Lucic/By S. Bradley
In a matter of less than 24 hours things have changed in the aftermath of the Bruins’ win over Buffalo Saturday night.
We’ve gone from thinking Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller only suffered a neck injury and Bruins forward Milan Lucic had already paid his penance with a two-minute charging penalty for his hit on Miller to finding out today that Miller actually has a concussion and Lucic has a hearing with the NHL.
TSN.ca reported Lucic’s scheduled phone call with league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan and the Buffalo News reported on Miller’s condition.
I do not think that the NHL will suspend Lucic. Much like Zdeno Chara’s hit on Max Pacioretty last March, I believe this will be deemed a “hockey play.” After all, it’s extremely difficult to stop when you’re moving as fast toward the goaltender as Lucic was — Shanahan should know that as well as anyone.
However, the league has a responsibility to protect goaltenders — many of whom, like Miller, are the backbones of their franchises. Rule 69.4 clearly states that goaltenders are not fair game and that incidental contact is permitted if there’s an attempt by the player to get out of the way. Lucic made no such attempt and instead hit Miller with full force.
No doubt the league wants to make sure Lucic is reminded of that rule and that players around the league get the message that it’s not “open season” on goaltenders. Just the threat of a potential suspension, created by the hearing, should hammer home the message.
Of course, Lucic is no stranger to NHL discipline. Last December, he was fined $3,500 for his sucker-punch on Atlanta’s Freddy Meyer. Previously, he was suspended during the 2009 playoffs. If Shanahan wants to factor that in with what he might deem a reckless play — not to mention Miller’s suddenly serious injury situation — you could see a one-game ban for Lucic.
I wouldn’t go that far at this point. Should the league’s general managers want to bring up a potential “roughing the goaltender” penalty or suspension to protect netminders like quarterbacks, well then that’s a whole other story. For now, a warning to Lucic and the rest of the league’s would-be goalie-crushers should suffice.
Man, thegue is putting players under fire for playing the game. After this incident I got a reebok edge Lucic black jersey m/l and it was too small for me. Any Lucic fans out there looking to grab this jersey for cheap shoot me an email. paid $300 will sell for $75. Brand new with tags on.
email rgm3924@gmail.com
Go Bruins!
matt, let’s be honest with your new readers. you were calling for z’s head last year.
RD, I think my post should have been….Why did Ryan Miller play for so long after the hit? The reason for the question is if he has a concussion then the Sabres allowed him to stay in the game and he got barreled into by Seguin afterward. Dumb play by Lucic, weird that the Sabres took no precautions with Miller after the hit.
Patrick I think the fact that Lucic is a less than world class skater is probably why he braced for the hit and prepared for the fall out.
Probably from his view point a lot less risky to brace for the hit than try to dance away and probably still hit Miller but in a less safe manner.
Miller was also braced for a hit and had his elbow up. Not to mention his giant two handed slash attempt.
He probably got the concussion after Leino lifted Seguin’s stick and rammed him into Miller and the net in the 2nd period.
Miller wasn’t ‘that ailing’ after the Lucic collision. I’d bet he spoke with an MD in between the 1st and 2nd periods and was cleared to play.
@Bruins16, you nailed it. We accept it and move on. Lucic broke the rules and got a penalty. Shouldn’t that be it? It wasn’t a hit to the head. He didn’t leave his feet. He hit the goalie. That is a minor penalty and he got one. So the health of a player following an infraction can now influence supplemental action? Yes I know they take that into account when they review plays but those are usually egregious hits from behind or targeted head shots. It seems to me that this play is only being reviewed BECAUSE he now has a concussion. So if a player is hooked down, just like happens in every game 50 times, and that player hits his head as he is falling the play is now going to be reviewed and a possible suspension handed out? Even if said player plays out the period and then one more?If this is the precedent then we should say goodbye to the hard hitting game we all love. Because if injuries can influence suspensions then no one will be hitting anybody and every team will have to have a token “fall guy” who gets hurt every time someone trips, hooks or charges him. I’m not saying Miller doesn’t really have a concussion. But I am saying that the rules state that if you hit a goalie you get a minor. Lucic got one and served it. If Miller got hurt on the play then that is unfortunate but the rules were enforced properly and that should be the end of it…but I doubt it will be. I have to agree with Bruins16 again here and think he will get 1 game just because concussion is the new menace du jour.
As an afterthought. Glen Hall played 502 straight games. You don’t think someone fell on his barehead in that stretch. I’m sure his bell was rung a few times. Back then you didn’t have millions of dollars to fall on. You had to rely on toughness. Timmy could have played in any era. Then again he didn’t go to his minor hockey games in a Range Rover.
There’s twenty-one concussion symtoms. I guess I have one most days. It’s time to strap pillows on the players heads. I’m so sick of hearing about them it’s turning me off of the game. If goalies can’t play without getting concussed then I give up. The Leafs Reimer has his mask knocked off and the smiling phony is MIA for a month.
