Hey Squanto... if you can't hit a player in the head, then taller players aren't going to be able to hit smaller players on open ice.

You ever stand next to someone taller than you? Where does their shoulder fall?

That may not be the rule, but that's what the fucking rule you proposed will prevent.

Seriously? When you skate, you lead with your head, due to the natural stance on skates.

Booth did 2 things wrong. He didn't follow his pass, and he stopped moving his feet after he made it. He glided and stayed gliding in one direction, on rails, setting himself up as an easy target.

There's no way you can institute a rule without it being controversial, and without it being detrimental to the physicality on open ice.

Unless you remove the instigator.

What about a hit to Bettman's head as he's presenting the cup?

I endorse this idea, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Nobody is saying to eliminate open ice hits. I do suggest to penalize hits to the head (maybe from chest/neck up for simplicity and make it easier for the refs to call) from behind or the side. There is a difference. It's not a question about what is legal or not, it's a matter of seeing an increasing trend in the game and dealing with it. Change the rules the way the NFL did in order to protect the players and ultimately the league's assets.

This mentality of "his fault cuz his head was turned" will never justify a career ending head injury that will affect someone's health, or kill them. PSP or Skyline, I want to know if you could really live with yourselves if you killed someone that way. Would you really be ok if you looked in the mirror and said, "oh his head was turned"? Is that what you'd say at the funeral, to your friends, or his family?? The direction this issue is going is down that road. It won't be about a game then, it won't be about what's legal or not. "Old school" hockey did not tolerate these hits. Whether the instigator rule is at fault or not won't change the speed and athleticism that is on the ice now. Players can cover more ice with more speed and put more force behind hits with bigger and stronger bodies. The rules need to keep pace.

Danny Briere was never hit by anyone right? The idea that if you're taller than someone then you can't hit him is stupid. That actually is the worst argument being made in this thread thus far. We're not talking about Myers vs Briere here. A case like that is an exception. Most of the guys out there are capable of having their shoulders hit the other guy's shoulder. How do we know this? Because there are a ton of hits delivered every night where this occurs and usually one player is shorter than the other one involved.

Essentially you're saying "hey here is my shoulder. If your head gets in the way that's your problem." I saw this on the Simpsons once, Homer clearly told the pie it would be it's own damn fault if it got eaten as he chomped his way towards it.

1. Again, NHL fails to answer discipline call
Every season, the NHL makes noise about cracking down on blows to the head and hits from behind. Memos go out.

Then, within a 48-hour period, the Canes' Tuomo Ruutu, a player never known to shy away from giving a shot in the back, rams Darcy Tucker into the boards from behind, sending Tucker to the hospital, and Mike Richards nearly takes off David Booth's head with a shoulder-to-the-head hit that results in Booth being taken off the ice on a stretcher.

Ruutu was given a light tap on the wrist with a three-game suspension, while Tucker, who was off to a decent start for the Avs with four goals and two assists, is out indefinitely. Booth, the Panthers' most important forward, suffered a concussion. Florida GM Randy Sexton told ESPN.com on Monday that this was Booth's first concussion, but the team still doesn't know when he might return to action. Richards? He was back in the lineup Sunday night in the Flyers' loss to the San Jose Sharks.

Although he wouldn't comment specifically on the league's decision not to suspend Richards, Sexton said he thinks hits like the one that knocked out Booth have no place in the game.

At some point, the end result of these dangerous plays has to be factored into how or whether the NHL will curtail the mayhem on the ice. Yes, it's a physical game, but the NHL Players' Association was on to something last season when it asked for a special penalty to be assessed when a player is hit in the head while in a vulnerable position, regardless of whether the hit is technically legal.

GMs insisted there was a mechanism in place to police such hits. Explain, then, why Richards was not suspended even though he was tossed from the game for the blindside hit. There is no explanation. There rarely is when it comes to what passes for discipline from the NHL high tower. If you're looking for a deterrent, you're looking in the wrong place.

