Around the NHL 2019-20

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, bunomatic said:

Yowza ! They couldn’t tie The rat bruins skates. 

Didn't say they could.  But they fit the bill of "players everyone else in the league hated."  ?

(Be careful what you wish for.  Botterill just might get it.  ? )

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, Curt said:

Because punching someone like ten times while they cover up and don’t want to fight is against the law.  Probably because of that.

When you're a rat like he is you shouldn't get the option of turtling. 

Think of it like this. You're back in high school and there's a bully, he picks on you, you snap and beat the crap out of him as he cries. You get the suspension. Much better to be like the Sabres and just do nothing when you get picked on. Hope the authorities will deal with for you. Ridiculous.

 

[PerreaultForever]

But ya, it's only January but Marchand will make bloopers/misplays of the year for sure. 

Chara got a shot to the jaw in a fight the other night and missed a game after. Bruins are losing a step or two. If they don't go all the way this year (and they can't beat Washington ever) I think they are done and will begin to fall. 

[Curt]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

When you're a rat like he is you shouldn't get the option of turtling. 

Think of it like this. You're back in high school and there's a bully, he picks on you, you snap and beat the crap out of him as he cries. You get the suspension. Much better to be like the Sabres and just do nothing when you get picked on. Hope the authorities will deal with for you. Ridiculous.

You asked why he got suspended.  It’s because he did something that, not only is a penalty in hockey, but could be considered assault.  Sucker punching someone is not part of hockey.

The things Matt T did maybe could be a penalty, but they were not, however they definitely were plays made as part of a hockey game.  

Matt T was trying to play hockey.  Kassian started punching him because Matt T was playing hockey too rough for him.  Poor Kassian, the big tough guy, sometimes hockey is just too rough for him to handle.

[miles]

1 hour ago, Curt said:

You asked why he got suspended.  It’s because he did something that, not only is a penalty in hockey, but could be considered assault.  Sucker punching someone is not part of hockey.

The things Matt T did maybe could be a penalty, but they were not, however they definitely were plays made as part of a hockey game.  

Matt T was trying to play hockey.  Kassian started punching him because Matt T was playing hockey too rough for him.  Poor Kassian, the big tough guy, sometimes hockey is just too rough for him to handle.

 

he didnt sucker punch him, the dude rail roaded him several times in the game, tkachuk wasnt looking to make a play on the puck, he was looking to hit him. i wish the sabres had someone like kassian. 

i love the bully analogy perraultforever gave. its almost the same thing that happened here. 

[Curt]

10 minutes ago, miles said:

 

he didnt sucker punch him, the dude rail roaded him several times in the game, tkachuk wasnt looking to make a play on the puck, he was looking to hit him. i wish the sabres had someone like kassian. 

i love the bully analogy perraultforever gave. its almost the same thing that happened here. 

Isn’t a sucker punch attacking someone who isn’t a willing participant in the fight?

Tkachuk was separating the man from the puck.  He was going for pucks.  It’s not as if he was charging Kassian away from the play.

Are we at the point now where players can’t deliver hard checks?  Is that suddenly against the unwritten rules of hockey, needing to be suppressed by fists.  I thought it was a physical, contact sport?

Edited January 14, 2020 by Curt

[LGR4GM]

 

[TrueBlueGED]

 

Maybe seeing the AAV and percentage of the cap comparison in the same place will help prevent people from freaking out when Reinhart gets $7M+. Probably not, though. 

[Eleven]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

Matt T was trying to play hockey.

No, he wasn't.  He had Kassian lined up from three strides away on the first hit and took himself out of position both times in order to hit him.  

[LTS]

14 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

 

Maybe seeing the AAV and percentage of the cap comparison in the same place will help prevent people from freaking out when Reinhart gets $7M+. Probably not, though. 

Nothing keeps people here from freaking out.  Not a single thing.

I mean, I would expect the argument to be that Reinhart is not Backstrom, not even close, so he's not worth 11.3% of the salary cap upper limit.  I mean right now he's the guy who should be traded (according to some).  He's the only asset that get back a 65 point player in return that will fix the Sabres scoring. ?

 

[shrader]

1 hour ago, miles said:

 

he didnt sucker punch him, the dude rail roaded him several times in the game, tkachuk wasnt looking to make a play on the puck, he was looking to hit him. i wish the sabres had someone like kassian. 

i love the bully analogy perraultforever gave. its almost the same thing that happened here. 

There is no requirement to make a play on the puck.  The purpose of a check is to remove a player from the puck.  Kassian had the puck and was hit by Tkachuk.  He then lost his mind.  Sure, the previous hit is fresh on his mind, but each individual play can only be judged by the refs separately from earlier events (or at least they should be).

