Who is to blame for this pandemic of suspendable/questionable behavior?

[Swervin81]

I say Carlyle. A lot of these players are the same as what we had with Ron Wilson and under his regime, we were the softest team in the league and a lot of the players that are playing tougher and meaner under Carlyle were turning the other cheek with Wilson. The same trend can be seen with Carlyle's Anaheim teams. Before and after, apart from a few isolated incidents that are few and far between, not much in terms of dirty play. During Carlyle's tenure, lots of questionable conduct and suspensions, including a few in the playoffs.

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[Glenn Isildur Healy]

Its the players. Period.

I understand its the heat of the moment, but Lupul really needs to think before he acts

RC cant think for the players as well

 

[Ari91]

You apparently have no concept of accountability. Why isn't every player getting suspended? Asking your players to play more physical and grittier doesn't mean free reign to do whatever you want. The player is always responsible for what he does with his body and equipment on the ice. Unless Carlyle instructs them to take some head shots then the fault is on the player. Why do some Leafs fans always look for any excuse to absolve the players of blame? There are more physical and grittier teams in the league who have been suspended less. Either those other teams know how to play smarter or they've gotten lucky to get away with their indiscretions.

 

[Quarter]

In all my years of playing sports, I never felt an increased urge to cheapshot opposing players depending on who my coach was. I never did because that's not who I was as a player.

So yeah... players. No question about it.

 

[Swervin81]

I'm not absolving the players of blame, they definitely have to be smarter about it, but I'm just noticing a trend with 2 different teams under Carlyle's tenure. Fool me once, shame on you (It's a coincidence). Fool me twice....

 

[Primary Assist]

The league. What was once a clean/borderline play when these guys were growing up is now suspendable.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

The league. What was once a clean/borderline play when these guys were growing up is now suspendable.

Blaming the league is weak

The players know the rules

 

[TootooTrain]

The league. What was once a clean/borderline play when these guys were growing up is now suspendable.

Pretty much. Players haven't changed all that much. When they do, it's to adapt to the sensitivity of calls and try to draw more penalties as a result. It's actually caused more diving in my opinion.

 

[Penalty Kill Icing*]

Looks like coach is demanding physicality, but like the usual, the correct message isn't going through.

Same as our defensive play. Coach wants something, players interpreting differently.

Both to be blamed.

 

[ConnorTO]

less ***** footing and more don cherry !

 

[Duffman955]

Shanahan is to blame.

there is no reason for Phaneuf to have been suspended for this:




While Nash gets away for this:



Shanahan is the poster boy for bias.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

Looks like coach is demanding physicality, but like the usual, the correct message isn't going through.

Same as our defensive play. Coach wants something, players interpreting differently.

Both to be blamed.

Ill play along here

Coach demands physicality and the players are interpreting as giving oppositions headshots?

 

[ACC1224]

This is better than being pushed around

 

[Warden of the North]

What is illegal now was legal yesterday and players are struggling to catch up. The play isnt any worse, its just being more heavily penalized now.

 

[Epictetus]

As much as I want to say the players, it's the NHL. Rules need to be black and white. The only time this was actually in effect was Clarkson jumping over the bench, resulting in a 10 game suspension. That would be on Clarkson, not the NHL. It was clear cut, clearly defined within the rules along with the punishment.

However, the NHL has largely decided to take a different stance which involves complicated rules that no referee or third party can consistently comprehend. How else can you explain a referee looking directly at a hit only for it to be not a penalty, but somehow still a punishable offence? Or a referee ejecting a player from the game, and the league providing no discipline? I still find the range of guesses on a suspension to be comical. Absolutely no precedence or consistency, particularly when similar offences are compared. Don't even get me started on injury being the biggest factor in a suspension.

 

[Milan90]

The fact that the league is suspending hockey plays gone wrong now, instead of suspending only plays where there is an intent to injure.

Our team is a physical team and a lot of the distinction between a legal hit and an illegal hit comes from the player receiving the hit.

We hit more than other teams, there's a higher chance of us hitting illegally as well.

 

[Deebo]

Blaming the league is weak

The players know the rules

I find that the rules aren't applied on a consistent basis. Some incidents get supplemental discipline while similar incidents get nothing. Sidenberg getting nothing for his check to the head of D'Amigo and Clarkson getting 2 games for his incident comes to mind.

I'd have no problem with any of the suspensions Leaf players got if similar hits were punished equally.

 

[bleeney]

Shanahan is to blame.

there is no reason for Phaneuf to have been suspended for this:




While Nash gets away for this:



Shanahan is the poster boy for bias.

And Tom Wilson didn't get suspended...or even fined...for this charge that launched Brayden Schenn headfirst into the boards:



He had him in his bombsights all the way from the blueline, and actually accelerated into him at the last minute. That's the kind of dangerous hit that's going to break someone's neck and leave them a paraplegic one day!

 

[Dreakmur]

And Tom Wilson didn't get suspended...or even fined...for this charge that launched Brayden Schenn headfirst into the boards:



He had him in his bombsights all the way from the blueline, and actually accelerated into him at the last minute. That's the kind of dangerous hit that's going to break someone's neck and leave them a paraplegic one day!

What would he suspend Wilson for? Hitting too hard? It was not an illegal check.

 

[yubbers]

I agree. He had clear intent to run him. Less heat of the moment but had time to think about it and chose to run.
Schenn still gave his back though.

At the very least a charge. Not clean

 

[Paris in Flames]

What would he suspend Wilson for? Hitting too hard? It was not an illegal check.

Agreed.

Can't blame Wilson for Schenn turning at the last minute. Perfectly fine with the hit. Shanny's video on it was actually perfect and the best he's done yet.

 

[Primary Assist]

Blaming the league is weak

The players know the rules

I'm not trying to say they're doing so with any malice or anything, but when common plays you see every day are suddenly resulting in multi-game suspensions when plays that are clearly dirty are ignored it's hard for the players and coaches to know what is or isn't illegal. This inconsistency is dangerous and overall bad for the final product of the game.

 

[The Brightside]

does anyone remember JVR getting elbowed in the face in game 7 against Boston. the meltdown followed right after and there was no retaliation. i have no problem with them continuing with this angry behavior if it can result in something positive. there was a need of retaliation at game 7, it didn't happen. lets hope they learned from that.

 

[jmart21]

Jesus. This OP is legendary.


RC isn't to blame for the player's actions. Period.

 

[Remuskokafication]

Lupul's cross-check was a glorified face wash.
I saw Deaner do exactly the same thing dozens of times, the only reaction would be Bowen saying "A bit of the rough stuff after the whistle." Maybe a roughing minor if the refs wanted to cool things down.