The hit: I'd call it borderline. I highly doubt there was intent to target the head or injure, but it's a high hit that Abby stands into somewhat (despite keeping his arm tucked) and the onus is on the checking player to avoid dangerous contact. It was probably avoidable. Obviously there's a lot of gray area with these sorts of plays given all the little things that happen in fractions of a second, but if Abby ends up suspended a couple of games I'm okay with it.

The "answering the bell" comments remind me of a discussion we had with some Flyers fans 4 years ago after Kronwall threw a devastating (and clean) check on Jakub Voracek. There was quite a lot of grousing from a couple of people that Kronwall had an obligation to drop the gloves when challenged after throwing a big hit, and his refusal to do so somehow made him a coward or turtle even though (1) the hit was clean and (2) was tactically justified (it probably prevented a 2-on-1, caused a change in possession, and lead to a scoring chance for Detroit) -- exactly the kind of hitting you want to keep in the game.

To me, that "you have to answer the bell" mentality is a dangerous, reckless relic of the past best left to the 70s and 80s, especially given what we now know about the science of fighting, concussions, and repeated head trauma. The idea that anybody (even a truly reckless, dirty player like a Torres or Rinaldo) is required to submit their face for pummeling whenever and wherever an opponent decides a previous hit was "too big" is repugnant to me, and one of the reasons why I'm one of the seemingly few fans out there still strongly in favor of the instigator rule.

If a guy throws a dirty hit, he should be penalized and/or suspended and fined. If the pattern continues without any reasonable signs of reformed behavior, he should be banned.

But nobody should be forced to drop the gloves just because an opponent wants him to, and that refusal does not make him a coward. Yes, while the Kronwall hit 4 years ago was definitely clean and the Abdelkader hit yesterday was more questionable, the line between a big-but-clean and big-but-dirty hit is often very, very blurry (particularly when viewed from ice level, in real time).

That was as clean an open ice body check as you are going to get.

If Abdelkader gets any sort of suspension or fine, then we may as well just get rid of hitting in hockey. The fact that he even had to stand up and fight just shows how ridiculous this game has already become.

Head down + reaching for puck + clean body check = some head contact. There is no way to avoid head contact unless you're a midget. The head was not the principal point of contact, though.


As a side note: I can't believe Denis Potvin on the broadcast, an NHL hall of famer, was saying otherwise. The guy is way too much of a homer. He left Florida to come home to do Senators broadcasts for a couple years, and the viewers couldn't stand him, so we sent him back.

Absolutely a clean check. the guy was leaning over looking at the puck. If you want to play with your head down, this is what is going to happen. The ONLY additionally discipline should be against the guys on Florida who started throwing a temper tantrum like a 4 year old because one of their teammates got caught with his head down. I never understand why players get upset at opposing players for that, and try to start fights simply because their teammate got hit with a clean check. To quote Miracle, "Tell your boy to keep his head up and he won't have to worry about it."

if he just kept his arm from hitting barkov in the face as part of the hit it wouldnt even be getting talked about.

barkov's head was down and he was low

but in the new NHL you have to hit with caution (no headshots) - this had head contact in it because of that uprising arm.

if it was Abdel's first incident, i predict no call/suspension.

BUT, i think he's head two headshots in the NHL and 1 international hockey, so they may give him a game or two.

my take, cheers, solid win by wings last night, Mrazek is your man.

also nice to see pav and Z back together...Larkin can hold his own line these days, impressive.

How do you know that? Maybe he wanted to play longer you don't know. The point is a dirty hit is a dirty hit. NHL or not it should be up to a player when he chooses to retire, not forced into it because of some cheap shot. I can just imagine a cheap shot artist in front of the NHL's board of discipline saying "he was old anyways and going to retire..."I'd slap him with a 50 game suspension just for saying something so stupid.
- habfanforever

Apparently that was confusing for you. He COULD have played again if he was good enough, or if he wanted to. The hit was dirty, not vicious though. My point was, the other guy said it was a carrer ending injury, it was not. It was a dirty hit that knocked a guy out of at least 4 games. If he wanted to play again the following year, he could have.

As a panther fan, I'm not surprised on the refs bad call on the ice. Florida fans are used to it. Makes building a fan base hard when your best players heads are constantly targeted and the refs don't make calls. Next game they will call it tight like they did when Edmonton came to Florida but all that means Florida will get a game on the level. The bad tripping call (dive) was the back breaker. Florida was down two of their top four defensemen, playing backup goalie, and lost Barkov playing a man down the rest of the game. All things considered the game should have been a blowout. That just shows how good this team is. High praises for not going after Datsyuk as most teams would have. Really surprised at the cowardess of ab only willing to fight Mac. He was challenged by actual fighters and ran away like a girl. You want to take head shots at stars you need to answer the bell--- thus he is and will be regarded as a coward.
- colgonics

Wow!

I believe every fan can complain about NHL officiating. As a Wing fan, there have been several shots taken at Wing players that haven't been penalized (including some this season that have left players in concussion protocol and missing games). A few examples in playoffs past: Weber slamming Zetterbergs head into the glass WWE style, Sharp spearing Lidstrom that left him having testicle surgery, the cheap shot that concussed Zidlicky in game 6 last yr that got nothing but Kronwall received the only suspension of the entire postseason, or how about the league making a big deal about if you start a fight in the last 5 mins of a playoff game being automatically suspended 1 game to have them rescind it when it was Malkin. My point here is that EVERY team and fan base have things that happen that they don't like or agree with. If you really think that NHL officiating is affecting the fan base from growing, don't hold your breath for it to change!

As for Abs dropping the gloves-- why would he drop the gloves at that time when the Wings were going on the PP? That's just stupid and could have also changed the momentum. --I recall a Flyer player dropping the gloves in a playoff game when the Flyers had ALL the momentum at that time and the lead, after the fight, the opposition had all the momentum and ended up coming back and winning that game.
Abs did drop the gloves in the end, when the outcome was solidified and there was nothing to be "lost". This isn't the 80's or 90's. Fighting isn't what it was. The league isn't what it once was in regards to "answering the bell".

As for the "excuses" about the game result, don't look now but the Wings were without 2 of their top Dmen in Kronwall and Green last night. Every team has had to play with a man down.

Keep your head up and this hit may not happen. I thought that was a simple piece of knowledge all hockey people realize....coaches, fans, players alike. I guess Panther fans and players are not well versed in hockey. Shame on Gallant....I mean this guy was played way more dangerous of a game than Abdelkader. He sounds like a hypocrite and a dumbass. Move on...no suspension needed.

All this is doing is making the panthers look super whiny. As ppl have said the hit is borderline but hitting the head was inevitable unless Abby was 5'6. To be honest....Abby could have really followed through and laid him out. Abby does have a history of bad hits but I wouldnt call him dirty. Sometimes he just tries to get his team going but is a little wild lol. As for the idiot panthers fan on here.....please leave with some dignity. The fact you guys got a penalty was so perfect because I hate that a clean hit always results in a ridiculous scrum. Im 100% on board with Sven in his beliefs that not ever big hit should results in some wild fight. You're allowed to hit people and sometimes it seems like the league...and apparently Florida forget that. If Barkov doesnt get hurt we arent even talking about this right now. Borderline yes...he made contact with the head. Was it principle or the result of him just being that tall and Barkov looking down? Yes...keep you head up kid if you wanna see the rest of that shiny new contract.