Matt Cooke Shows NHL GMs the Easy, Obvious Solutions to Head-Hunting

NHL general managers are meeting right now and one of the things they’re talking about is how to deal with concussions. What they know is they cannot keep losing players of the caliber of Sidney Crosby and Chris Pronger. What is to be decided is:  how they are to go about protecting their players?

There are some interesting rule changes being discussed:  putting the red line back (boo), removing the trapezoid behind the goalie, and the one I like the most,  a hybrid-icing call proposed by Brian Burke of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I’m sure that the equipment -- particularly the helmets -- can be improved, too.

But even with those changes, suspensions are the best, simplest way to reduce concussions caused by head-hunting.

Is the NHL Really Serious About Head Injuries? Only Time Will Tell

On Saturday night in Calgary, notorious head-hunter Matt Cooke took a flagrant elbow to the head courtesy of Flames defenseman Cory Sarich. After the hit, Cooke was very shaky and missed the remainder of the 2nd period, though he did return in the 3rd period.

Who cares if Matt Cooke gets hurt? After all, he's hurt enough guys in his time, right?

I care if Cooke is victim of head-hunting and not just because I'm a Penguins fan. I care because I think this is exactly the sort of hit the NHL can use to send a message.

Inconsistency Rules the Day in the NHL

Last night, the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings played a hockey game. A good one, in fact.

But it was marred by this Todd Bertuzzi elbow to the head of Blackhawks' forward Ryan Johnson.

The on-ice officials got it right. They gave him Bertuzzi game misconduct. Good for them. Oh the times, they are a changing. However slowly.

But today, after reviewing the hit, the NHL decided not to suspend Bertuzzi for even one single game. What the ....??? This, after they suspended Matt Cooke for 10 games, plus one round of the playoffs, so potentially 17 games.

Apparently, the league feels that Bertuzzi doesn't have a history of recidivist head hunting a'la Matt Cooke, somehow overlooking Bertuzzi's 2004 sucker punch of Steve Moore. And I strongly disagree with that. I think you do, in fact, have to factor in the sum total of Bertuzzi's career.

But even if I am to grant the NHL that Bertuzzi's cheap shot on Moore was a long time ago, even if I'm going to buy into the notion that Bertuzzi is a 'clean' player now, I still believe a suspension would be in order. If you want to send a message to players and coaches that dangerous shots to the head -- particularly involving elbows being thrown -- will not be tolerated. Were I hockey's discipline czar, I would have suspended Bertuzzi for the remainder of the regular season. Perhaps longer.

The hit is dangerous. The elbow up high was unnecessary. Bertuzzi is just lucky that Johnson is okay. That was luck. Nothing more. One of these days, the league's luck is going to run out.

The Disingenuous Debate Over Player Safety

The Pittsburgh Steelers, like every NFL team, have suffered a huge number of injuries already, just through eight games on the season. Some of these players returned to the field, but others are lost for the season, and all of the players listed below have missed playing time and shown up on the injury report for one reason or another:

Byron Leftwich, Chris Kemeoatu, Arnez Battle, Bryant McFadden, Dennis Dixon (gone for the year), Heath Miller, Flozell Adams, Maurkice Pouncey, Max Starks (gone for the year), Trai Essex, Aaron Smith (likely gone for the year), Chris Hoke, Brett Keisel, LaMarr Woodley, Mewelde Moore, Issac Redman and Will Allen (these last last three suffered concussions, just fyi.)

Meanwhile, Judge Dread talks convincingly of player safety. The League cares. He cares. Deeply, you see. So deeply that the fines just keep on coming for unsafe player hits because, you know, at the NFL's HQ on Madison Avenue they care about nothing more than player safety.

The fines are so numerous that it's hard to list them all. The highlights, the most talked about fines were the ones to Pittsburgh's James Harrison, New England's Brandon Meriweather, Atlanta's Dunta Robinson and Green Bay's Nick Collins.

But on any given week, you can check in with ESPN's Adam Schefter for a rundown of the fines because there are tons that do not get much airplay. This is from Schefter's column from just one single week in the NFL:

"Defensive lineman Myron Pryor has been fined $7,500 for a fourth-quarter hit that opened a cut on Favre's chin. ...

