Suspension? Who Cares?
So earlier tonight New Jersey Devil’s goon Cam Janssen may have driven the final stake in the Leafs’ playoff aspirations this year when he knocked Tomas Kaberle out - literally - with a late, high hit, leaving his feet and lifting his elbow in the process.
Not one of the four officials on the ice saw the play, so the Leafs did not receive even a 2 minute power play in exchange for the loss of their best defenceman. The refs did make sure they called two borderline calls on the Leafs in the next five minutes, however.
I’m not going to argue about whether or not those Leaf penalties deserved to be called - the league has done its best to be clear that if you get your stick up, you will be spending two or less in the box. My problem is that if you’re going to enforce this zero tolerance policy over hooks that often have little impact on the gameplay and all but never create dangerous situations for players on the ice, then you’d sure as hell better show zero tolerance for this kind of crap.
And you’d better enforce it during the games. Janssen is likely to be suspended for his hit, but who cares? Janssen means nothing to the Devil’s season. The NHL could suspend Janssen forever and it would mean nothing to anyone but Janssen. With the Leafs’ season on the line they now have to play without their best defenceman down the stretch because a good threw a late hit.
Tonight was also an example of why the instigator is such a problem. In tonight’s case the Leafs had no one dressed who could have fought Janssen anyways, but even had someone tried the instigator rule would have meant the Leaf player who went after Janssen would have received an additional minor penalty and been ejected from the game. That seems fair.
March 3rd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
It was announced that Janssen will get three games suspension, meanwhile it appears that Kaberle will be out one to two weeks with a head injury. this type of “punishment” definitely just goes to show how little the league cares about the BS that is happening around the NHL with no-talent goons like Janssen injuring who very well may be the best player on the Leafs team. Should the punishment not fit the crime, shouldn’t Janssen be suspended as long as it takes Kaberle to recover, and shouldnt the Devils be held accountable for the actions of their idiot? this is ridiculous!!
March 3rd, 2007 at 6:44 pm
The NHL has painted itself into a corner over the past few seasons on this issue.
Chris Neil’s hit on Chris Drury was different only in degree. Had Janssen received a lengthy suspension, can you imagine the Sabre’s reaction, given that the only punishment that came from Neil’s hit was a $10,000 fine handed out to the Sabre’s head coach?
Similarly, by removing the instigator rule and trumpeting the zero tolerance of stick infractions, the NHL has cornered itself long-term. Yes, fights are down. Hurray. Forgetting even for a moment that the vast majority of people who are actual hockey fans love fighting in the game, by removing fighting they take away all possibility of the players policing themselves.
The problem is that no suspension to Janssen can have any kind of “fair” impact. Even if Kaberle played the very next game (impossible) and Janssen never played again (he will), Kaberle’s loss would be of greater impact. Janssen so far this season has never played more than 8 minutes and 19 seconds. He tends to play in the 3-5 minute a night range.
Ultimately, the Leafs last night did the only thing they are realistically able to do. They can’t afford to take penalties or suspensions because every point is crucial to them at this point. They got their revenge by beating the Devils, although that still leaves Kaberle being carried off a the ice on a stretcher.