04/25/24
September 01, 2011
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
It would be sad for the league to lose 2 great players
Crosby being out for an extended period of time would be catastrophic; this is a league whose reputation is deteriorating and losing one of the most likeable, Canadian heroes to a major injury is huge...especially considering the deplorable slowness and ineffectiveness of the NHL response to its root cause; hits to the head.
I mean, Matt Cooke will begin another season and Savard may never play again. How's that for doing what's good for the league?
posted by dfleming at 12:10 PM on September 01, 2011
Hits to the head happen. Was Matt Cookes hit clean? No. Was the Hit on Sid? Not the one in the Winter Classic. But the league doesnt enforce it so dont blame Matt Cooke.
posted by Debo270 at 02:12 PM on September 01, 2011
How 'bout we blame both Cooke for delivering said hits and the NHL for not penalizing him for the hits?
posted by NoMich at 02:25 PM on September 01, 2011
But the league doesnt enforce it so dont blame Matt Cooke.
In a society where, for the most part, people don't accept intentional attempts to injure one another, I don't let Matt Cooke off because his particular arena lacks enforcement. He bears the responsibility of repeatedly causing unnecessary pain to another human being, and the NHL bears the responsibility of letting it happen.
posted by dfleming at 02:36 PM on September 01, 2011
I'm not a lawyer (I haven't even played one on TV), but it would seem that Savard and Crosby might have some grounds for a civil action to recover potential lost income against Matt Cooke and the NHL. Cooke for habitually playing outside the rules and the NHL for failing to stop him from doing so. Any lawyers out there with an opinion on this?
posted by Howard_T at 03:24 PM on September 01, 2011
Was the Hit on Sid? Not the one in the Winter Classic.
I was on a cruise when the game happened, and I've only seen one replay of the hit, and everything seems to be cut to that 2 second clip. Wasn't it an accidental collision?
I'm not sure I understand why the NHL gets so much heat. They have rules. They try to enforce them. They aren't the NFL, in the sense that the commissioner does not have the power to arbitrarily suspend players without pay. The rules, and lengths of suspension, are negotiated as part of the CBA (or after the fact, in this case).
I also think that the players themselves (and the NHLPA) need to take FAR more blame for this happening. If death penalties don't stop someone from murdering another person, what makes anyone think that suspensions will stop a cowardly player from taking a cheap shot on another player in the heat of the game?
Maybe the NHLPA needs to start enforcing this in their own way. How about supplemental discipline from the union itself?
If you cheap shot a fellow player and injure him, you are fined by the union $X, which goes to the post-career counseling/health-care/rehabilitation fund.
posted by grum@work at 03:30 PM on September 01, 2011
it would seem that Savard and Crosby might have some grounds for a civil action to recover potential lost income against Matt Cooke and the NHL.
Not sure where liability might stem from. If they tried for a battery-based recovery, Cooke will likely successfully argue consent. While for consent to be effective, the defendant must remain within the scope of any consent given, I think it would be difficult to convince a jury that Cooke exceeded that scope. I know that Savard and Crosby didn't consent to getting elbowed in the head, but they did consent to play a game where contact is encouraged, and "accidents" happen on a regular basis. It would be really hard to recover for battery.
If Cooke claimed it was an accident, they could try negligence against him, but that would be a tough sell, also. Depending on the jurisdiction, either old fashioned assumption of risk principles or more modern comparitive fault ideas would probably prevent recovery. Again, while players do not agree to getting hit in the head, they do play a game that carries multiple risks of injury.
Then again, all I know about torts I learned in one semester, so I may be way the hell off-base.
posted by tahoemoj at 04:55 PM on September 01, 2011
Hopefully Brendan Shanahan will be a more strict (and consistent) disciplinarian than Colin "Wheel of Punishment" Campbell...
posted by MeatSaber at 07:33 PM on September 01, 2011
Great nickname.
posted by NoMich at 08:06 PM on September 01, 2011
Wish I'd come up with that nickname, but I can't take the credit. I've seen it on so many hockey blogs over the last few seasons, it's like it's become his middle name (a la Gary F**king Bettman).
posted by MeatSaber at 11:09 PM on September 01, 2011
Savard to miss entire season.
This is really sad news to hear. I mean I am not a Bruins fan, but I am a hockey fan and he was a hell of a pleyer before he got his brain scrambled. I hope this isnt a sign of things to come for Sid Crosby. It would be sad for the league to lose 2 great players