Ovechkin's Hit on Campbell

[evilducks]

Lapierre got 4.
OV got 2.

For the same play, roughly.

Such BS.

Maybe Ovie cried during the hearing?

[steelwool]

According to TSN there's now a debate over whether or not Ovechkin is a dirty player.

I don't believe he is, and not because he's among the game's best players. In almost every incident in his career he's never deliberately targeted someone or shown deliberate intent to injure.

What Ovechkin is to me is reckless. It's his style of play, his all-out effort to get to a puck and create a scoring chance. Unfortunately that also means sooner or later someone's going to get hurt, and in his case it's been other players. Sooner or later though that style is going to catch up to him. I've said for some time that his style of play could end up putting himself on the sidelines. It's only a matter of time.

Yes, he is a dirty player. The only reason this is even a discussion is because he is also the most exciting player right now. If he were a regular talent running around like this, everyone would hate him.
But because of his skill, he gets a free pass. Just like Messier. Everyone proclaims him as the greatest leader, but he was a very dirty player, especially in his younger years. Remember how he ended his career? A vicious spear.
Ovechkin is the same. His drive and skill combined make him exciting to watch, but he has no concern for himself or anyone around him.
Some are saying, "it was just a push, not a hit", that's what makes it dirty. A clean, but hard hit into the boards is one thing. But a push from behind, no matter how slight is extremely dangerous. And Ovechkin was right behind Campbell, could read his numbers, saw that Campbell had reversed the puck, and still pushed him. That is dirty. Just like a slew foot, or knee on knee.
And he has done all 3 in less than a year.

[Lyle Richardson]

Lapierre got 4.
OV got 2.

For the same play, roughly.

Such BS.

Maybe Ovie cried during the hearing?

It's not the same play, roughly. Lapierre crosschecked his opponent into the endboards. Ovechkin pushed Campbell. It can be argued Lapierre intended to injury his opponent while Ovechkin did not.

[No Dice]

Does anyone know the status of Brian Campbell? Is he out for the reason?

[evilducks]

Does anyone know the status of Brian Campbell? Is he out for the reason?

Broken Clavical (collar bone) and possibly broken ribs.  He's out for the rest of the season, playoffs is questionable.

[Lyle Richardson]

Lapierre got 4.
OV got 2.

For the same play, roughly.

Such BS.

Maybe Ovie cried during the hearing?

It's not the same play, roughly. Lapierre crosschecked his opponent into the endboards. Ovechkin pushed Campbell. It can be argued Lapierre intended to injury his opponent while Ovechkin did not.

Sorry Lyle......same play.....crosscheck or pushing has no effect on the outcome. Nobody knows what was going through either of their minds when they did this therefore it could also be argued that Ovechkin had intent to injure. The only real difference is Ovechkin is a star and Lapierre is not. Disgusting!

Wrong. Lapierre crosschecked his opponent, which is a flagrant penalty and in that instance could be considered intent to injure. Ovechkin pushed Campbell, and had that been open ice or if Campbell wasn't injured there wouldn't have been a penalty or even a suspension. It had nothing to do with Ovechkin being a star (he's been previously suspended for a more dangerous knee-on-knee hit on Tim Gleason last fall). Had Ovechkin crosschecked Campbell, I would've expected a four-game suspension or more.

[steelwool]

Lapierre got 4.
OV got 2.

For the same play, roughly.

Such BS.

Maybe Ovie cried during the hearing?

It's not the same play, roughly. Lapierre crosschecked his opponent into the endboards. Ovechkin pushed Campbell. It can be argued Lapierre intended to injury his opponent while Ovechkin did not.

Sorry Lyle......same play.....crosscheck or pushing has no effect on the outcome. Nobody knows what was going through either of their minds when they did this therefore it could also be argued that Ovechkin had intent to injure. The only real difference is Ovechkin is a star and Lapierre is not. Disgusting!

