Seguin/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — The Bruins’ trio of All-Stars are all ready to get back into action tonight when Boston hosts Ottawa at the TD Garden.
Tyler Seguin, Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas were all granted Monday off from practice but hit the ice for the morning skate today.
Seguin is celebrating his 20th birthday today, so there might be some extra fireworks in store from Boston’s leading goal-scorer and points-getter this season.
Unfortunately for Boston, Nathan Horton isn’t ready to return to the lineup just yet. Head coach Claude Julien said this week that Horton would be kept off the ice a few days. So his availability for Thursday night’s game against Carolina and the weekend back-to-back against Pittsburgh and at Washington could be in doubt as well.
Andrew Ference will sit out the third and final game of his league-imposed suspension tonight.
Putting back the red line slows the game down. Allowing obstruction slows the game down. I’m so sorry I connected the dots on that one.
Head injuries have been happening since forever, not since the lockout.
Francis, Kariya, Lafontaine, both Lindroses, Svoboda, Courtnall etc etc have been retired due to persistent concussion symptoms.
Speaking of strawmen, I never said the equipment was the only problem. I merely pointed out that it was something that could actually be implemented.
see you are a setting up straw men, keep knocking them down. who said to tell guys to slow down? not me. i said ease up on the obstruction call and put back in the red line if you’re serious about player safety. i’m willing to admit that the pads are a problem, just not that they’re the only problem. saying pads have become weapons is the easiest statement to make on this whole issue. there have been huge pads for many years now, since the game was opened up post lockout head injuries have EXPLODED.
Big Jim,
This isn’t a debating society. Pull that cactus out of your rear end. I’m just saying we need to get the body armor on the elbows and shoulders down because people are using them as weapons and they are doing serious damage.
Changing equipment is something that can be done. Telling players to slow down or be less fit can’t be done.
see you’re ignoring one argument and promoting your own. the pads were smaller AND the game was slower. AND the players were smaller. this isn’t an issue with one cause.
you can prefer to focus on equipment all you want, that doesn’t make it the only problem. at this speed guys will be concussed even with 1970′s shoulder pads.
I prefer to focus on the equipment. I like the high speed of the NHL but putting back the red line will close up the neutral zone completely. I’d be in favor of reverting to 1980s style shoulder pads and elbow pads. Guys are ramming into other players as though they are trying to ram THROUGH them. Make them pay for trying to decapitate someone. Teams from the 70s and 80s still played physical and they did not have the epidemic of head injuries like today. Want to put your shoulder through a guy’s chest? Maybe you’ll think twice about it if you separate that shoulder.
NeelyforPres
Your right about the first two hits, but I think Ballard’s hit was before Shanahan took the job. I think Terry’s right we need to start with the equipment, but I think there has to be some rule changes. Since they took out the red-line, the goal scored per game has only gone up .5 goals. I think that if the present stars who are injured, that .5 goal would be made up. If the rinks were slightly wider then forwards would have more room to maneuver, but they wouldn’t be going as much north-south as they are presently. And, I miss those great hits at the blue line, by D-men, when forwards have their head down. Guys like Sidenberg and Boychuk would shine more.
I think guys like Cooke, Rome, and Sutton should be banned for a season, that might get their attention.
Since Horton joined the bruins, he’s really tried hard to have that smash mouth, smash face persona.
The truth is, he doesn’t need to be. He’s a talented goal scorer and Boston has PLENTY of guys that can fill that role.
He’s just shortening his career by roughing up everybody. People have been taking numbers and he will eventually get laid out bad with his concussion condition.
Neely for pres its all an equipment issue end of debate
Great points bruins16 except shanahan. He was doing a good job, but the lack of discipline for Folignos clip (identical scenario to Marchand) and Sestitos hit on Horton (rule 48 pretty much as its written) lost my confidence in him. Those were big time situations for multiple game suspensions of repeat offenders, but by letting it go he has encouraged the “rats”. Not to mention Ballard in VAN who clips ppl nightly.
Granted the caps are a problem but the sad reality is the game has gotten too fast for its own good. As much as it opens up the game, on order to reduce head injuries, the league must ease up on obstruction calls and re-insert the red line.
Great points and well thought out B-16. A lot of times I will watch u-tube vids of play in the 70′s,80′s, and 90′s. Just look and see how much smaller padding was back then. the main injury in the 80′s and 90′s were seperated shoulders from hits when was the last time that happened? Ever notice now even last night when guys get into fights the first thing they do is rid themselves of huge elbow pads cause they can’t throw with them on. Back in the day you tried to get the helmet off first thing in an altercation. As I posted before I hate these head injuries they ruin careers but the more protected you think you are wham your done.
Terry is right, the first step to reduce concussions is to lessen the size and change the composition of the elbow and shoulder pads. (softer) After this put back in the red line, but widen the rink slightly. (five feet similar to the Finnish league) Next, let the defense hit the forwards when they dump the puck in, but don’t let the defense ride the forwards into the boards and hold them after shooting the puck in. (eg. New Jersey Devils Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko slowed the game down to a crawl by holding the forwards along the board.) Come up with a rule similar to the NFL where defensive backs can hit the wide receivers once, within a yard limit of the line of scrimmage, but release when they hit the boards. Probably the point of reference should be the blue line in some fashion. As well, bozos like Rome, who leave their feet to hit people, should have tougher penalties. Finally, keep Brendan Shanahan in his present position. His decisions for the most part have been principled and consistent. His game was much closer to Cam Neely’s than Alex Burrough’s, so we know where his loyalties should be.
I still can’t believe there was no Shannaban for that hit on Horton! It was obviously late, high, and from the blindside. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that’s 3 rules at once.
The sad part was Horton was just getting over his concussion-based non-physical play too, so let’s hope he gets back to it for another excellent postseason run.
And great to have you back Matt K, hope vacation was enjoyable.
This Horton situation will be not good at all for the club. speaking as a fan only he will not be even close to the same player we are used too or rely on. I have posted many times before that he was just not the same player as last year and I feel sick now that he got another concussion. I respect him and wish him the best on recovery and hope to god i am wrong but these head injuries have got to stop. Reduce the size of shoulder and elbow pads see what happens head injuries will go down gurantee.
Man, I really thought that Horton was kept out before the break as a precaution/extra bit of rest. How worried should we be about this?
Great to have you back Matt.