Until the NHL is prepared to truly start to hand out significant punishment, something with teeth that takes into account the severity of the victim's injuries, it will just whistle on by hoping the day doesn't come when a David Booth or Darcy Tucker is permanently injured. Of course, by then, it will be far too late.

The NFL was concerned about the number of concussions being suffered by NFL QBs. So, they changed the rule to say that ANY contact the the head of the QB will incur a roughing the passer penalty.

Then, once play started, THEY STARTED CALLING IT. Some of the calls are ticky tack to be sure, but players are PENALIZED for hitting people in the head. It's a major deterrent to players continuing to go after the QB's head.

They also changed the rules a few years back because receivers going up to get balls were being creamed in the head by safeties. Blow to the head of a defenseless receiver? 15 yards.

You don't have to eliminate open ice hits. You simply make it a rule that blows to the opponents head, intentional or not, are penalties. THEN CALL THEM.

I'm sure we can both agree that there are hundreds of good, solid, open ice hits every year that don't involve blows to the head. Those hits would not be taken out of the game.

The problem in the NHL is 3 fold.

1. The NHL has no rule on the books against blows to the head. The NHLPA campaigned hard for this, then gave up on the fight when they were told no rule would be put into place.

2. The culture of hockey is such that ESPN highlight reel hits are ENCOURAGED, even if it involves tossing a shoulder pad into someone's chin.

3. Players are not allowed to handle these situations themselves because of the instigator rule.

No need for violence, just tell her she's got a game misconduct and show her the door.

As I said in the GDT, the call on Rivet was horseshit. The Bruins player was holding onto Rivet's stick like it was the last fucking raft on the Titanic.

Briere never gets hit open ice because he always has his head up.

I'm done with this argument. Clearly, you've never played in any sort of upper level hockey if you think there's a good way to prevent hits to the head outside of not having an instigator rule.

Hip checks happen along the boards and the boards only. It's too awkward to hip check at center ice, especially when you're trying to prevent yourself from taking a spill.

I don't condone shots to the head, but I don't think a rule banning them would be good for the sport due to the difficulty of avoiding it when you're hitting players on open ice.

If you want to make the players safer, then invest in finding ways to make helmets better, and get rid of the instigator rule.

That's nonsense.
Richards knew he was is position to punish Booth with an intent to injure. He blind sided him. The dirt bag could have let up but he had him defenseless and rammed into his head. It's a complete joke to think that a guy taken off the ice on a stretcher made a mistake by making a pass.



You can, and it's quite simple:
Keep hits above the knees and below the neck.

You can deliver a good hit to the person's body and not hit him in the head. See Brian Campbell. See the hit on Towes last week. If a player is willing to take the risk of making a big hit and cannot control his body so he does not hit the player in the head, he should get the punishment he deserves which would be a 10 game suspension in my opinion.

And yes, the old school minus the instigator *might* have stopped something like this from happening. Yes, there was a bit more respect among the players when they were all helmetless. They also weren't wearing really hard shoulder and elbow pads that can be used like weapons - which, combined the increased speed, size, and agility of these players, makes it a potentially more dangerous game.

Also, the "it's part of the game" arguement just doesn't hold water.
People who want to see head shots taken out of the game DO NOT want to see contact taken out of the game. The two are NOT related at all. I wonder if you would stand up in the bleachers and yell, "it's part of the game" as your kid lays on the ice with one leg twitching and drool coming out his mouth. All for having his head down trying to make a play. That's quite a price.
Players see another player putting himself in a vulnerable position. Shame on that unsuspecting player for sure. But instead of going for a crushing bodycheck that might crack a rib or two they elect to take the guys head off with their shoulder. I don't think "it's part of the game" I think "that's cheap." I love crash and bang hockey as much as the next guy, but non-humourous stupidity is not a trait I agree with. It amazes me how people go NUTS with anger when they see a knee on knee play but say "it's part of the game" when someone is laying motionless on the ice for 3 minutes.

