Wake Up NHL, Take Cheap Shots Seriously

There is no place in today’s NHL for cheap shots. None. I know I’m not alone in believing that the NHL and its fans deserve a product that excludes those who decide to abuse their position and timing on the ice in an attempt to injure other players. The NHL needs to wake up and start taking cheap shots seriously before more players get seriously injured.

I’m calling the NHL out today because of their decision to not suspend Zac Rinaldo for this hit:

SHAMEFUL. The NHL’s inaction is SHAMEFUL. This after Rinaldo had the following hit on Kris Letang and was suspended 8 games:

The only difference I can see between these 2 hits is that Kris Letang is a superstar, while Couturier isn’t exactly a household name.

Here I thought having a history was supposed to make suspensions MORE likely, not LESS likely. He’s already been suspended 4 games for an illegal check to the head of Chad Ruhwedel amongst so many others that Travis Hughes Tweeted the following:

"Zac Rinaldo has played 1,675 minutes in the NHL. The league has disciplined him for a total of 1,449 minutes"

The craziest thing within this issue is that the NHL Department of Player Safety has suspended first time offenders who’ve done much less than Rinaldo did against Couturier. You can see some of these here. In particular, look at this Kronwall hit against Kucherov, where he makes the same kind of contact but does so while the puck is still in play by Kucherov, not 3 seconds later like the Rinaldo hit on Couturier.

Forget suspension, Zac Rinaldo should be kicked out of the league altogether. This is not the UFC, the WWE, or a goon league where cheap shots are welcomed. This is the NHL, and if they have any class or decency, they need to start taking themselves and their product seriously. I can’t believe they’re allowing that guy, who provides no value to the league and makes it look like a joke product, skate another day after he continues to hit players in vulnerable positions with his elbow up and no thought to their well-being.

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I’d like to add the following point for the NHL: THESE ARE HUMAN BEINGS. Sons, fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins…..they’re all human beings. They deserve to be protected by the league that profits from their hard work and dedication. Allowing a player like Rinaldo to continue to act like this is jeopardizing their safety and placing them in a position that is unfair, unwarranted, and unwelcome by the vast majority of its fans. It also discourages new fans from adopting the game as they see these highlights replayed over-and-over again.

Stop the madness NHL. Suspend Rinaldo? He should be outright suspended for life. Gone. Finished. Nobody would miss him. Not one single fan. Because as soon as they see the improved product, the skilled hard-working player that would take his spot in the lineup, they’d forget all about him and move on.

Sep 28, 2015; Quebec City, Quebec, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (58) before the game against Montreal Canadiens at Videotron Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

If Kris Letang or Sean Couturier was the son of the person(s) making the decision of suspending or not suspending Rinaldo, I know for a fact that he would have been punished and punished to the maximum ability of the league.

At this point, I’ll also call out the NHLPA. Why are they standing by guys like Zac Rinaldo, Matt Cooke, and Raffi Torres, and allowing them to be a part of their organization? They need to wake up as well. Get a grip on your players, get them on the same page and ensure player safety is demanded.

The last people I want to call out are the teams that hire GMs who provide these guys with an opportunity to play the game the way they do. I call out the coaches that put them on the ice and allow them the opportunity to hit people the way they do. And I call out their team mates who continue to play the game with them. Wake up and take action against them. Realize that at some point in time, such a hit could seriously hurt them when it goes the other way and injures one of their important players.

I’ve always heard that the NHL is a business, and that they’ll do whatever it takes to make more money. Well, I’ve yet to see players or the league make any money from players that are skilled and forced to sit out multiple games, or seasons, because they’re injured. It’s one thing to get injured during a clean player or accident. It happens and it’s always going to be a part of the game. But cheap shots should NEVER be tolerated. The Globe and Mail put out an article displaying the NHL player salaries lost due to career-ending concussions. If you need something to convince the NHLPA, use that as part of the argument. The total is $117,191,045. If that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. And that’s mostly from a period of time when players made much less than they do today.

No wonder NHL players have filed a class-action lawsuit aiming to make the NHL responsible for profiting from the game while continuing to knowingly jeopardize player safety for profits. The statement for their lawsuit is as follows:

The lawsuit alleges that the NHL was motivated to conceal these risks in order to glorify violence in the sport and generate billions of dollars in revenues, often using extreme violence as a commodity in the sale and promotion of the League. As a direct consequence of the NHL’s misconduct, thousands of former NHL players have suffered and continue to suffer from serious and often debilitating health problems.

The minimum suspension needs to be raised substantially and should probably be agreed to by both the NHL and NHLPA. Each hit should be reviewed by both of them to come to an agreement together on the penalty. Cheap shots need to stop before more careers are ended, altered severely, and lives continue to be shortened by the effects of concussions and other issues.

There’s no room in society – or hockey – for this kind of behaviour. Wake up NHL and protect your product. Promote your skilled players, not your goons. Set the course for a better game that can be enjoyed by all of us, including new fans and the players who play the game.

I find it extremely disturbing that the NHL continues to profit from players like Zac Rinaldo. If you agree with me, pass this article on and demand that the NHL begin taking more severe actions against such players and acts. If it were up to me, Raffi Torres, Matt Cooke, and Zac Rinaldo would never again play an NHL game. And you know what, the NHL and NHLPA would be better off without them.

Wake up NHL, take cheap shots seriously. It’ll do nothing but improve the game we all love.

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