How many games for Niskanen?

[The Mad Ape]

I'll say 4. Deliberate head shot to leagues best player. He had a history of headshots.

http://scoutingtherefs.com/2014/10/4846/caps-niskanen-facing-suspension-elbow-canes-skinner/

Fry him.

TMA

[Nyssa]

Even with the one game of regular season suspension equals two
in the playoffs formula, I'd up that to five games.

Nasty hit plus a history. Regardless of who he hit, he should
fry AND broil.

Nyssa, who should be put in charge of Player Safety for the NHL

[Chuck]

No suspension. I think the use of a variable rule book or let them play actions by the Refs contributes to the ramping up of reckless play. When nothing is called players start pushing the limits of what the Refs will ignore. They let slashing, high sticking, cross checking pass. The delay in calling a 5 min major, indicates the Refs had to think about it. I wasn't surprised when they decided to turn the rule book back on when they nailed Malkin, taking away two minutes of the five minute man advantage

[Gerry]

Sounds like zero?

Not surprised, although I didn't see the incident. Officiating standards are so low in the playoffs I would expect it would take something quite extreme to warrant a suspension.

l8r,
Gerry

[Mike]

I think I'm in the minority - 0 games I say. Crosby looked like he fell
awkwardly into Niskanen which caused him to lose balance. I think he put
out his arms in an instinct to brace himself and took the chance to clip
Crosby. On purposes? Yeah, probably but there's enough doubt in there
for me.

On this subject - it was bound to happen of course. The refs are doing
their usual put the whistle away and it leads to this nonsense. You
watch the parade of players to the box for the next couple days.

Said it many times - NHL refs are THE worst of any professional sport.

[Gerry]

On Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 3:44:34 PM UTC-4, Mike wrote:
>
> I think I'm in the minority - 0 games I say. Crosby looked like he fell
> awkwardly into Niskanen which caused him to lose balance. I think he put
> out his arms in an instinct to brace himself and took the chance to clip
> Crosby. On purposes? Yeah, probably but there's enough doubt in there
> for me.

Agreed now that I've seen it. That said, there are liberties being taken all over the place. When one eventually leads to an injury, it ought not to catch folks quite so offguard as this seems to have.

> On this subject - it was bound to happen of course. The refs are doing
> their usual put the whistle away and it leads to this nonsense. You
> watch the parade of players to the box for the next couple days.
>
> Said it many times - NHL refs are THE worst of any professional sport.

I don't think they're the worst in that they are incapable/incompetent at calling the game, however. It's something different. They have a mandate to call/not call games certain ways at certain times. They have a mandate to "manage" games, instead of applying rules. I have sometimes read articles where they deny that, but I don't believe it at all. You can clearly see they are consciously choosing how to officiate games, and it's not about being able to see or being unable to see when infractions are committed. There is a guiding philosophy being applied that I think is the real issue here, not the basic competence of individual officials (in general - there may be some few exceptions).

l8r,
Gerry

[The Mad Ape]

I missed the boat on that one.

Oh well, I hope the Gr8 8 continues to suck and is bounced early again.

TMA

[Mike]

Sure is looking that way. I propose a trade. We trade Max "Casper"
Pacioretty and his wonderful contract to Washington for their ghost.
Might even throw in a bunch of 4th line plugs and bottom pairing D -
Bergy has a ton of them.

[Nyssa]

Ditto on the missed boat. It's hard to take the NHL's stance
on eliminating head shots when they let this pass without
supplemental punishment.

Ditto on the Caps. As long as the Caps and Ducks are eliminated,
I'll be content with any combination of the rest of the pack
in the Final.

It's a shame really because I like Barry Trotz. I just dislike
that selfish brat Ovie more than I like Trotz.

Nyssa, who only made it through the first two periods of
the Oilers-Ducks game last night <yawn!>

[Chuck]

The NHL has no interest in promoting skill. They want to sell grit and close games. " play style" of reffing serves thier skilled players up on a silver platter to players who would struggle to stay in the NHL if the rules were enforced as written. Ignoring infractions with the misguided belief that the Refs would somehow become responsible for the outcome of games rather then the players who commit penalties rewards players who can't pass or shoot. Their questionable checking skills negate skilled players when Refs stick their whistles in thier pockets. Fans of the remaining teams might enjoy the bump and grind of close games but I find watching the random application of the rule book frustrating and boring. Maybe they should take all the speed out of the game by mandating equipment be worn that would be strong and bulky enough that would provide 100% protection against the slashing, cross checking and charging, the current equipment fails to do and just delete these offences from the rule book.