Don't ever expect NHL to get it right
Let's face it.
The NHL has turned into the No Hit League.
An attempt to make the game faster and more appealing is grating on a generation that grew up expecting, and enjoying, physical play.
The irony is that while the NHL has tried legislating out of the game the violent nature of the sport, the league has created more dangerous situations for the players.
And this isn't about the Brian Campbell incident. Campbell did nothing to de- serve what he got, and Alex Ovechkin prop- erly received a major and game misconduct for his push from behind on a defenseless Campbell.
As for the suspension, well, if league disciplinarian Colin Campbell didn't sit Mike Richards for the horrific hit on David Booth, or Matt Cooke for the brutal hit on Marc Savard, how could he suspend Ovechkin? And if Ovechkin got two games, they're liable to give James Wisniewski a bushel of potatoes.
That's NHL logic for you.
Again, it doesn't in any way excuse Ovechkin. It was dangerous, unnecessary and costly for the Blackhawks.
Nevertheless, the league's new rules may have quickened the game, but players are more susceptible than ever to injury.
Maybe it's because few know how to deliver a clean hit anymore because there's so little hitting, and maybe it's because players aren't used to getting hit and don't expect it, so when they are hit they're vulnerable.
Or maybe it's some of the stupid rules.
With the obstruction violation, defensive partners can't interfere with speedy forwards on the forecheck anymore, leaving defensemen as sitting ducks.
The trapezoid doesn't help either, preventing goalies from saving their defensemen by playing the puck.
The idea was to create more scoring chances, but you'd get just as many scoring chances from the goalies who make mistakes with the puck as you do now.
And you've penalized the goalies who are great at starting the breakout, which also led to scoring chances.
Meanwhile, the most logical rule, the no-touch icing used in the Olympics, is not only a smart and safe whistle that saves defensemen, but it also speeds up the game, and yet the NHL hasn't adopted it.
The instigator rule also causes more problems than it solves, because it takes responsibility out of the players' hands.
Meanwhile, the Olympic contests were physical, nasty and thrilling, and that's without fighting.
The refs let them play a little bit and it was a reminder of how great the game can be, especially watching rivalry, which the NHL has nearly eliminated because of division setup and scheduling.
"I agree with some of what you say, especially letting defensive partners protect their fellow defensemen,'' said Washington coach Bruce Boudreau, when I spoke to him Sunday postgame. "Sometimes the more you add rules to make it safer, you create other opportunities for unsafe situations.''
The problem is, the NHL is going to look at hits to the head this summer - or even sooner - to try to determine a new policy, which likely would make the game even softer.
Yet, this issue is not that complicated. Let the players know that hits to the head with intent to injure will be severely punished, and those hits are incredibly obvious to anyone but Colin Campbell.
A player with his head down and playing the puck will pay a price, as he always has, and shame on him for having his head down.
But an injury to Marc Savard, who never saw Matt Cooke coming and got hit from the blindside with an elbow to the head after he released the puck, should not be viewed the same as what we all know to be a good, solid hit.
And what is Boston's Zedeno Chara supposed to do at 6-feet-9? Every player he hits will result in some contact to the head, so do you take him out of the game physically?
The bottom line is the NHL has to do something about dangerous hits, but it seems that nearly every time they legislate, they screw it up.
It's hard to imagine them getting this one right.
brozner@dailyherald.com