Thread: Lets Play Guess the Suspension

Gotta say that's pretty disappointing. Obviously Lucic isn't trying to knock Miller into next week but he also makes no effort to avoid the contact.

Originally Posted by Hockey53

Miller came out to play the puck and if Lucic was going full force to hit Miller,then I would say a suspension is warranted.But,he was slowing down and I think Miller knew he was going to get hit and embellished it a little. To me,if a goalie comes out of the crease to play the puck,they are fair game to a certain point.

I fail to see how Miller embellished anything about that hit. As for being fair game to a certain point, perhaps you could say that with incidental contact however there was nothing incidental about that hit. Lucic knew exactly what he was doing.

Originally Posted by dano

The League wanted to limit goalies handling the puck, they did two things:

1. Implemented the trapezoid
2. Didn't suspend Lucic.

I think the NHL go it right and no, they didn't declare "open season" on goalies. If Miller is a few feet from his crease, probably a different story...

I can't for a second figure out your opinion on this. If Shanahan gave a reason like "he was too far out" (which is really stupid) then fine. But he didn't, he asked Lucic what his intention was. All you need to do is look at the smirk on his face to know what his intention was. He saw a chance to run over a goalie and did it. Why in the world would it be different if the goalie was only a few feet out? And what exactly is this limit? This hit was clearly intentional. The leagues loves it instigator rule. In fact, Shanahan suspended JF Jacques EIGHT games for going after Duco right after coming onto the ice. What will he do if someone goes directly after Lucic next game? Obviously nothing, he has stopped enforcing that rule.

Forgive my rambling, I just think Shanahan is incapable of doing this job. He's doing a good job of proving that this year.

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I can't wait until a fourth liner does something similar. What happens when the goalie is behind the net with the puck? Can a player run him over? Does it matter if he's injured? Does it matter if it's an ex teammate of Shanahan?

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And the trapezoid was to stop goalies from killing the forecheck by getting the puck for the D. It has zero relevance here. It's pretty simple, you can't hit the goalie in this situation. This is Shanahan doing what people expected. Suspensions for mediocre players, "phone calls" for others.

Shanny's response:

"I had the hearing because I did make an initial assessment of the play as I do with all plays, but I did have some questions for Milan and I wanted to hear directly from him," Shanahan told NHL.com. "They were regarding his intent; at what point did he know there was going to be a collision; and whether or not he felt he had the time to avoid the collision. I was satisfied with his answers."

From tsn:

Ultimately, he thinks a rule change will need to be made before he can suspend every player that collides with a goaltender.


"If they feel, as (Sabres GM Darcy Regier) suggests, that goalies are like quarterbacks and that their needs to be a higher standard in supplemental discipline (I'm open to that)," said Shanahan. "I'm not a policy-maker, but I'm a policy enforcer. If these guys want that I'm happy to enforce that policy.


"But I don't think that I can just go and do this because this happened to a great goaltender like Ryan Miller."

link: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=380463

It was pretty much the same as a 50-50 ball in soccer that a goalie came out to play. There was a collision between a "field player" and the goalie...

Maybe give the guy a 5 minute major for something like that but a suspension is overkill.

Originally Posted by gradin

All you need to do is look at the smirk on his face to know what his intention was.

That doesn't prove anything. He could have been smiling because it was a happy accident. Not saying it was or wasn't. Just saying that's not proof.

Originally Posted by Chartrand

The problem is....who is gonna do it? Kaleta?

I'll give you 5 options. Pick 1 or all 5. Doesn't matter. Has to happpen.

Originally Posted by NastiMarvasti

That doesn't prove anything. He could have been smiling because it was a happy accident. Not saying it was or wasn't. Just saying that's not proof.

It's not a smoking gun, but considering you already have one of those with the replay you don't need another. The interview was just him bragging to his friends after the fact that he shot someone. But he must have said whatever Shanahan needed to hear. Maybe it wasn't something like "I'm just here hanging with Greg and Colin, what's up Brendan? Say hi to your mother for me."

Now if this was last year, totally different story. But Shanahan came out this year and suspended like crazy. I can't wait to see what happens the next time this happens and then hear his bizarrely uncomfortable description. When it does, "Guess the Suspension" will be a lot of fun.

My current favourite Shanahanism:

Shanahan explained that if someone else runs a goalie, that player will discuss the matter with him. If Shanahan “doesn’t buy” that person’s explanation, then a suspension will occur.