Montreal was a pretty angry city yesterday, and not just because we were on the verge of a snowstorm in March. After news that Zdeno Chara would not be disciplined by the league, the whole city was up in arms; and rightfully so.
I still stand by what I said yesterday about Chara not intending to injure Pacioretty. However, this was nonetheless a horrible incident with horrible consequences, and should be treated as such. Even if Chara had not intended to fracture Pacioretty’s vertebrae, the fact of the matter is, sadly, that he did. The only way for the NHL to get rid of head shots and reduce the amount of life threatening injuries to its players is by taking action. The NHL must show its backbone and put its foot down; no more dirty hits without major consequence.
It’s at the point of becoming a matter of life and death. I can honestly say that there was a point during the aftermath of the hit last night where I thought there was a chance Pacioretty could have died. The force of the hit was that strong.
The health of its players should be reason enough for the NHL to put a heavy price on dangerous hits. However, there is even one more reason why the NHL needs to take control of this situation. These kinds of violent and scary-to-watch plays are awful for the NHL’s reputation. The NHL is all about growing its brand all over the world, and especially in the United States, and this is why it’s so amazing that the league still chooses to do nothing.
Last night, on the front page of ESPN.com, there was one small headline about the Pacioretty hit/injury, and it read “Habs forward fractures neck – No discipline”.
That is the worst possible headline for the NHL.
Tons of Americans will no doubt read this headline, and this is the only thing some of them will hear about this story. Tens of thousands of American non hockey fans will be turned off of hockey forever, and will never know the true beauty of the game. As far as they’re concerned, the NHL is a league full of stick carrying convicts who can nearly kill each other without any sort of punishment.
A simple suspension and fine could have helped with both of these issues. The NHL’s reputation would not take a hit, and the safety of its players would not be put in further jeopardy. The “intention rulebook” should have been thrown out, replaced by the “common sense rulebook”. Yes, maybe Chara didn’t intend to ram Pacioretty into the turnbuckle. Maybe he didn’t intend to injure him either. But none of that matters right now.
All that matters is that one phenomenal young hockey player is sitting in a hospital bed, unsure if he’ll ever play again; and all most people will hear is that there was “no discipline”.
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