As George puts it, this is the end of an era. He’s been out of the picture in Detroit for so long that it’s hard to believe he was still playing, but even a guy as physically gifted as Fedorov can only play so long. Age 42 appears to be it.

One of the best Red Wings and Russian players ever, Sergei was my first favorite player. This is just another reminder of how much I wish things had turned out differently between him and the team.

To the Fans:

I want to thank everyone who sent a get well card or left a message on this website with such encouraging comments. I appreciate everyone keeping me in your thoughts during this tough year for me. Between the cool poster and all the kind words, I was blown away by the best fans in hockey. The cards and comments brought up my spirits and I just want to thank all of you for your support. I look forward to coming back next season.

Patrick Eaves

Patrick sent along this photo of him holding the poster as well.

Awesome. Kudos to the poster designer Josh Howard (@JHowardDesign ) and the gangs at Winging It In Motown and The Production Line for orchestrating this community effort. And to those of you who left comments that ended up on the poster—you put into action the words “best fans in hockey.”

Concussions suck.

I realized I should probably explain some of my thinking on parts of this.

Rule DRAFT – Head Contact

DRAFT.1 Head Contact – “Head Contact” is a hit, with any part of a player’s body, in which the head is targeted or the principal point of contact. Players and goalkeepers must be in control and responsible for their bodies at all times.

However, a player is permitted accidental contact on an opponent’s head if the contact occurs as a normal continuation of a hit originating elsewhere on the opponent’s body. This contact will be deemed a part of the normal follow-through of an otherwise legal hit.

Here’s the basic definition. Tolerance for head contact would be greatly diminished under this rule. I propose keeping the contact on follow-throughs because completely eliminating head contact would reduce hitting in the game, and I’d like to keep the sport’s physicality as much as possible. While at the same time safeguarding the head against the obvious stuff.

DRAFT.2 Minor Penalty – Any non-follow-through contact, whether accidental or careless, made with the opponent’s head is prohibited and a minor penalty shall be imposed.

The high-sticking penalty applies in every situation except shot follow-throughs or wind-ups, and the same principle applies here. If a player accidentally elbows a guy in the head while digging the puck out of the boards, it’s a penalty. If he misses the chest and hits the head on a check, it’s a penalty. And so on.

The exception is as described above: when contact is made through the chest or other primary contact point.

DRAFT.3 Double-minor Penalty – When a player hits an opponent’s head so that injury results or play is stopped due to an apparent injury, the Referee shall assess a double-minor penalty for such contact, whether accidental or careless, in the opinion of the Referee.

In addition, the injured, or apparently injured, player will be inelligible to play until the completion of a mandatory 15 minute period in a “Quiet Room,” where tests for any head injury will be completed.

Here’s where it could get somewhat problematic with potential faked injury abuse, as Zac pointed out. I still think it’s important to have a rule for lesser offenses and try to include safeguards against abuse. So, officials would need to be on the lookout for situations where Rule 64 would be applicable.

Also, to ensure the Quiet Room tests are reliable, it may be necessary to incorporate some kind of League medical observer for that portion. If there’s any doubt, a player should not be allowed to return to the game. And I’m not convinced anyone tied to the team in any way should have final say.

DRAFT.4 Major Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence of the head contact, to a player guilty of hitting an opponent’s head.

This is a key element and would apply if contact was severe yet without intent to injure. Severe recklessness and carelessness would be punished as well.

DRAFT.5 Game Misconduct Penalty – When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury of an opponent, a game misconduct shall be imposed.

Like DRAFT.3, this could be abused, though it should only be in play on high profile hits where an injury is more likely to be real.

A possible rewrite of this would be to apply a minimum 10 minute misconduct on top of the five minute major to allow for the completion of the Quiet Room tests. If the hit player passes, the hitter could reenter the game. Otherwise, it becomes a game misconduct.

That might get too complicated, though. As I go over this again, I just envision circumstances where a hitter is ejected incorrectly, when ejection is based on injury.

