There’s a lot of outrage for this given that it was a game between the two biggest fanbases on HNIC. It’s not particularily vicious, it’s more a par for the course hit from behind. All hits from behind are bad, this one is just getting more attention because of the markets involved and all the eyeballs watching.

My take is simple… the excuse that a player “turned” into the hit or failed to protect themselves is almost always lame. The same “excuse” is thrown at players who get hit in the head with their head down. The hitter is in the more responsible position, the one that recognizes what’s about to happen, and the one at fault. Both are hitting guys in vulnerable positions. The player should do his best to protect themselves, but they can’t possibly be in perfect position to take these hits at all times, it’s just impossible.

I don’t see how this is suspendible as Kostopolous doesn’t have a hisotry of this. If the league wants to set a new standard, that’s fine. If they want to make an example out of Kostopolous for this like they did with Jones last year, that’s cheap, but whatever. The fact is, the league doesn’t have real guidelines for this.

I suspect they’ll review it and deem the call on the ice was enough punishment. If Kostopolous re-offends, he’ll be suspended for 2 games.

My take is simple… the excuse that a player "turned" into the hit or failed to protect themselves is almost always lame. The same "excuse" is thrown at players who get hit in the head with their head down. The hitter is in the more responsible position, the one that recognizes what’s about to happen, and the one at fault. Both are hitting guys in vulnerable positions. The player should do his best to protect themselves, but they can’t possibly be in perfect position to take these hits at all times, it’s just impossible.

The problem I have with that is that players are using it as an advantage and than when they get hit they complain about it. I remember when you expected to get hit into the boards and now guys turn so they can’t be hit. I have no problem with guys getting hit from behind when they purposely turn their body to gain an advantage.