The NHL playoffs are in the midst of an image crisis. In a postseason that has been rife with spectacular play, fighting and dirty hits have overshadowed it all. It all started when Nashville Predators star defenseman Shea Weber slammed Detroit Red Wings forward HenrikZetterberg's face into the glass after the final whistle of Nashville's 3?2 Game 1 victory. Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's dean of discipline, decided against suspending Weber for his antics, choosing rather to fine him $2,500. With the precedent set that overtly dirty plays would go unpunished, all hell broke loose. Eight players have been suspended after just a week of first?round action. All of this culminated Tuesday night with a hit delivered by Phoenix Coyote Raffi Torres on Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa that hospitalized Hossa.
Shanahan's suspensions for each respective player have been inconsistent and downright questionable. Ottawa Senators forward Matt Carkner viciously attacked New York Rangers forward Brian Boyle and received only a one?game suspension. Carknersucker?punched Boyle in the face twice, knocking Boyle to the ice, and then proceeded to connect with five more punches while Boyle was defenselessly down on the ice. Rangers forward Carl Hagelin was suspended three games for finishing a check with his arms high and connecting an elbow to the head of Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson. Carkner is a repeat offender, having previously broken the orbital bone of a New York Islander in 2009, while Hagelin, a rookie, has completed about five checks all season. Additionally, Carkner was a scratch in Game 1 and clearly was suited up for Game 2 with the sole purpose of instigating.
I know the "if this happened on the street in real life" phrase is thrown around a lot when watching hockey fights, but Carkner's savage attack was outside the boundaries of the sport. Carkner and Boyle were far away from the puck and not involved in any play. I watched the events unfold live, and my first thought was that Carkner would be suspended for the rest of the playoffs. Hagelin was finishing a check, a play done 100 times a hockey game, and did so wrongly and in a dirty fashion. In Shanahan's explanation video, he notes that Alfredsson was injured and that Boyle was not. I completely support the notion that if a player is injured and is forced to leave a game, then a longer suspension is deserved. However, on the reverse, just because a player was fortunate enough to not be concussed, doesn't it lessen the intent of the aggressor and the violence of his actions? Shanahan, in Carkner's video, essentially told Boyle that he was a lucky son of a gun for not having his face broken. By excusing Carkner for not breaking someone's orbital bone this time, Shanahan has literally increased the number of Carkner's opportunities to do it again.
Similarly, Pittsburgh Penguins forward James Neal received a one?game suspension for leveling Philadelphia Flyers forward Sean Couturier off the puck and then 42 seconds later headhunting Claude Giroux. Luckily, Giroux realized Neal's intent, and turned to the side, limiting the blow to his head. Giroux tried to skate away and stumbled in a daze. Had Giroux not realized Neal's intent, he most likely would be out for the rest of the playoffs, as he missed time this season because of a head injury and struggled with post?concussion syndrome. Neal's manic shift, in which he attempted to behead two players, mirrored the intent seen by Carkner. Yet, because the victims happened to be lucky rather than unlucky like Hossa, Neal and Carkner walk away with just a slap on the wrist.
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Alex Arthur is a sophomore majoring in
economics and English. He can be reached
at Alexander.Arthur@tufts.edu.