Patriots linebacker Gary Guyton was also fined $7,500 for his first-quarter hit on Favre in last Sunday's 28-18 win. ...

Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison was fined $20,000 for a late hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees ...

Tennessee defensive end Jason Babin was fined $20,000 for roughing San Diego QB Philip Rivers when he unnecessarily struck Rivers in the knee area ...

Two San Francisco 49ers linebackers were fined for hits on Denver quarterback Kyle Orton in the 49ers' win last Sunday at London. ...

Manny Lawson was docked $12,500 for roughing the passer, using his helmet to hit Orton in the chest. ...

Ahmad Brooks loses $10,000 for striking Orton in the head and neck area. ...

Seahawks defensive end Chris Clemons was fined $7,500 for a late hit on Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell. ...

Two Raiders also were fined, including guard Robert Gallery for a late hit on Clemons that cost him $7,500. Rookie linebacker Rolando McClain was hit for a $7,500 fine for grabbing Seahawks running back Justin Forsett by the helmet in an attempt to tackle him."

I'm sure the NFL charities do good work, and I know that, at least for some of these players, a $25,000 fine is the equivalent of a $25 parking ticket for you or me. So I'm not crying poor on behalf of the players, but ...

It seems to me that the players fines and all the talk of possibly suspending players for the most egregious, dangerous hits, has much in common with the the green curtain, spooky lights, amplified voice, smoke and steam in the Wizard of Oz: simply, effects meant to distract Dorothy and her comrades so they wouldn't notice the little man behind the curtain. Don't look there. Look here!

Judge Dread has beautifully positioned himself as Clara Barton and the players as the bad guys. See, he cares about player safety, while the players themselves do not. James Harrison, Roy Williams, even saintly Troy Polamalu have aired grievances about the way fines are meted out and handled. It makes them seem as though they don't care about their own safety or that of other players.

[And, as concerns closed head injuries, there is some truth to this. Football players at all levels still minimize the after-shocks of concussions. I very recently talked to a high school football player who was severely concussed in a game. It was a scary concussion -- the kid was out cold for a good while. The team trainer declared him ineligible to play the last five games of the season, knowing that if she left it up to the player himself, he would have gone back out there the very next week. It's no different at higher levels of NCAA football or the NFL. This is just how players think.]

But yet, does the league care about player safety? Or is all the talk of fines meant to distract us from the obvious disregard for the safety of the workforce not named Manning or Brady?

I am the Great and Mighty Oz and I am fining Nick Collins! [Pay no attention to the fait accompli (and obvious danger to the NFL's workforce) of the 18 game season that the owners want so much.]

The Great and Mighty Oz has declared James Harrison the greatest danger to player safety since the flying wedge was outlawed! [Pay no attention to Thursday night games that requires players to play games after just three days rest.]

Nothing makes the players more unsafe than a lack of preparation and recuperation time. Nothing could add more danger than adding two additional and completely unnecessary regular season games. These moves are more dangerous than the Nick Collins, Dunta Robinson, James Harrison and Brandon Meriweather hits combined. If not more dangerous, then at least as dangerous.

I think it was a Tennesse Williams character who cried, "Mendacity!" Or maybe it was Ray Lewis. (It's so rare that I find myself in complete and total agreement with the elder Ravens linebacker, and yet, on this one, Ray Ray and I are simpatico.)

So long as the NFL continues the disgusting money grab of Thursday night football (prime time football means mad bling for the owners) and the even more disgusting money grab of adding two more games to the regular season schedule, they cannot in good conscience claim to care about player safety.

They only care about the appearance of caring about player safety. Actual player safety? Not so much.

Head Hunting in Hockey? New Year, Same Old Story

From True/Slant on March 12, 2010:

Matt Cooke’s Hit to Head Is Reckless, the NHL’s Inaction Is Even More Reckless


For some strange reason, the NHL declined to punish Penguins winger Matt Cooke for his reckless high hit to Bruins center Marc Savard last Sunday.

