NHL, What the Hell?

I'm sure your familiar with the hit that has had the hockey world up in arms. Of course I'm talking about the hit delivered by the Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara that sent Montreal Canadiens' forward Max Pacioretty to the hospital with a severe concussion and a fractured vertebrae.
To make matters worse, the NHL saw nothing wrong with the hit and did not punish Chara at all.

This decision sent the Habs fan base into a frenzy. Protest rallies have been planned to voice their displeasure with the NHL's decision. Habs fans are not the only groups unhappy with the NHL, sponsors such as Air Canada have threatened to withdraw their sponsorship.

But here are some of the things that bug me about this whole decision:

1. The NHL is focusing on head shots, and suspending players who delivers a check when the other player's head is targeted.That being said, If the force of Chara's elbow on Pacioretty's head caused his head to crash into the turnbuckle, then why is that not a head shot?

2. The puck was already in the opposite end when the hit was made, making it a completly unnecessary hit and an interference (which was called on the play). Chara said he just meant to rub him out, but when rubbing someone out all that is needed is to get in the opponents way, which Chara had no intention of doing.

3. The final beef I have, is Zdeno Chara. In his post-game interview he said nothing about being sorry about what happened nor did he show any sign of remorse. Another thing that theories are being formed around would be the fact that Chara said that he "will get him back". Chara said this after Pacioretty scored the winning goal in OT and gave Zdeno a small nudge afterward in a game in January.

The NHL had a chance to show that they do not condone these types of hits that cause serious injuries, and they blew it. Even just a 2 game suspension would have been acceptable just based on how unnecessary the hit was. I'm still pretty rattled about the whole thing and collecting all of my thoughts and writing them down is hard for me, especially with this topic, when there are so many perspectives and opinions regarding it.

My thoughts go out to Max and I hope that one day he can make a full and successful recovery.




Until next time.... Follow me on Twitter! @ JScaresHabs