Surprise, Surprise... Torres Susp. Indefinitely

[Bakanekimiwa]

same hit as the one on couterier and it takes them almost 3 days to let him go on that one. ralfi is already shanabanned before 2:30.

[terp]

same hit as the one on couterier and it takes them almost 3 days to let him go on that one. ralfi is already shanabanned before 2:30.

Torres is a "dirty" 4th liner, not a "clean" star like Neal. The punishment fits the points total and marquee value.

[JackStraw]

same hit as the one on couterier and it takes them almost 3 days to let him go on that one. ralfi is already shanabanned before 2:30.

From the NHL website:

NEW YORK -- Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres has been suspended indefinitely, pending an in-person hearing Friday, April 20, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today. The hearing, which had been planned for today, was deferred at the request of the player and the National Hockey League Players' Association.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=628445

[radoran]

From the NHL website:

NEW YORK -- Phoenix Coyotes forward Raffi Torres has been suspended indefinitely, pending an in-person hearing Friday, April 20, the National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety announced today. The hearing, which had been planned for today, was deferred at the request of the player and the National Hockey League Players' Association.

http://www.nhl.com/i...s.htm?id=628445

You can tell that the NHLPA is just terribly, terribly upset by everything that's been going on in the playoffs.

Here's their media release section on NHLPA.com:

http://www.nhlpa.com.../media-releases

Growing hair to show you care: NHLPA and Heart and Stroke Foundation team up for second consecutive year

Apr 17, 2012

Playoff time is here and things are going to get hairy! NHLPA Beard-a-thon gives Canadians a chance to grow some hair to show they care

Apr 04, 2012

Right, nothing official on their website at all.

Grow your beards, though.

Well, then, perhaps they have it in the "headlines" area:

http://www.nhlpa.com/news/headlines

Defending The Title

Apr 13, 2012

Zdeno Chara is an exceptional leader and he and the Bruins are ready for another run at Lord Stanley’s Cup

Read More

Time To Put The Razors Away

Apr 11, 2012

As we kick off the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the NHLPA Beard-a-thon also gets underway

Read More

Hmmmm... Not so much...

How many of their members do you think need to be carted off the ice before they start taking seriously the things their members do to each other?

Do remember to grow those beards, eh?

[NJSikkbreed]

Dirty hits are part of the game, they'll all say - caught up in the emotions, bla bla...... until 20yrs from now half of them are drinking breakfast thru a straw.

Sadly, it's gonna take another Marty McSorley-type swinging stick incident to someone's jugular before they start taking these actions seriously enough.....

[JackStraw]

You can tell that the NHLPA is just terribly, terribly upset by everything that's been going on in the playoffs.

Here's their media release section on NHLPA.com:

http://www.nhlpa.com.../media-releases

Right, nothing official on their website at all.

Grow your beards, though.

Well, then, perhaps they have it in the "headlines" area:

http://www.nhlpa.com/news/headlines

Hmmmm... Not so much...

How many of their members do you think need to be carted off the ice before they start taking seriously the things their members do to each other?

Do remember to grow those beards, eh?

Are they hoping that if they put the hearing off for a few days maybe people will forget about it? And the league is really showing its resolve by telling them, "oh, you want to wait a few days? Ok, sure, whenever you're ready."

[orange_crush]

same hit as the one on couterier and it takes them almost 3 days to let him go on that one. ralfi is already shanabanned before 2:30.

why is Torres even still in the NHL? he should have been thrown out last year..

[radoran]

Are they hoping that if they put the hearing off for a few days maybe people will forget about it? And the league is really showing its resolve by telling them, "oh, you want to wait a few days? Ok, sure, whenever you're ready."

IMO, you're assuming far, far, far, far too much thought on behalf of the people making these decisions.

The NHLPA is a joke in this situation. A total, unabashed joke. And they're gong to follow up this performance by playing hardball with the owners in a new CBA, potentially leading to another work stoppage and lost games?

Yeah, good luck with that.

