Around The NHL: Pacioretty Could Be Back by Playoffs, Marchand Suspended 2, GM’s Won’t Change Rules

Added on Mar 18, 2011 by J Merrill in

NHL

Pacioretty Could Return For Playoffs

Montreal Canadiens picked up win, but also got a some great news. Coach Jacques Martin made the announcement that Max Pacioretty might be able to return from his neck injury in time for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Team doctors told Martin that Pacioretty can resume training, with contact, in three to five weeks. After another week of rest, he will begin rehab.

Pacioretty suffered a severe concussion and a non-displaced fracture of the fourth vertebra in his neck when he was hit by Boston denfenseman Zdeno Chara and sent head first into the stanchion at Bell Centre. Coach Martin told the media “Its good news that he’ll be able to practice, especially because it looked as if his career was in danger.”

Some fans, analysts, and sponsors were upset with the NHL for not disciplining Chara for the hit. Even Canada Air threatened to pull its sponsorship in wake of the play by Chara.

Brad Marchand Suspended For Head Hit

Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand was suspended by the NHL for two games as a result of his hit to the head of Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger during Tuesday’s game in Columbus. The league had a disciplinary meeting on Thursday morning, and then his punishment was announced at its conclusion.

Marchand admits he hit Umberger in the head, but that wasn’t his intentions. He said “I did get him in the head. That wasn’t my intention. I was just trying to make contact. That stuff happens in hockey. It’s a rough sport. Sometimes that happens, and you have to live with it.”

Marchand will forfeit $6,330.64 in salary and be eligible to return March 22 against New Jersey. He obviously wasn’t happy with the punishment, but he also said he sees where the NHL is coming from. He said “I understand where the league’s coming from. They really want to crack down on head hits right now. Obviously, I’m disappointed to have to miss a couple games. It’s always frustrating when you have to watch your team play. But I understand why. And the biggest thing now is you have to regroup and make sure I’m ready for when I can get back in action.”

Marchand said they have to be aggressive because its the name of the game, but they now have to keep the new rules in their minds at all time. He said “You go out there and you can’t let it change your game. There’s always going to be hits to the head, especially with how fast guys are, and how big and strong they are, and how physical guys are. It’s always going to be there. The biggest thing is that you can’t be taking cheap shots. I think that’s where you’ve got to draw the line.”

NHL General Managers Decided Against Rule Changes

The GM’s decided that they will not be banning head hits in the NHL, but instead they will focus on tighter enforcement of charging and boarding penalties instead. The GM’s will try to curb the concussions with the use of longer suspensions for illegal head hits, particularly for repeat offenders.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said the group decided a ban on all head shots would be too radical a response. Bettman said “By the time the season is over there will be 55,000 hits, and a small percentage are resulting in concussions. We want to eliminate concussions, but the view is if we can define a rule that makes sense and doesn’t cause other problems in the game, we’re going to try and do that.”

A few of the GM’s chimed in and they all said they worried about changing the game. Ottawa’s Bryan Murray said “It would take a lot of hitting out of the game, a lot of the physical part of the game that makes our game so appealing.”

Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke said “The consensus is that the rules in the rule book are sufficient, and we’ve got to get to a tighter standard on calling charging and boarding. Without changing the fabric of the game, I think we can take out some of the more dangerous hits.”