Forman Files Deep Dive: Does the NHL have an issue with hits from behind?

I have frequently stated on this blog my dislike for the way the NHL handles headshots/head injuries, a problem that starts with the NHL's denial of the link between hockey and concussions/CTE and continues with George Parros and the Department of Player Safety continuous lack of player safety. A huge issue is there is no precedence or standard suspension for headshots and thus it's always left to a judgement call, one that often time determines the player made a "hockey play" and thus somehow not suspension-worthy. At the beginning of the season Gary Bettman assured us that NHL refs were "the best in the world" and that they would be cracking down on cross-checking this season, and yet one month into the season it's almost worse then it was last year. Bettman loves to give empty promises without actually fixing the issue at hand and thus these types of hits are bound to keep happening. In this deep dive I'm going to look at a worrying trend I've noticed in the first month of the 2021/22 NHL season: hits from behind that are not resulting in major penalties/suspensions as they need to be:

Here are 10 hits from the first month and a bit of the NHL season and the penalties/discipline from the Department of Player Safetty (or lack there of) that was decided and my analysis on what needs to change:

Exhibit #1: Alex Ovechkin hit on Nick Paul

Penalty called: none

Suspension/fine: none

Analysis: I mean this is as blatant as it gets, Ovie is coming at full speed towards Nick Paul and he's looking directly in the numbers as he throws his entire weight into the hit. Should have been a 2-minute boarding call minimum and likely a 1-2 game suspension, but because Paul continued the game nothing happened

Exhibit #2: Steven Stamkos hit on Sam Girard

No YouTube video, twitter link: https://twitter.com/nhl_review/status/1452094363148881922

Penalty called: none

Suspension/fine: none

Analysis: This is a perfect example of everything that's wrong with NHL officiating today, Stamkos makes zero attempt to let up and drives Girard straight in the numbers into the boards head first, and no penalty is called because it was OT and clearly the ref didn't want that to "influence" the game. But see that's the thing, it does influence the game when the ref doesn't call the rulebook as it is, that's textbook boarding and should have been a 1-2 game suspension too

Exhibit #3: Mikael Backlund hit on Travis Konecny

Penalty called: 2-minute minor for cross-checking

Suspension/fine: $5000 fine

Analysis: This is a really dangerous hit and Backlund is lucky that Konecny wasn't seriously hurt or this likely would have been a suspension. Another issue I have with the Department of Player Safety, even if he isn't injured that doesn't take away the intent of what Backlund did and there has to be a precedence that you can't hit players in the numbers like that

Exhibit #4: Brandon Duhaime hit on Bowen Byram

Penalty called: 5-minute major for cross-checking and a game misconduct

Suspension/fine: none

Analysis: This hit boils my blood for so many reasons, the most obvious is that I'm an Avs fan and Byram is a 20-year old rookie who already missed extensive time last season with a concussion (and is now out again after a Horvat elbow). There is just zero reason for Duhaime to throw this hit and it's the exact type of play the NHL needs to get out of their game. This should have been a 2-game suspension minimum and that's putting my Avs bias aside

Exhibit #5: Lawson Crouse hit on Corey Perry

Penalty called: 2-minute minor for boarding

Suspension/fine: none

Analysis: Crouse commits to the hit well before actually throwing it and is looking at Perry's numbers the entire way, he had the option to let up here and yet still launches his body directly into Perry. These are the types of hits that are bound to keep happening as long as there is no precedence for suspending them and should have been at least a 1-game suspension

Exhibit #6: Matt Martin hit on Mike Hardman

Penalty called: none

Suspension/fine: none

Analysis: There's a lot of things I don't like about this hit, primarily that he targets the head and seems to leave his feet as he does so. It's a tough judgement call because Hardman turns a bit before Martin got there, but he still clearly hits him into the boards in the numbers and I would have liked to have seen at least a 2-minute minor called here. Martin is a player who throws his body around frequently and while I wouldn't call him a dirty player he's definitely aggressive