[TedZep]

Neal 0 games, Torres ∞ so far.

And only one game for hitting Giroux in the head. Incredibly inconsistent. Shanahan is the same joke Campbell is.

[canoli]

Just to play devil's advocate here for a moment Rad, we have no idea what's being discussed behind close doors at the NHLPA offices.

I don't expect much public acknowledgment re: the cheapshots, the disrespect that's running rampant through the NHL until the season is over. Even then, considering they have a new CBA to negotiate, they'll want to be awfully careful about what they say publicly.

[radoran]

Dirty hits are part of the game, they'll all say - caught up in the emotions, bla bla...... until 20yrs from now half of them are drinking breakfast thru a straw.

Sadly, it's gonna take another Marty McSorley-type swinging stick incident to someone's jugular before they start taking these actions seriously enough.....

Big hits are a part of the game - big, hard, damaging, injuring, legal hits.

Dirty hits are not. Except that the League's head disciplinarian has explictly now stated that losing control and doing something completely irresponsible not to mention dangerous and illegal under the rules is, well, OK with the league.

Shea Weber didn't really mean to smash Zetterberg's face into the glass when he smashed Zetterberg's face into the glass. He was just trying to get him back for the shot Zetterberg got him with. See? Perfectly understandable. Nothing to see here. Move along please.

James Neal didn't really mean to hit Sean Couturier when he failed to see the player directly in front of him after losing all track of where the puck was and then left his feet to lessen the unintended contact he was unavoidably about to make by committing a charging penalty that wasn't called. See? Nothing at all to worry about. Players often lose track of where they are on the ice during a playoff game and mistake it for a garden party at Downton Abbey before realizing where they are and "accidentally" deliberately charging another player while their team is being humiliated on national television.

Repeat offenders do this more often than other players, so we really must that take into consideration. Also, too, Couturier still has the all teeth that he had when he was originally accidentally deliberately charged so there.

Heckuva job, Office Barbahahan.

[radoran]

Just to play devil's advocate here for a moment Rad,

Wait! That's MY job! :-)

we have no idea what's being discussed behind close doors at the NHLPA offices.

Why am I thinking it's something along the lines of "should we have red or white with lunch?"

I don't expect much public acknowledgment re: the cheapshots, the disrespect that's running rampant through the NHL until the season is over. Even then, considering they have a new CBA to negotiate, they'll want to be awfully careful about what they say publicly.

Right, I can see the logic when your membership is being publicly tarred as irresponsible and dangerous to your other members that the face you want to have on your 24/7 worldwide media outlet is shaggy with whiskers.

They're perfectly happy to be publicly seen as asking for a delay in the disciplinary procedure for one of their members who just deliberately (maybe "accidentally") sent one of their other members to the hospital, though.

Who's running their PR? Casey Anthony?

[JackStraw]

Here's another way the league is making things worse for itself... On Friday (or sometime thereafter) we'll all get to watch Shanny stand in front of a video screen and analyze Torres' hit on Hossa and he'll explain to us why Torres should be suspended, then tarred and feathered, and then drawn and quartered. He'll say that Torres left his feet to make contact to the head of a player who didn't have the puck, and he'll tell us that Torres is a repeat offender and deserves to be crushed under the full weight of NHL righteousness (such at it is).

And then people will say, "Hey wait! James Neal left his feet (more obviously) and made contact to the head of a player who didn't have the puck (more obviously), AND he came from farther away, and hey, he's also a repeat offender!"

Point being, by trying so hard to make us all believe that they are trying so hard to get it right, they are setting themselves up to fail. They need to cancel the Brendan Shannahan Reality Show and quit making these things media events in and of themselves. It's getting to the point where people are paying more attention to Shanny's World than the hockey games.

Edited April 18, 2012 by JackStraw

[canoli]

They need to cancel the Brendan Shannahan Reality Show

Yeah I agree but for different reasons. Mr. Monotone stands like an Automaton spouting convoluted logic that hasn't a shred of credibility anymore. The first few months I gave him a pass - figured he'll get better at the presentation and eventually the body of work will show consistency. I thought no one could be worse than Campbell, and any change would be an improvement.

