Malkin High Sticking Match Penalty (Suspended for One Game)

[HTFN]

This one seems pretty clearcut to me: Raffl's abusing 71 in way that should never be permitted by the refs, dooshy--especially the embellishment, but it what guys like him do. Since, 1) the refs didn't do their jobs, and 2) Geno can often be an idiot, he reacted, as expected, foolishly.

Thus, the fault, again, is the pizzpoor officiating, with a secondary assist by 71.

Yeah, I understand that it's very situational and it would be a slippery slope if you punished Raffl because of Malkin's recent injury, but I think it at least serves for people to understand why Malkin would swing his stick like that. Some people are acting as though it's the dirtiest thing ever and "oh my god how could he do such a thing, blah blah blah".

Nope. Nope nope nope. There is no excuse, just stop.

When you make a bad decision that you know is a bad decision, that's on you. It doesn't matter who pushed you into it, or where your manbaby temper's limit is. What is expected of you remains expected of you. Swinging your stick at another player's face crosses that line. He can hack at his ankles all day, that's fine in the context of the sport. There are plenty of illegal things he could have done that are notably less garbage than swinging his stick that high.

Nobody really needs the context to know he was mad. It doesn't matter what he took objection to. The fact is, pretty plain and simple, swinging your stick at someone's face means you were trying to hurt them. There is no other reasonable desired outcome. If that is the instinct of another NHL player, well, there's your exhibit A for a guy with "no respect for the safety and well being of his fellow players". It's consistent with his attitude in the interviews, too, he doesn't even regret what he did even though it's undeniably ****ty.

Some people never get this, but you can't control other people. You can keep wishing for a world where Raffl just isn't allowed to do what he did, or where nobody will antagonize you, but they won't come any quicker that way. The quickest, simplest way to make sure Malkin never swings his stick at another player is for Malkin to control himself and that instinct. Waiting on everyone else to change so that you "no longer have to" be an ***hole, that's not going to cut it.

When a player swings his hockey stick like a weapon at the face of another player, you are absolutely allowed to say "oh my god, how could he do such a thing". Or if you're not a ninny, "hey, what the **** was that?" It's not normal or justifiable, and has no place in the sport.

 

[Beef Invictus]

It’s quite obvious at this point that you’re struggling explaining what you wanted to say, but hey it’s been over a decade of free rent, not going to complain...

I pretty clearly stated what I was pointing out, it isn't my fault if reading is hard for you.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Nope. Nope nope nope. There is no excuse, just stop.

When you make a bad decision that you know is a bad decision, that's on you. It doesn't matter who pushed you into it, or where your manbaby temper's limit is. What is expected of you remains expected of you. Swinging your stick at another player's face crosses that line. He can hack at his ankles all day, that's fine in the context of the sport. There are plenty of illegal things he could have done that are notably less garbage than swinging his stick that high.

Nobody really needs the context to know he was mad. It doesn't matter what he took objection to. The fact is, pretty plain and simple, swinging your stick at someone's face means you were trying to hurt them. There is no other reasonable desired outcome. If that is the instinct of another NHL player, well, there's your exhibit A for a guy with "no respect for the safety and well being of his fellow players". It's consistent with his attitude in the interviews, too, he doesn't even regret what he did even though it's undeniably ****ty.

Some people never get this, but you can't control other people. You can keep wishing for a world where Raffl just isn't allowed to do what he did, or where nobody will antagonize you, but they won't come any quicker that way. The quickest, simplest way to make sure Malkin never swings his stick at another player is for Malkin to control himself and that instinct. Waiting on everyone else to change so that you "no longer have to" be an ***hole, that's not going to cut it.

When a player swings his hockey stick like a weapon at the face of another player, you are absolutely allowed to say "oh my god, how could he do such a thing". Or if you're not a ninny, "hey, what the **** was that?" It's not normal or justifiable, and has no place in the sport.

Lol. reading wayyyyyyyyyy too far into my statement here, you twisted my words into a pretty tight pretzel. I didn't say any of this excused or justified what Malkin did.

My comment was simply that it serves to explain WHY Malkin was so pissed off and for the people who wring their hands and act like Malkin just committed the most despicable act ever seen on an ice hockey surface... Offering an explanation for why he's angry doesn't mean i'm trying to justify why it was okay for him to swing his stick. It wasn't okay at all, it was stupid and he deserved the suspension. Now , if you want to continue a discussion go right ahead, but please don't twist any of my comments to make it out as though I'm justifying what he did.

