More discussion on the Raffi Torres Hit On Jason Williams

Two for Elbowing: Off Wing Opinion: The Raffi Torres Hit On Jason Williams:

Saw the hit on TV. Painful to watch — and legal. Just as it’s painful to watch stevens on lindros.

After the game, we were watching TSN, and there was discussion about how the league needs to do something about injury causing hits.

you know what? NO THEY DON’T. Not unless you want to turn it into ringette.

There’s been ongoing talk about the Torres hit. A couple of postings I wanted to point people to to read…

Tom Benjamin has some useful detail on what Bob McKenzie and Bobby Orr have been saying. I even agree with his ultimate position:

Tom Benjamin’s NHL Weblog: More Caution, More Control:

I’d argue that it is the emotion and the recklessness that is a huge part of what makes the game compelling and exciting. It is the emotion and the recklessness that delivers up the game’s physicality.

More control? More caution? That is probably what is required to deal with this specific problem, but it is also the last thing this league now needs.

At the same time, Bobby Orr DOES have a point: touch a guy with your stick, take a penalty. Mash a guy with your shoulder pad, take a bow. There is a discrepancy here. The league has decided to get serious about head shots — except when it doesn’t.

Now, is this a problem that requires fixing? I’m not so sure. But I think it’s worthy of further discussion.

Christy has a really nice, deep piece on facial safety that deserves reading:

Behind the Jersey » Facial safety in the NHL:

The following post was a paper for my Argumentative Writing class. Paul at Kukla’s Korner posted it to his blog as a Guest Post, but I wanted to add it to Behind the Jersey for the archives.

On February 24, 2006, a deflected puck hit American Hockey League (AHL) defenseman Jordan Smith in the eye. Surgeons were unable to save the damaged eye, which was cut, ending the defenseman’s promising career and consequently Smith now wears a prosthetic (Higgins). In addition to the eye injury, Smith also suffered multiple orbital bone fractures (Wykes). This career ending injury resulted in the AHL requiring all of its players to wear a partial visor. The National Hockey League (NHL) is now the last of the professional or junior leagues in North American to offer its players a choice in regards to whether or not they wear a partial visor. The only proven way to lower the number of serious eye and facial injuries among NHL players would be through a league-wide mandate requiring players to wear at least partial visors.

Unfortunately, the league CAN’T mandate visors. Visors are safety equipment, and that requirement is negotiated as part of the CBA, and to date, the NHL Players Association has stonewalled any attempt at requiring visors. This is one circumstance where you can’t blame the league or Bettman, it’s the players doing it to themselves. On the other hand, the referees did away with the grandfather clause in the new CBA, so they’re all wearing helmets now, and after two injuries and a few more really close calls already this season, have been talking to the league about adding a visor requirement to NHLOA members.

Orr’s view basically, is that any hit to the head should be penalized. This has been implemented this year in the OHL, and league officials say it hasn’t reduced hits or hit intensity. My initial response was “I can live with that”, but when you stop to think about it, it has problems. First, the NHL already has some serious issues with diving and fakery to draw penalties, and they haven’t remotely gotten the problem under control. Now, add in a new rule where any time a player gets hit in the head, it’s two minutes (or more). There are easily a dozen players at serious risk of whiplash from their faking of headshots when they think the ref will only see the movement and not the entire play, trying to draw penalties. You also have the problem of size mismatch: what does a rule like this mean to Chris Pronger or Zdeno Chara? Doesn’t it put them at a disadvantage just for being the size they are?

So I can’t support any kind of “head is completely off-limits” penalty. It creates new problems and I’m not sure it solves the old ones.

Instead, I suggest that INTENTIONAL hits to the head be made a penalty. We’ve all seen guys come in elbows up, aiming for the earhole. That’s the kind of hit we need to stop; if we also start penalizing shots that slide off the shoulder, we’re just asking to scrwe up the physicality of the game. It’s a judgement call, and not always an easy one, but what I’d suggest is:

1) new penalty for hit to the head: two minutes to a player that hits another player in the head, and the referee feels the head was the target of the hit. If a hit starts on the shoulder and slides onto the head, that’s not a penalty, nor if a player ducks into the hit (similar to, at least in theory, hits from behind and boarding where a player turns his back on a hit to draw a penalty). For blatant versions, an “intent to injure” 5 minute major with game misconduct can be called.

