The Rite of Spring

[The_Admiral]

Hm. There's been a huge wave of "that hit was clean" talk coming out of the hockey commentariat since last night, so I'm not expecting much, but there was a huge wave of "Smith sold that like a used car" after the hit and Shaw got three games, so I too don't know what to expect anymore.

I don't really give a damn how many games he gets because it doesn't unbreak Hossa's jaw. I'm not one of the "he should be suspended a thousand games or until my team's player comes back, whichever comes first" buttmonkeys that are infesting the fandom of this league. He'll get what he gets, he'll come back, and he'll do it again, just like every time he's suspended for a headshot. It's whatever. I'll guess two, though.

[TheOldRoman]

Hm. There's been a huge wave of "that hit was clean" talk coming out of the hockey commentariat since last night, so I'm not expecting much, but there was a huge wave of "Smith sold that like a used car" after the hit and Shaw got three games, so I too don't know what to expect anymore.

I don't really give a damn how many games he gets because it doesn't unbreak Hossa's jaw. I'm not one of the "he should be suspended a thousand games or until my team's player comes back, whichever comes first" buttmonkeys that are infesting the fandom of this league. He'll get what he gets, he'll come back, and he'll do it again, just like every time he's suspended for a headshot. It's whatever. I'll guess two, though.

Now that I think about it, I guess I'm one of those buttmonkeys. When a one player who has a history of being dirty injures another with a gratuitous cheap shot, I don't think "eye for an eye" is unreasonable. I don't think Todd Bertuzzi should have ever played another NHL game after what he did to Steve Moore. If that makes me a caveman or whatever other , that's fine. That being said, Torres should at very least be suspended for the remainder of the playoffs.

But as you said, the suspension will be much less than it should be and the Coyotes would gladly lose Torres to take Hossa out.

[ninersdd]

Hm. There's been a huge wave of "that hit was clean" talk coming out of the hockey commentariat since last night, so I'm not expecting much, but there was a huge wave of "Smith sold that like a used car" after the hit and Shaw got three games, so I too don't know what to expect anymore.

I don't really give a damn how many games he gets because it doesn't unbreak Hossa's jaw. I'm not one of the

"he should be suspended a thousand games or until my team's player comes back, whichever comes first" buttmonkeys that are infesting the fandom of this league. He'll get what he gets, he'll come back, and he'll do it again, just like every time he's suspended for a headshot. It's whatever. I'll guess two, though.

Good he's suspended indefinitely. Still though, agree with what Blackhawk fans are saying, they lose a bottom level player, while we lost a very good one.

If the league was serious about Torres then they would suspend him at minimum the rest of the playoffs.

[The_Admiral]

Suspensions directly commensurate with injuries just aren't sensible in practice; too much potential for gaming the system. If a star player injures your crappy player, what's then to stop you from holding the replacement-level guy out indefinitely to hold their star out? What if injuries come and go? Joe Thornton repeatedly punched Jonathan Toews in the back of the head and concussed him. I think he sat for a game, came back, and sat out another 22. Would Thornton then have to follow the same thing? Never mind, you're re-suspended? And I just don't like demanding suspensions on every hit for the sake of making other teams worse than mine. Apparently other people don't as well, because nobody really clamored for Thornton to get the hammer dropped on him for what he did to Toews. Relative to the noise surrounding a lot of other dirty hits, it practically never happened, and it knocked the captain of an at-that-time contender/Selke candidate out for 25% of the season. So that's that.

I just don't get it with Torres. He sat four games for a headshot on the Oilers' best player, came right back and put a headshot on Seabrook, though that was the one that infamously didn't count because it happened in The Hitting Zone. And he's had even more stuff pile up since last year. They've had a chance to drop the hammer on him and they never do, so I'm not sure they will now. And even if they do, we're still missing Hossa, missing Shaw, and have Toews at <100%, so subtracting their goon doesn't do much.

[TheOldRoman]

I agree that it isn't at all rational or even reasonable in every case. However, in the Bertuzzi/Moore incident, Moore will never play hockey again because of a horribly egregious cheapshot. There is no gray area there, so Bertuzzi shouldn't have been reinstated.