Exhibit #7: Mathieu Joseph hit on Dylan Larkin

Penalty called: 2-minute minor for roughing (Joseph), 5-minute major and game misconduct (Larkin)

Suspension/fine: Larkin 1-game, Joseph none

Analysis: What an absolute mess this entire situation was, Joseph with a brutal hit from behind on Larkin and travels quite a bit of way to get there and hit him into the boards directly in the numbers. Larkin is justifiably irate and sucker punches Joseph (not the best reaction however) resulting in a 5-minute major and game misconduct followed by a 1-game suspension. Joseph on the other hand? All he got was 2-minutes for "roughing" and no further discipline from the DOPS. What makes no sense here is that Larkin doesn't sucker punch him without the initial illegal hit, both plays need to be suspension-worthy or neither

Exhibit #8: Jack Roslovic hit on Lucas Raymond

No YouTube video, twitter link: https://twitter.com/RyanHanaWWP/status/1450642041902411783

Penalty called: none (Bertuzzi 2-minutes for roughing)

Suspension/fine: none

Analysis: Raymond has his back to the play with the puck and Roslovic still commits to the hit from behind, directly into the numbers, and yet the only penalty called on the play was Bertuzzi for retaliating and Columbus scored on the ensuing PP. Raymond was hurt and left the game and ultimately was okay but this is still the type of hit that was no place in hockey and yet somehow no penalty or further discipline when this should have been at least a 2-game suspension

Exhibit #9: JT Miller hit on Nazem Kadri

Penalty called: matching minor penalties for roughing

Suspension/fine: TBD

Analysis: This hit is different then most of the ones on this list because the play doesn't happen next to the boards, but I would argue that it's even more dangerous how he pushes Kadri head first into the post. Miller has no stick on the play and doesn't even attempt to make a hockey play, the only thing on his mine is attempting to injure Kadri. Still remains to be seen what the DOPS decides but I wouldn't hold my breath on the account of the NHL hating Kadri, as evident by the fact that all Miller got on this play was matching minors with Rantanen

Exhibit #10: Cedric Paquette hit on Trevor Zegras

Penalty called: 5-minute major for boarding and a game-misconduct

Suspension/fine: 2-game suspension

Analysis: This is the only one of the 10 hits I listed here where the refs/Department of Player Safety actually did their jobs properly (batting at an average of .100) and got the call right. Paquette makes no attempt to let up and drives Zegras head first into the boards from behind, just a reckless hit that has no place in hockey and the penalty/resulting suspension needs to be the standard call for these types of hits

Lastly, here's a chart via Range Hockey (https://twitter.com/Range_Hockey) that shows the number of minor penalties per game, per season going back to the 2015/16 season. 

As you can see, there has been a sharp decline in penalties called since opening night on October 12th to the cue of at least 2 minor penalties a game, and the season is barely one month old. So much for that "crackdown" on cross-checking

It's time the NHL get's serious and starts treating these hits from behind properly or someone is going to get seriously injured. Enough is enough already

Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff

The Time for Change is Now Part 2 - Time to Fire Gary Bettman

It's been 6 days since Kyle Beach gave his gut-wrenching interview with TSN's Rick Westhead, and a lot has happened in that time to shed light on the absolute failure from top to bottom between the Blackhawks, NHLPA and the NHL. I wrote about it the day after (https://formanfaceoffnhl.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-time-for-change-is-now.html) and just how disgusted I was, and frankly it continues to be downright difficult to enjoy being a hockey fan right now. The league seems to go two steps backwards every damn time they try and "fix" something, a true sign of Gary Bettman's "sweep it under the rug" mentality that reverberates throughout hockey. One thing remains abundantly clear: Gary Bettman is unfit to lead the NHL and needs to be fired immediately (same for Donald Fehr as head of the NHLPA)

For all that witnessed or read quotes of Bettman's disastrous press conference yesterday, there is no question that he needs to go and it needs to happen now. For starters he actually had the audacity to speak these words after all that has happened in the past week,

"Hockey culture does not encourage, but in fact prohibits this type of activity"

I mean how tone deaf do you have to be Gary to say this after the same culture allowed Kyle Beach and several other victims to be sexually abused by Brad Aldrich? What about all the victims of Graham James? Hockey culture DOES encourage this behaviour because it happens time and time again, and acting like it doesn't makes you part of the problem.

