Kronwall suspended for game 7

[RonMexico]

This is another hit that they've allowed sometimes, further illustrating the DoPS' inconsistency. While they use "leaves his feet" as a righteous justification in some decisions they completely ignore it in other hits. It seems to be just another factor that they only pay attention to if it matches their narrative.

For example, just earlier this month Andrew Shaw didn't get a suspension for clearly launching himself into a hit, targeting the head of Jackman. [video]

If they every truly hope to make the league safer they have to become more consistent. Saying that if you every launch yourself up you will be suspended seems like an easy place to start, and yet it's still apparently too much to ask.

The current criteria, whatever it is, is too grey for consistency. They need to do something like automatic suspensions for questionable infractions. Even if the blame isn't solely on the player, draw the line in the sand and say they don't care if you had a toenail or a full foot over the line. With the way it is right now, the whole open to interpretation methodology used is laughable. If I knew an automatic suspension was coming, it would certainly make me a lot more leery of making that questionable hit.

[poetica]

The current criteria, whatever it is, is too grey for consistency. They need to do something like automatic suspensions for questionable infractions. Even if the blame isn't solely on the player, draw the line in the sand and say they don't care if you had a toenail or a full foot over the line. With the way it is right now, the whole open to interpretation methodology used is laughable. If I knew an automatic suspension was coming, it would certainly make me a lot more leery of making that questionable hit.

That's it exactly. Their criteria isn't clearly defined and leaves far too much wiggle room for them to decide how to apply the rules and when to let things slide, making their decisions inconsistent and leaving the entire process vulnerable to bias. Even allowing the perception of bias is bad for the league and will likely become far more so if they do set up a new franchise in Sin City.

I hope that once they leave the league, players who have been hurt by "questionable" calls sue the league for creating a dangerous work environment and failing to do their due diligence to minimize the risk of players by having a clearly established set of rules so all players know what is or is not acceptable and what they have to be willing to risk to play as well as established and consistent punishments to discourage players who play outside the rules. Hockey, like any sport, is inherently dangerous but players should never have to expect, or accept, dangerous hits, especially those targeting the head. Unfortunately, as it stands players have to be expecting anything, no matter how illegal, because it may or not may even be penalized and they have no power to do or say anything about it.

[Goatbeards48]

That's what makes Kronwall's hits so dangerous, the fact that he turns and hits them back-first means his momentum swings his arms, which can do a lot of damage.

But have you ever seen him swing his arms and hit someone with an elbow?

I keep hearing "launched", IMO he barely leaves his feet.

Biased Wings fan I guess.

100% disagree with a game 7 suspension, there's been far worse in these playoffs this year.

[RonMexico]

But have you ever seen him swing his arms and hit someone with an elbow?

I keep hearing "launched", IMO he barely leaves his feet.

Biased Wings fan I guess.

100% disagree with a game 7 suspension, there's been far worse in these playoffs this year.

So you are saying because it's a suspension for an important game that it somehow makes the hit less dangerous???

This is the root of the friggin problem. A dangerous hit is a dangerous hit regardless of the timing of the season. A head shot in game 1 of the regular season is equal to a head shot in Game 7 of a playoff series.

The players are either confused, don't care or are willing to take the risk. All three of these scenarios can be avoided by mandatory punishment for questionable hits. It's not just whether it was a questionable hit, the player is showing questionable judgement by delivering a hit that could quite possibly seriously injure someone else. Players should be punished for making a poor decision regardless of the time of the season.

[MovesLikeDatsyuk]

Still cant get over how this is the ONLY hit called all postseason. Bettman and Stevie Y. Must play tonsil hockey with one another.

[stawns]

Clean ? Principal point of contact was his forearm/elbow to head.

purely the reaction of Kucherov moving to his left at the last millisecond. had he been skating with his head up he could have either made a play or absorbed the hit with his body. Terrible, terrible decision by the league.

[canuck73_3]

Still cant get over how this is the ONLY hit called all postseason. Bettman and Stevie Y. Must play tonsil hockey with one another.

You'd think a Wings fan would show Yzerman a bit more respect...

[Down by the River]

Kronwall consistently makes this type of hit where he avoids using his shoulder to reduce the risk of injury to himself.

He had a chance to hit Kucherov with his left shoulder, but instead decided to turn his left shoulder inward, exposing his back. As he did so, the momentum of his turn brought his forearm up. Forearm made contact before his back did.

Kronwall's hits are kind of like Edler's reverse-hits. Part of me doesn't like the idea of them, but another part of me loves seeing them. Problem for both players is that there is little room for error.

[elvis15]

NHL DoPS not consistent. Not worth arguing but ...

How about this one, same game. Contact to the head? Boarding? Puck not on Abdlekader's stick

...

Or Palat hit on Glendenning:

...

I don't know what the heck that second video is, but the first video has Abdelkader trying to play the puck but is hooked. So take the 'not on his stick' part out since he's trying to play it and would be eligible to be hit so far. Contact to the head is incidental to a hit squarely through the body, so don't focus on that either (remembering Kronwall wasn't suspended for a hit to the head as well). Then you can see that Abdelkader falls into the boards before Garrison makes contact so there's not much from a boarding perspective either.

The worst part I can see about that (other than the Stamkos hook) is Garrison does start to leave his feet. That said, there were other factors to consider than it just being a one on one and straight up it, so it's not as cut and dry.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Glad he was finally suspended, but talk about bad timing. This is no worse than his regular imho.

Anyway, anyone else miss the good 'ol days of hitting in hockey?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJYsV9B7g7c

1. Being hit doesn't automatically mean you drop the gloves with the guy who hit you.

2. So many types of fantastic hits are rarely seen today.

3. This is a bit of a rant, but it seems that today's millionaire players are more concerned about their twitter status, their stacks of cash, their entourage and their ladies than they are about putting in a decent product on the ice. The NHLPA is a bloated mess that is caving in on itself. But I suppose this perception is ongoing for fans who grew up watching the game. Pretty sure oldtimers said similar things when the players started wearing helmets, etc.

[THERETOOL]

That's brutal.

Way to put Detroit on the ropes before the game even starts.

Detroit just got screwed

[Industrious1]

Those Kronwall hits have been questionable for a long time now. On one hand I'm kind of glad that the NHL is getting their pound of flesh...on the other, after all that the League has let go the timing of this really couldn't be worse from Detroit's perspective.

In the end, I suppose it doesn't really matter if he was in the lineup or not for game 7. Defense wasn't their big issue and you aren't going to win a lot of games scoring 0 goals.