It's been a couple weeks since we rolled out the NHL Wheel of Discipline, so I guess it was due for a return.Our subject this time around is John Zeiler of the Los Angeles Kings. During Saturday's game against Colorado, Zeiler attempted to decapitate veteran Avs defenseman Adam Foote, sending him head-first into the boards while the two were chasing a loose puck in the Colorado zone.
While the hit set off a brief but rather intense melee between the two teams, and it also caused Foote to miss the rest of the game (by the way, we still don't know how long Foote could be out.), that's not the point here.
We have reached the stage where the NHL needs to do something. While the hit by Doug Weight on Brandon Sutter may have been clean (according to the letter of the law, so to speak), this was most certainly not. Foote was facing the boards the whole way, and Zeiler followed him, hit him hard from behind, and drove him into the boards.
Video and discussion of a possible suspension after the jump.
Video comes courtesy of HockeyFights.com, as they chronicled the post-hit scrap.
I'm not even sure I can concoct an argument against suspending Zeiler for at least three games, but that doesn't mean the league won't think of one. After all, they thought of one so they wouldn't have to suspend Darcy Tucker for his low hit on Nick Schultz.
Of all people, Ian Laperriere served as a voice of reason on this hit.
"There's hits and there's stupid hits. And it's up to us players to police ourselves, to take those players out of the game, before someone gets killed or paralyzed."He's right. Where does the NHL draw the line?
We're all well aware of the tendency of pro sports leagues to go too far in protecting certain players from harm (Hi, NFL quarterbacks!), yet the NHL is still randomly punishing players for dangerous, illegal hits? How has this been allowed to go on so long?
Even though I know the NHL is terribly unpredictable on these things, I'll stick with the three games I mentioned above. Zeiler deserves more in my opinion, because there is no place in our game for that kind of hit. But I don't trust the NHL to do the right thing on illegal hits anytime soon.
Leave your best guess in the comments.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-24-2008 @ 9:48AM
norfolkice said...
What is this guy Bruce Ciskie talking about. Now all the sudden he wants to write a story about illegal hits in the NHL? He must be a Colorado fan. That hit was not even that bad. Foote looked behind him and say the guy coming! it is pretty clear he saw him, so he knew he was gonna get hit. I agree there are alot of bad hits in hockey, look at the Bergeron hit from last season. That was blatant and could have been career ending. The guy was out for the entire season and the hitter only got 2 games??? It is hockey...period..people are going to get hit and get hurt. call for rule changes when hits are clearly illegal not just because you happen to be the fan of a team someone got hurt on Bruce. Atleast complain about a bad hit not one like that. Please that was a joke.
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11-24-2008 @ 1:24PM
voiceOfReason said...
3 games would be light, but given the fact that the NHL really isn't serious about cleaning up the game, that is a good guess at what Zeiler will get. Definite intent to injure and a very dangerous hit. I'd give him 20 and then ban him for an entire season should he do something similar again. 3rd incident? He'd be done. But all of that would require an NHL front office with a backbone. So 3 games sounds about right.
And norfolkice, what the heck are you smoking?
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11-24-2008 @ 5:10PM
bri said...
Foote turned into the boards... basically it's his own fault for being a douche.
should have gotten a slap on the wrist, this was not even originally going to be called as a penalty on the ice.
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11-24-2008 @ 8:33PM
cristobal said...
Whatever your name is who wrote this article, I severely disagree with your entire argument. There are hits like this every 30 seconds in the NHL and the fact that Foote fell akwardly is the only reason its an issue. Lappy was the one who picked up the puck and was watching the entire thing so I don't see how he "didn't see it." If you want to suspend players just go take a look at Ovechkin trying to knock out Dustin Brown in the last Kings game against Washington. If you want the definition of cheap-shot, intent to injure, player in a vulnerable position, player without the puck, aiming for the head, you'll find it there. I doubt it, though, because it just seems like everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon because they cannot discern anything for themselves.
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12-25-2008 @ 6:58PM
James Zeiler said...
ok dude ur retarted foote saw him coming the whole time. i think he looked back about 3 times. if u dont wanna get hit go play golf. this is hockey. ur gonna get hit, ur gonna get hurt. foote is just a F***ing Pu**y. and u should never ever right another article in the whole rest of ur life cuz ur a F***ing Pu**y to.
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