Then there was the part where a reporter asked him how could he justify fining the Blackhawks (a team valued at over $1 billion) just $2 million especially in comparison to the Devils getting fined $3 million for cap circumvention with the Kovalchuk contract, and he replied "different context, different facts." There is so much wrong with this I don't even know where to begin. For starters Gary, it sends the message that sexual abuse is a less serious offense than breaking the cap. Then there's the part of it being "different context" which is absolutely true, except that these stories aren't even in the same realm and the Blackhawks fine should have been significantly more. The fact that Gary actually thought this response was going to make him and the NHL look better is a perfect reflection of the entire press conference and how they've handled this situation.

Bettman went on to defend his actions to allow Joel Quenneville to coach last Wednesday night, a mere hour after the Beach interview, because he wanted to "treat him fair" and award him due process. He said the same about Kevin Cheveldayoff who he determined didn't deserve to be fired because he "wasn't in senior management of the Blackhawks and shouldn't be held responsible" despite him being the Assistant GM and lying about being in the meeting. Quenneville ultimately stepped down, Cheveldayoff remains, but the actions speak louder then words here. Gary cared more about catering to these old hockey men then he did giving Kyle Beach and the other victims THEIR due process.

Then there was Bettman being asked about the NHL's Sexual Abuse Policy, in which he gave this response, 

"We do have a policy. We don't tolerate it, and we punish as appropriate. I know there are policies in other leagues where they specify what the penalty is, but that's something that they frequently don't adhere to. We think you judge on a case-by-case basis"

So the policy is that they don't have a policy but judge it case-by-case? This just further proves how clueless and downright inept they are at handling these situations. You can't expect anyone to believe that the NHL is handling this matter appropriately when they have nothing concrete in place.

Then there was Blackhawks beat reporter Mark Lazerus who pressed Bettman on the leadership of the Blackhawks, specifically John McDonough, who was always praised for running a "model franchise." Lazerus asked Bettman if he needed to pay more closely attention to the culture that NHL teams foster, and he responded by basically that he was surprised as anyone and wondered why Mark, as the Blackhawks reporter, didn't also know more (despite the fact that Mark didn't cover the team in 2010). Once again Gary deflects blame to someone else, a common theme in his press conference, where it seems that he bears absolutely zero responsibility.

And finally there was Bettman refusing to allow Rick Westhead, one of only a handful of reporters who actually had the strength and courage that most others didn't to cover this story relentlessly (along with Katie Strang), to ask a question in the press conference. It wasn't until 47 minutes in when Pierre Lebrun, a fellow reporter, had to basically shame them into allowing Rick to ask a question and they finally relented. Rick pressed Bettman on if the NHL was going to provide counselling to the high school player who was abused by Aldrich after he left the Blackhawks and he responded by saying they needed more information and they can't commit to it now. Think about that for a second, another victim that the NHL enabled to get abused by Aldrich and they won't even commit to simply supplying him with counselling. Right here out in the open we can see that Bettman has not learned his lesson and never will, and trying to silence the reporter who is exposing all their failures should be Gary's last act as NHL Commissioner.

I want to conclude by stating what I have said throughout this piece, TIME TO FIRE GARY BETTMAN AS NHL COMMISSIONER IMMEDIATELY. Time and time again he has shown that he is not fit for the job, that he lacks any amount of empathy, compassion or moral compass and only cares about being Lawyer Gary and serving the best interest of the owners and other members of the Old Boys Club. Until Gary is gone, these things are due to repeat itself and nothing will change, simple as that. It is up to us as hockey fans to demand that Bettman be fired and it happen now, and I want to thank all media using their platforms to demand the same. Lastly, I want to re-iterate how much respect I have for Kyle Beach and the strength and courage that he showed last week is so important for creating this desperately needed culture change in the sport of hockey.

THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW

Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff