Mario Lemieux's Letter Regarding Team Punishments for Suspensions

[loki604]

Mario Lemieux wants team fines for repeat offenders - ESPN

Interesting. I'm guessing for all the criticism he faced last time, he won't receive nearly as much praise for proposing a system that would have been punitive to his own team.

 

[TiLoBrown]

I'd give him some, if I didnt see that the NHL was already talking about it first :/

 

[loki604]

Well they were previously, but he sent the letter on 3/7.

What irritates me about ESPN specifically is their writers have historically bitched at Lemieux for not speaking up enough as he could be A Great Ambassador for the Game, but when he does, they basically trash him.

 

[SFNL]

Every man has his breaking point... Sid might as well be his son as well as the face of his franchise. Although I think all of this totally unfortunate, getting Mario pissed off will cause something to happen. And whenever Mario is involved, it gets better.

 

[IPostedWhat]

Well of course if he makes a proposal like that, he has to realize that the Pens would have some hefty fines to pay as well, that's the point.

The point of what the Pens would have paid this year is moot because it has already happened and they won't pay those fines if the system is applied next year.

It's not like he's going to say every team will get fines for such actions except for the Pens.

But he also realizes that he can't lose his best players every year with no actions taken against the players and the team.

 

[puckhead]

Mario Lemieux wants team fines for repeat offenders - ESPN

Interesting. I'm guessing for all the criticism he faced last time, he won't receive nearly as much praise for proposing a system that would have been punitive to his own team.

I think this is probably a response from the criticism that he took the last time.

 

[loki604]

Every man has his breaking point... Sid might as well be his son as well as the face of his franchise. Although I think all of this totally unfortunate, getting Mario pissed off will cause something to happen. And whenever Mario is involved, it gets better.

It's weird to me that people think it is the worst thing ever that Mario/Pens fans/Sid's family care more about concussions after Sid (not saying anything against what you're saying). No shit. A lot of mothers involved in MADD lost kids to drunk driving. It would be great if we all cared more about drunk driving, but it's natural to become more involved in a cause when it affects you personally...and yes, an injury to your team affects you more "personally" than an injury to some random prospect, a player for another team, or whoever the hell else might get a concussion playing hockey.

 

[loki604]

I think this is probably a response from the criticism that he took the last time.

Yeah, I think so too. But people will still rag on him for it even though he clearly thought the previous criticisms had a point or at least went out of his way to address them.

 

[IPostedWhat]

If teams do get fines in the amount that he is proposing, would that mean that any fines the Yotes get would be paid by Bettman?

 

[loki604]

For the record, I don't think this is a perfect solution, but it's a good addition to the dialogue. Best argument against it is that the league doesn't suspend players enough as is. But a revision of this policy plus additional changes in rules or whatever could help a ton.

 

[TheRobotDevil]

$600,000 fine for injuring A player $3million dollar fine and A #1 pick for injuring Gary's reputation Hmmm?

 

[loki604]

$600,000 fine for injuring A player $3million dollar fine and A #1 pick for injuring Gary's reputation Hmmm?

I actually read somewhere about incorporating draft picks into this, and I didn't think it was a bad idea.

 

[Darkstone42]

In addition to this system, which I think is the only way to legitimately provide incentive to owners to stop employing "goons," would be a more rigidly defined suspension system.

Minimum suspension for each action:
Any hit to the head (even accidental on a follow-through for a legal check): 2 games
Any blindside hit to the head: 5 games
Any dangerous hit along the boards (essentially any hit at the shoulder-blades or higher between 1 and 10 feet from the boards): 5 games
Any sucker punch or other such assault that isn't in the course of a hockey play: 7 games
Any use of the stick as a weapon outside of the lines of play: 7 games
Hitting a guy who's already down on the ice: 7 games

All of these could then go up from there based on the severity of the incident, repeat offenders, etc. But this system would require superstars and players without records to be punished and would eliminate a lot of the subjectivity that goes into whether or not to hand out a suspension. All of the subjectivity would lie int he length beyond the minimum requirement.

Also, no matter how much you like this post, do not rep it. I have a palindrome of rep points and rep power, and neet to make my post count a palindrome as well before I can accept reps.

Just saying.

 

[dash]

Good for Mario for putting this forward, he took some heat for his rant on the Pens - Isles game and he could have just decided "to hell with it". This is a good starting point for additional dialogue on this topic.

 

[NullDefault]

For the record, I don't think this is a perfect solution, but it's a good addition to the dialogue. Best argument against it is that the league doesn't suspend players enough as is. But a revision of this policy plus additional changes in rules or whatever could help a ton.

It's definitely worth consideration. I like that the approach in these meetings regarding player safety have been a dual concern also with protecting the integrity of the game.

 

[SFNL]

I know the majority of you came here to avoid Crosby talk... I have no clue what the trolls said about him at the swamp, as I never really went over to that board. (BTW, I was happy as hell when you guys and gals came over) But thats neither here nor there. I'm about as realistic a sports fan there can be, and as I already stated before, and Loki followed up on... No one really makes a stand until they feel like they need to. There was NO REASON for Mario to speak up before, the Pens were just doing their thing.

Disclaimer... I DONT THINK the original shot on Crosby was intentional. ESPN will only show you one angle... Its obvious to me from behind the net that it was never meant to be intentional. BUT. If it pisses Mario enough to stop the other, more intentional shots, I'll take Sid sitting out for awhile.

 

[TheRobotDevil]

I respect Mario for putting his money where his mouth is.I don't respect Bettman or Campbell for how they have dealt with discipline in these situations.

 

[TiLoBrown]

Honestly, the most surprising stat I've seen today was that most of the concussion came from legal hits.

 

[Darkstone42]

Honestly, the most surprising stat I've seen today was that most of the concussion came from legal hits.

"Legal."

I actually don't have any in mind, I'm just throwing that out there.

But seriously, it's the freaking helmets. WEAR THEM PROPERLY.

Balls.

 

[IPostedWhat]

Honestly, the most surprising stat I've seen today was that most of the concussion came from legal hits.

Probably because legal hits happen way more often than illegal hits. :tongue1: