![Let’s break down one of the most blatant attempts to injure a player in recent NHL memory (anything done by Steve Downie notwithstanding), shall we?
Last night Anaheim Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski made a beeline from the blue line toward Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook as he stood behind his own goal line and the resulting hit knocked out Seabrook while he was still on his skates and took him out of the game. Wisniewski received a two-minute minor for charging and a five for fighting when Duncan Keith came to his parnter’s aid. Here’s the video for reference. And here’s the official NHL definition of charging to see that this could and should have been a match penalty with a game misconduct.
In the first frame above, the puck is in Seabrook’s skates. It’s the only time in this play he’ll touch the puck. In Frame Two you can see Wisniewski’s gloves coming into the picture, yet the puck is clearly already moving away from Seabrook. In Frame Four you could argue that Wiz looks like he might be thinking about playing the puck, but by Frame Five you can see he has zeroed in on Seabrook and is committing to the it — mind you, he has already covered about 40 feet of real estate and all the while Seabrook hasn’t had the puck. Even in Frame Five, it’s apparent Keith isn’t about to dish the puck two feet to his partner, but he’s winding up to ring it around the boards up to the winger for the breakout. The rest is self-explanatory.
Personally — and Blackhawks loyalties aside — I think this hit is worse than Downie’s hit on Dean McAmmond, which drew a 20-game suspension. McAmmond at least had the puck until about a second and six feet before Downie leapt into him, whereas Seabrook hadn’t handled the puck before Wisniewski had even entered the zone. If this draws anything less than 10 games it will be a travesty and make it clear that the NHL isn’t taking player safety seriously.
[You can see the image above in its original size here. Feel free to pass it around, but please link back here if you share.]](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kzhe0bYHuS1qz82s5o1_500.jpg)
Let’s break down one of the most blatant attempts to injure a player in recent NHL memory (anything done by Steve Downie notwithstanding), shall we?
Last night Anaheim Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski made a beeline from the blue line toward Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook as he stood behind his own goal line and the resulting hit knocked out Seabrook while he was still on his skates and took him out of the game. Wisniewski received a two-minute minor for charging and a five for fighting when Duncan Keith came to his parnter’s aid. Here’s the video for reference. And here’s the official NHL definition of charging to see that this could and should have been a match penalty with a game misconduct.
In the first frame above, the puck is in Seabrook’s skates. It’s the only time in this play he’ll touch the puck. In Frame Two you can see Wisniewski’s gloves coming into the picture, yet the puck is clearly already moving away from Seabrook. In Frame Four you could argue that Wiz looks like he might be thinking about playing the puck, but by Frame Five you can see he has zeroed in on Seabrook and is committing to the it — mind you, he has already covered about 40 feet of real estate and all the while Seabrook hasn’t had the puck. Even in Frame Five, it’s apparent Keith isn’t about to dish the puck two feet to his partner, but he’s winding up to ring it around the boards up to the winger for the breakout. The rest is self-explanatory.
Personally — and Blackhawks loyalties aside — I think this hit is worse than Downie’s hit on Dean McAmmond, which drew a 20-game suspension. McAmmond at least had the puck until about a second and six feet before Downie leapt into him, whereas Seabrook hadn’t handled the puck before Wisniewski had even entered the zone. If this draws anything less than 10 games it will be a travesty and make it clear that the NHL isn’t taking player safety seriously.
[You can see the image above in its original size here. Feel free to pass it around, but please link back here if you share.]
