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The Rog's Rant

NHL needs much tougher suspensions than three games

So here is the bottom line on what transpired after Cam Janssen of the New Jersey Devils took out Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle with a dirty hit Friday night in New Jersey.

Janssen takes several steps and rams into Kaberle with a very late hit that everybody with any brains agrees is a cheap shot. Kaberle gets carted off the ice and is out indefinitely.

The NHL agrees it’s a cheap shot, hence they suspend Janssen. They give him three games.             Janssen therefore returns before Kaberle and resumes his less than stellar NHL career. Kaberle comes back who knows when and who knows with what lingering effects from a classic cheap shot.

The NHL needs tougher suspensions obviously – ya think?!

Let us review the careers of these two NHLers by the way, just for fun. Kaberle is an eight season NHL veteran, by far the best defenceman on the Maple Leafs and one of the best in the NHL.             Janssen has been kicking around the American Hockey League for a few seasons and has managed to play the total of 85 NHL games

He has one point in his 85-game NHL career, a goal. Kaberle has 340 points in 590 games, and he’s a defenceman, Janssen is a forward.

Kaberle isn’t even considered an offensive defenseman, but he still averages one point every two games – more than that actually. Janssen averages a point every 85 games (his is really easy to figure out!).

Janssen does lead Kaberle in one NHL stat though. He has 184 penalty minutes in his 85 NHL games, 10 more than Kaberle has even though Kaberle has played 505 more games in the league than Janssen has.

Janssen would have even more penalty minutes than that, but you see he doesn’t play very much. He averages about four minutes a game when he does dress and he’s only appeared in 39 NHL games this season. Kaberle average about 26 minutes of ice time and has played every game.

When Janssen plays he really racks up the old PIMs…in his five previous seasons in the minors, Janssen amassed 1,202 penalty minutes. Wow! He had an especially good year in that department in 2004-05 with the Albany River Rats, picking up 337 PIMs that season.

So let’s get this straight – Janssen cheap shots Kaberle and the end result is that NHL fans get to see Janssen back on the ice before Kaberle returns (providing the Devils don’t send him back down to the AHL again that is).

Humm..interesting decision.

A three-game suspension is a joke. The way the NHL handles discipline is a joke. The slowness the NHL shows in making any kind of a decision is a joke (see no-touch icing rule, schedule re-alignment and hits to the head calls for proof of that).

Pundits who defend the way the NHL does business use the argument that the league just wants to make sure good clean body checking stays in the game. And you know, that should be a priority, hockey needs the physical contact and from time to time people do get hurt with legitimate checks (see Eric Lindros for proof) – and hitting is a part of the game.

But cheap shot artists do not increase legitimate body checking, they increase vigilante activity. And vigilantes thrive in society and in hockey when laws do not protect the victims.

So enjoy watching Cam Janssen play for the Devils, presuming he dresses, because he’ll be playing before Tomas Kaberle does, even though everyone agrees he took him out with a cheap shot.

Bottom line – the one point in 85 game guy plays before the top rated defenceman he took out does.

That’s a joke – an absolute joke.            

Comments on The Rant of February 26 on Leafs direction:

“You answered your own question The Rog – the Leafs have no direction. It’s the same thing every year, I gave up on them 10 years ago.” – Chris in Toronto  

“The Leafs are the ultimate tease, always just good enough not to blow up and start over, and never good enough to be in a position to take a run at a title.” – Anthony in Ajax.

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