Bennett is the very reason why the NHLPA is their own worst enemy at times, player safety/player smafty...it's all a joke when these types of scumbags main goal is to scramble fellow players brains. Bennet did not deserve a handshake line last night, he deserved a fucking punch right back in the face, in the previous series he concussed a rookie with 8 games of NHL experience and all he got was a two minute minor for interference...You know why Jordan Staal doesn’t fly around the ice crushing people left and right? Because he’s a decent human that respects his fellow players enough not to TRY to hurt them. Players like Bennet are not decent humans and like to hurt people. Isn’t that psychopathy?
If you hit someone in a way likely to or intended to result in their head hitting 4 things that needs to be taken out of the game. That wasn’t a collision it was a targeted attack to hit him with all possible force high on his body. What other possible outcome can come from that?I'm torn on that one; I hate seeing Slavo get rung up like that; but it certainly looked like a straight chest hit, just that he got a whiplash effect from his momentum, clanked helmets with Bennett after the whiplash, then hit his head on the boards and then the ice. Any one of those 4 impacts could have done the damage, but a combo platter of 4 surely will. Hockey's not a contact sport, it's a collision sport and I don't know how you change that.
What is the difference between how Bennet approaches that check compared to EStaal would? That’s where I would start. In executing that check the way he did Bennet showed reckless disregard for Slavin’s life and career and complete disrespect for Slavin as a fellow player.
The problem is there’s a significant percentage of hockey fans including all the old guard media that glorifies and glories in the snuff hits like that. Then they act concerned that Freddie shouldn’t have allowed him to stand up. Please. You can’t have rules that make that hit legal and have ANY credibility when you say you care one iota about brain damage among the players. You can’t rave on and on about how great a player like Bennet is when his sole qualification as an NHL player is that he’s good at injuring opposing players and even pretend to be concerned about injuries.
How many promising careers (Shane Willis) do we need to see wrecked and ended by that kind of garbage.
He was playing the puck, was still skating, and was facing his "attacker". How could we define 'defenseless' that would help here?I know most fans hate it, but I like the NFL rule on hitting players that are in a defenseless position. Have that same rule trickle all the way down through the youth leagues.
It was the initial hit that did the damage, not his head hitting the boards or the ice. I think it’s pretty obvious from the replay that Slavin fell because he was out cold.StormChaser Bill made a good point about collisions and the number of head thumps Slavin had on the one sequence.
As long as they’re going to allow that kind of hits you pretty much need dirtbags like Bennett do you’re correct.If Sam Bennett was traded to the Canes this offseason, we’d all welcome him with open arms. Just stop…..
it was a clean (very) hard hit. I was upset about losing Slavin too. But, it was clearly a clean hit. This is hockey, NHL Hockey.
That’s true. I think the intimidation aspect needs eliminated or dialed down. The NHL is going to get sued out of existence if it doesn’t while knowing a hit like Slavin took last night can have a significant impact on him for the rest of his life. Or an impact that shows up later in life with devastating results.hits have 2 purposes. First is separate man from puck and second is intimidatio.