Head hits in the news (again)

by James Mirtle on Oct 26, 2008 2:47 PM CDT Comment 20 comments

Hurricanes rookie Brandon Sutter was absolutely plastered by Doug Weight during last night's game in Long Island and remains in hospital:

"The league should at least stop saying it's concerned with hits to the head, because it's not," Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford told TSN.ca. "I've had four players — Erik Cole, Trevor Letowski, Matt Cullen and now Brandon Sutter — get badly injured on hits to the head and only one of the guys who hit them was suspended. So don't tell me the league is concerned about hits to the head because it's not."

It's good to see this issue getting some much-needed publicity, especially from one of the league's GMs. Of course, outcries like this would be much more effective if they didn't come immediately after one of the team's own players was hurt.

A friend of mine pointed out that this hit was somewhat similar to what happened between Steve Moore and Markus Naslund all those years ago.

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Should this hit be considered clean?

Yes

330 votes

No

204 votes

534 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

OUCH

I hate to see players get injured, and regardless whether the hit was clean, Doug looked really guilty.
It would be nice to see him actually ask Sutter if he’s okay and help him get up or something.

I think there was honestly nothing Weight could do about that hit, other than moved out of the way. Sutter held his head down and skated right into Weight’s arm. It’s also gonna be very hard for the NHL to make a rule preventing this, and for the officials to enfore that rule. If one would make a rule “No hits to the head”, players would always skate with their head down in order to not get hit. And if they would get hit, it would injure them a lot worse than regular hits.

Of course this shouldn’t have happened and I hope Sutter is okay, but I just don’t see what Weight could’ve done differently.

26 Card Jet

by Tommelot on Oct 26, 2008 3:41 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Weight

He’s a class act all the way. You can easily tell he felt bad the kid.

by Drakenlot on Oct 26, 2008 4:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know how to vote. It’s a clean hit today, but he does clock Sutter in the head. If you mean “Should the NHL outlaw hits to the head” then it’s probably not “clean” but Sutter ducks into the hit.

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by Chemmy on Oct 26, 2008 3:43 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think Weight could have avoided hitting Sutter in the head, it wasn’t his fault, and he probably did nothing wrong.

Suspend him.

by RyanV on Oct 26, 2008 3:48 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Clean hit

Just very unlucky for Sutter that he bent his head. What would’ve been a shoulder-to-shoulder, is now a devastating head hit.

Hope he gets better. I’m sure Weight feels the same.

by Drakenlot on Oct 26, 2008 4:50 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Clean hit

There is no doubt about it. Sutter had his head down which is why the hit came to the head.

D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com

by David Oleksy on Oct 26, 2008 6:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sutter, Welcome to the Bigs

“Unlucky for Sutter that he bent his head”? Sutter was lucky it was only Weight! Pulling that kind of crap in the NHL can get you killed. Sutter put himself in a precarious position in an open-ice race for the puck. What did he think, no one would dare take the body? Someone like Phaneuf would have decapitated him.

by Numbers Guy on Oct 26, 2008 7:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I thought that Weight COULD HAVE let up in that situation, I mean, why is he looking for the big hit right there?

That’s the only thing I have a problem with – I don’t think Weight was looking to take him out, far from it. Unnecessary hit, but the hit itself is clean. The same stuff happens in the NFL all the time. Keep your head up, rook.

by Afino on Oct 26, 2008 9:40 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

let up how?

he was skating towards a wide open opposing player in the neutral zone, not at full steam, but angling to play the body, and Sutter ducks, like Weight’s going to hurdle him? Kid had it coming to him, it was a dumb move by the rookie to bend down like that, once Weight was about a foot away from him.

Doug had ZERO chance to change momentum or direction once Brandon ducked. And, we’re talking about Doug Weight, not Chris Simon. Weight’s a good guy, not a head hunter…

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.

by blurr1974 on Oct 27, 2008 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Clean

Man that was rough, but ya gotta keep your head up. See also: Eric Lindros.

It’s just tough when a guy gets hit like this so early in his career.

Although I would like to see what Sutter’s father has to say about it.

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by FrankD on Oct 26, 2008 10:50 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Ditto

Much sympathy to him — it was gruesome to see, and this just plain sucks — but having watched most of Brian Sutter’s career and sizable chunks of Brent, Duane, Darryl, and the twins’ playing careers, it was honestly surreal to see a Sutter put himself in that position. Even my wife commented as much. His bend-and-reach to try to poke the puck around Weight reminded me of the kind of approach to a 50/50 puck I see in rec roller hockey and no-check ice leagues a lot: something you’d only do when you know hitting isn’t allowed. In the NHL, you have to expect contact there and adjust accordingly — not put your brain in an even more vulnerable position! In a league of split-second decisions, I don’t think Weight could have anticipated Sutter suddenly leading with his head like that, and Weight even kept his arm in by his torso, something rarely done by the NHL’s most, heh, feared hitters.

I’m of the belief head hits are indeed an issue, and I understand Rutherford being ticked in the moment, given his team’s history. But when you are skating directly “north”/in to the defender’s territory — vs. getting blindsided from behind or from the side after releasing the puck (like Alfredsson/Bell) — isn’t the onus completely on you, unless the defender comes in with a high elbow?

SBN now has a NY Islanders blog at LighthouseHockey.com.

by Dominik on Oct 27, 2008 12:06 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ridiculous

Rutherford is sticking up for his guy, I know – but I think his cries for more to be done about blows to the head would sound better if they were made after an egregious hit and not one where his own player put himself in the situation to get destroyed. Guys (like Pronger) who’ve made a lowlight reel out of hitting players in the head are the ones to get zeroed in on here, not plays like this where the player was clearly not keeping his surroundings in mind while lurching to get a puck.

Gross Misconduct with Hockey Joe

by HockeyJoe on Oct 27, 2008 12:03 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sutter's hit on Cherepanov

Reminds me a little of Sutter’s own hit on Cherepanov in the 2007 Super-series (giving him a concussion and a ticket out of the series).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7WTtWHOmf4

by engineer on Oct 27, 2008 12:44 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice slew foot by Cherepanov.

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by Chemmy on Oct 27, 2008 2:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jim Rutherford is an idiot. What the heck is Weight supposed to do when he is heading into hit a player, who suddenly lunges forward? Brandon Sutter made a very stupid mistake and ended up in hospital as a result. That was a case of a kid who could get away with that in junior finding out that the NHL is a hell of a lot faster, and stronger than the WHL.

by Resolute on Oct 27, 2008 9:26 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

He Didn't Have Control of the Puck so...

I think its an illegal hit. Sure he touches it just prior to getting shmucked, but in my opinion that is not control.

Weight should have been chasing after the puck in that situation, not lining up the man for a big hit. I do agree however, the rookie has got to keep his head-up.

by turtl on Oct 27, 2008 9:46 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Then players like Bertuzzi never have ‘control’ of the puck. And I cheer for any major hits laid on them.

26 Card Jet

by Tommelot on Oct 27, 2008 10:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It was an legal hit because he was the last player who touched the puck before the hit. The rulebook only mentions about possession for a hit to be legal, and possession is defined to belong to the player who touched the puck at any moment.

by SJKel on Oct 27, 2008 1:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Steve Moore played the puck before he hit Naslund

Steve Moore was able to swipe the puck to his right and then lean his body to the left to hit Naslund. Moore had plenty of time to avoid the illegal hit. (It has to be illegal interference as Moore last touched the puck.) Weight’s was only arguably illegal by somewhat matching the definition of charging, which is defined to mean “the actions of a player or goalkeeper who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner.”

by SJKel on Oct 27, 2008 1:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs