cw said:
Maybe I need to look at the video again but Doan's hit didn't strike me as a definite suspension. The player turned towards the boards after Doan lined up the hit. Doan was pretty close when he did so and therefore, may not have had much of a chance to let up.
As I said, maybe I need to review it again. But it wasn't a hit where I thought "he's gone for a few games for sure!" The announcers were debating whether it would be a five minute penalty.
I'd agree to the extent that a lack of suspension wouldn't stun me. Like you said it didn't strike me as particularly malicious.
That said, I think it was an example of a hit that the NHL wants to and probably will phase out. I think the next generation of players are going to have to realize that they may not be able to charge full speed into the boards at someone if they can't stop themselves in time not to hit them from behind. Accidental or not, Doan had his elbow pretty squarely on his back numbers.
cw said:
Thinking back five years or maybe more, including this season, I would never describe Phoenix as a dirty team. I checked my feelings on that and they've ranged from middle of the pack to 2nd least in times short handed over that time - probably in the top quarter of least penalized over that time.
That's interesting. Obviously the idea of a "dirty" team isn't exact but I'm not sure number of penalties would necessarily be indicative of a team's reputation for clean play. I have to imagine that a pretty substantial number of penalties that get called are of the inadvertent variety or are things like fighting or roughing that don't fit most definitions of dirty play.
I mean, this year the top five teams in terms of times shorthanded were Philadelphia, Montreal, Dallas, Ottawa and Edmonton. Last year it was Montreal, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Columbus and Colorado.
I mean, call me crazy, but I'd be more inclined to say that the common thread there is a lousy defense which makes a certain degree of sense. I'm not sure how you'd really get a handle on a team's dirtiness without a breakdown of the types of penalties.
