A Rule Proposal for Dealing with Head Contact

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I believe some kind of rule like this is inevitable. The NHL will have to ban head contact, at least so far as they “ban” fighting now, someday.

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.

Get Over It

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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.

Torres Gets 25

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It’s a statement and potentially a watershed moment for the NHL, but I can’t help thinking it should have been the duration of the playoffs plus 25 regular season games. The Coyotes aren’t going to miss Torres that much either way, but a punishment that severe might deter other guys like him. Still, this is progress.

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.

Read of the Day: Changes & A Response

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Petrella’s got a long one about the need for changes this off-season. It’s a great read with a lot of points for discussion.

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.

Work to Do

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So that’s it. The Wings are done in five.

This sums up the situation for me:

(“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.

Game 5: @ Nashville

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Update (1:56 PM): No lineup changes for the Wings. - Matt

Update (12:33 PM): Gill’s out, per Trotz. Wings with the optional skate, too. - Matt

Tonight, the Wings’ season is on the line. They’re on the road again, having lost their two home games and need to find a way to repeat Game 2′s result in order to continue forward in the series.

All the Predators need to do is squeak out a win.

Key to the game for them:

  • Pekka Rinne: Just one for the Preds tonight. Because it all comes down to Pekka. If he owns the Wings, the Predators get the series. It’s that simple.

The USS Hal Gill took a few more spins around the harbor yesterday and might be ready for blockade duty tonight. I hope the Wings’ blockade runners are ready for that possibility. He’s a game-time decision.

So far, the Wings have faced a couple what you might call soft must-wins situations in this series. Tonight, they face their first hard must-win situation. They really do have to win.

Keys to the game for the Wings:

  • Puck carrier, this is the middle: Mike Babcock says the Wings haven’t had trouble getting to the middle. That may be true, but the part of getting to the middle that matters is getting the puck there with you. I don’t think the Wings have done that as much as Babs would have us believe. They need to do it tonight. Rinne is going to stop perimeter shots all night long.
  • Jimmy: I would love to see the Wings own this game in every phase of it, but the most critical claim of ownership needs to be made by one James Tiberius Howard. He’s been solid, but tonight he needs to be stellar.
  • Puck Ownership: This is just about as critical a claim of ownership that needs to be made. The puck is the property of the Detroit Red Wings tonight. It has to be. And the only appropriate storage place for it is the back of of the Nashville net.

The Wings skated yesterday but haven’t hit the ice in any fashion yet today. My guess is they’ll be optional again. Shouldn’t be any lineup changes.

Eric Furlatt and Francois St. Laurent are reffing tonight. I don’t recognize either, so I had to look them up. Furlatt’s most memorable reffing moment is when he first officiated a Red Wings playoff game. So there’s that. St. Laurent’s bio says this is his first playoff game, but that can’t be right. Right?