2) this call is subject to post-game review by the league. When the league reviews a game, it can designate a hit as either a 2 minute or 5 minute hit to the head, even if the referee didnt’ call it. In the case of a penalty called after the game, it would be a fine, and an escalating suspension (1 game for the 2nd, 2 for the 3rd, etc); for a major, it’d be a fine and a suspension for the first, and escalating from there. All open to the league appeal process, by the way.

and honestly? I think the league should re-do its rules to allow for more post-game discipline. Right now, diving is handled with a fine that’s ignored, and a “letter of shame” that’s laughed at. Now that technology is there for the league office to tape and review all games — let them, and let them act as an “eye in the sky” for certain penalties that get missed by the referees. I suggest: hits to the head, high sticking, diving, any penalty that warrants a major penalty, and anything decided to be “intent to injure”. The penalty meted out for something called post-game would be the fine and the escalating suspension.

A lot of the dirty play that happened when there was only one referee has gone by the wayside, but not all. Taking it that next step, and meting out a penalty that will cause the COACH to “encourage” the player to cut it out is needed — and that means suspensions, not fines. And if it takes adding a Voice of God component to reffing to stop some of the stupid play that goes on, and put some teeth into fighting diving on the ice, I’m all for it. Better that than simply say “no hits to the head”, which won’t significantly make the game safer, but merely open it up to even more abuse by the divers and actors.

You might also want to read:

  1. More suspensions…. Scott Hartnell’s hit on Cheechoo: no penalty Scott Hartnell’s double-game-misconduct in game 2: no penalty Alex Radulov’s trying to break Steve Bernier’s neck: one game....
  2. Tom Benjamin’s NHL Weblog: About the Donnybrook Tom Benjamin’s NHL Weblog: About the Donnybrook: # Bill Masterton died when his head slammed against the ice. It could have happened to Chris Drury....
  3. Off Wing Opinion: The Raffi Torres Hit On Jason Williams Off Wing Opinion: The Raffi Torres Hit On Jason Williams: Club spokesman John Hahn said later that Williams was “fine.” Hahn said X rays and...
  4. some fascinating discussion on the use of persona’s in software design. adaptive path: some fascinating discussion on the use of persona’s in software design. : Solid personas can be incredibly helpful. Several years ago, Schwab redesigned...
  5. Fixing Hockey: protecting the head Here’s a piece I’ve been meaning to write for a while… While he was in San Jose, we got to know Jay More a little...

  • CO

    It’s not about hit to the heads as much as it is players leaving their skates and hitting upwards. It’s supposed to be a penalty for leaving your skates to make a hit. It’s supposed to be a penalty for skating up to the point of contact a few seconds after the player lost control of the puck. Neither of these are ever called. Hits to the head aren’t as common as many think, it’s just the SAME group of players committing the cheap shots over and over again. The league needs to make a list and keep close eyes on dirty players like Torres, who serve no purpose in this game other than taking out other players.
    I agree with post-game reviews. Most penalties should be allowed review by the board. Earlier this year Marleau got 2 minutes for diving. This guy is a Lady Byng finalist and will be every year. He has no history of diving and is known in the game as one of the fastest skaters. Somehow it’s diving when you are flying into the opposition’s zone and PUNCHED in the gut. The sad thing is, the player who punched Marleau didn’t even get a penalty. It’s sad when a blatant dive only causes a 4 on 4 because the refs have to call penalties on a diver and the non-existent penalty, but to ONLY call a penalty on Marleau is just horrible.
    The NHL needs to get it’s act together. Fire some refs and let them know their job is on the line. Make an example of McGoober. The refs are back to playing favorites and calling phantom penalties because Bettman stopped with the threats.

  • E

    i dunno, i’m suspicious of making rules that depend on guessing anyone’s ‘intentions’. no one claims that he intends to head-check, and you can’t see intentionality, even on a slow motion replay. it would just lead to endless argument and the cultivation of another variety of acting skill by some players. instead of faking injury, you’d have a bunch of guys faking ‘accidental’.
    i agree about stepping up post-game punishment, though.