Wrong. Lapierre crosschecked his opponent, which is a flagrant penalty and in that instance could be considered intent to injure. Ovechkin pushed Campbell, and had that been open ice or if Campbell wasn't injured there wouldn't have been a penalty or even a suspension. It had nothing to do with Ovechkin being a star (he's been previously suspended for a more dangerous knee-on-knee hit on Tim Gleason last fall). Had Ovechkin crosschecked Campbell, I would've expected a four-game suspension or more.

But it wasn't open ice, it was by the boards. If my brother was a girl, he'd be my sister. You can come up with all the what if's or maybe's, but the case here is Ovechkin saw Campbell's numbers, AFTER he had reversed the puck, and still shoved him from behind into the boards. Crosscheck, shove, same thing. Stupid play from a reckless player. This is the 4th time in less than a year he's done something like that. Name me another player that has that record.
And it has everything to do with him being a star. He was suspended for 2 games for his knee on knee. But ask yourself, how many games was he going to miss because of bruising his own knee?
And he could have been suspended for his hit on Kaleta. The only reason was because he wasn't a repeat offender, even though he should have been suspended for his hit on Gonchar.

[Stupid Fan]

I wonder - could there be some consideration other than how many games the player is missing, for example how much it is costing them in salary?  Though Lapierre sits out four games, his suspension only costs him about $33.5K.  Ovechkin sits out 2, and his suspension costs him about $232.5K.  There is also the fact that Ovechkin sitting out is also punishing his team much more than Lapierre's suspension is punishing his (and I know that the team bears some responsibility for their player, but this isn't a case where a coach told OV to go out and give Campbell a tap... or a push ... or whatever). I just mean to suggest that there are other factors that play into it other than the incident itself, and the history of the player involved.

I would like to see Ovechkin suspended for longer (well, except for the little voice in my head screaming, "But he's in your pool!") - but that's the case with Lapierre too.  I'm just not convinced that these punishments are inconsistent with one another.

As for whether Ovechkin is dirty, I don't think he is.  I think of someone who is dirty as intending to hurt people, and I don't think that's Ovechkin's aim.  He seems reckless as hell to me, and he really owes it to his fellow players to be safer out on the ice (particularly given his strength), but to me that's not dirty.  That's stupid and selfish.  Neither is good, but there is a distinction.

I'm hoping that Ovechkin feels bad about this.  That he really didn't mean the consequences of his shove, and told Campbell as much, and was convincingly.  I hope that he smartens up on the ice a bit - he can still be exciting and powerful out there, but without this stupidity.  I guess time will tell.

[No Dice]

Now I don't think that Ovechkin is a dirty player per se, but I certainly think that his arrogance has grown right along with his fame and someone is gonna give it to him good one day and then maybe that will be his wake up call.

Let's hope he figures it out for himself first........for his sake!

I'm a big fan of OV, but I'm starting to think that myself. He needs to cut this type of reckless stuff out for his own good.

[Lyle Richardson]

Again, in Lapierre's case, he crosschecked his opponent which is a penalty according to the NHL rulebook, which resulted in injuring his opponent. Pushing a player is not a penalized act. Even TSN's Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger agreed Lapierre's suspension was for the right number of games because it came as the result of what is a penalized act as it was a crosscheck from behind, whereas Ovechkin's act can be seen as finishing a check, which if it occurred in open ice or above the goal line there wouldn't have been an injury and thus no penalty.

Ovechkin is a reckless player, not a dirty one like Cooke who plays with intent to injure an opponent. Sure, he deserved the suspensions he's received, and while his all-out style has made him successful it's resulting in casualties and suspensions, which cannot be ignored. He has to learn when to put down the pedal and when to ease off, as from here on out the suspensions will grow in length, which will do he and his team more harm than good.

His style can also be more harmful to himself physically down the road. So far he's been fortunate to escape serious injury playing that reckless style but as Don Cherry noted early in Ovechkin's career some day he's going to suffer a serious injury if he doesn't learn to temper that style.

