(poll) should Lucic have been suspended?

[yave1964]

 A couple of nights ago in Tampa in a game between the Bolts and Oilers rookie Mathieu Joseph knocked defenseman Kris Russell into the boards and no penalty was called. It is up to you, or up to interpretation if you feel the ref got it right with his non call.

 Anyway, the old law of the jungle was you had to answer for these types of hits, it really isn't that way anymore but Milan Lucic more or less followed Joseph around the ice until he was able to catch him, he threw a shoulder into him got him downa nd punched him with the glove on and then landed on him. On ice officials gave Lucic a double minor and the league after review gave him a ten thousand dollar fine which might seem like a lot to you or I but amounted to a five dollar parking ticket to Lucic.

 

 The question is: did the league get it right by simply fining him and not suspending him? 

[yave1964]

I defended Malkin and said the refs got it wrong, I am going the other way on this one and stating that in every single way the refs blew this one. 

  Joseph should have been given a two minute penalty for the hit on Russell. That literally would have ended it. 

 

 By  not doing so Lucic was enraged and came to the defense of his mate, he cannot score anymore so it is the one thing he still does well and he stalked what looked like a terrified kid in Joseph in the same exact way that Bertuzzi stalked Moore all those years ago. Joseph could have turned and fought Lucic, answering the bell so to speak but the game isn't played that way anymore, instead Lucic put him down and got a double minor and a 10K fine for his effort.

 

 Shame on the ref for missing the call against Joseph. Shame on Joseph for not answering the bell and turning to fight Lucic when confronted for the hit. Shame on Lucic for pummeling a scared kid. Shame on the ref for not calling a match penalty. Shame on the league for no suspension. 

 

 I think the whole thing from Zebras to Joseph to Lucic to the DPS all blew this one.

 

  

[yave1964]

And to be fair if I were Joseph I wouldn't have wanted to fight an enraged Lucic either. But dont do the crime if you cannot do the time, it is just another situation where you can hit someone with impunity because players expect no repercussions for their ways on the ice and when they are staring down the barrel they turtle or run the other way.

[Hockey-78]

The no call on Joseph looked about right to me. Far from a cheap shot, even further than Malkin's.

 

Even if it was Lucic had no right to start pounding a player already on ice. That was moronic. I wouldn't have minded a one game suspension.

 

This looks like one of the last attempts by Lucic to communicate to the rest of the league he's still current. I don't think he is. He doesn't have enough of speed and hands for this league anymore. I doubt the Oils want to watch this for 4 more years and (over)pay him $6 mil. a year. 6? Say what..  His contract will be bought out sooner or later.

[JR Ewing]

Due to being an Oilers fan, I'll probably be accused of being biased, but here goes.

 

-The refereeing in this game wasn't great, and that goes for both teams. In the 1st, Leon Draisaitl got away with an elbow to the head of a Lightning player, and from then on I counted about 5 slashes to the hand of McDavid, including 3 by Joseph. The refs missed all of that plus two hits from behind, including one by Joseph, but made sure to call every rinky-dink hook and hold. We've all seen enough games to know what can happen on those nights.

 

-Maybe I'm wearing homer glasses, but I didn't see where Lucic battered the kid. I mean it: go back and watch the video: Lucic definitely did not pummel him. He hit Joseph shoulder to shoulder, swatted him once in the face with his gloves on and then sat on him to explain what life in the NHL can be like if he wants to hit guys from behind and lay on the lumber over-and-over. Joseph walked away pretty clearly scared sh|tless, but didn't take a beating.

 

-If the referees had called any of that, the game wouldn't have gotten out of control, though I think that they ironically had it right with Lucic. He received 2 minutes for the interference away from the play, 2 for roughing, and then a misconduct which took him out for the rest of the game. A match penalty would have been uncalled for, imo, because I don't see an intent to injure. Again: he didn't sit on Joseph and beat on him.

 

-So, the fine seems about right to me. It wasn't a sucker punch, like Domi with Ekblad, and it wasn't Lucic jumping him, like when Marchand  beat up an unwilling Lars Eller early this year. If the league had suspended him one game, I wouldn't have been outraged either, but I would have expected that if we had seen an attempt to injure Joseph. I only saw an attempt to scare the bejeesus out of him.

 

-Worth mentioning: I never saw another Oiler defend Taylor Hall like this. Not saying the Hall/Larsson trade was good; it was complete robbery and I said so on here the day of the deal. I'm guessing that Kris Russell is a popular teammate.

 

[yave1964]

@JR Ewing

 

Agree with a lot of that. My feeling has been that Joseph was egregious with his conduct and the refs sitting on the whistles left it to Lucic to deal with things. Joseph running reminded me a lot of Moore with Bertuzzi minus the serious injury of course.

 

  To me, you simply have to answer the bell in that case. As I pointed out, I felt that Joseph drilling Russell and as you pointed out his slashing throughout the game without penalty left it to Lucic to sort out. It is old school and I have no problem with any of that, I blame Joseph for it getting so far out of hand. Still think Lucic is a tool tho, lol.Overall I feel we agree on most of the situation.

[JR Ewing]

2 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

@JR Ewing

 

Agree with a lot of that. My feeling has been that Joseph was egregious with his conduct and the refs sitting on the whistles left it to Lucic to deal with things. Joseph running reminded me a lot of Moore with Bertuzzi minus the serious injury of course.

 

Where I always felt a bit bad for Moore: he had already fought once in that game, and it just wasn't enough for Todd Bertuzzi. Lord knows, he's paid for what he did, and then some, but people in Vancouver really were that mad at Steve Moore back then.

 

2 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

  To me, you simply have to answer the bell in that case. As I pointed out, I felt that Joseph drilling Russell and as you pointed out his slashing throughout the game without penalty left it to Lucic to sort out. It is old school and I have no problem with any of that, I blame Joseph for it getting so far out of hand.

 

I don't miss the constant line brawls, and I don't want to see guys getting killed out there, but I do miss that players had an idea that they would have to answer to somebody, immediately, for what they do out there.

 

2 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

Still think Lucic is a tool tho, lol.Overall I feel we agree on most of the situation.

 

I never had the hate for him, even as a Bruin, that others do, but yes... He does have his moments.

 

[Hockey-78]

6 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

Due to being an Oilers fan, I'll probably be accused of being biased, but here goes.

 

-Maybe I'm wearing homer glasses, but I didn't see where Lucic battered the kid. I mean it: go back and watch the video: Lucic definitely did not pummel him. He hit Joseph shoulder to shoulder, swatted him once in the face with his gloves on and then sat on him to explain what life in the NHL can be like if he wants to hit guys from behind and lay on the lumber over-and-over. Joseph walked away pretty clearly scared sh|tless, but didn't take a beating.

I have nothing against the Oilers nor you, no accusations from here.

 

Fair enough, maybe no punches in plural but Lucic definitely hit Joseph once in the head at 1.03 immediately after he hit the ice. Completely unnecessary, he just wanted to hurt him. You don't hit anyone in the head without a purpose of injuring just for the heck of it (I think). I don't think it makes it any better he hit with his glove on. Especially since we all can see from the clip he was on a hunting trip from the word go.

 

IMO Joseph didn't hit from behind. Russell was skating to his left with his head down. Joseph didn't even finish his check properly (with force), halfway through the hit he was already looking to his left. It was just an unintentional unfortunate situation.

[JR Ewing]

37 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

Fair enough, maybe no punches in plural but Lucic definitely hit Joseph once in the head at 1.03 immediately after he hit the ice. Completely unnecessary, he just wanted to hurt him. You don't hit anyone in the head without a purpose of injuring just for the heck of it (I think). I don't think it makes it any better he hit with his glove on. Especially since we all can see from the clip he was on a hunting trip from the word go.

 

I think that If Milan Lucic had wanted to hurt Matthieu Joseph, then Joseph would actually be hurt, and quite badly. Lucic is quite capable of doing that on his feet, and if that's what he intended his gloves would have been off, and Joseph would have left the ice with a broken nose or orbital bone, etc.

 

[Hockey-78]

4 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

 

I think that If Milan Lucic had wanted to hurt Matthieu Joseph, then Joseph would actually be hurt, and quite badly. Lucic is quite capable of doing that on his feet, and if that's what he intended his gloves would have been off, and Joseph would have left the ice with a broken nose or orbital bone, etc.

 

I agree. But this thread was from the suspension point of view. I don't remember all the suspensions that have been handed out before but watching that clip from start to finish I don't see why they couldn't have given him a suspension.

[JR Ewing]

58 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

I agree. But this thread was from the suspension point of view. I don't remember all the suspensions that have been handed out before but watching that clip from start to finish I don't see why they couldn't have given him a suspension.

 

I thought that a 1-game suspension might be coming his way, because there's history for him which is quite specific to this sort of incident:

 

 

Why the DOPS didn't suspend him this time is what I'm curious about.

 

 

[BluPuk]

If the referees do their job, Lucic doesn't have to do anything. End of play with a penalty, possible suspension. Not a big fan of Lucic but he did what he should have done IMHO.

I voted "no".

[yave1964]

17 minutes ago, BluPuk said:

If the referees do their job, Lucic doesn't have to do anything. End of play with a penalty, possible suspension. Not a big fan of Lucic but he did what he should have done IMHO.

I voted "no".

And that is why I said that everyone had their part. Joseph was playing borderline dirty all game with impunity, the refs were sitting on their whistles and Lucic hunted Joseph down like a caveman, then Joseph ran away rather than answering the bell. Just a damn shame that this is where Hockey is at.