If Clutterbuck makes a hit like this, the fans here would understand that he needs to be suspended. What I would ask you, is if it is Clutterbuck making this hit, does there need to be an outcry? No. He would already be suspended.

Only adds up to a handful? Is a handful not enough for you? Is one not too many?

It is not inches, nor milliseconds from being a clean hit. If it isn’t a hit from behind, it is boarding. Either way, it is a dirty hit.

The rules around suspension simply don’t apply to the top players in the league. You have to do something completely shocking, tasteless, or flauntingly obvious (ie, cross-checking a linesman) to get a suspension in the NHL if you are an elite player.

Even Malkin skirted the clear and obvious rule calling for suspension when starting a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game during the playoffs.

The NHL is about making money first, and if they can organize fair games for their paying fans well, I guess that’s a bonus. Is it different in any other major money-making sports league in the world?

There are two sets of rules: Rules for OVechkin and Crosby and rules the rest of the league has to abide by.

In agreement with you on last Wednesday night’s Kaleta hit by Ovi. I watched the game live, in HD, as well as recorded it via DVR and thus replayed the several angles of the hit. It did not warrant a five minute major nor game misconduct and ejection. The refs deserve some slack on the call given the real time speed of the game. But upon further review, just don’t see how NHL officials could justify any further fines or suspension. Not for this one.

Yes, I am a Caps fan. But I, as well as many of the Cap’s passionate followers on the SB Nation hosted Japer’s Rink Caps blog, can be (and are) the Cap’s harshest critics when warranted. Had the Ovi Kaleta hit occurred prior to the Briere hit referenced in this post, then I would be in full agreement with heavy fines and suspension from several games. The Briere hit was totally uncalled for.

His “reputation” has been built among the haters. It’s not based in reality. His “cheap shots” are vastly overstated. “Plenty of evidence” seems like it warrants more than a one line comment. You can throw it out there all you want but that doesn’t make it true. The guy has been top 10 in hits every year he’s played and yet there are 4 questionable incidents in this post. Let’s parse the record of the rest of the top 10 hitters and see how angelic they are. People that walk the line are occasionally going to cross it. That doesn’t make them dirty players. AO is no different. He should be punished when he crosses it but people like to make a bigger deal than is necessary whenever he’s in the gray area.

Kaleta did his job — he took the best player in hockey off the ice for a period, and all it cost him was a cut on the nose. When you see the full play, you see that he turns his back to the hit (which was still shoulder-on-shoulder) and that’s why he falls face-first into the boards.

It’s cheap stuff, but I understand why the refs called it the way they did, if they didn’t see it clearly. What I find terrible is the way people on the internet keep showing the MSG-Buffalo feed of the hit as though it’s the definitive version of what happened, when you can’t clearly see the play develop in that video. When you look at any other angle, you see that it’s just a guy finishing a check on someone who had the puck a split-second earlier. But like I said before, you have to give credit to Kaleta. By playing it up, he gave his team a much better chance to win a game.

full disclosure – I’m a Caps fan too

Thank you, again, to the folks from Japer’s Rink. Thank you for one, bringing it hard. I love it. You guys bring the pain every time. Useful, purposeful, fact driven debate. For that, I thank you. Thank you for being classy about it. You are truly some of the classiest fans I have encountered out here on the interwebz. This is a true thank you, not sarcasm. For anyone who wants to find sarcasm in it, well, go away.

I can now see the opposition’s argument. However, I still do not agree. Let me explain.

If anything, this view makes it more obvious that the hit is boarding, and a hit from behind. Even if Kaleta saw him coming and turned to take the hit from behind, he is still standing three feet from the boards, which makes it boarding. AO should have seen that and backed of the hit, making a play for the puck instead. So, the right call was boarding, not checking from behind.

Next, Kaleta was injured on the play. I disagree that a player being injured on a play automatically makes it a major penalty, but that is the way it is in the NHL. If a guy is bleeding after a high stick, it is four minutes. If a guy is bleeding after being boarded, it becomes a major. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.

Finally, after all of the debates we have had with Wysh over at Puck Daddy, (and Mirtle, and all of the other guys) that suspensions should not be based on the ends, but instead the means, does this not equate with one of those moments? Does this hit not equal a bad hit that did not result in a serious injury, but still is bad enough to warrant a suspension?

If the debate rages every time a guy is half dead on the ice that suspension should not equate to how bad the injury is, why is it a justification here? Kaleta wasn’t hurt that bad (though he is now going to miss at least one game). So what? The hit could have hurt him much worse, if given just a couple of twists or turns in the wrong direction.

Who is to say that Kaleta did not turn to take the hit in a way that saved him from further injury?

That was the justification for the supporters of James Neal. That his victim turned at the last second. Also the claim of the college kid that got steam rolled and ended up in the hospital. I hate to use this vehicle, but what would you do? You see a guy coming in, ready to run you over. Do you turn into him and go backwards into the boards, head first? Or do you turn your back to the steam roller and try to catch yourself with your arms and hands? I can tell what the instinct is. Hands first.

While Wysh tells me I am right that AO gets away with more than most, but wrong that this hit isn’t suspend-able, I disagree. The NHL claims it uses past incidents to judge a players intent and does not use seriousness of injury as a basis. BS. On both accounts. This hit proves it.

What about the game where Ovie was injured after several CBJ jumped him? The Jackets had 7 guys on the ice and yet none of the Blue Jackets got a penalty afterwards and Ovie missed 6 games.

