Malkin/Simmonds update

A conversation by phone?
Levy the suspension warranted for an

INTENTIONAL BLOW TO THE HEAD WITH INTENT TO INJURE - ALSO COMING WITHIN THE FINAL 2 MINUTES OF THE GAME.

20 games.

Purely a formality to humor us. If Pronger got 9 games for stomping on someone, Malkin will get nothing; The league doesn't like to suspend its stars.

Campbell: Hi Geno, Its Colin

Malkin: Hi Colin. How are you doing?

Campbell: Not bad, not bad. Well the reason I'm calling Geno is that wonderful hit last night on Simmonds.

Malkin: Oh ok. It was a nice hit wasn't it?

Campbell: Yes it was. Remember Geno, you are our shining star so keep up the good work. I just needed to have a call log showing that we talked today so I will let you get back to your day. Bye

Malkin: Thanks, bye

Rich, can you also get an update on if Simmonds was injured? Concussion? Will he play tomorrow?

Thanks Rob -

I lol'd. Funny 'cuz it's SO true...

Watched it a few dozen times now and while it's not the most egregious hit - and it's impossible to determine his intent - there was still an upward, follow-through motion with his arm. Even if he made initial contact with his upper tricep / lower shoulder, it wasn't a simple shoulder check as Pens fans are arguing and he deserves to draw at least one game and a small fine.

Re-post from prior thread/sorry about that...

Variable--thanks for your reply on another thread...

As far as the offensiveness of the hit, I'd have to agree that it mirrors the Goat hit, but this hit was at mid-ice, at the end of the game, and clearly was a message hit. That makes this hit far worse. What it interesting is that the hit was shown on the NHL Channel but NOT COMMENTED ON. That means the fix is in, it was Malkin with a big TV game coming up on Sunday, and there won't be any reaction until tonight at the earliest. That guarantees NO SUSPENSION until Monday at the earliest, gives them the big name on the TV game, and even gives them something to talk about DURING THE TELECAST (talk about hypocrisy!). Even worse, the Pens-Flyers game REPLACED the Kings-Blackhawks telecast nationally. Of course, now they have a reason to give highlights of the Kings game during the telecast, especially if Simmonds plays and/or doesn't play.

Bottom line: RATINGS RULE OVER POSSIBLE SUSPENSIONS OF STAR PLAYERS!

As far as your comments, Variable, I disagree; no line changes would've occurred if the guys had been clicking offensively from the beginning of the season. Of course, the most obvious reason for poor 5-on-5 performance is LACK OF SCORING SKILL... But, we have the last few years as evidence against that.

My theory on this is a bit different. What's interesting to note is that the Kings are in the top five in eliciting penalties. That implies either: a) a team of floppers (I don't believe that for a minute); or b) a team of hard working blue-collar type players on the puck drawing holding/hooking/interference penalties. I prefer the latter, despite what people say in this blog.

You know, the Kings are a relatively well-liked team by Home Ice/ SiriusXM commentators, by opposing announcers, by newspaper columnists. Considering this team seems headed for a 13th place finish, that is pretty amazing. Their arguments seem subjective but have this merit--the Kings are a good, up-and-coming YOUNG team, making young team mistakes; and the Kings are a relatively talent-free but hard-working team. Certainly, they are NOT a highlight-frequenting team, unless it is post-game scrums or Goat-style dirty hits.

So, the Kings are a young, hard-working, relatively well-coached (not outstanding) team getting better--not an over-paid, underachieving mess (see the Senators, Avalanche, Lightning). I think the Kings can be BORING, even when they are winning. The culture of, 'Gee, we played really well but just lost' is slowly being replaced with, 'God, we absolutely should NOT have lost that game!'

In short, the Kings are short on offensive 5-on-5 skill but are developing a true blue-collar hard-working mentality, getting better defensively and at goalie every game. Give this team the end-to-end rush top-5 scoring sniper, and they will be HOT, IMHO...

Nothing's going to happen to Malkenstein. The NHL isn't going to suspend one of their star players when they have game on NBC tomorrow. Anyone who has been following the Kings this season knows The Goat has been suspended twice for the exact same thing.

Personally, I would have preferred that Malkin have had a disciplinary hearing with Ivanans' fist.

Oh--an additional thought:

Didn't Ivanans get cleaned out with a similar hit to the head in open ice late in a game against Detroit, without a suspension to one of their stars? (Draper... I think)

Didn't Ivanans sit out 10-12 games due to that hit, because of a concussion?

Didn't the NHL want to clean up hits to the head?

Not if it involves a King...

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=malkin%20hit%20on%20simmonds&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#

Here is a link to the hit

Looks like the exact type of play Gary Bettman keeps talking about on his radio show that he and Colon are trying to eradicate. Therefore no suspension!

Malkin went out of his way and caught Simmonds squarely in the head with his unnecessary check. It was utterly sad that none of the King players on the ice stood up for Simmonds.

Colin Campbell should resign his post as league disciplinarian if he doesn't give Malkin at least a three game suspension for his cheap shot to Simmonds head.

The NHL should also look into random drug testing of players prior to games, if they don't already have this policy.

Malkin looked like Conan the Barbarian when he got into a scrum with Jack Johnson earlier in the game.

Malkin is one of NHL golden boys - nothing will happen until these two teams meet again.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but...

Maybe I'm the only one, but Simmonds needs to keep his head up.

I don't see anything wrong with the hit. It's completely legal.

Now, I do have a problem with the Kings players not coming to his defense afterward, but personally it looked as legal as any of Dustin Brown's hits to me.

I'm amazed the NHL noticed, period. And Bako is right; nothing, if anything, will happend until after the televised game tomorrow.

And, on another note, Go Reign! Tonight's the night, boys...

For all the talk about reducing/eliminating fighting, it's these kind of deliberate hits to the head that are killing the game. Malkin was clearly going for Simmond's head...if he wanted a clean body check he could just as easily have driven right through him.

These types of hits, no matter who is the offending player, should start at a 3 game suspension and then increase exponentially for each additional infraction (3/5/9/15 etc.). The player's union is way, way too slow on this.

Funny, there's no mention of this on TSN...

Gauthier's "suspendable" hits were clean compared to this...

Just ONCE I want to see a suspension to an opposing player when they do something like this against the Kings... When it comes to the NHL delivering justice in the Kings favor...we get screwed... Yet when the Kings do something marginal...they throw the book at us...

I won't be happy with anything less than 3 games!

And TSN didn't even run a story about it! Not even one paragraph?!?! What a joke...

Malkin got a stern talking to, and a fine...that's it. The NHL's hypocrisy just continues to amaze me.

Wah,Wah,Wah! Your team got stomped by the better team and your kid needs to keep his head up. Its Hockey, get over it.

Wait a minute. Dustin Brown has hit people much worse than this and nobody called for a suspension. The hit was unwarranted due to the game situation but anyone calling for a suspension is either a reactionary homer or an idiot. Malkin's feet were on the ice, elbow was tucked in and the puck was there. Simmonds won't be putting his head down in the neutral zone again anytime soon. If you guys need to complain about something how about you complain about Dustin Brown and Jack Johnson, both of whom were on the ice at the time, not lifting a finger to help their 18 year old teammate. Nice leadership you guys got here.

Adam/Max Power -

Look, here's the deal. Malkin abandoned the puck in order to elbow Simmonds in the head. Period. His feet were on the ice? Yes, because if his feet had left the ice, his elbow would have missed Simmond's head, which was at elbow level. Ditto for his elbow being "tucked in." His elbow was in the place it needed to be to elbow Simmonds in the head. The whole "Simmonds needs to keep his head up" argument only makes sense if Simmonds is in possession of the friggin' puck, which he wasn't.

What Malkin did is exactly like a bush league move evil kids used to pull on the schoolyard in a game that (in my day) was offensively named "Smear the Qu**r." One football and a bunch of guys. One guy has the ball and everyone else tries to tackle him. The Malkin move was this: the guy with the ball would suddenly turn to one of his pursuers -- usually some runty kid who was barely in the game -- toss him the ball, and just as the surprised pursuer caught the ball, the d*** who tossed it to him would run him over, stomping on him. "Sorry, pal, you had the ball, what did you expect?"

The Malkin hit to the head is unsportsmanlike and it's intent to injure. And Dustin Brown has never done anything like it. Should there be a suspension? Listen, if Simmonds was injured, there would have to be one. Lucky for Malkin, Simmonds is okay (apparently; at least we haven't heard anything about it).

It shouldn't be an issue of what team the guy is on and who you are rooting for. You can debate back and forth about whether it's feasible to take head-shots out of the game. I think it's a pretty good idea to get rid of intentional head-shots to players who are not even eligible to be checked in any way in the first place.

Don Cherry on Malkin hit:

http://kwisp.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/youtube-don-cherry-comments-on-the-malkin-cheap-shot/

Quisp, unfortunately, Simmonds was set up big time. Malkin slowed up so that Simmonds would stretch for the puck, thus putting himself in a position with no escape. Malkin dropped his right knee and turned his right skate in to achieve maximum lateral force. While this was clearly an attempt to injury, it was not an illegal play under the current rules.
This play is an overwhelming example of why fighting must be allowed to stay a part of the game. Unfortunately, Murray missed another opportunity to send a message to the league that our kids are off limits. RI should have been over the boards as soon as Simmonds headed to the bench. Malkin should have been carried off the ice. And the headline should have been "Why did Bylsma let his star lose the remainder of the season in a fight with 10 seconds left in a 4-1 game.

