what happens when a player is suspended? can you recall another player to take his spot or is it usually someone who has been scratched who will play?

players don’t have to double shift, a normal scratch player (army, richardson or harrold) can take that players roster spot. however you cannot call someone up to take his place.

What is double shifting?

Does that mean Doughty has been playing triple shifts?

A 2, a 5, a game misconduct and a 3 game suspension all for a hit that the ref who was standing 5 feet away from the play didn’t even have his hand up for. Ridiculous.

The worse part is that the Kings pay him $2,923.39 per game for the remainder of the season.

The league reviews all match penalties for further action (actually, all games – a penalty does not need to be called). They looked at taped replays of the hit and decided to impose a suspension. The point of the suspension is to prevent serious injury. it is aimed at changing the way all players think about lining up and finishing a check.

“They should suspend Chris Foster for having such a bad outfit Saturday night as well. ”

POTD – photos, please!

Sorry Carla you are wrong regarding the declaration of double shift players. The rule, Section 89.3 is the team has to have the double shifted player wear a number above 60.

“The league reviews all match penalties for further action (actually, all games – a penalty does not need to be called).”

Didn’t Zeiler receive a major for boarding and not a match?

The only thing that Zeiler should have been in trouble for was elderly abuse. That hit was total Karma for the cheap beatdown Foote tried on Brown in Vegas.

If Dion Phaneuf makes this hit on Foote, There is no suspension.

The NHL is seizing an opportunity to respond to the outcry of ‘cheap’ hits in the league by punishing a ‘nobody’ of sorts to say ‘Hey Look Everyone! We got Big, Bad John Zeiler! See, we’re cracking down!’.

This suspension is BS! As stated earlier, the ref didn’t even have his hand up. They called the major because it was Adam Foote. If it was Daniel Tjarnqvist, nobody would give a crap.

The NHL saw an opportunity and they took it. Sucks for John the scapegoat….

I was sitting right there and Zieler gave him a shoulder at the end of the hit. Foote injured his back not his head. It probably had just as much to do with being a solid hit as his age. The Zebra’s didn’t call an initial penalty because it wasn’t that hard of a hit. Also the Av’s didn’t even respond until Foote didn’t get up… because it was just a basic hit. For you Zeiler bashers, that hit turned the game for the Kings. When he hits it fires up the opposition, witch in turn fires up the Kings. It make them stand together as a team.

Also at every Meet the Kings he is one of the truly genuine guys. He talked with both my daughters as if they were the only ones there. Go Zeiler!

Whoever is commenting here pretending to be me, Carla M., that is indeed not me. I respectfully request either Jill or Rich not allow someone to post here using my identity. Thanks in advance.

They weren’t even going to call a penalty on this play until Zeiler was triple-teamed afterwards. The referee didn’t have his hand up, but decided to call a penalty because he figured it was so severe that three players had to assault him in his defense.

But, remember that Brown didn’t get a suspension for his hit on Ribiero. So, if I had my pick, I’d rather lose Zeiler for three games for a hit I didn’t think warranted even a penalty than lose Brown for three games for a hit I didn’t think warranted even a penalty.

First of all, I’m am a HUGH Kings fan, just like the rest of you guys, so with that said…

Zeiler’s hit was a big lack of respect toward a fellow hockey player. To me Zeiler never meant to hurt Foote, but still knew exactly what he was doing. One of the first things that your are taught in pee wee’s and jr’s, DO NOT HIT THE PLAYER FROM BEHIND.

Now, he’s not the only guy to have done it, and he won’t be the last. What the league did was correct, and well maybe should have been longer to maybe set a example out of him. To me Zeiler is one lucky bastard for now. However on the other hand, he has left the door open for Col to take even more runs at our young guys the next time we meet. I hope that Zeilers back in the line up then, so we can either see him turtle, or fight like a man.

JMFJ was ready to go even though his hit was clean and legal. Zeiler to me took refuge behind Greener, and the rest of Ivo.

Rich/Jill what’s your take on the hit… Clean or dirty?

ALL STAR VOTE
WRITE IN DREW VOTE FOR HIM….

If I remember correctly, no penalty was called on Zeiler until after the ensuing scrum.

To the Anonymous posts – Nobody wants to see guys get injured. But the youth movement to curb hitting from behind is new. Guys Zeiler’s age weren’t brought up with that. I don’t for a second think Zeiler is a dirty player. The hit wasn’t even that hard. By comparison, Kostopolous’ hit was much harder.