 

[StoneHands]

Are you new to hockey? I've seen players get punched in scrums all day and not do anything, yet get set off for a matching minor. If you have kids I'm sure you've sent one to their rooms when they weren't necessarily guilty.

This wasn't a scrum. It wasn't after the play with two players chirping face to face. When was the last time you saw someone get roughed, crosschecked, punched from behind while handling the puck and the ref immediately blew the whistle and called both players even though the player being fouled didn't even engage with the other player? That literally never happens. If that were the case then why isn't even single roughing penalty handled this way?

And that's part of the deal- Pens fans would have rather seen Malkin sit for basically doing nothing for 2 mins over 1 game (or worse). Again goes back to the officials tolerating this garbage until it escalates into something bad.

But in this scenario you would have no way of knowing Malkin was going to wildly swing his stick at someone's face so I promise you wouldn't have this same opinion. Unless you'd be fine calling both players in every penalty situation since there's always a chance someone may retaliate.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

This wasn't a scrum. It wasn't after the play with two players chirping face to face. When was the last time you saw someone get roughed, crosschecked, punched from behind while handling the puck and the ref immediately blew the whistle and called both players even though the player being fouled didn't even engage with the other player? That literally never happens. If that were the case then why isn't even single roughing penalty handled this way?


But in this scenario you would have no way of knowing Malkin was going to wildly swing his stick at someone's face so I promise you wouldn't have this same opinion. Unless you'd be fine calling both players in every penalty situation since there's always a chance someone may retaliate.

#1 - yes I've seem plenty of players who literally get dinged for matching minors - scrum or not. It's all based upon reputation

#2- again you ignored the CONTEXT of this situation which I laid out previously: 3-0 game, division rivals and 1 team just scored with like 4 mins left. The easiest way to squash any BS is to start sending people to the box. I am a ref, so hopefully that adds a bit more insight to my perception.

You're right we don't have an alternate reality. Maybe the ref blows his whistle and Malkin still tries to axe the dude's head off...we don't know but I should would have preferred that reality vs doing jack (and that's what the ref did- jack)

 

[StoneHands]

#1 - yes I've seem plenty of players who literally get dinged for matching minors - scrum or not. It's all based upon reputation

Please post a video example of any time during play when a player is roughed from behind and has posession of the puck and the ref blows the play dead and gives matching minors. You can say it over and over but it just doesn't happen unless he turns around and is about to engage with the other player. To blame the refs for not knowing Malkin was going to retaliate in a way that got him suspended is ridiculous.

#2- again you ignored the CONTEXT of this situation which I laid out previously: 3-0 game, division rivals and 1 team just scored with like 4 mins left. The easiest way to squash any BS is to start sending people to the box. I am a ref, so hopefully that adds a bit more insight to my perception.

The rules don't change in a 3-0 game and they don't change with 4 minutes remaining. If that's what the league is going to do and they're going to flat out change the rule book to call penalties for infractions that don't happen, this league is in big trouble.

Also, I've been a USA Hockey ref for 22 years so I hope that adds more insight to my perception. I'm not sure where you ref but I'd like to see where in your rule book it says that the rules change depending on the time or score of the game. It's one thing if there's 20 seconds left in a blowout but come on.

You're right we don't have an alternate reality. Maybe the ref blows his whistle and Malkin still tries to axe the dude's head off...we don't know but I should would have preferred that reality vs doing jack (and that's what the ref did- jack)

Advocating for calling matching minors every time there's a penalty called in the last few minutes of a game between divisional teams is an alternative reality that I'm glad I don't have to live in.

 

[3074326]

It's like Malkin's reaction justifies a punch in the back of the head to some of you. Just because the reaction was worse than the initial punch doesn't mean that one is fine and the other isn't. But some of you are close-minded know-it-alls with no critical thinking ability so I don't even know why I'm saying this.

 

[HTFN]

Lol. reading wayyyyyyyyyy too far into my statement here, you twisted my words into a pretty tight pretzel. I didn't say any of this excused or justified what Malkin did.

