Crosby, Savard, Cooke, and Concussions. The NHL hit list.

http://www.nhlsnipers.com

Concussions continue to run rapid in professional sports, most importantly in the NHL. Sidney Crosby, the best player in the world hasn’t played since last January and is still suffering concussion symptoms.

Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins might have just seen his hockey career come to a very premature end.

When it comes to Savard, all hockey fans should be saddened by his career possibly being over. Savard is a highly skilled center that was vastly underrated center in the NHL.

Obviously and understandably Boston Bruins’ fans and Savard fans are extremely upset by this. Savard has suffered some very malicious hits throughout his career.

The most controversial hit was by Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward Matt Cooke. Cooke’s hit on Savard was dirty, there’s no getting around it. Cooke is a dirty player, there’s no getting around that
.

Cooke has been suspended five times in his career, including four suspensions as a Penguin. Last year Cooke was suspended for launching an elbow at Ryan McDonagh of the New York Rangers. The play was just uncalled for and Cooke was suspended for the rest of the season, including the playoffs.

At this point it's hard for me, as a Pens' fan and a fan of Cooke to defend him anymore. There's no defending Cooke. But there's also no defending an environment that creates and nurtures a player like Cooke. The only defense I have for Cooke is that he's not the only guy in the league that makes hits like that. 

I can't also defend Cooke when it comes to Savard. Cooke wasn’t the other player to hit Savard with a dirty hit. Savard had concussions before Cooke hit him and he was hit and suffered concussions after the Cooke hit
.

Just last year Savard was hit by Matt Hunwick of the Colorado Avalanche. Some say it was a dirty hit, others don’t. Either way it obviously had a big impact on Savard’s health and career.

As a Pens fan and a hockey fan I feel bad for Savard and his family. However, blaming Cooke is moronic.

Cooke has problems but he’s just not a goon. Cooke can actually play the game, he’s just an idiot. There are plenty of guys worse than Cooke in the NHL.

Fact is the NHL and many of it’s fans just want to make Cooke be the only bad guy.

I don’t see anyone blaming David Steckel for the best player in the world (Crosby) being out of the game right now. Steckel’s hit on Crosby was just as dirty as Cooke’s hit on Savard.

Yet hockey fans aren’t calling for Steckel to be suspended. Heck, Steckel didn’t get in any trouble at all.

The NHL has a lot of work to do. They have to be consistent in their punishments and they need to learn to protect their players, stars and non-stars.

Losing Savard is a bad deal but if the NHL loses a Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin, it will set the league back for years.