Willie Mitchell's Hit on Tom Gilbert

I know what many of you are going to say.

Hockey is a contact sport. You can't stop the physicality, because it's such a huge part of the game.

I want no part of stopping the clean hitting that goes on in hockey. I have no problem with fighting, as long as we don't start dropping gloves just for the fun of it.

What I have a problem with are blatant, unnecessary hits from behind. As an example, here's Willie Mitchell of Vancouver blasting Edmonton's Tom Gilbert Wednesday night.



Discussion after the jump.

Gilbert told Rogers SportsNet that he put himself "in a vulnerable position". I don't disagree. However, the job of discretion in a situation like this belongs to Mitchell. The guy he's hitting has his back turned to Mitchell the whole time. At some point, these hits have to be more carefully legislated.

I'd vote for "three years ago" as a good time to start, but I don't get a vote.

In college hockey, Mitchell would have received a five-minute major for a hit from behind, along with an automatic game misconduct. That's a rule that was put in place after North Dakota's Robbie Bina suffered a broken neck after a hit from behind in the 2005 WCHA Final Five. Bina missed a season, but did finish his college career and is now playing minor-league hockey.

"But this isn't college hockey, Bruce!"

No, it's not. But that doesn't mean player safety shouldn't be significant. Again, I'm not trying to ban hitting. I do, however, want players to be smarter about who they hit and how they hit them. The big hits can be clean, can still wow a crowd, and can still make the highlight reels.

Mitchell's hit, the two others I saw in that game that were somewhat similar (I'm not trying to pick on Mitchell here), and the literally dozens of similar hits that happen in NHL arenas over the course of a couple weeks need to be stopped.

There should be a rule in place that mandates a five-minute major for any hit from behind that sends a player into the boards. It doesn't matter if it's a cross-check, a straight hit from behind, an elbow, or whatever. I'm not sure this will solve all the issues, but it will make the players think twice before they try to throw the big hit along the boards.