I can understand being sensitive about that. I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear on my initial comment, which was a response to one of the snarky Nashville fan potshots at Megan.

I know it would be hard to regulate hits to the head, which is why I’ve always maintained that the League should deal out punishment for those hits regardless of intent – just a blanket punishment. Still, I can see how that would go over like a lead balloon, even though players are expected to control their sticks and are punished regardless of intent when they don’t.

So, that’s why I’d like to perhaps see hits to the head which cause a player to lose consciousness, at the very least, be punished with a penalty immediately, with the possibility of further punishment on review. The official can get the necessary information from the trainer on the spot and can assess the penalty after talking to him.

Players absorb plenty of hits to the head without much apparent damage, so it’d be stupid to penalize all of them. It’s the ones that cause injury that we’re concerned about. Basically, if a player loses consciousness or gets carted off on a stretcher, I don’t think it’s too much to expect the hitter to have to face a penalty or, in some cases, even a fine/suspension.

As for contesting penalties, I wouldn’t be surprised if much of the talk-back we see is actually asking for clarification. A lot of these penalties we see these days are what used to be called phantom calls so a guy who’s suddenly slapped with a hooking penalty for the slightest tug, which he may not even remember doing, is understandably going to be mystified. It’s when players argue obvious penalties that I get irritated and I don’t deny that it happens.

On one hand, I don’t know why they bother since I’ve never seen a ref say, “Oh, crap, you’re right! No penalty.” But refs that make a point of explaining to the players and the coaches are better for it, in my book.

You’re right, the rising number of players talking to officials goes against everything I knew about the rules back in the day. I thought only the captain or alternates could talk to the refs, but apparently that’s changed.

I don’t really know what the League could to to curb it, since the game is so emotional without the new contradictory penalty system making things worse. If the players had no way to vent being called for a completely inconsequential hook, there’d be a lot more pent-up frustrations, perhaps.

One thing I hate about the new system is how they’re so obsessed with handing out the little hooking and interference penalties that they miss other more obvious calls. For example, the other night, Niklas Kronwall had his path to the puck completely cut off by two Predators players, an obvious interference call, but seconds later, the ref called Jason Arnott for his arm sort of being in the way of another Wing. It was terrible.

It’s no wonder to me that players get upset at that kind of inconsistency. What’s the solution? Fix the system or put muzzles on the players?

Anyway, you keep up the great work on your blog, too!

Isn’t this whole dance of guys cussing out the refs on their way to the penalty box getting tired? No other sport allows this type of abuse to happen to their officials.

Guys should shut their mouths and take their medicine knowing that whining about a penalty isn’t going to get them anywhere. I thought that was why teams designated Captains and Assistant Captains. These are the guys who are supposed to be doing the bitching.

By the way, I’m not being Wings-specific here, every damn team seems to do this and it has to stop.

Point taken, maybe I’m just overly sensitive about the issue since I saw a few of my friends take the same path as Terrence (Tootoo’s brother) before I finally left the reserve for greener, more productive pastures.

Getting back to topic, I would like to reiterate how hard it would be for the NHL to determine intent (even on review) on a split second hit. The league barely even hands out suspensions on guys who dive on review, which is currently on the NHL rule books. I don’t disagree with you, I just don’t see it happening anytime soon with this group of monkeys in charge.

Opening up the rule book like you talk about just seems like it would open up a can of worms that I’m sure the NHL doesn’t want opened.

Damn, I was sure I was going to fit another “open” in that last sentence somewhere. C’est la vie said the old folk, it goes to show you never can tell.

Keep up the great blog. MEGAN and Matt.

Lay off. As was already pointed out above, it wasn’t Schneider, it was Lebda according to Nichol himself.

What, do you just make up shit? There’s video of the slash, which occurs just before Nichol leaves the game. Cut off your fingers if you have nothing to contribute, idiot. Schneider slashed Nichol, resulting in a major injury.

I’ve heard parts of Tootoo’s story, but not those details. Obviously, he’s come out of a hard life and has made a big accomplishment in being the first Inuit NHLer, but what I meant by that comment was he had to fight his way through leagues like anyone else who makes the NHL.

Obviously personal issues vary widely from player to player and Tootoo’s history is something that sets him apart from guys who were more fortunate, but every pro had to work through incredible adversity to make it to the top level of any sport, let alone hockey. That was my point, not that his life wasn’t hard or something.