Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

If the Caps blow this series, they really just need to dissolve and come back as a new team in Seattle.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

I didn't read it until now cause it's fucking Campbell and he's a douche. He's suggesting the Caps idea was to hurt Crosby and take him out of the series? Niskanen went unpunished? Except for a 5 minute major and missing pretty much that entire game. Now you can argue if she should be suspended but lets not act like he got 2 minutes and Niskanen is some no name player. Comparing this to the Graves? Graves taking a two-hander to Mario is the same as this? So Niskanen knew in that split second that Sid would fall and he'd be able to get his head? This was not Sid just standing there and Nisky cross-checking to the face ala Chris Simon. Amazing how many people can sit here and watch in slow motion and say they know what they could have done in that second. If we dissected every game the way we're dissecting this one, how many slashes go uncalled? Or any penalty for that matter. There are plenty of things we can find wrong in our game and in last night but I mean there is so much generalizing in that piece. Also, I go back to him suggesting that the Caps players only meeting was them saying they were gonna try and take Crosby out. That is fucking incredible. I'd be pissed if I was a member of the Caps organization. I mean I think Ken Campbell runs a child sex ring out of his basement. I have no proof but makes you wonder doesn't it?

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

I think youre confusing Ken Campbells article with Rob Rossi's

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Even if the cross check wasn't intentional, and I don't think it was, it was completely reckless. It deserved a five and a game.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

The bolded is definitely the thing to remember with this. In the speed of the game, I see very little reactionary time for Niskanen to do much of anything. There's very little time for him to halt his momentum; and conversely there's very little time for him to maliciously think "this is my moment to take out Crosby" and have the wherewithal to act accordingly. This doesn't excuse the penalty - he should have still gotten the penalty because an infraction was committed.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/s...uins-capitals/

Paul speaks the truth.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Exactly. I don't want to seem like I'm apologizing for what happened but this was not headhunting and there is no way for him to know Crosby would be in that situation at that time. This is not some play behind the net, along the boards with Crosby's back turned.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Wait, you're saying Niskanen was trying to cushion the collision?

Hahahahahahahahannaha wow

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

:thumbsup Fraser called this out too. His scenario would have been two minors to Ovechkin - high sticking and slashing - plus the fiver/game to Niskanen. 5-on-3 for 4 minutes (depending on goals being scored), with the major being served in its entirety.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

I dont think anyone sensible is saying it was viscous, but it was a reckless play, he knew Sid was coming in and he got his hands up so he could crosscheck him.

These are the types of plays that need to be eliminated from the game.

Crosschecking and slashing guys, especially in front of the net, needs to stop, and we need to stop accepting it as part of the game. Its not needed.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Ironically my "Live the Life" player is on the Caps. I bet you know my answer to this question: https://imgur.com/a/TJksY

(Yes, I'm poor and still play NHL 14)

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

your time is now, Capitals. Don't screw this up!

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

We all know what it'll take for that to change. I mean, how many times have guys like Staal and dubinsky cross checked Crosby in the neck and head without an eye batted? This is why the whole 'crosby gets special treatment' does not make sense

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

To the first line, he was gonna take a run at him and, it was gonna be a big hit, but the hit the head is what caused the concussion and Niskanen was not going in there to try and get his head is all I'm saying.

Crosschecking and slashing all need to go, you're not gonna get an argument from me but looking at Ovie's play on this, did the refs see it and not call it, or was it just missed? If they saw it and didn't call? Why? If they didn't see it, how do we fix it that? I really don't know. We see it now because we can watch it in slow motion from 100 different angles, the refs can't in the moment.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

One can't blame the refs for not calling it that way though, it's almost impossible to see Ovechkin's initial slash anyway, plus it's disguised by what happened with Niskanen afterwards. Perhaps Paul Coffey is right that the league should maybe take a look at what Ovie did (however I don't think that's necessary) but in the moment it's hard to see that Ovie even really did anything.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

The NHLPA needs to raise their voices then. I mean from the article I posted earlier today, they don't want to ban all headshots so if the NHLPA won't sign off on it to protect their own players, are we ever gonna get there?

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

:lol good lord what an awful take.

https://twitter.com/foxsportsradio/s...73989126701056

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Excellent piece here by TLP

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

I agree with this line of thinking.

Really unfortunate Sid got concussed. Hopefully, he will be back soon. Still think Pens win series without him.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Agreed. I assume everyone in here that says the Caps should win is just speaking in jest, but I've seen a lot around the internet today where people think this is all of a sudden the Caps' series to lose. That's a ridiculous line of thinking to me.

A) they are still down 2-1

B) did we forget which two teams we're talking about here?

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Not sure what you're getting at. There was no intent to injure from Sid on that slash.

This is a league wide problem. Everyone does this stuff and it sucks. They cross check, they slash, they take little shots when the ref can't see. It hurts the game. And the league isn't serious enough about this stuff to step in and change the culture of the game for the better.

The outliers now are the guys looking to injure.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

You'd think the league would want to protect the guys that bring in the fans.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Nice win for the Rangers. Game 4 will be the big tell for me though. Either Ottawa was just bad tonight, or the Rangers reached another level, game 4 will let us know!

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

You would think the league would want to protect the guys that bring in the fans and money

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Nice win for the Rangers. Game 4 will be the big tell for me though. Either Ottawa was just bad tonight, or the Rangers reached another level, game 4 will let us know!

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Ants acting odd

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

Weird that it reposted my first post over 10 minutes later...

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

https://www.facebook.com/Capitals/vi...4553616201762/

These mic'ed up videos are always the coolest. Especially for hockey. Neat to get some ref interaction as well


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

I think the Rangers have outplayed the Send 80-85% of the series, but have had inexcusable letdowns leading to losses.

Re: The NHL Thread (where the Presidents Trophy matters!)
 

The outliers aren't the only guys looking to injure. I've seen Sid take cheap shots at players, I've seen Ovie do it, Shea Weber, Joe Thornton and the list goes on. And if you expect them not to take a little shot when the refs not looking, you're dreaming. They'll do anything to try and knock someone off their game. I get what you're saying, but I think you're dreaming with some of that stuff.

http://www.tsn.ca/league-points-fing...-case-1.739833

I will post this again. The NHLPA, who is supposed to be representing the players, doesn't want to ban all shots to the head and protect it's players, but yeah it's the league's fault. If the players were really against all of this, they could probably get it done. All sides are culpable here don't get me wrong, but if the players union doesn't want to protect it's members, then it'll never go away. Apparently the union is only here to negotiate CBA's.