The NHL, Clueless As Usual

Just a disclaimer, I’m about to rant about hockey here.

The winter meetings which bring together the group of NHL general mangers always produce some interesting conversation.  The focus of the meetings is not only to wheel and deal players, but to have conversation about the game itself.  This year, given the occurrence of a few vicious hits to the head over the past couple of months, there was much talk about what to do regarding this issue.  To get a feel for what I’m talking about when I say hits to the head, watch the three short videos below.

Let’s talk about these three hits individually, because although they may seem similar, in fact, they are not.

In the first video, Paul Kariya, a star forward for the Anaheim Ducks gets hit by Scott Stevens, a hall of fame defenseman from the New Jersey Devils who is undoubtedly one of the best and most feared hitters of all time .  Stevens hits Kariya a second after he passes the puck off, above the offensive zone blueline.  The hit is made head on, as in, Stevens and Kariya are moving in opposite directions while facing each other.  Stevens keeps his shoulder down and hits Kariya square in the chest.  Both are moving laterally across the rink, what we call east/west in hockey.  Kariya was hit with his head down coming across the middle of the rink and watching his pass after it was made.  That hit didn’t take place this year, it was from 2003, Kariya was knocked out cold, went to the dressing room, but came back in the third period to score the game winning goal.

The second video shows David Booth, a star forward for the Florida Panthers hit by Mike Richards, a star forward for the Philadelphia Flyers.  The booth hit is similar in every way to the Kariya hit, except for the fact that it is Booth’s head which takes the brunt of the hit instead of his chest.  Booth had his head down, was looking the other way, and crossing the middle of the ice at high speed, a dangerous combination.  Richards keeps his elbows down and explodes through the hit, a textbook maneuver, exactly what he is taught to do.

In the third video, Marc Savard, a star forward for the Boston Bruins is hit by Matt Cooke, a relative nobody from the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Although the setup to this hit looks similar as the two above, the hit is anything but.  Cooke comes across the middle of the ice and hits Savard in the head with his elbow while making no contact with any other part of his body.  Cooke makes no effort to hit Savard head on, he is targeting his head and his head only with raised elbows.

I highlighted these three hits because they show a progression from completely unambiguously clean hit, to a grey area, to one of the dirtiest hits I’ve ever seen.  None of the hitters were given suspensions.

The NHL general managers took up the issue of hits to the head last week and have come to the conclusion that something must be done regarding this specific instance.  The text released today by the general mangers group puts on the table a rule that would  prohibit, “a lateral, back-pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact.”

Now, you might say, what’s wrong with this rule, it seems like an obvious fix to an issue that needs to be taken care of given the increased number of incidences of this type recently.  To that I would say, you’re wrong.

For any of you finance types still reading (I doubt it), I would equate this type of rule to making any new rules regarding short sales, in fact, the metaphor is so good, I’m going to explain it word for word.

There are already sufficient rules in place to guard against abusive short selling.  You must go through a procedure to initiate the short sale, you must play within the rules of the market while holding the position, and you must close out your short sale legally.  The short sale rules in place make sense, and they allow the market to act as it should.  Similarly, there are already rules which regulate hitting, you can not raise your elbows on any hit, you can not leave the ice to make a hit, you can not hit a player who does not have, just had, or is in the immediate vicinity of the puck.

The problem in both cases is correct enforcement of the rules.  In hockey, the action takes place at such a high speed, that it is quite impossible for a referee to discern whether a hit like this was clean or dirty.  The only thing the addition of this rule will do, is add to the number of unwarranted penalties given to players who make clean hits.

But for me, that really isn’t even the biggest problem.  Hockey is a vicious sport, contact is an integral part of what makes the game so great.  If you have ever played a sport at a high level where contact is a central theme, and then gone on to play that same sport in a mens league where contact is not permitted, you understand just how much the aspect of fear changes the game, and the way you play the game.  The threat of being hit in certain situations fundamentally changes your actions on the ice, it is the ultimate deterrent.  This rule will only do harm to the game, here’s why.

A player looking to make a clean hard check coming across the middle will have to think twice now about hitting an unsuspecting opponent who’s head is down.  The threat of suspension for making a clean check will loom large over that player, and decrease the speed and power with which he makes the hit.  This rule will in essence go towards decreasing a very important part of the game, the level of fear a player should feel when coming across the middle.  Under this new rule, Mike Richards’ hit on David Booth would be illegal when it should not be.  It is not Richards’ job to hold up when Booth has his head down, his elbows were not up and he was not targeting the head.

If a player is going to lay a dirty hit like Matt Cooke did on Mark Savard, it’s going to happen new rule or not.  Cooke was not suspended, an absolute fucking atrocity in my mind.  A player who makes a play that dirty deserves to be suspended for 30 games, at least, if not the whole season.  If the NHL wants to change the way players act in this regard, make suspensions for this type of hit which specifically targets the head in a dirty way more severe.

The other thing that the NHL refuses to realize is that the game has fundamentally changed for one reason.  Players are far bigger, stronger, and fast than they used to be.  Force equals mass times speed, and when you load up the right side of that equation, things happen.  The bodies are just moving around a confined space at too high a speed to not have these types of things happen.  So here’s the solution.  Increase the size of the rink.  Not only will this solve much of the hitting problem, giving players more room to make plays, but it will increase the speed and skill level of the game.  The NHL will fight this solution to the end because it would have to give up revenue by taking away seats from the arena.  But if they want to preserve the game while players grow bigger, get stronger, and move faster, this is the only solution besides taking one of the 5 skaters off the ice, which isn’t ever going to happen, the game of hockey is played with 5 skaters.

Just as in the financial markets, our government tries to fix real problems with bad legislation, so will the NHL.

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