Dan Spiegel: Another Blatant Cheap Shot Missed, Another Panther Hurt

Abdelkader's hit was clean!!! He didn't leave his feet and lead with his shoulder, Barkov had his head down, and although its unfortunate for the Panthers it was a classic case of getting caught with your head down..... This league has gotten so left sided that we are now appalled by clean hits, Keep in mind i have no dog in this fight i just hate the uproar over physical play, we forget sometimes it's hockey its physical

I am impartial and not a fan of either team.

Bush league? hahahah.. Come on man. That was as clean a hit as you'll get when a guy has his head down and is reaching for a puck.

The rule states that the head can't be the principal point of contact. It wasn't. He hit Barkov in the chest first, head after. In fact, I think Abdelkader did a fantastic job at avoiding the head as much as possible considering Barkov had his head between his knees.

This blog doesn't do much to kill the stereotype that people in non-traditional hockey markets have no idea what they are talking about.

Show that video to 10 impartial people who watch and play the sport and I bet 9 of them say it was clean.

You penalize or suspend a guy for a hit like that and you're basically taking open ice body checking out of the game.....

...then again, maybe that's what you want.

When I saw it live I thought it was a good hit but after seeing the replay, he did catch his jaw and did leave his feet. I bet he will be sitting for a few games...

Not that bad, plus the Garrison hit...Garrison fell down first...what was He to do?

Did leave his feet.
Did hit Barkov's head first.
Definite intent to injure.
Prior history.

The NHL knows what it has to do.

When I saw it live I thought it was a good hit but after seeing the replay, he did catch his jaw and did leave his feet. I bet he will be sitting for a few games...
- Mino42

I think it would be hard for the ref to catch that at full speed IMO

Watch the video.. his leading foot is still on the ice when he makes contact.

You are allowed to leave your feet after contact.

he didn't leave his feet guys who take strides then launch themselves is what i call leaving your feet , he drove through like you are taught and contact takes you off the ice...i don't want to sound like a tool but anyone who has played high level contact can tell you thats what happens here

if he doesn't target Barkov's head.... How is it ABdelkader's fault if Barkov gets caught with his head down?

I don't see anything wrong with that hit and I seriously doubt the NHL will either. Body contact is allowed in the league, this was a case where a player had his head down and another player hit him from the front, not the side, the front.

I remember Phill Kessel getting a similar hit when he was with the Leafs, the principal point of contact was the head on a frontal collision but even Brian Burke said that's a good hit, you can't take that out of the game or you might as well take hitting out.

When a player is hit from the front his head is almost always leading because that's how you skate. Keep your head up. If you can't hit from the front, side or from behind then just take hitting out of the game.

Or go watch curling?

Did leave his feet.
Did hit Barkov's head first.
Definite intent to injure.
Prior history.

The NHL knows what it has to do.
- JimboCoppertone

Intent? I don't think so, pretty hard to drive your shoulder through a guy if your feet don't leave the ice a bit. ( the leagues got a little carried away with this rule ) I think he gets a couple because he hit head first ( if he did ) but it wasnt intentional IMO.

Do the Panthers need to make the playoffs more than once this millennium to start getting these types of obvious calls?

Blues have made the playoffs pretty consistently. It doesn't help. Every year we have a couple players injured on hits that lead to suspensions without it getting called in game.

Sucks to see Barkov go down like that. Hit was definitely in that gray area between clean and dirty but giving a penalty to Petrovic was kinda douchey from the refs. Abdelkader probably got lucky he wasn't straight up jumped.

Did leave his feet.
Did hit Barkov's head first.
Definite intent to injure.
Prior history.

The NHL knows what it has to do.
- JimboCoppertone

Clean hit the Kid should learn to play with his head up

Clean hit, stated properly below, if you ever played, you'd know.

Charliebox
Joined: 09.08.2008


Today @ 10:54 AM ET
Watch the video.. his leading foot is still on the ice when he makes contact.

You are allowed to leave your feet after contact.
jmoney4080
New York Islanders
Joined: 06.11.2014


Today @ 10:55 AM ET
he didn't leave his feet guys who take strides then launch themselves is what i call leaving your feet , he drove through like you are taught and contact takes you off the ice...i don't want to sound like a tool but anyone who has played high level contact can tell you thats what happens here

Yup. Watched it five times now and his feet don't leave the ice till after contact was initiated.
Sucks that Barkov was hurt on the play, but it looks like a perfectly legal hit to me. If Barkov didn't have his head down I don't think we would be having this conversation.

with all of this over a clean hit people here would be asking for the death penalty on Scott Stevens Lindros hit

if he doesn't target Barkov's head.... How is it ABdelkader's fault if Barkov gets caught with his head down?
- jmoney4080

Because that's how NHL rules work. It's Abdelkader's job to prevent the head from being primary point of contact, not Barkov's. Putting your head down is dumb, but it doesn't make a difference as far as rules are concerned.

Yup. Watched it five times now and his feet don't leave the ice till after contact was initiated.
Sucks that Barkov was hurt on the play, but it looks like a perfectly legal hit to me. If Barkov didn't have his head down I don't think we would be having this conversation.
- Wildschwein

To be fair, he just got the puck and turned into the guy.

After the Gryba hit on Eller in the playoffs and the suspension, you never know.

At the end of the day the NHL seems to love to punish based on injury and not the act.

If Barkov seems like he has a concussion, they'll likely suspend. If not, they won't.

Sad to say, the NHL is scared of this concussion lawsuit crap that is going to happen.

Too bad, cause they are honestly ruining the game. Anyone who's ever played hockey knows that it's next-to-impossible NOT to hit someone's head when they have their head down. Unless you're a midget, there will be some contact with the head on every open ice hit where the one player has his head down and is reaching for the puck.

When I saw it live I thought it was a good hit but after seeing the replay, he did catch his jaw and did leave his feet. I bet he will be sitting for a few games...
- Mino42

Lol you couldn't be more wrong. Feet were on ice and chest was point of contact.

Let's start by saying I'm not a fan of the league's lack of protection of its players. Certainly Hendrick's hit was awful. However, Abdelkader's wasn't. At contact, the skates are still on the ice and the elbow is in Barkov's chest. You can certainly argue that such hits should be illegal. In football today, it is a hit that gets a personal foul; but in the NHL, it looks clean given the current rules.

Dan Spiegel: Another Blatant Cheap Shot Missed, Another Panther Hurt
- spiegs13

A tiny problem with that stance is initial contact was on the jaw and he left his feet.

Not sure what hit you were watching.
He never leaves his feet and it sure is debatable about where the initial contact is.
Clean hit. Same as the one on Beaulieu in last years playoffs that put him out for the rest of the postseason.

Clean Hit.. You Panthers fans are probably the worst on these boards for being complete Homers. Sit back and really look at the hit. His feet were on the ice, drove through the body. I guess the one thing I would complain about is that the puck was optional and Abdelkader definitely wanted to take a crack at a player with his head down. That is about all you could whine about, as there was NOTHING dirty about that hit. Cue the low-life insults now please