There has been a lot of debate since the Penguins Matt Cooke laid what looked to be an illegal hit on Rangers forward Artem Anisimov during Saturday night's game between the two teams. Well, I will tell you that I thought it was borderline at best and was waiting for a league review.
Cooke left his feet as he delivered a devastating shoulder check to Anisimov that rendered him moot for the rest of the game. Sure, Anisimov should have his head up as he came into the zone, but Cooke had him dead to rights and delivered a text book example of what the league is trying to eliminate.
Though the hit was bad, it would probably have been swept under the rug had Evgeni Malkin delivered it... or Alex Ovechkin... or Jarome Iginla.
This suspension is not surprising in the least, as the league does not hesitate to punish players who they deem to be borderline. The surprise will come when they actually follow through on suspending a player such as Ovechkin or Mike Richards.
I am not saying that I do not agree with the Cooke suspension...he deserved it, but there will forever be debate until the day that the NHL punishes one of its stars. They have long held a double standard in these situations and it is diluting the product in a humongous way.
In this season alone we have seen players such as Richards, Jarome Iginla and Alex Ovechkin walk the line on what the league deems legal all the while avoiding suspension... the same has happened in past seasons with others. Until they decide that there will be no double standard, craziness will ensue.
It is actually unfair to players like Matt Cooke and the Ruutu brothers... They are immediately typecast as jackasses, when their actions end up falling far below those of the above mentioned stars.
Cooke's hit might not have been as extreme as Iginla's trip of Souray and Richards' hit on Booth, but he is set to feel a hit on his wallet of $29,000+ dollars while the others play on night after night. Guilty? Yes... though unacceptable when you consider how others are treated...
Let's hope that this double standard can eventually give way to an unbiased approach in administering justice in the league that we all know and love...
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