The Broad Street Blog: Where Is the Suspension for Kronwall?

Kronwall targeting Voracek's head

Let me start off by saying that when it comes to physical play in the NHL, I am far from a pacifist. I love clean, bone-crunching hits just as much as I love top-shelf slap-shots off the cross-bar and in. That being said, what Niklas Kronwall did to Jakub Voracek on Tuesday night was illegal and should have resulted in a suspension of at least 2 games.

Jakub Voracek attempted to get a head start on moving the puck up ice by beginning to skate forward while reaching backwards to retrieve the puck. When he turned around, he was immediately and maliciously greeted by Niklas Kronwall's shoulder right to the mouth, sending him flying backwards to the ice and leaving him dazed for a half a minute. Play carried on until the Flyers regained possesion and although Brayden Schenn offered to engage Kronwall in fistacuffs, Kronwall declined (no surprise considering he has never once answered the bell in his career), and there was never any revenge issued (an issue for another post).

We saw a lot of this type of hit in the 90s. New Jersey Devils Hall of Fame defensemen Scott Stevens was the poster child for it. It was within the parameters of the rules the league had in place. You could target the opponents head as long as you made contact with your shoulder and kept your elbow tucked in at your side. Stevens leveled many an unsuspecting player with the same type of hit. Paul Kariya, Slava Kozlov, Shane Willis; the list goes on and on. Were some of these hits an attempt to injure? Absolutely. Were they legal? Sure, so I had no problem with them. Even when he ended Lindros' career as a Flyer in game 6 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals by olbiterating "The Big E" as he manuvered through the neutral zone with his head down, I never complained.

Then the league changed the rule to this:

48.1 Illegal Check To The Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was unavoidable, can be considered

The first highlighted line explains why it was illegal and the second explains why i'm assuming the NHLs lead disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan interpreted it as legal. However, It is clear in the replay that Kronwall targeted Voracek's head. He had the time and opportunity to target the chest, and actually raised his trajectory at the last second to the point where his skates almost left the ice surface to deliberately make the head the principal point of contact. Contact with the head was not unavoidable. No penalty was assessed on the play, and no subsequental discipline was given to Kronwall. Even after the rule change handcuffed every other player, he continues on his path of predatory head-hunting without repercussions.

In a league where concussions and player safety in general have become a major cause for concern, Shanahan dropped the ball by not disciplining this hit. It is the second time in two weeks that a questionable hit, that we have seen result in a suspension in other instances, occured against a Flyer and was not dealt with (San Jose Sharks defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic check from behind on Danny Briere). Flyers forward and pugilist Zac Rinaldo's hit on Detroit defensemen Jonathan Ericsson was a clean shoulder to the chest and far less dangerous hit and he was suspended for 2 games. How badly does someone have to be injured by Kronwall before the NHL puts a stop to him? All we are asking for is a little consistency from the league. Is that so much to ask?