Head Shots

I'm going to step outside of Leafland for a minute and consider the league wide issue of head shots. First, I do feel bad for Savard. However, in fairness to Cooke, he did not use his elbow and Savard's head was down. Quite frankly, at the time of the hit, I don't think it was an illegal hit and, in turn, I don't think it's fair to punish Cooke for the hit. Punishing Cooke for the Savard hit makes about as much sense as retroactively punishing Scott Stevens for every hit where he hit a forward with his head down at the blue line.

I also just read that league has created a new rule to address the issue, which provides as follows:

"A lateral, back pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and or the principal point of contact is not permitted."

TSN's current poll says "Is the proposed rule change enough?" and its headline is "The Solution?", insinuating that the league hasn't done enough. Personally, I think the league has taken a huge stride by banning blindside hits to the head. Like I said above, you should only punish someone for breaking a rule and Matt Cooke didn't break any rules at the time of the incident. However, with the new rule, if anyone does the same thing Cooke did to Savard, there is a rule to turn to, which will : (a) allow referees to assess a penalty; and (b) provide a basis for further league sanction deemed necessary.

So has the league done enough? Yes. Blindside hits to the head are now illegal and offenders will be punished. What more do you want?

Just Another Leafs Blog

So here's the deal...I, like so many others, am a die-hard and very opinionated Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I am a frequent reader of all things Leaf-related on Sportsnet, TSN, the Fan590, etc. More often than not, I disagree with the opinions and analysis available on these sites and, while they offer the opportunity to comment, those comments just get lost in the mix. So, I'm just going to post my opinions here and hope people read it.

I'm not an NHL insider, so you won't get any rumours here other than the occassional and unsubstantiated rumours that I read about elsewhere; I'm not a member of the media, so you won't get any interviews with Leafs players and personnel; and I'm not promising that you'll find anything particularly original on here - just my opinion.