Unfortunately nothing has changed. He's still terrible on camera and that's where he's improved. His body of work at this point is a study in Chaos Theory and is indistinguishable from Campbell's.

[JackStraw]

Yeah I agree but for different reasons. Mr. Monotone stands like an Automaton spouting convoluted logic that hasn't a shred of credibility anymore. The first few months I gave him a pass - figured he'll get better at the presentation and eventually the body of work will show consistency. I thought no one could be worse than Campbell, and any change would be an improvement.

Unfortunately nothing has changed. He's still terrible on camera and that's where he's improved. His body of work at this point is a study in Chaos Theory and is indistinguishable from Campbell's.

Nobody should be doing it. Not Shanny, not Anthony Hopkins, not Brad Pitt, nobody. It should be reviewed internally, by people whose names we do not know, and then the statement issued from the league office, and that's it. There's no need for it and it's just going to cause more problems than it solves. (Which is easy to do since it really doesn't solve any problems).

[radoran]

Yeah I agree but for different reasons. Mr. Monotone stands like an Automaton spouting convoluted logic that hasn't a shred of credibility anymore. The first few months I gave him a pass - figured he'll get better at the presentation and eventually the body of work will show consistency. I thought no one could be worse than Campbell, and any change would be an improvement.

Unfortunately nothing has changed. He's still terrible on camera and that's where he's improved. His body of work at this point is a study in Chaos Theory and is indistinguishable from Campbell's.

It's a wildly inconsistent approach that changes from day to day, player to player and has no basis in what has come before.

Boulerice on Kesler is not that different from Asham on Schenn. Boulerice got 25 freaking games. Asham gets 4 (in "playoff years" that's 8 so we're led to believe, which could mean he "actually" serves just 5 if they do manage to lose this evening and he gets just the three "regular" games next season - or something).

Torres is suspended - I'm not worked up on "indefinitely" because he was going to miss Thursday regardless as he was obviously going to be suspended.- because Hossa was carted off and sent to the hospital. Neal gets nothing for the hit on Couturier. Nothing.

This is ridiculous. There has to be a *baseline* discipline which can be increased but not lowered.

You hit someone with your stick? 3 games. Above the chest - 5. Contact with head - 9. Plus aggravating circumstances (injury, intent, game situation, history)

You charge a player who doesn't have the puck? 2 games. Plus aggravating circumstances (injury, intent, game situation, history)

And so on. No "hearings" no video chats no nothing.

That's sending a message. That's "discipline" for you. That's telling players what the consequences are in black and white.

Sports is one of the few places that I am a fan of "zero tolerance" deterrents. Decisions need to be made quickly and with a minimum of discussion and, in the end, it's just a game.

Which is why it's not worth being wishy washy about player safety. If they can convince a Matt Cooke to change the way he plays the game and still be the annoying POS we have come to know and loathe - and be an effective hockey player, to boot - they can change anybody.

[JackStraw]

It's a wildly inconsistent approach that changes from day to day, player to player and has no basis in what has come before.

Boulerice on Kesler is not that different from Asham on Schenn. Boulerice got 25 freaking games. Asham gets 4 (in "playoff years" that's 8 so we're led to believe, which could mean he "actually" serves just 5 if they do manage to lose this evening and he gets just the three "regular" games next season - or something).

Torres is suspended - I'm not worked up on "indefinitely" because he was going to miss Thursday regardless as he was obviously going to be suspended.- because Hossa was carted off and sent to the hospital. Neal gets nothing for the hit on Couturier. Nothing.

This is ridiculous. There has to be a *baseline* discipline which can be increased but not lowered.

You hit someone with your stick? 3 games. Above the chest - 5. Contact with head - 9. Plus aggravating circumstances (injury, intent, game situation, history)

You charge a player who doesn't have the puck? 2 games. Plus aggravating circumstances (injury, intent, game situation, history)

And so on. No "hearings" no video chats no nothing.

