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On the heals of the Chara hit the other night, could we start to see other big name corporations threatening to pull out of the NHL?

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If it's a tight squeeze, spit on it! - NyI

He's a middling AHL player who had the good fortune of a drunk arbitrator. - The Squanto re: Tim Kennedy

if only there was contact with the head involved it'd make sense.

in any event, the only way this would matter is if the NHL really started punishing blatant hits to the head. i mean REALLY. automatic suspension of 10 games, plus additional games for each game the person who received the hit misses.

the problem is being able to set blatant apart from accidental. shit does happen, and accidental hits will need to be penalized in order to train players to attack the body.

players also need to be penalized for intentionally putting themselves in danger by attempting to draw a penalty.

It's sad that it has to come down to hitting them in their wallet to make the necessary changes.

Good for them, this isn't the fucking Roman Empire!

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

This is all interesting to watch for sure.

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Agreed.

Chara should have received a suspension.

Regardless of intent or the current rulebook, a suspension would have sent a signal to the rest of the NHL that they need to be more aware of the safety of one another.

Just because Chara didn't mean to do it doesn't mean that the hit wasn't reckless.

I don't believe that Chara wanted to hurt him. But I do believe Chara knew exactly where he was hitting him.

I played contact hockey for a number of years, and any time you had a chance to squash somebody near the bench, you went after it, even if it was near the turnbuckle, because you knew it was going to be a big hit.

That attitude needs to change just a little bit.

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Wheelhouse

Exactly, the fact that the league even makes it about Chara shows how narrow minded they are. They talk about his history and then even go so far as to presume to know what he was thinking at the time. It's as if a premeditated crime deserves a slap on the wrist but a crime of passion is perfectly fine. This should not be about Chara, it should be about protecting everybody in that profession including Chara and his teammates. Even Chara himself would probably agree that a suspension is the right thing for the league.

Mr. Chara is a good person, probably. I don't know, but odds are he is, and a great teammate and a protector and a an enforcer. He really doesn't want to seriously injure anybody, as I'm sure deep down Cooke and Gilles and everybody else doesn't want too. The NHL has got to give everybody out there something to think about, you have to show them that you are the boss. The next time a player has a guy lined up like that, he might ease up a bit for fear of that 15 minimum game suspension.

I know that Mike Milbury wing will use the age old debate about skirts and touch football, and there's some truth to that. But isn't it also true that hitting has become over exaggerated for sometime now? Did Scott Stevens REALLY need to put THAT MUCH extra muscle behind every single hit?! Couldn't he have reached the desired effect without causing concussions? Shouldn't there be more respect for each others well being? Especially if there's an instigater rule, you have got to be stricter with suspensions.

I wouldn't let my nephew play in that league the way it's run now.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

I hate Bettman but what he said about Air Canada was funny. Basically "Okay, take your money but uh....we ain't flying with you anymore fuck faces."

"Air Canada is a great brand, as is the National Hockey League," said Bettman. "And if they decide that they need to do other things with their sponsorship dollars, that is their prerogative, just that it is the prerogative of our clubs that fly on Air Canada to make other arrangements if they don't think Air Canada is not giving them the appropriate level of service."

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They let Habs fans go that high up the corporate ladder at Air Canada?

And Bettman has them nailed....air travel is a highly competitive commodity product.
Air Canada has more than their fair share of NHL contracts. Any number of airlines would snatch up that business.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

I wish he would turn some of that tough talk towards the rules lawyers.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger