In case you missed New York Rangers' head coach John Tortorella's comments — provoked by an arguably vicious leg check by Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik on Derek Stepan — the video above shows it all. Here's the link for the leg check by Orpik.
Seen the evidence? Now it's time to tell you the result. Orpik received no supplemental discipline for the hit on Stepan, who fortunately is not severely injured and should still be okay for playoff action. Tortorella, meanwhile, was fined $20,000 for his comments about the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The moral of the story — leg checks are okay in the NHL's book. Free speech, telling it how it is in regards to the hard truth about the league's biggest stars? Not so much.
I know that twenty grand isn't going to kill Torts, but it's the entire idea of this system — and everything preceding it this season — that brings my blood to a boiling point. The NHL, and specifically Brendan Shanahan, has distributed several borderline suspensions this year because the new approach is to lay down the law and eliminate dangerous hits from the game. It's why Brad Marchand received such harsh penalties, why Milan Lucic was canned for something normally worthy of just the in-game penalty.
Then why the hell doesn't it have an ounce of consistency? Tom Sestito ended Nathan Horton's season for the Bruins months ago with a hit to the head. Adam McQuaid was planted from behind by Washington's Jason Chimera, and he was fortunate to only miss a few games with an eye swollen shut from its impact with the end boards. And it's not just happening to our Bruins players — it's happening across the league. Some guys aren't getting suspended for things that others have been suspended for.
Brooks Orpik is a repeat offender. He has made dirty hits before, even coupled with his normally hard-but-clean style. Even if this hit was on the edge, there is simply no reason why it should not be worthy of suspension. Well, I guess there's one reason — the NHL doesn't want to taint its postseason product. The Penguins are their pretty boys. We wouldn't want to lessen their chances of a Cup run now, would we?
Tortorella's comments are spot on with everything I believe about the Penguins, too. The whole Matt Cooke situation is the one relevant to Boston fans. The same Penguins who cry about David Krejci delivering an elbow to Sidney Crosby's head — an elbow that I'm not quite sure existed, and if it did, was in no way intentional (this is David Krejci we're talking about...) — were guilty several months prior of ending Marc Savard's career at the point of Matt Cooke's vicious blind-side elbow.
Cooke, by the way, wasn't suspended for that one, either.
But there is one big remark that Tortorella makes that really got me thinking. What if it was the other way around? What would be the ramifications if it was Mike Rupp, Derek Stepan or Ryan Callahan hitting Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin with a leg check? I'm only half joking when I say Shanahan would probably ban them from the entire first round with a chance of the second.
The NHL has been the purest league over the last several years because of the lack of preferential treatment. It doesn't matter who you are — you'll play by the rules. No LeBron James or Kobe Bryant treatment. No Tom Brady or Peyton Manning untouchable rules. Just play the game. If you get hit, you get hit. Suspensions will be given where necessary.
It doesn't seem to be like that anymore. And the simple fact that a coach was fined for — I'm still trying to figure out, exactly — calling the Penguins whiners? Is that what caused the hole in his wallet? A coach insulting another team is worthy of supplemental punishment. But a repeat offender of dirty hits putting Derek Stepan's career in jeopardy is not.
Someone, for the love of all that is good in this corrupted world, explain to me how that works.
