Is this Dustin Byfuglien hit suspension-worthy? (NBC sports)

[Aphid]

Jets are the dirtiest team in the league.

Scheifele and Buff both made dirty hits after the whistle. That's disgustingly cheap. Scheifele needs a fine, and Buff needs to sit 1 game.

This post has to be tongue in cheek. If it's not, that's a shame as the only thing that is disgustingly cheap is the Senators organization as a whole.

Anyways, this is no suspension. It's ludicrous to suggest otherwise. The hate on that people have for Byfuglien is nuts. He's a big player and sometimes players go flying when he hits them. There's other big players in the league that are exactly like this. It happens. Players aren't calculating angles and weight when they hit someone. We're dealing with hockey players. Not mathematicians.

 

[Sasso09]

5 minute major at most. Everyone cries for a suspension on everything now.

 

[Flair Hay]

Meh if Buff really wanted to injure him he could have. A penalty but not a suspension. He probably used about 25% of his strength there.

 

[Chrisinroch]

I love the guy, but that’s a game in the press box if I’m dps

 

[The Beyonder]

Shief hits Rads at the whistle, Carrick comes and gives him a little shove to tell him not to do that, and you got Buff, like a damn truck, cross checking him from behind into the boards for a situation that seemed pretty tame. He needs to realizes he's a damn giant on skates, either Buff doesn't know his own strength or he just doesn't care. Not trying to say you shouldn't play physical but you can't be doing that, not only is it extremely dangerous but completely unnecessary; got his team to lose the PP. Dumb move. I'd say it's suspension worthy.

 

[Hunter368]

Meh if Buff really wanted to injure him he could have. A penalty but not a suspension. He probably used about 25% of his strength there.

Yup.....people who don't watch Buff 82 games a year and at practice don't realize his true strength. He likely is the hardest hitter in the league and he holds back the vast majority of the time. If he wanted to hurt guys.....he literally could put guys in the hospital on a game by game basis and do it legally. That was a gentle tap by a sleeping giant, aka Big Buff.....just don't get him angry. Only guy in the league that would scare me as much as Chara does. Love to see Big Buff & prime Chara as a top pairing......pure intimidation & skill. Yikes

 

[The Tourist]

Carrick wants a piece of Schiefele he better expect to get a piece of Buff too. If he want an exemption because Buff might hurt him he might try ballet.

Brilliant logic. So because Carrick gave him a little push that means he is fair game to be hit from behind when he's two feet off the boards and not ready. Carrick gave Shiefele a little push from the front and put him in zero danger. The Buff hit also had ZERO to do with his strength. I keep seeing morons say Buff only hit him with 25% of his strength or it wast just a tap. McDavid could have hit Carrick from behind there and it would have had the same impact. It was all about vulnerability due to Carrick having his back to Buff, his distance off the glass, and you aren't expecting to get hit from behind after the whistle. If it had been from the front and Carrick was staring at Buff and flat up against the boards then we wouldn't even be having this discussion because Carrick could have braced himself. It was a dirty play, end of debate.

 

[hector morrison]

No suspension=league is not consistent! In no way was that a Hockey play! The player was in a vulnerable position. Buff should know better...5 games or the league is biased!

 

[Johnnybegood13]

Dangerous play, 1 game or even a fine to send a message not to do this kind a crap.

 

[Gm0ney]

Buff was sending the message "don't f*** with Scheifele". The NHL tends to let stuff like that go - especially if there's no injury. It was dumb and dangerous, but DoPS seems to have a lot of tolerance for this kind of thing. Their messages are a lot more inconsistent than Buff's, at any rate...

 

[HatchtrickBateman]

Buff was sending the message "don't **** with Scheifele". The NHL tends to let stuff like that go - especially if there's no injury. It was dumb and dangerous, but DoPS seems to have a lot of tolerance for this kind of thing. Their messages are a lot more inconsistent than Buff's, at any rate...

The point is there are many ways to send a message to not f with a teammate that don’t include putting a guy in a risk of serious injury. On top of all that it appeared Carrick did get a nice bloody nose out of it (I know that is very minor for the sport) but still. Could have been a lot worse regardless of who it was hitting Carrick. Stupid move regardless

 

[BullLund]

Buff's strength is his own undoing at times. He's a freight train and a mere shove from him sends 210+ pound men flying.

He is usually quite composed but he lost his marbles there for a bit. It gets dangerous when that happens.

He could be doing a lot more hitting and roughing with his physical advantages (the guy is over 6'5 and 260 pounds), but usually elects to play a skillful game instead. When Jets are losing, and when Buff isn't playing well himself, he can get frustrated though, and goon it up a bit.

90% of the time he plays the role of a peacemaker. But it's the 10% that people will remember because how brutal he can be, when he wants to.

 

[Beville]

It seemed like reckless endangerment to me... he didn’t need to make the hit at all.

Should’ve been settled on the ice though, not sure about a suspension.

 

[Kalamazoo Wings]

I wasn't mad about it one way or another but damn did it look dangerous at full speed. Outta nowhere Buff comes in and plants him. Should have been a double minor IMO. He's lucky no one was hurt or it's for sure suspensionville for him.