I don’t think that’s fair. Chimera initiate contact but didn’t do anything worse than what happens a dozen times every game, Ovechkin shoved him back, and a scrum ensued. That was a hockey play.

other less known players have gotten away with a lot worse this season.

Who? When?

I just love how people like you begin a post saying I like so and so but and then proceed to bash the person. That is so hypocritical.

No, it’s not. You can like a politician and dislike their stance on a certain issue, you can like a musician and dislike an album, you can like an actor and hate one of his movies, and you can like a player and dislike some of the plays he’s made.

I can like AO and still think these plays are dirty. I like MIke Richards, too, but I hate the way he hits people.

It is absolutely not hypocritical to like a player and call him out for dirty hits. In fact, being an objective observer, and being a fan of that player gives it more credence. I want nothing but the best for AO. He is truly my favorite player in the entire league. If you have an issue with me calling him out while he is my favorite, then I see no reason to debate with you.

Players from all around the league at all skill levels routinely get away with worse hits around the league. Kozlov had a much more vicious hit from behind on Gomez earlier in the season and he didn’t get suspended, but at the same time Tuomo Ruutu got suspended for a bad hit from behind on Tucker. Plus, every other game it seems there is a bad hit from behind that doesn’t result in injury or blood and thus goes completely unnoticed.

This is the problem with NHL supplementary discipline, it’s completely arbitrary. It’s easy to claim star power is the reason why guys like Richards and AO don’t get suspended, but in reality a system of punishment based on fan appeal would be far more predictable than the current mess coming out of the NHL offices.

Anyone ever seen anything comparable? I have. Several times. Almost everyone of them resulted in a suspension, too.

Seems to me this is a blanket statement. But I’ll throw in the the benefit of doubt. Maybe I should go do some homework and try finding anything comparable … Curious. Is there a video compilation of hits (much like the one posted by BReynolds) that are seemingly dirty/clean on SB Nation’s Hockey blog-o-sphere somewhere?

and combination of “hit” and “suspension.” Tons of examples. To narrow it down, include “checking from behind” or “borading.”

I am not sure which statement you find prejudicial. The line about him being marketable?

What an enlightened position. When was the last time you saw any goon fight a skill guy? Why do you think the Boogeyman is going to be able to fight AO? You’re either talking about a Bertuzzi on Moore incident or something outside the bounds of reality. Maybe someone cheap shots AO, but AO usually sees those coming, and unlike that punk Kaleta, doesn’t bitch out from the hit.

1) Kaleta hit Ross right between the numbers. Right in the back. Ovechkin on Kaleta point of contact is shoulder-to-shoulder. Look at 1:16 on the Kaleta-Ross hit.

2) Kaleta leaps before hitting Ross. He leaves his skates. For no good hockey reason at all. Ovechkin came in square, skates on the ice. Watch 0:07 on the Kaleta-Ross hit.

3) Kaleta hit Ross in the head. Watch 1:25 of Kaleta-Ross. Ovechkin did not hit Kaleata in the head. That hit is all body.

4) Most importantly — Kaleta saw Ovechkin coming. At 0:05 of the video that is embedded in the original post above (which is not the best view of Ovechkin-on-Kaleta) you clearly see Kaleta look up-ice. He knows he’s about to get hit. He chooses to turn his back to the hitter. Ross knew someone was behind him, which is why he got rid of the puck so fast, but he didn’t know where Kaleta was or how hard he was coming. Ross had no chance to prepare for impact because he didn’t know where the impact would be.

Later comer to this party, but I see much of the groundwork has already been laid. Honestly I didn’t think Kaleta’s hit deserved 2 games like he got mainly because it deals with the exact same issue you see in the Ovechkin hit on him. The guy with the puck seeing a guy coming at him and either deliberately or stupidly turning himself towards the boards and away from the hit. I do believe Kaleta did this intentionally to draw a penalty on Ovechkin and that’s kudos to him for making a “thinking” play like that to take one for the team in a 1-0 game in which no penalties had been called yet. There’s also other guys (Heward comes to mind) who admit they weren’t being smart about their positioning knowing a hit was coming and put THEMSELVES in that position. This is the problem with suspending the guys who are delivering these hits in that the intent is NOT to hit from behind face first into the boards. Essentially dealing out suspensions just rewards that kind of dangerous play by guys holding the puck anywhere near the boards.

I do think Kaleta’s hit was worse than Ovechkin’s in that he did hit Ross right dead square in the middle of his back as Gould Old Days already stated, whereas Ovechkin’s hit on him was clearly shoulder to shoulder if you are actually looking at the good angles of the hit.

I don’t think any Caps fan who is being objective doesn’t think the Ovechkin hit doesn’t deserve 2 minutes or 4 minutes (there was a trickle of blood) for boarding, but to toss him from the game and call for a suspension for that hit is ridiculous, unless you are buying in to the over-exaggerated “headhunter” rep that gets screamed out of Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Philly. The Buffalo guys have a case because the hit on Briere from 06 was definitely a bad hit and I would have had zero issue with a suspension on that. But as bad as we all complain about “make up” penalty calls during games how much worse would it be to have “make up” justice in the form of suspensions that CC just doles out at random for whatever possible past offenses didn’t get the “right treatment”.

You can’t reward the practice of turning away from the hit you see coming because it just encourages more players to put themselves in positions that will see a rise in number of hits like this and injuries that come along with it.