| Tim Budong | 03-15-2010 09:10 AM |
Here's Ryan Lambert from Puck Daddy's take on the whole "Ovechkin-gate"
This guy is more reckless than anything, all the crap he's down "with or without" the "intent to injure" is ridiculous Quote:
What We Learned: As pattern persists, what to do with Ovechkin?
By Ryan Lambert
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
Now before all of you start crying that I'm an idiot and I don't understand the game and I'm just a Penguins homer: Please understand that I love Alex Ovechkin(notes).
I think he's the best player in the world, and I think he has all the talent and skill to become one of the best players ever by the time he retires. He not only scores unbelievable goals with frightening consistency, he also sets up goals with the threat of his shot and plays with a physical edge not often seen in players of his caliber.
In the past I've defended Ovechkin's numerous questionable plays. The guy is legitimately a freight train (he's 6-2, 233!) on the ice and I think much of what he does to put his opponents in a bad position is incidental. Certainly, given his immediate reaction to the hit on Brian Campbell(notes), I don't think he meant to knock the guy out of the game or put him into the boards like that -- and yet here we are.
The puck was clearly away from Campbell when Ovechkin engaged him, and the hit gave Campbell no way to protect himself crashing into the end-boards. Textbook boarding call in a very dangerous part of the ice. Of course it deserved a match penalty, it was an exceptionally stupid play on Ovie's part.
This will likely result in his second suspension this season. He could have gotten one for that hit on Briere a few years ago and the one on Kaleta in November. He blind-sided Dustin Brown away from the play a few years back. Jamie Heward got stretchered off the ice after Ovie hit him from behind. He slew-footed Rich Peverley in October. He's hit Wideman (no video, but here's an article), Gonchar and Gleason knee-to-knee. He shot a puck at Rob Scuderi after the whistle.
Any one, two or even three of those incidents could have been dismissed as Ovechkin's ability to play dominant physical hockey getting a little out of control or maybe emotion getting the best of him. But add up all those incidents. There are nine of them in just a few years, with the majority happening either this season or last.
There's a clear pattern developing.
(Coming Up: Sean Avery's(notes) meds are wearing off; delusions in Minnesota; pity on the Oilers; Client Jaroslav Halak's(notes) MVP performances; Craig Anderson(notes) earns his money; Lambert pats himself on the back for Coyotes pick; Malkin's injury; Matt Martin's(notes) dirty hit on Phaneuf; and a rather insane Shea Weber(notes) trade idea.)
So imagine all these penalties were committed by, I dunno, let's say, just to pick a few players completely at random, Matt Cooke(notes) or Steve Ott(notes) or Jarkko Ruutu(notes). The criticisms would all have to be the same: dirty plays, several resulting in injuries, and he never actually fights to back up any of his questionable hits.
But none of those guys are ever gonna pop in 65 in a season, so it's a-okay to vilify them. I'm just as guilty as anyone.
There's going to be pressure from the League and the networks not to suspend Ovechkin and rightly so. He's one of the few players I'd actually shell out money to see live, and if I feel that way, think how a person with only passing interest in hockey feels.
But really, a play like this, and subsequent defense of it from Caps fans (hint: when you're on Mike Milbury's side of an argument, you're on the wrong side) is unconscionable. Someone's going to get seriously hurt one of these days, and it's going to put everyone -- especially Colin Campbell -- in a tough spot.
What should the league do about it? It should suspend him for a couple more games.
But what will it do? Hell, what can it do? Nothing beyond the requisite one-gamer, at most. For entirely business reasons, the League will never suspend Ovechkin for any portion of the season larger than a game or, in extreme cases, two, and it can't fine him an amount significant enough to make him think twice about his play.
The real question is at what point does, "Alex Ovechkin plays with an edge," turn into "Alex Ovechkin plays with a reckless disregard for his opponents' safety?" And when does that become, "Alex Ovechkin plays a dangerous, cheap game?"
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