joe_baran
Member
I'm just wondering at this point how many games Kunitz is going to get. Looking at his elbow on Gagne on the Versus post game... I'd be surprised if he's not suspended it looked pretty blatant.
Morton's a number two pitcher, I'm sold. Correia and Maholm are both solid number threes. After that, unless Ohlendorf and MacDonald get healthy and figure it out, or Rudy Owens/Brad Lincoln comes up and displaces one of them and pitches well, the rotation won't be very strong, unfortunately.
I'm just wondering at this point how many games Kunitz is going to get. Looking at his elbow on Gagne on the Versus post game... I'd be surprised if he's not suspended it looked pretty blatant.
I think McDonald has the stuff. His issue is he loses it so quickly. I think he'll end up being a long reliever type...same with Karstens. He'd pitch a gem for 4 innings then BLAM the 5th he melts down. Hence why he's there now.
I think taking into consideration how intentional it looked, the league's commitment to cutting down on head shots, and Gagne's history of concussions, that it's a very suspendable hit. The penalty is for accidentally elbowing a guy, and I don't think that play fits the description laid out by the wording of the penalty.
I thought it looked awfully similar to Cooke's elbow, personally. I also didn't think the Downie hit was anything more than charging, because it didn't look to me that he got up at the head.
The official rule book doesn't say anything about whether or not it's accidental or not...
But I got another look at the elbow, and it definitely wasn't your run-of-the-mill minor penalty elbow. The league will definitely look at it, and I would expect a suspension. Gagne's history shouldn't play a role in this, and it's playoffs, so I think minimum 1 game, but definitely not more than 4 (which would be the rest of the series if it went 7). If I was betting, I'd say 2 games. Downie will probably get something as well for charging / leaving his feet + his history.
Man, watching those highlights again. James Neal is gonna score a big goal in this series. It's gonna happen. If not this series, then at some point in the postseason. You can't go that long being that snakebit.
Especially given how incredibly well he's playing. I mean, he's a force every time he steps onto the ice.
I think Gagne's history has to be a factor, since it might imply intent to injure. Kunitz knows that Gagne's susceptible to concussions, and that he's always been a Penguin killer. One well-placed head-shot could get that nuisance out of the Penguins' hair. I think it does a lot to imply Kunitz's intent, and I honestly wouldn't put it past him to try to injure Gagne knowing that he's got a concussion history.
That's a stretch. If Kunitz had hunted him down on some random shift, maybe. But this is a guy who's cutting in front of the goalie trying to score. Kunitz has a responsibility to hit him. I think he over-extended trying to make a play. It was careless, dangerous, and quite possibly intentional, but there's not enough in that play, or Kunitz's history, to really saw beyond conjecture that Gagne was targeted because of his concussion history.
just saw the kunitz elbow. fuckin bitch move. for any NHL hockey player to make a play like that is just fuckin horseshit.