A Spiral into Utter Silliness

The tweet came in just before midnight from an intriguing source, future Hall of Famer Mike Modano.

"Really selling the game," tweeted Modano under the Twitter handle @9modano. "No wonder our TV deals suck ass."

Joining a growing list of players and former players - Jonathan Toews, David Perron, Henrik Zetterberg - disgusted or frustrated with what has transpired over the first week of NHL playoff competition, Modano's tweet appeared to be in reaction to yet another ugly incident, this time Raffi Torres - oh yes, Torres again - and his vicious hit on Chicago star winger Marian Hossa that sent Hossa to hospital.

On a night when we should have been discussing Nashville's second straight win in Detroit, Florida's comeback against the Devils or 39-year-old Ray Whitney's brillance in a 3-2 overtime win for Phoenix over the Blackhawks, once again a controversial hit and injury took centre stage.

Modano's point, of course, and he should know, is that the NHL has constantly found itself with tiny TV ratings and revenue in the U.S. below sports like bowling because it has consistently failed to produce a package in which skill is featured ahead of goons and blood. (Of course, you can now expect the CBC's first intermission clown to take umbrage and first insult Modano's nationality, then call him a turncoat and a "puke," blame him for the bloodshed at Vimy Ridge then throw out a series of inaccurate and misleading "stats" that he will claim proves the 1999-00 Mississauga Ice Dogs were the greatest junior team ever to play.)

UPDATE: Torres suspended indefinitely

These days, meanwhile, it would certainly appear the best players in the game are being hunted and targetted, with little meaningful response from the NHL. Embattled Department of Player Safety boss Brendan Shanahan, who increasingly seems completely overmatched by the task he's been given, will face a challenge with the Torres-Hossa hit as Torres didn't even receive a minor penalty on the play.

That underlined another problem for Shanahan and the NHL. The officiating hasn't just been bad in recent days. Its been negligent and sometimes weirdly absent.

There was Ryan Clowe playing the puck from the bench in the final days of the season without any official knowing. There was an obvious offside goal for Philly to start a comeback in Game 1 against Pittsburgh. Last night, Nashville's David Legwand closed his hand on the puck in the crease and no official saw it, and then came the hit on Hossa, a blatantly illegal play that went uncalled as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sat in the stands at the United Centre.

"I can't believe four guys missed it," said Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville.

Torres, of course, is a serial offender and well-established backstabber, frequently punished but sometimes allowed to get away with dangerous and reckless play. In this instance, his hit on Hossa in front of the benches was late - the puck was long gone - and saw the Phoenix forward launch himself into Hossa's head, making it both a charge and a classic Rule 48 head shot.

"Just trying to finish my hit out there," said Torres, quoting from Page 1 of the NHL Players Excuse Guide.

Still, don't underestimate the NHL's ability to let Torres escape justice. He did so last spring when he delivered a brutal head shot to Brent Seabrook and was exonerated because the hit occurred in a "hitting zone" that no one had previously heard of.

In this case, a reasonable person might sugges Torres' suspension should begin with the remainder of the post-season and grow from there. Time and time again, this is a player who has demonstrated no regard for the health and well-being of his fellow NHLers, not to mention the rules of the game.

He is the new Matt Cooke, now that Matt Cooke is the new Matt Cooke, if you get my drift.

But who really has any idea whether Shanahan will take any action at all? Moreover, since the NHL owns the Coyotes and would love a springtime playoff run to improve the franchise's saleability, the league is, you could argue, in a rather massive conflict of interest here.

"I don't know what to expect anymore," said Toews afterwards. "I don't think anyone does."

That's because we appear to have moved into Phase 3 of the Shanahan Darts-At-A-Board Justice program.

Phase 1 was to flex his muscles and hand down suspensions of 10 or more games before being shut down by outraged general managers.

Phase 2 was to let players get away with murder - including two head shots from Torres for which he received a $2,500 fine for one and a two-game suspension for the other - while claiming education and discussion was a better strategy than suspensions.

Phase 3, meanwhile, appears to be to issue a blizzard of meaningless and illogical mini-suspensions, giving slightly larger ones to grunts and grinders while giving one game or less to star players. On Tuesday alone, Shanahan suspended four players, but none for more than four games, with the reasoning for each detached from a general, understandable guiding philosophy.

At this point, he's just guessing, trying simultaneously to please his boss and avoid getting censured by the GMs again while still trying to affect the manly pose of a former player with insight into the modern game.

So with respect to Torres, here are the possible outcomes:

--Torres could get 25 games, with Shanahan noting he once expressed an interest in playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and all Penguins deserve to be suspended because the Flyers are angels and would never do anything wrong.

--He might get a $2,500 fine, with Shanahan showing footage in his video of Hossa being able to walk out of hospital and a simulated presentation of the Slovak dancing at a late night Chicago blues bar.

--Torres could get a one-game suspension because Halifax came back to beat Quebec in the QMJHL playoffs. In other words, for no logical reason at all.

