Minds Are A-Changing.

Yesterday, Alexander Ovechkin wasn't going to be suspended for his hit on Chicago's Brian Campbell.

Today, he's got a hearing. Started at noon. Expect a suspension.

While certainly justifiable given the injury to Campbell, a broken collarbone, this will only add to the confusion across the NHL these days over what is a legal hit and what isn't, and what is suspendable and what isn't.

Having the league's leading scorer banned for a few games will certainly allow the league to say it isn't giving its stars special treatment.

Then again, Marc Savard might wonder where this new vigilance was last week.

It's all very strange, very unpredictable, and it's not hard to get the sense that forces outside league V.P. Colin Campbell are influencing the process.

Just guessing, but the phone bills from Chicago to New York over the past 24 hours have got to be huge by now.

Comments

[Alan Badgery]

Lets forget about hits to the head, or deliberate hits into the boards FOCUS instead on only allowing hits below the waist. Remember Horton and other great defencemen of the past who could deliver tremendous hip checks (usually away from the boards). They were clean checks and rarely did the other player complain of a "dirty check".
Have the Board of Govenors given any thought to this or is it too radical?
Alan Badgery