The refs must have factored in the previous stuff though.  There's no other way to explain why he only got 4 minutes plus the misconduct.  It should have been a fighting major and he should have been ejected from the game if they were actually calling it by the book.  Instead, he's allowed to return halfway through the third.

 

1 hour ago, Curt said:

Isn’t a sucker punch attacking someone who isn’t a willing participant in the fight?

Tkachuk was separating the man from the puck.  He was going for pucks.  It’s not as if he was charging Kassian away from the play.

Are we at the point now where players can’t deliver hard checks?  Is that suddenly against the unwritten rules of hockey, needing to be suppressed by fists.  I thought it was a physical, contact sport?

Once he throws a punch or two and sees that Tkachuk isn't responding,  he needs to stop.  He would wind up with the roughing minor, but that would be it.  Instead, he's a hot headed moron who continues on the attack and more than deserves his two games.  I don't care whether or not a guy is turtling, you need to be smart enough to realize it.  If a player can make the conscious decision to turtle in reaction to an attack, the other player can also make the conscious decision to pull back once the turtling begins.  For whatever reason, they're almost always too stupid to realize it.

[Stoner]

I'm not going to be too harsh on the linesman who skated into the fray a few seconds after it started, but he didn't exactly make a huge effort to stop Kassian/defend Tkachuk from the assault. I can't be sure, but it had a whiff of the linesman allowing the beating to go for a bit because it was somehow justified in his mind.

Is there a policy on when the linesmen break up a fight? Are they supposed to break all of them up if they are in position to do so? (Official safety is important, too.)

[shrader]

2 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I'm not going to be too harsh on the linesman who skated into the fray a few seconds after it started, but he didn't exactly make a huge effort to stop Kassian/defend Tkachuk from the assault. I can't be sure, but it had a whiff of the linesman allowing the beating to go for a bit because it was somehow justified in his mind.

Is there a policy on when the linesmen break up a fight? Are they supposed to break all of them up if they are in position to do so? (Official safety is important, too.)

I think you nailed it with ref safety.  He didn't stand a chance on that one.

[French Collection]

The entire Tkachuk family has a history of playing on the edge and sometimes crossing the line. They don’t play for the Sabres so I don’t like them. Their type of toughness is face washing after whistles in a scrum that they initiated with questionable hits and trash talking. That is toughness in this version of the league, where there are no more hired guns. I do not want to go back to the gunslinger era due to player safety concerns and 3:00 players using cap space.

I hope the DOPS is watching those kinds of hits closely. I love big hits but they need to be ‘clean’. The game is fast and the point of contact can change in a split second.

Matthew T. needs to keep his head up because someone may return the favour in a similar fashion.

I think the first hit was vicious because Kassian’s head was targeted. Raffi Torres’ hits were often like this. Kassian’s response was way over the top and rag dolling him without the multiple punches would have been enough to show the world that a big tough guy like MT won’t stand up for his actions. Calgary scored the game winner on the ensuing PP and that rubs salt into the wounds, which the Tkachuks love. They won, end of story in their minds.

[SwampD]

2 hours ago, Eleven said:

No, he wasn't.  He had Kassian lined up from three strides away on the first hit and took himself out of position both times in order to hit him.  

Good Lord. Since when is hitting the guy with the puck taking yourself out of position?

I really hate this line of thinking. I also hate watching most of our team play defense. This whole getting in shooting lanes and getting in passing lanes is such crap. That's what you have to do on the PK. 5v5, put a body on a body and see if the other team can score.

[North Buffalo]

32 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Good Lord. Since when is hitting the guy with the puck taking yourself out of position?

I really hate this line of thinking. I also hate watching most of our team play defense. This whole getting in shooting lanes and getting in passing lanes is such crap. That's what you have to do on the PK. 5v5, put a body on a body and see if the other team can score.

Sometimes you have to make guys think twice about going into certain areas... makes their passes off target more often.... need better goaltending though to pull it off.

[Curt]

4 hours ago, Eleven said:

No, he wasn't.  He had Kassian lined up from three strides away on the first hit and took himself out of position both times in order to hit him.  

He hit the guy with the puck.  How is that taking himself out of position?

[shrader]

8 minutes ago, Curt said:

He hit the guy with the puck.  How is that taking himself out of position?

He's into an area that wouldn't typically be part of his defensive responsibilities.  But regardless, that means very little.  If sticking to your position was a part of the rules of the game, just think of the number of suspensions this Sabres team would have seen in recent years.

