First and foremost, let’s hope that Brandon Sutter makes a full recovery from the concussion he sustained Saturday night on Long Island. The hit that Doug Weight delivered to the young Carolina rookie was as devastating a body check as you will find in the game of hockey.
But the talk of a need to crackdown on hits to the head has quickly (and predictably) ensued, led by Sutter’s general manager in Carolina, Jim Rutherford.
Now, Rutherford has every right to be disappointed with what went down Saturday night. His 19-year old rookie was enjoying a promising start to his NHL career, scoring his first NHL goal two nights previous in Pittsburgh, and was in the process of following it up with another nice game against the Islanders. But Brandon Sutter learned more about the NHL in a split second collision on Saturday than he’d learned in his previous seven NHL games combined – you don’t make like Brian Boitano in an NHL neutral zone and live to tell the story. What happened to Brandon was as unfortunate as it was predictable, and the fact is that Brandon and the Carolina Hurricanes should consider themselves lucky that it was only Doug Weight on the other end of the collision and not Dion Phaneuf or Zdeno Chara.
I agree wholeheartedly that a crackdown on blows to the head would solve what is perceived, by some, to be a problem. But it’s the wrong solution, with too many negative implications as they relate to the entertainment factor of the NHL game. The action along the boards right now, for example, is a shadow of its former self thanks to the recent crackdown on hitting from behind. Make no mistake, those changes in particular needed to happen, but when the NHL makes a sweeping change, the consequences of the change need to be carefully considered.
But I’ve got a better idea. Rather than going the direct route to crack down on hits to the head, why not make it a penalty to fish for loose pucks with your head down in the neutral zone? I’m not entirely clear on what the implications of this proposal would be, but I can guarantee the Hurricanes that they won’t ever have to worry about Brandon Sutter breaking the rule after what happened on Sunday night.