--The Coyote cranium-crusher might get four games because he reminds Shanahan of a left-handed Arron Asham.

--Or Torres might get no games and no fine because he outscored Sidney Crosby between Jan. 5, 2011 and Nov. 20, 2011, and then again between Dec. 6, 2011 and March 14, 2012, demonstrating emphatically that he is an elite skill player and not a rat, and therefore doesn't deserve any discipline at all.

Look, you've just gotta laugh at what's going on, because otherwise you'd be thoroughly disgusted at a league that is so dazed and confused another lockout might well be the best medicine for what ails it.

RELATED:

Coyotes-Blackhawks series turns ugly in an instant

UPDATE:

Coyotes concede Torres hit on Hossa was a 'scary' sight

Torres suspended indefinitely for hit

 

 

Comments

[No]

Why do they not go with a system that has one basic rule. If a player injures another player with an illegal hit, that player is suspended for the same duration in which the injured player is unable to complete plus 1. This will clearly take out the arbitrary ruling and eliminate prejudicial favouritism of skilled player.

Sure the argument will be that the injured player will fake long term injuries just to ensure the perpetrator will not play. To combat that, the league can independently assess the injured player. But if anything, professional athletes rarely want to be on the sidelines. I am sure the rest are just details for examples; concussed player who returns only to find himself unable to continue. Possible solution is that the suspended player has served his sentence + 1 game. Side benefit, is that concussed player won't return earlier than should be....just a thought

[John]

I'm one of five children who grew up with a stern father. How it worked was this: inevitably, one of us did something stupid. Dad would say, "okay, there's the warning for all. Any of you idiots try something like that again and your ass is grass." If we were stupid enough to do it afterwards, we knew the consequences. Why is this not Shanahan's and the NHL's message? They sound more like the mother of the 4 year old tantrum-throwing brat in the supermarket saying "Johnny, for the FIFTH time I said stop or else." Just like Johnny, Torres and the like are defiantly asking...."or else, what?"

[petro]

Two Thumbs Up Damian Cox.

Would like to see retired players like Wayne, Messier, Lafleur etc publicly comment on this chaos we call the playoffs.

Pro sports is about winning... but no matter what... character and morality have to be part of the equation.

The total disregard that is going on is unfathomable.

[joe]

It's true there has been a lot of dirt play and Shanahan's rulings have been inconsistent so far... but having said that, the playoffs have been great so far. I ahve watched almost every game and the level of play has been excellent. The games are close, the players have passion, and the scoring has been great. Not sure what more you could want.

As for Torres' hit, I don't really see what was so dirty about it. It was hard... he left his feet slightly, but that happens all the time on big hits. The players momentum carries them into the air. The hit on Seabrook last year was clean and this is very similar. If player's don't want to get hurt they gotta keep their heads up.

[Richard Ganton]

You are all missing an excellent marketing Tie-in. I can't believe you guys are so dense. You must have suffered to many head shots when you were young. The NHL playoffs has become..... "The Hunger Games". Everything is allowed, punishment is minimal and the team with the fewest concussions is likely to win the Stanley Cup. Forget Skill and Effort! Bring on the NHL Hunger Games!

Which is why I stopped watching hockey years ago. It makes the blood boil. I can still watch basketball and enjoy the skill, the artistry and the effort. Its still a contact sport but the players don't wear armour on their shoulders so that they can take people's heads off. Everybody abandon hope in the NHL. If you want to see mesmorizing plays and great skill and effort, watch the NBA.

[Drew M]

NHL isn't too far from playing itself into irrelevance as a North American Pro Sports league like the CFL. This senseless violence is a big reason why. Clearly the masses in the US care not for this gong show, and big cities like Toronto are caring less and less about hockey - look at registration #s at the grass roots level.

[John Stanley]

Hi Damien - I agree with everything you say, but would comment that nothng will change on this front until the players decide for themselves that this is not the way that "their" to be presented. The NHLPA needs to take some (if not most of) leadership role in controlling the problem. It ultimately comes down to sportsmanship, respect and that when a player is vulnerable that is OK to not take his head off.

[TCarson]

It is becoming a moral decision whether or not I tune in to these playoffs. I'm feeling complicit in an about-to-be-performed homicide. Not a good feeling. That it should get to this is a travesty. The talking heads on TV who aren't outraged by this year's playoffs are part of the problem. Your voice of sanity offers some hope.

[liz]

Somebody, please, tell me how Torres sleeps at night?

How does a professional athlete, consciously and with forethought, skate at a fellow competitor at full speed, leave his skates for 'leverage' and thrust himself elbow first, at another athletes head/face rendering him unable to walk?

[jal]

Late hits after the puck is long gone have happened thirty times in every game for the last twenty years...Torres is an idiot but only slightly more of an idiot than we're accustomed to from every other idiot nhl'er in the league today. btw watch the tape from last night - even johnny toews hits guys late.

[Graeme Fleming]

Well why don't you focus on the outcomes of the games Damien, instead of once again taking another shot at Cherry. You both sound like school-yard kids bickering back and forth. Be the BIGGER man.