[PerreaultForever]

8 hours ago, Curt said:

Matt T was trying to play hockey.  Kassian started punching him because Matt T was playing hockey too rough for him.  Poor Kassian, the big tough guy, sometimes hockey is just too rough for him to handle.

BS. The real issue that leads to this is the league does not treat everyone equally. If the first hit is against Connor McDavid all hell breaks loose and Matt T is out of the game and suspended (maybe). But for a guy like Kassian, his head is open season and nobody gives a crap cause he's a tough guy so is it really a surprise that when he gets run the second time he snaps and goes ballistic on the rat??? Wouldn't you???

The second thing is Matt T turtling and not fighting. One game he's the guy jumping someone, next game he turtles. I've seen him numerous times drop his gloves when a softer guy didn't want to fight him. Nothign happens, ok, it's just Tchachuk. So when you're that guy often you shouldn't get the privilege of being the other guy whenever you feel like it. If you're a "good Canadian boy" as Don Cherry used to refer to guys like him you're supposed to live by "the code" too. NT is a rat and deserves no mercy. The suspension is unfair. 

[CallawaySabres]

I would trade our entire team minus Eichel and Dhalin for Kassian right now. At least give us something to be proud of when they get curb-stomped most nights.

[Doohicksie]

Ummm, Callaway..... your hyperbole is showing.

[CallawaySabres]

17 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Ummm, Callaway..... your hyperbole is showing.

Well I was wearing the spandex Slug shorts today sooooooo.........

[Curt]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

BS. The real issue that leads to this is the league does not treat everyone equally. If the first hit is against Connor McDavid all hell breaks loose and Matt T is out of the game and suspended (maybe). But for a guy like Kassian, his head is open season and nobody gives a crap cause he's a tough guy so is it really a surprise that when he gets run the second time he snaps and goes ballistic on the rat??? Wouldn't you???

The second thing is Matt T turtling and not fighting. One game he's the guy jumping someone, next game he turtles. I've seen him numerous times drop his gloves when a softer guy didn't want to fight him. Nothign happens, ok, it's just Tchachuk. So when you're that guy often you shouldn't get the privilege of being the other guy whenever you feel like it. If you're a "good Canadian boy" as Don Cherry used to refer to guys like him you're supposed to live by "the code" too. NT is a rat and deserves no mercy. The suspension is unfair. 

I’m calling BS on a lot of this too.

1) McDavid gets all the calls?  That dude gets mugged game in game out.  Players consistently get away with ridiculous stuff that should be penalties when going against against star players.  There are entire YouTube video compilations of players doing f’ed up stuff to McDavid with no penalty.

2) I could not care any less who is a “good canadian boy” and who isn’t, or what the “the code” is.

3) So, I’m confused.  Should everyone be treated equally and the rules enforced consistently?  Or should anyone get to punch Tkachuk because he is “a rat” who doesn’t deserve mercy?

I say all of this, but I also say that the first hit was definitely questionable.  It looks like he did contact the head and I wouldn’t have argued with a penalty there.  The second hit was clean as can be from my point of view.  I will also agree that the NHL generally does a bad job of enforcing rules with any consistency.

Just because Kassian didn’t like the hit, doesn’t mean that you get to attack the guy.  My mind can’t be changed about that.

[Tondas]

My wife asks me why fighting is allowed (or does not require removal from the game) in hockey, but no other sport?  My response is because it's hockey.  Anybody else have a better retort I can give my wife?

[#freejame]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

BS. The real issue that leads to this is the league does not treat everyone equally. If the first hit is against Connor McDavid all hell breaks loose and Matt T is out of the game and suspended (maybe). But for a guy like Kassian, his head is open season and nobody gives a crap cause he's a tough guy so is it really a surprise that when he gets run the second time he snaps and goes ballistic on the rat??? Wouldn't you???

The second thing is Matt T turtling and not fighting. One game he's the guy jumping someone, next game he turtles. I've seen him numerous times drop his gloves when a softer guy didn't want to fight him. Nothign happens, ok, it's just Tchachuk. So when you're that guy often you shouldn't get the privilege of being the other guy whenever you feel like it. If you're a "good Canadian boy" as Don Cherry used to refer to guys like him you're supposed to live by "the code" too. NT is a rat and deserves no mercy. The suspension is unfair. 

Keith Tkachuk is probably one of the five greatest American hockey players of all time. Matthew and Brady are also both Americans. I think you’re wrong on the majority of your post, but my biggest issue is calling a red blooded American hockey player Canadian. 
 

Also, Drew Doughty is (was) one of the best defenders in the league and Tkachuk played him physical and none of what you’re talking about re: McDavid happened. All that happened what Doughty looked like a chump.