 

[Pia8988]

A fine and a phone call to tell him to not do it again.

 

[almostawake]

From the first angle it looks really bad. From the second it looks pretty meh.

Carrick didn't go in with the top of his head and there wasn't much risk he would. It also dispels the notion that Byfuglien came flying in, as from the second angle it is clear he just kind of drifted in. The cross check itself obviously carried a lot of power, but it wasn't like there was any momentum behind it.

 

[ijuka]

Result is the same.

Not the point.

 

[Unspecified]

Yup.....people who don't watch Buff 82 games a year and at practice don't realize his true strength. He likely is the hardest hitter in the league and he holds back the vast majority of the time. If he wanted to hurt guys.....he literally could put guys in the hospital on a game by game basis and do it legally. That was a gentle tap by a sleeping giant, aka Big Buff.....just don't get him angry. Only guy in the league that would scare me as much as Chara does. Love to see Big Buff & prime Chara as a top pairing......pure intimidation & skill. Yikes

That is irrelevant, just because a player is strong and if he didn't put all of his weight into the hit doesn't reduce the severity of the injury that could or arisen. I can't believe that you think this justifies it.

 

[Unspecified]

If you want to continue our discussion that you and I were having, then that's fine. But I think @maacoshark can speak for himself.

To answer you, though: You seem to have some sort of negative bias against Byfuglien that existed before this sequence anyway. Someone you can read, not only MY mind, but you can read Byfuglien's mind too? Is this some kind of twisted "What Women Want" situation here? I really and truly don't know what Byfuglien's intent was... I'm not "playing dumb". What purpose would that serve for me? I couldn't care less about Byfuglien, or Winnipeg, or Dallas, or anyone involved in this kerfuffle. Byfuglien was barely gliding in, he was practically stationary... it's not like he he took 3 strides into him. You're really exaggerating the force with which he cross-checked the guy. Do you really think that if 6foot5 260-pound Dustin Byfuglien was truly intending to injure Carrick that he would have been able to pop right back up and engage in the scuffle?

He committed a foul, he was given a penalty. I believe that the punishment fit the crime. Again, stop acting like you're somehow morally superior because you see this as more dramatic of a situation than I do.

Edit: For full disclosure, I'm pretty much always on the side of punishing a player who makes egregious plays, but this just doesn't fit the bill for me.

2nd Edit: Sorry, didn't realize you were a Dallas fan. Makes a lot more sense now.

wtf... no... this is not suspension worthy... It's barely even worthy of a 2-minute cross-checking call, IF that. (I wouldn't even call it a penalty).

Also, if Carrick wants to be the 3rd man in and throw a shot at Scheiffele then he should be ready for the 4th man (Buff) to give him a shot as well.

Actually you don't based off you previous response. See you can't even get your story straight.

 

[Bruce Granville]

Nothing to see here.
You touch Scheifele, Buff touches you...
Also known as hockey.

Carrick is new to the team and the Western Conference. He obviously didn‘t remember Buff.

 

[SlapshotTheMovie]

Depends do you want Buff to take you into the shower with him? I'm sure if you payed him enough he could fulfill that fantasy.

SOrry bud . I live in the real world. Buff wants to just beat me up i am more then happy to take his home and his bank account from him. I get in your wittle mind the biggest person can do what they want.... but here in reality thats not how the world works. He can front all he wants but their is more then enough video evidence that he is a big coward that really likes to get tough when no one sees him coming.

 

[Hunter368]

That is irrelevant, just because a player is strong and if he didn't put all of his weight into the hit doesn't reduce the severity of the injury that could or arisen. I can't believe that you think this justifies it.

Who said it justified it......it wasn’t that big of a hit....not even a hit more of a push. Either way, call it whatever it wasn’t a big deal (refs & NHL agree). I loved it, touch our stars and face Buff. Message sent and received loud & clear.

 

[Randal61]

That is irrelevant, just because a player is strong and if he didn't put all of his weight into the hit doesn't reduce the severity of the injury that could or arisen. I can't believe that you think this justifies it.

2nd the justification

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Actually you don't based off you previous response. See you can't even get your story straight.

Just because I personally wouldn't have called it a penalty on the ice doesn't mean that I necessarily disagree with it being called... You do realize that different officials have different perspectives, right? Sometimes one referee calls something that another referee would let go, or vice versa. You don't see them on the ice arguing among themselves when this happens... If I'm an official and I see Carrick come in and hit Scheiffele and then Buff comes in and hits Carrick, I'm not sure I would call that, considering that Carrick was the 3rd guy in and shouldn't have involved himself. Jumping in as the 3rd guy in is just asking for a scrum to start. If I'm an official and I look over in time to see a scuffle starting and then I see Buff lay that cross-check then I would definitely call that. Officials can only call what they see, and it's typically the retaliator that gets called.



I even said earlier in the thread that I wouldn't be upset if he did end up getting suspended, but I personally don't think that he should be.

Thank you for the "Can't even get your story straight" comment though, as though I'm being cross-examined. That made me chuckle.

 

[philip]

Cross checking someone into the boards when the play is dead? That should 100% be a suspension. No business doing shit when the whistle has gone.