That's sending a message. That's "discipline" for you. That's telling players what the consequences are in black and white.

Sports is one of the few places that I am a fan of "zero tolerance" deterrents. Decisions need to be made quickly and with a minimum of discussion and, in the end, it's just a game.

Which is why it's not worth being wishy washy about player safety. If they can convince a Matt Cooke to change the way he plays the game and still be the annoying POS we have come to know and loathe - and be an effective hockey player, to boot - they can change anybody.

I would "like" this if I could.

[AJgoal]

I would "like" this if I could.

Stupid Moderators

[radoran]

Stupid Moderators

I've brought it up... :-)

[Spinorama]

It's a wildly inconsistent approach that changes from day to day, player to player and has no basis in what has come before.

Boulerice on Kesler is not that different from Asham on Schenn. Boulerice got 25 freaking games. Asham gets 4 (in "playoff years" that's 8 so we're led to believe, which could mean he "actually" serves just 5 if they do manage to lose this evening and he gets just the three "regular" games next season - or something).

Torres is suspended - I'm not worked up on "indefinitely" because he was going to miss Thursday regardless as he was obviously going to be suspended.- because Hossa was carted off and sent to the hospital. Neal gets nothing for the hit on Couturier. Nothing.

This is ridiculous. There has to be a *baseline* discipline which can be increased but not lowered.

You hit someone with your stick? 3 games. Above the chest - 5. Contact with head - 9. Plus aggravating circumstances (injury, intent, game situation, history)

You charge a player who doesn't have the puck? 2 games. Plus aggravating circumstances (injury, intent, game situation, history)

And so on. No "hearings" no video chats no nothing.

That's sending a message. That's "discipline" for you. That's telling players what the consequences are in black and white.

Sports is one of the few places that I am a fan of "zero tolerance" deterrents. Decisions need to be made quickly and with a minimum of discussion and, in the end, it's just a game.

Which is why it's not worth being wishy washy about player safety. If they can convince a Matt Cooke to change the way he plays the game and still be the annoying POS we have come to know and loathe - and be an effective hockey player, to boot - they can change anybody.

been trumpeting this myself, if only the league viewed this as equally important as we do!

[Bakanekimiwa]

seriously... is 1 game really a deterrent for neal? hardly. we can only make it much more of a deterrent by winning tonight and ending his season.

[AndyS]

You know who ought to be the league disciplinarian if the NHL REALLY wants to cut down on the head shots?

Keith Primeau.

Let's see one of these dirtballs look him in the eye & try to defend their BS dirty hits to the head.

Neal's hits (plural!!!) were as bad or worse than the one by Torres. The only thing different is the results (injury-wise).

[radoran]

You know who ought to be the league disciplinarian if the NHL REALLY wants to cut down on the head shots?

Keith Primeau.

Let's see one of these dirtballs look him in the eye & try to defend their BS dirty hits to the head.

Neal's hits (plural!!!) were as bad or worse than the one by Torres. The only thing different is the results (injury-wise).

If anything this encourages players to ham it up on the ice, stagger into the dressing room and be "questionable with a body injury" to get a bigger suspension and then come back and play.

Oh, wait. That's what's already happened.

Well played, Officer Barbranahan.

[Bakanekimiwa]

You know who ought to be the league disciplinarian if the NHL REALLY wants to cut down on the head shots?

Keith Primeau.

Let's see one of these dirtballs look him in the eye & try to defend their BS dirty hits to the head.

Neal's hits (plural!!!) were as bad or worse than the one by Torres. The only thing different is the results (injury-wise).

true... but, i'd be more in favor of a former ref like kerry frasier. i love his column on tsn.ca and he just seems to be a pretty reasonable guy. he obviously knows the rules of the game, but being in the battles like a player he knows how to take the temperature of the game as well.

so here's my vote for former ref kerry frasier.