[Sharks2009]

I have to disagree with you Lyle - Ovechkin's hit was also a penalty - boarding - which is worse than a cross-checking penalty (major vs. minor).  You can't talk about whether it was in open ice or not, because it wasn't.  Boarding can't happen in open ice, while cross-checking can happen anywhere.

I don't think two games is enough, but it is what I expected from the NHL.

It seems like some of you have just figured out that the NHL has a bias towards the top players - this is no secret, and has been this way for a while.  Why does this surprise you?

I don't think Ovie is a dirty player, as others have stated.  He is just reckless - he doesn't look to injure players, he looks to play hard on the puck at all times. 

In the end - I think he should have gotten a bigger suspension, and wish he did, because maybe it would make him realize that he needs to settle down a bit.  I don't believe that 2 games is going to have that effect on him.

[kenboldt]

I have to disagree with you Lyle - Ovechkin's hit was also a penalty - boarding - which is worse than a cross-checking penalty (major vs. minor).  You can't talk about whether it was in open ice or not, because it wasn't.  Boarding can't happen in open ice, while cross-checking can happen anywhere.

I don't think two games is enough, but it is what I expected from the NHL.

It seems like some of you have just figured out that the NHL has a bias towards the top players - this is no secret, and has been this way for a while.  Why does this surprise you?

I don't think Ovie is a dirty player, as others have stated.  He is just reckless - he doesn't look to injure players, he looks to play hard on the puck at all times. 

In the end - I think he should have gotten a bigger suspension, and wish he did, because maybe it would make him realize that he needs to settle down a bit.  I don't believe that 2 games is going to have that effect on him.

I complete agree with the part in bold, and it is exactly what I said after his last suspension when he started telling the media that it will only make him play angrier.  A punishment is meant to make a person see the error of their ways.  Just as you give a toddler a timeout, so that they understand that what they did is wrong.  If they go back and do it again, or just blow it off as nothing, then clearly it wasn't a stiff enough punishment.

[Lyle Richardson]

I have to disagree with you Lyle - Ovechkin's hit was also a penalty - boarding - which is worse than a cross-checking penalty (major vs. minor).  You can't talk about whether it was in open ice or not, because it wasn't.  Boarding can't happen in open ice, while cross-checking can happen anywhere.

I don't think two games is enough, but it is what I expected from the NHL.

It seems like some of you have just figured out that the NHL has a bias towards the top players - this is no secret, and has been this way for a while.  Why does this surprise you?

I don't think Ovie is a dirty player, as others have stated.  He is just reckless - he doesn't look to injure players, he looks to play hard on the puck at all times. 

In the end - I think he should have gotten a bigger suspension, and wish he did, because maybe it would make him realize that he needs to settle down a bit.  I don't believe that 2 games is going to have that effect on him.

I complete agree with the part in bold, and it is exactly what I said after his last suspension when he started telling the media that it will only make him play angrier.  A punishment is meant to make a person see the error of their ways.  Just as you give a toddler a timeout, so that they understand that what they did is wrong.  If they go back and do it again, or just blow it off as nothing, then clearly it wasn't a stiff enough punishment.

It's gonna have to, because now he's considered in the eyes of the league a repeat offender, meaning if any more injuries to other players result from his reckless play the length of his future suspensions will grow. He's going to be under more scrutiny now from the officials.

[dougie]

Losing Campbell is huge for Chicago going into the playoffs. One wonders whether they would have taken a flyer on Chelios had they known they'd lose a cog like Campbell. Hardly a replacement, but that's a lot of D minutes Chicago has to fill until, and we really don't know when, do we, Campbell returns. I'm not going to enter the debate over the length of the suspension, but Ovechkin has to feel a little sick right now. And if the Caps and Hawks should meet for the cup, Ovechkin might feel a little sick if he lines up against Byfuglien...... 

[ap_cymru]

Does anyone know the status of Brian Campbell? Is he out for the reason?

Broken Clavical (collar bone) and possibly broken ribs.  He's out for the rest of the season, playoffs is questionable.

I've done my clavicle three times ... if he is back for the playoffs I would be surprised.