DRAFT.6 Match Penalty – When, in the opinion of the Referee, a player attempts to or deliberately injures an opponent with a hit to the head, the Referee shall assess a match penalty to the offending player. A deliberate attempt to injure is here defined as any deliberate attempt to hit an opponent’s head.

If there’s intent, there’s not a lot of mercy for you under this rule.

DRAFT.7 Fines, Suspensions, and Bans – All hits as defined under this rule are subject to possible review under Rule 28. However, when a major penalty and game misconduct are imposed under this rule, an automatic Rule 28 review by the Department of Player Safety will be undertaken.

All hits under this rule would be reviewable in case the officials missed something about the circumstances in real time.

In addition, when a match penalty is imposed under this rule, an automatic indefinite suspension shall be imposed, pending further review by the Department of Player Safety.

Again, if you intentionally hit someone in the head, you’re not getting a break under this rule. You’re off the ice immediately and facing the hammer.

In extreme circumstances, egregious one-time or repeat offenders may be subject to possible ban.

And I mean extreme for the one-time part. Like a hitter puts a guy in a coma, snaps his neck or cracks his skull extreme. But it needs to be included.

And it should go without saying that serial offenders don’t belong in the game after a point.

Again, I welcome any comments on this. If it sucks, tell me. If you have changes you’d make, let me know.

It’s just been bouncing around in my head and even if it won’t go anywhere, I had to get it down.

By that I mean, it’s penalizable, but not an automatic suspension in every case as a actual fighting ban would presumably be. Not all head contact is created equal. This rule includes every stage of punishment to allow for nuance, not a single level that acts as a blunt instrument.

So, this is a draft. If you have comments on things you’d like to change, please post a comment, or head to this draft on Google Docs to comment or make your own copy to edit yourself. If you make a copy and write your own version, let me know.

I base this on the high-sticking rule, with some language and ideas pulled from other rules (Rule 58, Rule 41, Rule 59, Rule 48).

The Rule

Rule DRAFT – Head Contact

DRAFT.1 Head Contact – “Head Contact” is a hit, with any part of a player’s body, in which the head is targeted or the principal point of contact. Players and goalkeepers must be in control and responsible for their bodies at all times.

However, a player is permitted accidental contact on an opponent’s head if the contact occurs as a normal continuation of a hit originating elsewhere on the opponent’s body. This contact will be deemed a part of the normal follow-through of an otherwise legal hit.

DRAFT.2 Minor Penalty – Any non-follow-through contact, whether accidental or careless, made with the opponent’s head is prohibited and a minor penalty shall be imposed.

DRAFT.3 Double-minor Penalty – When a player hits an opponent’s head so that injury results or play is stopped due to an apparent injury, the Referee shall assess a double-minor penalty for such contact, whether accidental or careless, in the opinion of the Referee.

In addition, the injured, or apparently injured, player will be inelligible to play until the completion of a mandatory 15 minute period in a “Quiet Room,” where tests for any head injury will be completed.

DRAFT.4 Major Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence of the head contact, to a player guilty of hitting an opponent’s head.

DRAFT.5 Game Misconduct Penalty – When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury of an opponent, a game misconduct shall be imposed.

DRAFT.6 Match Penalty – When, in the opinion of the Referee, a player attempts to or deliberately injures an opponent with a hit to the head, the Referee shall assess a match penalty to the offending player. A deliberate attempt to injure is here defined as any deliberate attempt to hit an opponent’s head.

DRAFT.7 Fines, Suspensions, and Bans – All hits as defined under this rule are subject to possible review under Rule 28. However, when a major penalty and game misconduct are imposed under this rule, an automatic Rule 28 review by the Department of Player Safety will be undertaken.

In addition, when a match penalty is imposed under this rule, an automatic indefinite suspension shall be imposed, pending further review by the Department of Player Safety.

In extreme circumstances, egregious one-time or repeat offenders may be subject to possible ban.

