Mario Lemieux's Letter Regarding Team Punishments for Suspensions

[loki604]

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.

What annoys me specifically about this is that people act like (they don't explicity say it, but they act like) he was pro-concussion before this. Lemieux has always been outspoken about his issues with taking anything away from the skill players.

People also like to perpetuate the myth that this is something the NHL all of a sudden cares about because of Crosby, when they added a rule based purely on the Savard hit. I agree with the majority that Rule 48 was just a start, but it wasn't like the league said, "Oh it's just Marc Savard," in response to that hit.

 

[SFNL]

When Mario sends a letter, people read it.

 

[TheRobotDevil]

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.

Let me know when your ready for that rep I like that concept

 

[loki604]

And I do appreciate the thoughtful responses in this thread. Thanks gents.

 

[IPostedWhat]

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

Didn't Crosby do a commercial where he was telling a kid's Mom about how important it is to wear a helmet correctly?

 

[Darkstone42]

Didn't Crosby do a commercial where he was telling a kid's Mom about how important it is to wear a helmet correctly?

I don't know, I haven't seen it. But if he did, he should take his own advice. He doesn't wear his properly, either.

 

[sbb122]

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

You have to remember at the time the Booth and Savard hits were legal in Bettman's eyes.

So if Bettman was the one to talk about "legal" hits i would take that with a grain of salt.

Maybe if he hadn't dropped the ball on punishing Richards, Cooke, Armstrong and others we would not be having this discussion.

 

[KillerVee]

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

What about mouthguards?

 

[Darkstone42]

You have to remember at the time the Booth and Savard hits were legal in Bettman's eyes.

So if Bettman was the one to talk about "legal" hits i would take that with a grain of salt.

Maybe if he hadn't dropped the ball on punishing Richards, Cooke, Armstrong and others we would not be having this discussion.

This is quite true. By not suspending Richards at the start of that season, he kind of handcuffed himself for the rest of the year, the Cooke hit included.

 

[TiLoBrown]

You have to remember at the time the Booth and Savard hits were legal in Bettman's eyes.

I THINK they said all the plays they were talking about were from this year, I could be wrong though. I'll wait to see a replay.

 

[Darkstone42]

What about mouthguards?

I have noticed that a lot of players either don't wear them or wear really cheap, crappy ones. Mouthguards are great at preventing concussions, and I think every player should be required to wear one of those as well. I kind of gloss over it I suppose because the helmet thing is so obvious.

But these guys are millionaires, they can afford a $50 top-of-the-line mouthguard. Sheesh!

 

[sbb122]

I THINK they said all the plays they were talking about were from this year, I could be wrong though. I'll wait to see a replay.

Good point Tilo, if they were only talking this season the previous hits are moot. With what the league has seen this year however, a headshot is a headshot, legal or illegal and needs to be punished regardless.

 

[loki604]

This is quite true. By not suspending Richards at the start of that season, he kind of handcuffed himself for the rest of the year, the Cooke hit included.

Not to bring up that old stuff, but I do think that he legitimately viewed that hit as "clean" by the letter of the law (which makes him a moron yes), but I'm just saying that I don't think Richards wasn't suspended based on his status as a somewhat-star player. But I agree that he handcuffed himself with that...precedent and shit.

 

[Darkstone42]

Not to bring up that old stuff, but I do think that he legitimately viewed that hit as "clean" by the letter of the law (which makes him a moron yes), but I'm just saying that I don't think Richards wasn't suspended based on his status as a somewhat-star player. But I agree that he handcuffed himself with that...precedent and shit.

I believe they even cited the Richards hit as the reason they couldn't suspend Cooke, almost like they wished they'd made a different choice earlier on...

 

[TiLoBrown]

This is pretty much a rundown of what I saw on TV

One of the more significant findings in the study is accidental concussions have nearly doubled this season from last season. In 2010-11, NHL Hockey Operations has determined 26 percent of the League's reported concussions were the result of accidents.

Study: Time lost from illegal hits are down

 

[puckhead]

What annoys me specifically about this is that people act like (they don't explicity say it, but they act like) he was pro-concussion before this. Lemieux has always been outspoken about his issues with taking anything away from the skill players.

People also like to perpetuate the myth that this is something the NHL all of a sudden cares about because of Crosby, when they added a rule based purely on the Savard hit. I agree with the majority that Rule 48 was just a start, but it wasn't like the league said, "Oh it's just Marc Savard," in response to that hit.

from an outsider perspective, it seems that every time mario has spoken up (not just as owner, but throughout his career), it has been mostly self-serving.
I hope that he is turning the corner on that, but honestly I won't hold my breath. And until it does, I'm going to consider his agenda behind whatever words he says.

That's a shame, as he has valuable perspective from so many aspects of the game.

 

[KillerVee]

Accidental Concussion? What does that mean? How do you get a non-accidental concussion?

 

[TheRobotDevil]

You have to remember at the time the Booth and Savard hits were legal in Bettman's eyes.

So if Bettman was the one to talk about "legal" hits i would take that with a grain of salt.

Maybe if he hadn't dropped the ball on punishing Richards, Cooke, Armstrong and others we would not be having this discussion.

very well said Bettman has shown very poor judgement when regarding head shots in the past.Hell Its taken gary how many years and inccidents before he figured out they need to do something with the stantions.I'll never trust Bettmans judgement.

 

[loki604]

This is pretty much a rundown of what I saw on TV



Study: Time lost from illegal hits are down

I know hitting itself has increased a ridiculous amount since the lockout.

I just get really...I don't know...pissed sometimes thinking about what is going on with our game. I'm not one of those people who would say I wouldn't watch for whatever reason, but this issue is so much more on the forefront of my mind than what Southern team might be moving in the next three years.

 

[IPostedWhat]

Accidental Concussion? What does that mean? How do you get a non-accidental concussion?

I don't know, the Doctors must think my wife is clumsy however because they never bother to explain.