I also don’t think Zeiler was showing a lack of disrespect. If anything, his lack of experience and desire to make an impact make him guilty only of not being under control. I don’t have a problem with how the referees dealt with the situation, but the league suspension coming on the heels of the actions of Ovechkin only 2 nights earlier is proof that the NHL isn’t capable of policing itself. They’re reactive instead of proactive. If they were concerned about players intentionally injuring others and showing a lack of respect, a replay of Ovechkin’s run at Brown’s head would provide them the opportunity to send a real message without someone getting hurt. Not to mention, they don’t seem to have a problem with players punching each other in the face. It looks to me like they follow the money.

Actually, being that our management was schooled in Philly, I’m surprised there’s no Bobby Clarkish support from them for their player. Zeiler could use the support and I’m sure he doesn’t want to be remembered as a villian; or go play as one…

Finally, I happened to turn on NHL Network Classic Replays and there were at least 3 hits exactly like that in the highlights of a playoff series between Florida and Rangers from ’97. If they want it to stop, they have to penalize it whenever it happens, no subjectivity about it.

I’m actually surprised Zeiler didn’t get more. It was clearly a dirty hit. He followed Foote in from the blue line, took his hand off his stick, followed through with a shove to the back even though he saw the back of Foote’s jersey, and skated away like he just scored the game winner in game 7 of the finals. It was as dirty a hit as I’ve seen since Chris Simon last year trying to kill Ryan Hollweg with his stick.

I like what Mrbrett said,don`t run to big brother.

Hey I’m the “Anonymous” I guess I don’t know to click the right button…

Anyway.. “Eat the Rich”, I hear what you are saying and respect that. And I also agree, with you about the league not “always” getting it right, ie Ovech. I don’t think that Zeiler’s a dirty player, I do think that he’s a moron, and it was a bone headed play.

mrbrett7, great points, and yes I do play on D… I know EXACTLY where you are coming from.

Well, on the plus side, it gives someone else a way back in the line-up!

mrbrett – You’re simply not correct when saying you can’t hit in the numbers. It happens every night. J posted the criteria for boarding majors and it patently says that the ‘victim’ must not be aware of the presence of the player coming for the check. This isn’t a Kings bias, its what we see every night. I posted a hit from Kopecky on Gauthier earlier in this season, and it shows exactly what happens when the defenseman is being ‘tracked’ by a forward from behind and getting hit. It’s on youtube, look at it. The simple reality is that it wasn’t even a hard check. Foote got injured because he was in an awkward position. That’s his fault as the responsibility to protect himself knowing he’s being tracked is his own.
It’s not an icing call, the rules haven’t been adapted for this.
Also, comparing this to your own experience doesn’t equate. Foote should have known better.
I don’t like players getting injured, I couldn’t even watch the Zednick incident, but in pro sports its going to happen and when it does it’s not always because someone did something wrong.
Also, Deadmarsh’s early retirement was sparked by a fight he got into with Jovonoski while Jovo played for Vancouver. He suffered a severe concussion that made him ever-susceptible to more and worse concussions. How does Deadmarsh’s retirement relate?
In the end, the NHL doesn’t give a sh*t about these players as long as the game is getting sold. Fighting has ended careers and put players on the IR but the league won’t do anything about it. In this case, they’re trying to take the easy way out and suspend Zeiler. If they really want to prevent injuries from hits in the back they can ban it at any time they please, regardless of whether the checked player turns into it themselves.

Soooo…it’s okay to hit a guy, from behind, head first into the boards? Hitting someone from behind open ice is most definately legal, hitting from behind, head first into the boards is not.

I think not.

mr. brett,
Of course it’s not ok to check someone head first into the board, but that’s not what you said originally.

You said “If you can see the numbers and the name, you cannot, EVER hit the person, PERIOD.” This is false. The league allows you to hit a player, even into the boards, when you can see his numbers and name, provided it doesn’t break the rules that Quisp just listed. That was all I was saying.

If the league wanted to prevent these types of injuries, and I think they should, they would do as you say and ban checking from behind PERIOD. The truth is that they want checking from behind, because fans like checking, so they walk this thin line of giving fans what they want while limiting injury.

So, they police the injury instead of policing the action. The same action that is legal 99% of the time, when guys get smashed up against the boards and don’t get injured, becomes illegal when Foote makes an unexpected move at the last second and bends over far enough to put his head down by the boards instead of taking the impact into the glass.

There is no way for Zeiler to adjust for this that quickly. It’s not like he hit Foote up high, like Kostopoulos did on Van Ryan. Sure, Zeiler could have come in with less force, but his job is to go out and make an impact, not just to bump Foote off the puck.

If the league wants to fix this problem they need to have the refs call penalties on every occurrence for the action of every check from behind OR at least high speed or over-forceful checks from behind. Call it charging, but do something to make this consistent.

If Foote just went into the glass and bounced off with no injury, there would have been no fight, no major, no match penalty and no suspension. That’s no way to stop the injuries, because Zeiler can’t do anything to avoid the injury besides stop doing his job.