The NHL has created its own magical spot where illegal hits suddenly become legal.
CHICAGO -- I was in Buffalo in 1999, when poor Bryan Lewis, the Director of Officiating at the time, was forced to explain to the collective media how Brett Hull's foot in the crease on the Stanley Cup winning goal was OK on this night. Even though for the past two years we had all seen dozens of those goals disallowed.
He conjured up some memo that had supposedly been sent to the two teams only days before, that set out a very similar set of circumstances under which it was OK to score with a foot in the crease.
Dallas thought they received it. Buffalo never did.
We were never allowed to see the memo, of course, as it was believed to be eaten by Gary Bettman's dog.
And now this: Some phantom "hitting zone" behind the net, where head shots are allowed in the National Hockey League. Why didn't anyone tell Matt Cooke about this?
We'd never heard of this area behind the net where the rules were different, during all of our trips to the NHL's general managers meetings, and in all of our conversations with the very men who crafted the rule.
Nor were three veteran NHL defencemen - Dam Hamhuis, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith - aware of this special, magical area, where it is OK to concuss.
But there it was on Monday, specifically referenced in a statement by NHL vice president Colin Campbell, after he had decided that Raffi Torres' latest brain-rattler - this time on Seabrook in Game 3 Sunday night - was well within the rules.
"When Rule 48 (Illegal Check to the Head) was unanimously adopted by the General Managers in March 2010, there was no intention to make this type of shoulder hit to the head illegal," Campbell's statement read. "In fact, at that time, we distributed a video to all players and teams that showed a similar hit on a defenseman by an attacking forward coming from the opposite direction behind the net and stated that this is a 'legal play'.
"This hit meets none of the criteria that would subject Torres to supplemental discipline, including an application of Rule 48: he did not charge his opponent or leave his feet to deliver this check. He did not deliver an elbow or extended forearm and this hit was not 'late'."
Look, I come from the old school on these hits.
I think Jordan Eberle should be required to keep his head up, and I believe that Seabrook should not be skating behind his net, looking over his shoulder while waiting for a too-slow puck to catch up to him. He should stop, collect the puck, and protect himself at all times - or risk getting drilled by Torres.
As Vancouver's Sami Salo said: "Since growing up playing hockey you know that, if you are a defenceman going (behind the net) for the puck, you might get hit."
It's a man's game. I like it that way.
But it is 2011 now, and the concussion problem is very real. Even a dinosaur like myself is ready to admit, we can't go on this way.
I've written for years that the surest way to stop these hits from occurring is to put the onus on the players. The rulebook is a start, but buy-in from the combatants is far more important.
For instance, Torres got four games for hitting Eberle because Torres should have realized Eberle was reaching for a puck and in a very vulnerable and dangerous position, and not skated right through him.
The same goes for the Seabrook hit.
"I mean, he's obviously going in there to try and hurt a guy," Keith said. "And I understand, it's playoff hockey and everybody wants to get their hits in, and you're hitting hard to leave an impression. But to me, that was a blatant hit to the head of a guy who doesn't even have the puck."
Forget all this hocus pocus about where and how the hit was delivered. Chest first, then head…
In my mind, both Torres hits were dead clean - two years ago. His elbow was tight, his skates on the ice, and (sorry Duncan), the puck was there both times.
I love the hits, but not as much as I love seeing Sidney Crosby, Marc Savard, Dave Bolland et al on the ice in the NHL playoffs.
So, if we can all agree that the goal is to limit concussions, then the onus has to be on Torres to realize that both opponents are vulnerable. He has to slow down, and not deliver such a devastating hit.
The spirit of this rule is, we are trying not to endanger the opponent's life anymore. The game is too fast, and the players too big and strong.
Either we're changing this, as Torres' four-game suspension for hitting Eberle led me to believe. Or we're not.
Frankly, I thought I had an idea where the game was going with this.
Until Monday.
