Shocker: DOPS got it right on Trouba hit
Sidney Crosby is the most abused superstar in NHL history, but that doesn't mean that sometimes unfortunate things happen when two NHL players collide
The decision to not discipline Jacob Trouba for his high hit on Sidney Crosby would certainly carry a lot more credence if the person running the NHL’s department of player safety did not have more than 1,000 career penalty minutes, 158 fights and had not once owned a company called Violent Gentlemen that sold red ball caps embossed with “Make Hockey Violent Again.” And it would certainly carry more gravitas if Crosby were not already the most abused superstar in NHL history, one whose league has repeatedly failed him when it comes to his safety.
Yes, it would be much easier for everyone to accept Crosby did not play in a league where Steve Downie got fined $1,000 for basically trying to break Crosby’s leg on this play:
…then four years later fined Henrik Lundqvist $5,000 for spraying water at Crosby in a scrum on this play. Imagine that.
For all that Crosby has endured, the only player who has been suspended for doing anything to him has been Brandon Dubinsky, who received a one-game suspension – one game – for crosschecking Crosby on this play almost seven years ago:
In the interests of balance and fairness, it should also be pointed out that Crosby has never been fined or suspended for any of his on-ice actions, and he’s done some pretty nasty stuff over the years. But that being said, DOPS doesn’t make itself easy to defend. Every time something like this happens, I have to remember that each incident has to be dealt with in isolation and cannot be colored by the fact that both the league and the player safety department are run by people for whom on-ice mayhem is akin to oxygen, but click their tongues and point their fingers when that same philosophy goes sideways. It’s difficult because the default position is to assume the league doesn’t care about the safety of its players. And that’s only because it has demonstrated time and again that it values controlled violence over the well-being of the athletes.
In this case, we can only deal with the facts as they present themselves. That Trouba took an elbowing penalty earlier in the game, that the Rangers looked cooked in both the game and the series before the hit and that Trouba has a well-documented history of getting his elbow up when he hits people – none of it can be attached to the incident when you look at it in isolation. Because that’s not how this works, nor should it. A person’s criminal past is never a considering factor in whether or not they are guilty, but it is taken into account in sentencing. But that only occurs if there was a crime committed in the first place.
And did that happen? Well, the NHL obviously doesn’t think so, nor do a lot of respected commentators. Let’s look at the play first:
There is one camp of people who believe that Trouba knew exactly what he was doing and exactly whom he was targeting and that he deliberately tried to get Crosby out of a game in which Trouba’s team was being hopelessly outplayed, in large part due to Crosby. To them, it was a clear, distinct and deliberate blow to the head that demands punishment. There’s an equally large camp that believes it was a hockey play that ended unfortunately, and that these things happen sometimes when some of the world’s best athletes play a game that is fast and physical as this one. Those who have done a Zapruder-like breakdown of the incident maintain that Trouba’s elbow goes up because it gets caught in Crosby’s skate and that Trouba actually is trying to avoid blowing Crosby up while Crosby himself is putting himself in a vulnerable spot by changing body position at the last second to avoid the hit.
Good hockey play. Unfortunate result, one that could change the trajectory of this series and all but obliterate the chance of one of the greatest players ever making a last run for a Stanley Cup in a post-season in which he was at the top of his game and looked as though he might have a last-ditch championship-caliber effort left in him. Crosby doesn’t deserve this. The Penguins don’t deserve this. And hockey fans don’t deserve this. The playoffs, and the NHL as a whole, is a better place with a healthy, engaged and productive Sidney Crosby in it. He has already cemented his legacy as a top-five player all-time.
And that’s what makes this so unfortunate. The NHL has been so cavalier, so reckless and so stubborn when it comes to violence and head injuries that it often doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt. There is no doubt that a lot of good and well-meaning hockey people looked at this incident in frame-by-frame detail from every possible angle before coming to their decision. And they deemed that it was not a suspendable offense. And in this case, as much as so many people want it to be otherwise, they’re probably right.
I believe there should be no differentiation. All hits to the head should be subject to suspension. Take the guesswork out and begin to protect all players.
Crosby isn’t a saint by any means, what about him slamming PK Subban’s helmet into the ice in the 2017 Final or slashing Marc Methot’s finger off? This is a non-issue if it’s any other player this happens to. Trouba was going for the puck and braced himself for inevitable contact.
Even Crosby’s first major concussion in the Winter Classic v Washington was made out to be some malicious play, when it was Crosby not paying attention to his surroundings and turning into a player who was mid-stride.
Neither collision was a Mike Richards on David Booth or Scott Stevens on Paul Kariya type of hit. You say he’s the most abused Superstar ever; I think he’s more coddled than any player in league history.