Cooke’s hit left Savard lifeless on the ice for a long while. Savard sustained a grade 2 concussion and, though NHL teams are more secretive about injuries than the Soviets were about the positioning of their nuclear warheads, Savard had not improved significantly as of this Wednesday.

There was no penalty called on the ice. That happens. Officials miss stuff. Heck, a lot of the players said they didn’t see the hit.

But the NHL front offices did not suspend Cooke for the hit. Not even a single game. I’m a Pens fan and I like, no, I love Matt Cooke. I’m terribly biased and even I thought Cookie should have been suspended. I would have bet that a two-game suspension was coming his way. So it’s a good thing I don’t bet.

In not suspending Cooke, Colin Campbell, a senior VP with the NHL, reasoned that Cooke’s hit on Savard was eerily similar to one delivered by the Flyers Mike Richards earlier this year. At least he got that much right.

Here’s Cooke and Savard:


Here’s Richards and David Booth:


So the thinking goes that because Richards was not suspended (clearly a mistake), that Cooke should not be suspended (even bigger mistake.)

I call two-minutes for a false syllogism. Just because the NHL got it wrong the first time is no reason to get it wrong the second time. Learning from your mistakes. Pass it on.

Campbell further reasoned that in neither case was there an intent to injure. Which, is probably true to a degree. I don’t think that Cooke, or even Richards, wants to see an opponent lay lifeless on the ice, but there is a desire to hit a guy so hard he develops PTSD and never comes across the middle again. Players are always looking for an advantage. It’s in their DNA. You don’t get to the NHL without being competitive beyond description. So while players may not seek to injure, they certainly seek to intimidate.

Was Richards aiming for Brooks’ head? Was Cooke aiming for Savard’s? It’s nearly impossible to judge intent, so why even try.

The result can be judged, though. Both Cooke and Richards hit their opponents high, fast and shockingly hard. Regardless of their intention, that’s reckless. No two ways about it.

Ironically, in the wake of the Savard injury, the GM’s met to see what, if anything, should be done about hits to the head. They decided to propose a rule change to the competition committee which would, in essence, mete out tougher punishment for hits to the head. Is it just me, or am I having deja vu all over again? Don’t they say this every year and every year, nothing is done?

The rule on high hits needs to be explicit and the punishment clear, not shrouded in secrecy or subject to interpretation. And, perhaps most importantly, the rule has to be applied to all players equally, which is to say that not just the Matt Cooke’s and Mike Richards’ of the league are suspended: Alex Ovechkin or Joe Thornton or Sidney Crosby should face identical punishment to grinders.

Make the punishment clear. One hit to an unsuspecting player in the head equals a two game suspension. The second head-hunting violation warrants a 10 game suspension. Or something like that.

We’re not talking about the United States health care plan here, just a simple rule change. The NHL doesn’t need 2,700 pages, just one declarative statement: Do not go head hunting.

How hard is that?

The change needs to be made now, not in the off-season, not next year or the year after that. Now.

A few years back in a playoff game between the Rangers and the Devils, known wanker Sean Avery, in a fit of shocking wankosity (even for Avery), planted his cretin-self in front of Marty Broudeur and just waved his hand in the netminder’s face. The NHL made a by the seat of it’s pants ruling to outlaw that behavior, right then and there.

From that game forward, there was no more wanking, idiotic hand waving.

The league made a rule change right in the middle of the playoffs for crying out loud, so there is precedent to institute a new player safety rule right now. Simply tell the players, there’s a new sheriff in town and he don’t take took kindly to head shots. Starting right this second.

The longer the NHL puts this off, the more reckless hits and injuries we’ll see, and maybe as soon as Thursday when the Penguins visit the Bruins. It’ll be the Bruins’ first chance to seek vengence and hockey honor being what it is, the Bruins have to answer.

Chances are, though, that they won’t target Matt Cooke, but rather one of the Penguins stars, like Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Meaning the league could lose one of its biggest draws to injury due to frontier justice.

It would all be so easy to avoid. If the league had just meted out justice, the players wouldn’t feel compelled to.