My comment was simply that it serves to explain WHY Malkin was so pissed off and for the people who wring their hands and act like Malkin just committed the most despicable act ever seen on an ice hockey surface... Offering an explanation for why he's angry doesn't mean i'm trying to justify why it was okay for him to swing his stick. It wasn't okay at all, it was stupid and he deserved the suspension. Now , if you want to continue a discussion go right ahead, but please don't twist any of my comments to make it out as though I'm justifying what he did.

It's this part here. I'm not saying it's the very worst ever, but in terms of the action in a vacuum (independent of the result) trying to hit another player in the head with your stick is pretty up there. Weaponizing your equipment in any way, from stick swinging to skate stomping, displays a wild or cold malice that shouldn't be downplayed like this, and maybe you don't intend to but your phrasing doesn't really do it justice.

I would 100% rather have a conversation where Malkin just tracked Raffl back down the ice and smoked him. Even if he didn't have the puck, just freight trained the guy. I could understand and accept that well before something like this.

 

[NoMessi]

The difference is Bertuzzi jumped an unsuspecting player from behind and after throwing a haymaker to the back/side of Moore's head, he then drove him face first into the ice and broke his neck, ending his career and leaving him with a permanent brain injury. Totally the same as throwing a 6 inch rabbit punch that barely moved Malkins lid.

Would it be fair if I said what's the difference between this and the McSorley-Brasheer incident? See how dumb that sounds?

Its not dumb. Get the stick on the f***ing ice and stop suckerpunching people in the back of the head, how hard is it?

The biggest difference between all the things is outcome.

 

[Lomez]

Nope. Nope nope nope. There is no excuse, just stop.

When you make a bad decision that you know is a bad decision, that's on you. It doesn't matter who pushed you into it, or where your manbaby temper's limit is. What is expected of you remains expected of you. Swinging your stick at another player's face crosses that line. He can hack at his ankles all day, that's fine in the context of the sport. There are plenty of illegal things he could have done that are notably less garbage than swinging his stick that high.

Nobody really needs the context to know he was mad. It doesn't matter what he took objection to. The fact is, pretty plain and simple, swinging your stick at someone's face means you were trying to hurt them. There is no other reasonable desired outcome. If that is the instinct of another NHL player, well, there's your exhibit A for a guy with "no respect for the safety and well being of his fellow players". It's consistent with his attitude in the interviews, too, he doesn't even regret what he did even though it's undeniably ****ty.

Some people never get this, but you can't control other people. You can keep wishing for a world where Raffl just isn't allowed to do what he did, or where nobody will antagonize you, but they won't come any quicker that way. The quickest, simplest way to make sure Malkin never swings his stick at another player is for Malkin to control himself and that instinct. Waiting on everyone else to change so that you "no longer have to" be an ***hole, that's not going to cut it.

When a player swings his hockey stick like a weapon at the face of another player, you are absolutely allowed to say "oh my god, how could he do such a thing". Or if you're not a ninny, "hey, what the **** was that?" It's not normal or justifiable, and has no place in the sport.

I don't disagree with any of this, but it cannot be gainsaid that much of the nonsense we're seeing in the game could be mitigated by some consistent and competent officiating. That's a point independent of Geno being an idiot.

 

[NoMessi]

You think Raffl should have been suspended for that? That's a 2 minute penalty at worst. This has to be one of the most illogical bias opinions I've ever seen here and that's saying something.

So you are actually fine with sucker punching people in the neck? Can you please do that to anyone in public. You get to choose whoever you do it to, but law enforcement needs to be present.

Write your answer here as soon as you're out of jail.

Im the biased one? Im the one saying that I would be fine with Malkin having an even harder suspension. You are the hypocrite here.

 

[HTFN]

I don't disagree with any of this, but it cannot be gainsaid that much of the nonsense we're seeing in the game could be mitigated by some consistent and competent officiating. That's a point independent of Geno being an idiot.

It can't, and that inconsistency is what lets this type of thing remain "debatable" to some people, but I really wish it weren't. I'm more than happy to agree, to the extent that I didn't even need to pretend that Malkin was on my team to watch that play and say "okay, what was that?"... or at least that's what was running through my mind until Malkin did his bit. I know it will never be 100% inclusive, but I would like to think that we can get to a point as hockey fans where some of the more obviously unacceptable nonsense like this, or biting, or trying to stomp on people can just be universally panned. To your team board's credit I know it's not a lot of you who think otherwise, but this thread is kind of a bummer.