Another hit on Rule #48

The NHL has again showed they have no fucking clue about this new rule they were so horny to install, and how it works.

New York Rangers Defense-man  Marc Staal laid out Calgary Flames centre Matt Stajan coming across the blue line in a  game last night.  You can see the hit here clean hit?? 
Marc Staal was not suspended, nor was a penalty called on the play.

I am not going to debate the legality of the hit, that is not my point here, however, what does bother me is the way this rule is called.  If you have been reading this little blog, you will have seen a few posts about this topic before.

example #1

example #2

In example #1, I showed the hit that resulted in Joe Thornton getting a 2 game suspension for what looked to me like a total accident.   Here is that hit.  "He skated into me"

Then there was the Dan Carcillo hit on the same night, that looked a lot worse, yet received no call, or suspension.  "oops!!"

Now, you can make the argument that in each of these 3 hits, the player getting hit was just as much at fault as the player giving the hit.  And you could also argue that the player giving the hit in each situation could have dialed it back a bit and tried to avoid it.  But at the end of the day, all three looked the same to me, yet only one of these warranted a suspension under rule #48.

Again, here is the rule:  NHL Rule 48 - Illegal Check to the Head
48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A lateral or blind side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principle point of contact is not permitted.

In the Marc Staal hit, Stajan is not looking at Staal who is rushing towards him.   Whether it was Stajan's fault for not looking isn't the issue in my eyes, according to the way the rule was written, it is a blindside hit.  Same with the other two.  They used that argument with Joe Thornton, even though the player hit was not looking where he was going.  In the Carcillo hit, Fedotenko was falling over as he was hit, but you could argue it too was a blindside hit.

All I am trying to say here is that this rule needs to go, or needs a massive overhaul.  Clearly it is not working as intended.  Also with the mess Colin Campbell has himself in these days regarding email released last week in the wrongful dismissal case brought against the NHL by a former Ref, which despite Campbell's plea's of innocence, look like some players get away with things that others don't.

Me personally, I love seeing these big hits in a game, and I don't think most of them warrant any action by the NHL, however, if a rule is in place, it should be enforced the way it is written, or change the way it is written.  I also believe that if the NHL really wanted to eliminate these head shots and concussions, then they would go back to the old days before the enforcer rule.  Back then, a player knew going into a game that if they fucked around, someone was going to make them pay for it.  Now, a player has no fear of retaliation for anything they do on the ice.  And that is why we see the 'lack of respect' type plays that often result in injuries.

Hopefully one day, people with brains will take over and make things right again, but until that time, we will have this debate every few days over a hit that no one seems to know if it violates rule #48 or not.

Well that it all for now.

Until next time...
Stay Angry!!