[Ron]

Damien I just read an article that said Torres believes it was a hockey play and he was just finishing his check. Now we can see what the real problem is. The marginal players who have always been marginal players actually believe the only way they can stay in the NHL is to try and decapitate the best players because this is what they have been taught since they were kids. If he actually believes what he said he has more problems than can be fixed. It was a weasel play by a weasel. Speaking of which they interviewed Bettman and he said that it was up against the boards where he was sitting and didn't see anythng. I saw where he was sitting and the hit wasn't against the boards and it appears , as we already know, the commish does have a problem with the truth. So now we have at least five employees of the NHL who didn't see anything ...2 refs, 2 linesmen and the commish. I guess that says it all doesn't it!!!!!

[Impartial On-looker]

Your passion for your beliefs is muddling your prose. Reading your sarcastic and cynical comments leaves me feeling emptier than seeing the Hossa hit.

[Gord]

Torres deserves the rest of the playoffs, the first 30 games next season, and then a further 30 games bare-handed where he isn't allowed to wear hockey gloves, shoulder pads or elbow pads. If that doesn't work he is exiled to the Toronto Maple Leafs for three seasons after having his legs surgically broken and reset by a league doctor.

[LifeLongFan]

Torres and others who engage in similar behavior are nothing more than players who cannot achieve what they would like to through legitimate play, so they use illegitimate means to do so -- in other words, they lack sufficient skill to play the game effectively. They are pathetic cowards -- to be clear, cowards in a moral/ethical sense: they purposely pursue harmful, illegitimate behavior only when the risk to themselves is minimal. Any attempt to rationalize or justify such behavior speaks to a woefully undeveloped moral character. Step into the 21st century, people.

[Ryan]

Hitting is way up every year in the playoffs. This increases the chances of bad hits and general aggressive hockey. I don't see a problem with this these guys have been dreaming there whole life about this chance. This has made the level of compete to win hockey games go sky high. Like any career that doesn't involve sitting in an office the more you make the greater the risk. I don't like seeing dirty plays but can't argue with the level of competition on the ice. Think in general it's been very exciting hockey to watch.

[C]

It was a killer hit, but it was not dirty. If a player puts his head down he opens himself up to being drilled and he very clearly put his head down. But of course Cox won't let that get in the way of yet another one of his pacifist rants. And quoting players like Modano, who spent their entire careers having other people protect them, does not add legitimacy to the argument regardless of how much Cox might wish it did.

And all those claiming here that this type of play is not OK have probably never played hockey at any level above House League in their lives so have no concept of how the game is played at elite levels. But, in true Toronto fashion, that lack of knowledge doesn't stop any of them from spouting off about how the game should be played. This isn't basketball or figure skating kids - it is hockey so deal with it!

[KD]

Two thoughts. First of all, Don Cherry is the first intermission clown, not the second period clown. As for the severity of the suspension that Torres will get as compared to what he deserves, remember that a few years ago Todd Bertuzzi got a whopping 13 games for his attack on Steve Moore. That attack was a lot worse, and was premeditated. If Bertuzzi only got 13 games, then Torres should get no more than 5 if there's a method to the league's madness. Of course, Torres deserves at least 20-30 for this, but he won't get it, just like Bertuzzi shouldn't be allowed in an NHL rink without a ticket.

[Christina H.]

Summed up best by my 7.5 year old hockey addict son, who turned off Sportsnet this morning (NEVER happens), to announce that 'There's been way to much violence in the NHL this week, Mom'...tell me, if my son is smart enough to see it, why hasn't the Commissioner?

[hhg]

And here we all thought this season was going to be different considering the three off-season deaths of very young NHLers linked to neurological conditions. It's sad and a shame that such a beautiful sport is turning into farce.

[Chris S.]

The important thing here is Hossa was injured and carried off in a stretcher. I thought the hit on Henrik Sedin Sunday night LOOKED far worse, though he stayed in the game.

The hit didn't look that bad.

[Ryan]

Minus the few dirty hits the media has focused. The product on the ice has been unreal. Can't wait to watch more, just sucks it's not the leafs.

[Tom D.]

Torres should get suspended indefinitely but, after seeing him try to kill Seabrook last year and escaping without even a minor penalty call much less a suspension, and now taking a long run at and jumping into Hossa's head with again no penalty called, (not even an interference minor?) I have to doubt if the "Shanahan Darts-At-A-Board Justice program" will take a break from NHL 2K12 to produce any disciplinary action at all...Pathetic, no wonder the NHL gets outdrawn on TV by Pro Bowling and Pro Bull Riding...I'm done with the NHL's bullshit, thank God for Baseball season.

[Tim]

But ratings are up this year.

[Rick Rod]

The NHL is descending to the level of the WWE where the ref looks puzzled at the mayhem that is exploding around him. I can't watch this s*** anymore as I enjoy seeing skilled players, not goons who knock out the best players with the blessing of the league. Don Cherry can bite my ass!!!