Why Nash Wasn't Suspended
NHL Department of Player Safety chief Brendan Shanahan spoke with Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy about why Rick Nash wasn't suspended for his high hit on Tomas Kopecky Thursday night ..
“We don’t see this as being principal point of contact to the head. For a fact, we don’t see much contact to the head at all,” said Shanahan.
“On the Florida feed, when you slow it down, you see Kopecky’s back right shoulder is the initial point of contact. If you slow it down even further, you see the back right shoulder and the nameplate aren’t just the initial point of contact, but the principal point of contact.”
Shanahan also addressed Nash leaving his feet...
“The commentators have too much of a fascination with ‘did you leave his feet?’ We don’t suspend for leaving your feet. We suspend for leaving your feet and hitting a guy in the head violently,” he said.
...ummmmm, Brendan? Isn't that exactly what happened? I'm sorry, I love Nash, but he launched himself at Kopecky's head. Period. End of story.
...these kind of hits will never be taken out of the game until the league start handing out serious punishments. Disgraceful.
Shanahan adds that he didn't like the hit and it should have been either a two or five minute penalty. Nash was not penalized on the play.
Here's video of Shanahan's explanation...
Here's the video of the hit...
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Add to comments below - you can spark your team with a hard, slot clearing hit without leading with the elbow. should have been at least a fine or a one gamer IMHO - just to remind the players you can't do that.
Initially it looked like Nash left his feet to try to avoid him but in slow mo it's pretty clear that it was an aggravated assault! I don't think it was intent to injure but it was careless and edgy. I agree that Shanny dropped the ball on this one. Huge break for the Rangers. A step back for NHL safety.
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You can CLEARLY see that he hits him on the nameplate if you pause at moment of impact..and thats from the weak angles of the live feed footage, nevermind all the tape the league was able to review.
An argument can be made that he was trying to get out of the way! Also, without any history of dirty play, I'm not surprised that the league did NOT fine him. Final note: after the lockout the NHL does not want to suspend the top (ones who draws crowds) players
Shanahan obviously isn't the solution to the problem. These hits should be reviewed by a third party. The league isn't interested in taking these hits out of the game.
What happens When someone one else gets a head hit. What will the Nhl do then. All us rangers fans are happy that he didnt get a ban. But rules are rules are. Did the Nhl lose Its bottle to ban nash.
Whenever I see a hit like this I try to reverse roles. If Kopecky had hit Nash like this we'd be losing our minds if he wasn't suspended.
Bottom line it was a dangerous hit. Having said that, glad he wasn't suspended b/c Rangers have a huge game tomorrow vs. Cap.
@TheNYRBlog one finally went our way. It's shannys IOU for Pacioretty and last year with Boyle and Haglin. Bout time
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Right call. Play the video and keep hitting pause/play and you can slow it down to frame by frame. Nash didn't hit his head at all, rather (as Shanahan states) he hits his upper back. His feet were on the ice at impact as well (not sure if that makes a difference). Look, it COULD have been a terrible head-shot...but it wasn't. Plus, you can't penalize intent - though given his history it is hard to argue that Nash would go for the head. In fact, if you consider how clean Nash plays this easily reads as a guy on a Ranger team that is constantly getting pushed around trying to use his big frame in a way which (unfortunately for the Rangers) is very unfamiliar to him. The result was an awkward mess, that COULD have had horrible consequences, but didn't. Way too much debate about this one...
@TheNYRBlog why is every one so anxious to see Nash suspended ? The ref missed ( shocker ) the call. Lets move on.....
@CaptCally24 LOL! Great point. I can't believe I've been argue to HAVE him suspended. Big game tomorrow.
@TheNYRBlog i just don't understand why ranger fans are upset especially when crosby gets away with just about everything. 1 for us guys ..
@TheNYRBlog i understand but you have to admit when cally bangs some one into the boards , you cheer
@CaptCally24 It's more of the hockey fan in us just wanting that kind of hit out of the game.
I see the same...Yes, this should have been a penalty...but it is obvious that he did not hit his head first...Either way Kev, we got a lot more important things to worry about now than this hit, to name a few: making playoffs, loosing to the worst team in NHL on Thursday, tough schedule ahead (suddenly Caps are playing good)....I can go on an on....
Actually, if you look at another angle of the play Nash hits him square between the shoulder blades with his arm rolling up to knock his helmet off. Looked worse because his head whiplashed. The Panther also turns just before Nash hits him or else he would have been plastered head on by a guy who is 6 inches taller than him. Good non-call in my opinion.
@TheNYRBlog OMG! Watch the video again. He didn't hit his head! He hit between his shoulder blades.
@Rangerfan41 It was a dangerous hit. NYR fans would b losing their minds if roles were reversed & Kopecky wasnt suspended 4 same hit on Nash
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I don't know, at this point with how lacking this teams physical element is, I'll take anything: clean, dirty, potential boarding, questionably high, elbows up, doesn't matter. Beats the crap out of watching most of this team shy away from contact or throwing half hearted hits. I didn't know much about Nash before he came here besides highlight reel goals, but I half expected someone with his size and speed to play a little more physical. He battles well along the boards, but he should be out there running guys over (like this) more often. Maybe if he did it more he'd have a better sense of what's a borderline offense.
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@johnnyb3910 You're making some great points. I've actually been shocked at Nash's physicality and willingness to mix it up.
@KevinDeLury His willingness is definitely there. He isn't afraid to get in someone's face after a whistle or battle along the boards. But just for comparison, Nash is listed at the same height, and 5-10 pounds heavier than Marc Staal. If you made a Marc Staal a forward he'd be making guys hurt on the forecheck. And could you imagine if you told Marc "Hey, on the back check, look for someone with their head down and make them pay"? He'd have a highlight reel hit every game!
This hit against FLA was the closest Nash has come to a "Big" hit, and were discussing it because we thought he'd get suspended for it. Right before I saw Kopecky clutching his head and thought "ugh...suspension", I saw Nash clean someone out in the slot in front of our net and i thought "FINALLY!"
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Even though Shanahan speaks as if there are simple rules that govern supplementary discipline, in practice, there seems to be little consistency in the judgments, especially when it comes to the severity of the punishment.
@TheNYRBlog @BlueSeatBlogs do y'all think Shan is hesitant to suspend a big name player due to the short season?
@ArronFrankum @BlueSeatBlogs I just think league dissects the video too much. It's a dangerous hit. Period.
“@TheNYRBlog: @ArronFrankum @BlueSeatBlogs I just think league dissects the video too much. It's a dangerous hit. Period.” Concur
@TheNYRBlog I watched the replay 10 times....dont think it was to the head...more on the back...not a tremendous hit..still kinda dirty
if the NHL dont go by there own rules thats up to them. we got nash playing on sunday so we happy,
Nash should have been suspended for at least two games. On the other hand, just imagine how bad the Rangers would be with him out of the lineup. Oh, wait. We did that already. No thanks.
agreed. The league caters to the people (i.e. the Don Cherry mafia) who are afraid of "taking hitting out of the game" at the expense of common sense. Frankly, some of the hitting needs to go, and Nash hit, while relatively minor, is a good example and should have been disciplined.