BTW, I believe Murray has done an incredible job with the team this year, but if he is going to play teenagers, he has to protect them.

Regardless of whether or not "your kid needs to keep his head up" or "Dustin Brown has hit people much worse than this", that was a GUTLESS play but a gutless player!

Suspending Malkin isn't going to help the Kings record or chances at making the playoffs, so quit whining you bunch of oxygen bar attending, vegetarian, ozone depleters. Go PENS.

Hey Pensfan, I hope to god the coach of your first round match-up realizes that Malkin is a gutless back-jumping hothead & they just pound him all series. He won't be playing many minutes if they realize this truism because he'll be in the box...or in the stands! So go ahead, rub it our faces that you guys are the darling of the NHL & untouchable - it WILL come back to haunt, because Evgeny Malkin is a talented punkass turd!

Pensfan,

If you're going to insult us, you're going to have to do a little better job than that. Everything you mentioned above is a compliment. You should try some oxygen or organic foods, it broadens the mind, and it seems to me, you need some expansion in this area.

As far as the ozone, we are doing all you a favor. If you haven't heard, the earth is warming up a bit, so we helped out by putting a few holes in the ozone. By doing so, we're helping all the excess heat,(including your comments) drift out into the atmosphere. See, nothing but positives out here in California, even our weak points are good.

Jet,

I agree with you as far as the hit. Nothing in the rules say that hit was a penalty. I'm a advocate for big hits and fighting, but the league needs to do something consistent with the shots to the head. It's very clear, Malkin saw Simmmonds focusing on the puck and took liberties at the free shot. Nothing illegal as of yet, but certainly chicken$#it. No worries though, Simmonds just found his first nemesis of his short career. I have a feeling we'll see some Simmonds-payback real soon.

Where I disagree with you is about TM. He has preached toughness and the need to stick up for your teammates all year. Forget about Ivam, where was JJ(no MF in my view) or Brown or whoever else was on the ice at the time. TM can't hold their hands, the players have to take responsibility for the retaliation. This is the exact reason O'Sull was traded, right or wrong, to bring more attitude to our club. My guess is the trades are not done yet to bring in more toughness.

Technically that would be an interference penalty because Simmonds never touched the puck & Malkin didn't have the puck.

...or a basic roughing penalty. So yes, that was clearly a penalty under the rule book.

It was a nasty play by Malkin, and uncalled-for.

Still, if Simmonds is OK, then a 1 to 3-game suspension
would seem fair to me.

If Simmonds had gotten a concussion (thank God he didn't!), then 10-15 games would be in order,
I would think.

Simmonds will learn from this too, you can bet.

I'm surprised at Malkin for doing that.

Did Mr. Simmonds do something earlier to get
under his skin perhaps?

Hmmm.
Food 4 thought.

--Sergei Prozacutov

Duckhunter - i enjoy your posts, but if the league does not take care of cheap shots then your big boys need to. The green light comes from the coach. Murray has to give allow the players to feel comfortable enough to go out and take a game misconduct or an instigator penalty. This is a very young team, but almost every player is the type of player who will take one (a hard hit, a cheap shot) for the team. That is a courageous attitude when you are a top 10 team. It is not an appropriate attitude when you are a young, building team. The instruction from Murray must be load, clear, overt and repeated during meetings. The reason I said RI is because he is replaceable for a game if needed.
RI taking on Malkin would have given the kids cover the remainder of the year. At this point, I doubt Moeller will be able to suit up for another meaningful game this season.

Pensfan said:
"Suspending Malkin isn't going to help the Kings record or chances at making the playoffs, so quit whining you bunch of oxygen bar attending, vegetarian, ozone depleters. Go PENS."

The saddest thing about this post, is the Pens have 2 of 3 best players in the league, and still won't win the cup this season or next season for that matter.

Ozone depleters? The irony is thick with this comment considering Pittsburgh's history in the manufacturing industry(that's all it has, really).

Hurry along, young man, your team has a playoff exit to attend to.

Video? I could not watch that game anymore so I missed the hit

Got one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPVO1p6Mttg

Finally found some video of the aftermath of the hit. Somebody literally pointed their video camera at the TV, but hey, I'll take it.

http://kwisp.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/youtube-evgeni-malkin-has-words-with-la-kings-2/