoided by the opposition. It’s up to the player at that time, and the league is going to try to crack down on the hits from the side and the hits from the back-side pressure. As long as it’s north-south contact, that has to stay in the game. It’s part of the game.”
Spotlight on …
Avs’ reaction to proposed hit-to-the-head rule
Avalanche winger Darcy Tucker has delivered many controversial and criticized hits during his career, and he also has been on the other side of the equation. This season, he was knocked out of the lineup for eight games with a concussion when nailed by Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu on Oct. 23. The NHL suspended Ruutu for three games.
Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson nailed Edmonton captain Ethan Moreau in October, leaving Moreau with a concussion. Despite speculation that the NHL might suspend him, that didn’t happen. Then Wilson hit the Devils’ Patrik Elias in mid-January with a shoulder to the jaw, and Elias was out of the lineup for three weeks. The consensus was the hit was clean, though.
Shortly after his hit on Elias, Wilson suffered a concussion himself, when taking a hit from Edmonton’s Jean-Francois Jacques, and missed two games.
Here’s the two Avs players’ take on the proposed NHL rule to empower referees to call penalties for hits to the head, with emphasis on contact from the side or from behind:
Tucker: “It’s been a big part of our game for the last year and a half. Now we have some structure if they make the rule. You still have to play the game hard. You have to have some respect when a guy’s in a vulnerable position. That’s the thing that gets me, that drives me crazy. But if you’re just trying to finish your check and the guy just turns at the last second, those are the things that happen in open ice and at high speed.”
Wilson: “I think it’s more really about the backside, where guys can’t see you or know where you’re going or where the hit is coming from. I think it’s a good rule. You can’t take hits out of the game. Anytime someone gets hurt, you don’t want that to happen, but you have to keep hits in the game and allow players to compete physically.”
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