It’s too much, in my opinion. There’s still a part of me that bristles at giving a guy the Chris Simon treatment for a hit that, frankly, wouldn’t have been suspended and would have been part of VHS highlight tapes all but 10 years ago.

Via Greg Wyshynski’s post on the Raffi Torres suspension.

This is an attitude that has to die for the NHL to move forward. It is no longer acceptable to cling to nostalgia for the days when a hit like Torres’ would have been a positive highlight reel entry and gone unpunished. We know too much now about the effects of these hits. It’s time to grow up.

A line where there is physicality in the game, but not those kinds of hits, is attainable. We need to start demanding that the League set it.

Penalize, suspend and ban for head contact. Without regrets for a lost, dinosaur NHL.

I should say, however, that it’s disappointing how much the NHL leans on the injury aspect of the play. That leads me to believe a similar, non-injurious hit would pass without anything approaching this kind of punishment.

One thing I would like to inject into the discussion is coaching. No, I don’t mean Mike Babcock. I’m talking about Bill Peters and Jeff Blashill. My admitted outsiders view is that those two need to go and need to be replaced by more experienced hands.

My theory is that the Wings’ decline as we’ve seen it began with the departure of Todd McLellan. Last year’s departure of Paul MacLean exacerbated it as Peters and Blashill seemingly had no slowing effect.

Mike Babcock is, as Petrella notes, one of the best minds in the game. However, even Scotty Bowman had strong assistants (yes, Dave Lewis was a strong assistant).

In all likelihood, nothing will change on the bench, but that doesn’t mean nothing should. I get the feeling that Babcock is too involved rather than maintaining the traditional distance of a head coach maintained by a strong assistant coach layer. That’s a problem.

I’m all for seeking out changes in the forward corps and blueline, but where I disagree with Petrella is on the issue of whether or not this lineup or one similar to it can win. Many of these players were a part of the 2008 Cup, so we know there’s a group that has what it takes. There are viable pieces throughout the lineup that just haven’t produced the right mixture. That goes back to coaching shortcomings, which by my reckoning goes back to Peters and Blashill.

Where Babcock does play a role is clear: refusal to effectively punish underproducing players or reward those that do produce. Scotty Bowman didn’t hesitate to drop the hammer on guys who weren’t up to snuff, but with today’s Wings, we see guys like Johan Franzen continue to get top line minutes even when he’s dogging it, precluding most any rise by a guy further down the chart. That’s another great insight by Petrella: the lack of competition in the lineup or in the organization.

Look at a guy like Gustav Nyquist, which we fans have been lobbying about for weeks. The guy’s obviously a great talent and one that’s going to be a major asset to this team. Yet rather than his obvious ability resulting in him working his way up the lineup in any kind of predictable way, he was mostly shunted down the lineup by less effective players because of the Red Wings Way Petrella so correctly pillories. Looking back on it now, I’m actually kind of amazed he got as much as he did because a young guy getting even that much hasn’t happened a lot since Datsyuk and Zetterberg. That needs to stop. The Red Wings Way works 9 times out of 10, but there are going to be Nyquists, or exceptions.

And an older version of the Red Wings Way was punitive action against players not cutting it.

So, an actual coaching change in the assistants and a coaching change in philosophy is what I’ll be looking for, along with whatever improvements can be made to the actual lineup.

This sums up the situation for me:

What a brutal end to the season. Babcock and Holland have a Tom of work to do to fix this. #RedWings

— Brad Boswell (@bradonweb) April 21, 2012

(“Tom” being autocorrect for “ton”, obviously)

This group had the potential to go the distance, but couldn’t put it together. I don’t know where they go from here, but it’s going to take work to get back where they want to be.

I just hope it wasn’t the last we see of Nick Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom. Not the way I want either of them to go out. They deserve to end it at home, at least.

Kudos to Pekka Rinne and the Predators. They worked hard and earned this.

No recap for this game. But I’ll be around.