Doug Weight Puts a Devastating (and Legal) Hit on Brandon Sutter

Clean hit -- Sutter put him in the situation... no penalty, no fine -- the rookie has to learn not to put himself in that situation -- especially when he leads with his head bent over.

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Dan, while it was a clean hit, it is still a nasty hit that needs to be done away with. Those are hits that can end careers. These guys are bigger, faster and stronger than they were in your daddy's nhl.

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Scott Stevens had the good fortune to retire at the right time; the current campaign against head shots would have cast his Hall of Fame candidacy in an entirely different light.

If you think back to the highlight plays of Stevens' career, most of them involve celebrated, brutal hits on Slava Kozlov, Eric Lindros, and the like. How quickly times change...

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Clean hit that needs to be done away with? I understand that you want to preserve careers, but at the same time, it should be up to the player to not completely place himself in a vulnerable position. Weight is lining up a hit, the guy suddenly puts his head down; he can't risk making an adjustment and missing that hit because the guy would then have a clean break to the goal.

I understand the game is bigger and more physical these days, but we're not talking about a horse-collar tackle where a player can't help it. Sutter took a risk putting his head down and reaching for that puck, and he lost.

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Can someone tell me what Doug Weight was supposed to do besides hit him? If he doesn't hit him Sutter gets by him for a scoring chance. As pointed out Sutter put himself in that position.

For all the talk about not hitting players in vulnerable positions why isn't there any talk about players not putting in those positions in the first place? You would cut down on injuries far more by going in the latter direction than the former. Becaue if you go more to the former positon you are going to have player intentionally putting themselves in vulnerable positions in order to draw penalties. That would lead to more injuries.

The emphasis needs to be on the players to not put themselves in a vulnerable position. And if they can't do that then they shouldn't be in the league.

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I agree, hockey is a dangerous game it's been this way for over a hundred years. By the time you make it to the NHL you should know to always be aware of your surrondings when on the ice, especially sutter who has laid some pretty devastating hits himself. Hopfully Sutter will be able to recover from this without any lasting effects because I think he is a great young talent, but he should have remembered RULE NUMBER 1 of hockey "keep your head up".

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sad, to see anyone get hurt but Doug Weight has never had a reputaton in hurting someone deliberately, I agree-it was a clean hit!

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I hope you can sleep at night Weight, maybe it's time you hung them up!!!! Legal or not, it's a dirty, cheap shot to any player of the game, take a hike!!!!

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clean hit,
Weight isn't a goon, it's part of hockey, sorry, these happen in milliseconds and players got to be ready

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Iris, it's was clean, these guys make tons of money to hit and be hit, it's not ballet

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clean and legal are not always the same thing. people talk like sutter dropped his head simultaneously with weight hitting him, like it was unavoidable. the video doesn't show that at all. weight was still a full stride away from sutter when sutter stretched out low for the puck. weight had a choice and he chose the kill shot. he could have hit him more from the side but he made his choice, right or wrong. sure the hit was within the rules but does that make it right? there is no player respect. that's nothing new.

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Sutter put himself in a vulnerable position. Weight had no time to react to Sutter lowering his head, what was he suposed to do? I don't like to see people get injured (I'm not a fan of either team by the way, so I am looking at this very objectively) but the hit was clean- if Sutter hadn't lowered his head it would have been shoulder to shoulder- just like you are taught to hit- and there would doubtfully been any injuries to either man or he could have cut hard & avoided the hit altogether or gone lower & let Weight go right over him. On the ice you need to keep your head on a swivel & protect yourself at all times. Hopefully Sutter makes a speedy & full recovery.

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comming from someone who has played hockey and been in those positions which seems like non of you have....there are times when to lay the big hit and there are times when to play the puck. Weight had a easy lane to poke the puck off the boards while still making contact whith sutter and accomplishing a lot more than simply going for a cheap hit. Yes i completely agree it was legal but he had a much more "hockey smart" play by simply poking the puck to the boards. He would have gotten posetion and been able to turn it into a possible scoring chance. As much hockey as weight has played i dont care the reputation he has that was a shot looking to hurt someone. Sutter did not all of a sudden put his head down and place himself in a vonerable position. It was clean but ment to hurt!

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Sutter did not have to go for it,he could of backed off.Just like a football player going high for a ball across the middle.You dont want to get hit,let it go.It's a big part of the game.

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