Campbell: Richards' hit on Booth legal
By Dan Rosen - NHL.com Staff Writer

"He did not jump. He did not elbow him. He did not hit him in a place where he wasn't expecting it. It was an area where you expect to get hit, both the player passing the puck and the player doing the hitting."
-- Colin Campbell

Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards was not suspended for his pulverizing hit on Florida's David Booth during Saturday's game because he did not leave his feet, lead with his elbow or make contact with Booth in an out-of-the-way area, NHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said on NHL Live Monday afternoon.

Richards' hit on Booth rendered the Panthers' star unconscious for several minutes. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher and wound up spending the night in a Philadelphia area hospital. He's expected to miss at least three games with a concussion.

"He was going through the Bermuda Triangle, or Scott Stevens Triangle of heavy traffic and Richards hit him," Campbell said in trying to put into perspective what has become a very controversial topic. "He did not jump. He did not elbow him. He did not hit him in a place where he wasn't expecting it. It was an area where you expect to get hit, both the player passing the puck and the player doing the hitting."

Campbell indicated that this incident is fairly cut and dry based on what the Hockey Operations staff has discussed with the League's general managers over the past couple years as hits to the head and became a growing concern.

Campbell said the Hockey Ops people showed the managers clips to outline what an illegal or late hit was during their annual meetings last spring.

"We just showed them a couple of plays, five or six or seven, where we combined all the criteria," Campbell said.

Part of the criteria is location.

For instance, a hit can be deemed illegal or late if it's in an area where a player wouldn't normally expect to get hit. The ideal example is Donald Brashear's hit on Blair Betts during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal between Washington and New York last season.

Betts, then with the Rangers, dumped the puck in and had turned toward the benches when Brashear caught him with a high elbow 9:54 into the first period. Betts missed the rest of the series and Brashear was handed a five-game suspension.

"You're not expecting to get hit when you're skating to the bench on a change," Campbell said.

Campbell, though, reiterated that Booth was going into the middle of the ice with the puck on his stick. He had just given it up when Richards caught him just inside the blue line. Richards was handed a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.

"If you have a give-and-go and you're driving to the net and it's within the proper timeframe, get ready because you're going through a hockey area," Campbell said.

Campbell also said the Hockey Operations staff brought up the topic of hitting at the June meeting of general managers in Pittsburgh. Specifically, the type of shoulder to head hit Richards laid on Booth was discussed.

"We went around the room and got every manager's view on the topic of hitting and where it stands in hockey when a player's shoulder hits a player in the head and causes injury," Campbell said. "I can't tell you exactly if it was 28, 29 or 27, but it was far in the majority that we're fine with it and fine with how Hockey Operations is dealing with it."

Finally, Campbell said prior to the start of this season Hockey Operations circulated a DVD detailing examples of "what we thought was illegal as far as lateness, as far as all the criteria. We sent it out so everyone knew."

Campbell, though, did say there is concern in the NHL about the size of the shoulder pads players are wearing these days. He said he couldn't fit the current shoulder pads in his hockey bags from the 1970s and '80s.

Hockey Ops has tried to work with the Players' Association on a new design for shoulder pads that would perhaps help eliminate some injuries.

"We've had shoulder pads ready for years now," Campbell said. "We just have to move on this regardless of what people are over there (at the PA), because we're just trying to protect the players."

There is a history of adjusting this type of equipment. Campbell said elbow pads were reduced earlier this decade because they found there was a big knot at the end of the pads and elbows were grazing heads and causing concussions.

"The equipment has gotten much larger and we're to the point now where it's like goalie equipment; when does it protect and when does it injure, or with goalie equipment when does it protect and when does it increase stopping?" Campbell said. "Those are some of the issues with the head hits, but the other issue is when you play 1,400 games a year with playoffs and exhibition combined with a season you're going to have a couple of these things with the size of our players and the speed of the game now. You try to make the game safe, but you can't totally get rid of hitting."