[NEW.ERA]

Brandon Saad gets the call up to replace Hossa in the lineup.

[The_Admiral]

Saad's going to be for real pretty soon. Talk about jumping into the fire. I guess this is just the pre-preseason for the Hawks now.

[NEW.ERA]

I think Saad will have a good career. I like him more than Mark McNeill.

Also Cory Schneider gets the call tonight, and Dank Sedin is pretty much a go.

Gotta think Roberto Luongo has played his last game as a Canuck. I don't know who will take that contract, but the Canucks have to be hoping that amnesty clause gets to be apart of the new CBA. Though there may be some restrictions on what type of contract you can be rid of.

[Morgan33]

Torres needs to be made an example of. The hit on Seabrook last year was clean because Torres never left his feet. The one last night was simply a dirty play and the the notion of him "Just finishing his hit and making a hockey play" is simply ridiculous.

[Kevin W.]

Torres needs to be made an example of. The hit on Seabrook last year was clean because Torres never left his feet. The one last night was simply a dirty play and the the notion of him "Just finishing his hit and making a hockey play" is simply ridiculous.

It's amazing how quickly you've changed your tune.

[njmeadowlanders]

Torres needs to be made an example of. The hit on Seabrook last year was clean because Torres never left his feet. The one last night was simply a dirty play and the the notion of him "Just finishing his hit and making a hockey play" is simply ridiculous.

I'm not just picking on you, but I hate when people say "he did/didn't leave his feet". If you left your feet that'd mean both of your feet were severed off at the ankles...you leave the ICE, the feet come with the rest of you.

[The_Admiral]

Haha, it is a pretty silly phrase, isn't it? It's one of my favorite dumb phrases, along with the "football move" required when reviewing challenged plays. Can you leave your feet to make a football move?

[CMUBrent]

Brandon Saad gets the call up to replace Hossa in the lineup.

I saw Saad play in Saginaw during the playoffs. The guy was pretty much a step above everyone else against Sarnia and London. He's going to be a good one.

[zpqmaowl]

The Kings better wrap this up tonight, I can't handle this all the way until next Sunday ( the scheduling).

Also second round tickets would be a nice birthday gift (for me ), and the sooner it's known whether they're going or not, the better.

[Sodboy13]

Tippett: "He?s a hard hitter, turned full speed, caught a guy in chest. Unfortunately player was injured. I don?t think it was malicious."

I know you've gotta stand up for your guys, but come the on.

[TheOldRoman]

This was likely posted already, but for LOLz: NHL Wheel of Justice

[IceCap]

[deked73]

Raffi Torres is simply a dirty player and really been that way his whole career in my opinion. I was at the clinching game in 02 when the Wolves won the Calder Cup. Torres was playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at the time and he hit Wolves Dman Dallas Eakins from behind with an elbow to the head, driving Eakins head into the glass and causin him to be lost for the rest of the game. Even though he went back to the bench he didn't finish the game and you could tell he wasn't quite the same even after Butsayev's 2ot winner. As far as Dave Tippett's remarks I don't even want to hear that it was a clean hit....HE LEFT HIS FEET!!! BIG TIME NO NO! I remember being at a conference finals game in 1999 where his Houston players jumped on the backs of Wolves players tackling them while going for loose pucks with great scoring chances and he just treated it like normal hockey plays. Again, Torres is dirty and he has proved that time and time again.

[CS85]

1. Good to see an immediate suspension, hopefully it's at least for the rest of the series. Hopefully it also means this bastard has a hard time getting a good contract.

2. Good to know Saad's in the lineup. I was horrified Q would bring Morrison's worthless ass back into the fold when it's clear he's a bum.

[NEW.ERA]

I'm just having trouble seeing either Pittsburgh or Vancouver getting swept tonight. Even though it'd be hilarious, it's more likely we'll see Pittsburgh getting swept. With Dank coming back, and Vancouver getting progresssively better as the series moves along. Tonight will either be Vancouver winning big or Quick doing everything he can to pull out a win.

Then the Kings would have at the very least almost 10 days off, if we get a couple of Game 7's.