BruinsUnite says “What’s less dignified than faking a concussion?. I happen to think some are faked and if you ask me one is too many.
Cindy Crosby has been out a year and there’s still hitting in the game. What’s up with that?
Bruin fans; he is going to get one game, given his past and the present climate in the NHL. Remember, we are Bruins fans, we don’t whine, we don’t blame others, we don’t make excuses. We accept our fate and move on.
PatrickD,
It was a joke about Thomas getting suspended for hitting another player. He’d probably fight him, but I think he has a little too much sense/backup to get that far.
George hit the nail on the head. Isn’t an MD supposed to immediately test players for concussion symptoms, after hard hits, if there’s a player complaint?
@David, I’m not sure I know what you mean.
PatD,
Internet humor, man!
I will not be surprised if Lucic gets a game. He made no effort to avoid miller. That’s not to say I think his play was outrageous, I for one think contact with a goalie making a play on the puck should be more ok than it is.
I think the league should call a hearing on Miller of delayed embelishing.
I am not defending Lucic in any way as he knows the rules and DID have time to stop/avoid contact. And to the people who say he was going so fast he couldn’t have altered his path…Its Lucic! The guy is a less than world class skater….how fast was he really going? If he was going at such a clip he should have caught the puck. I love Lucic and mostly love his style of hockey but once in a while he does something dumb. And he gets punished. In this case a minor penalty which is exactly what he deserved and nothing more.That being said I can’t help but think that if it was Thomas who had been run over it would still be Lucic who would have to appear in front of Shanny. As it would have been Lucic who would have jumped and beaten the offending Sabre in the aftermath.
I don’t think this is worthy of suspension. I do wonder though what the impact of having Seguin tossed into Miller may have on the concussion issue. It is very possible that concussion symptoms weren’t clearly present after the Lucic hit but Seguin being tripped into Miller may have made things worse.
Seems to me like part of the problem here was leaving Miller in the net.
As a big guy, it can be really hard to stop or change directions in a situation like that. That said, he didn’t just brace for an impact, which I could let him off with as incidental contact, but he followed through. Again, as a big guy, I have no idea what possessed him to do that, and I can’t say I really disagree all that much with Miller’s comments even though he tends to go a bit overboard on them (Hjalmarsson on Kaleta?) Given Shanahan’s recent suspension of Kaleta, I expect to see at least a game for Lucic especially now that reported injury is taken into consideration.
PCL,
I bet if someone did that to Thomas, Thomas would end up with a game for fixing the guy’s face.
This could get interesting, but I think you’re right Matt and others, this shouldn’t wind up being a suspension. There was no head shot, he got his 2 mins, and this too will go into the file as fodder for a possible future suspension.
Either way, I still think it was a garbage play and while I’m not happy that a Bruin is having a meeting, I’m happy and fully support the league looking into it.
Just imagine that’s Timmy or Tuukka out now due to a hit like this, what would us B’s fans be saying then?
Won’t defend the Lucic hit. It was over the top. But if there was any question about Miller, why in the world did Buffalo allow him to continue as long as he did? Incompetence? Negligence?
Pierre, thank you for simplifying a load of bull from Lucic apologists.
George, he eventually did leave the game. I thought he had a neck injury when they pulled him at the time but I guess it’s worse.
Lucic wont get suspended for this one. Shanahan might not be in the Bruin’s pocket but he doesn’t have enough of a case to suspend. He body checked the goalie, which is a penalty. I don’t think there’s anything on that play that shows a deliberate headshot, just deliberate contact.
If every goalie who ever left his crease were hit as hard as Miller was the NHL would be playing with cardboard cutouts in the nets. Goalie don’t have the advantage of moving forward quickly to generate momentum that forwards and defensemen do so they shouldn’t be involved in this type of contact. When goalies initiate contact they should be penalized. Some goalies have given some pretty big hits ( Tim Thomas)but mostly because the players they hit were not expecting it. Even the toughest goalies wouldn’t stand a chance if the league had an “open season” on them and let forwards hit them.
I’m trying to figure out how Miller was allowed to stay in the game.
Bush league play from Looch.
Not to mention Miller was barrelled into a second time by Seguin later in the game. The two hits in short succession are more likely to cause some damage than one or the other. Regardless of Miller’s injury status there should be no suspension for Lucic.
Im surprised nothing has been said of Miller’s stick swing at Lucic after the hit. That has nothing to do with hockey and was a clearly an intent to injury. If Miller’s eyes werent creepily uneven he might have been able to hit Lucic and caused some damage.
In all fairness, Miller also smacked his helmet-less head on the ice after the hit, of his own accord, and seemed to recoil from that. Lucic’s blow and the way Miller fell initially should make it fairly clear that blaming Lucic for the injury is not cut and dry.
2 questions:
– Did you see how quickly Miller jumped up after going down? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsYDQN9rhiw)
– What’s less dignified than faking a concussion?
To be fair, it could be true. But I doubt it.