John Scott Hit: NHL Needs To Send A Message

Adam McQuaid jumped John Scott after his horrible hit on Loui Erickson

With the recent rash of suspensions in the NHL, the time has come to send a message to players that injury-causing hits will no longer be tolerated, especially those committed by players who are so interchangeable that their absence from the team will do little to alter the game results of their team.

John Scott may very well be a very pleasant and likable guy. We all heard his comments after his brain-rattling hit on Loui Erickson of the Boston Bruins 2 nights ago but his actions are so entirely unacceptable that the league enacted a rule that outlaws the exact angle at which he maliciously drilled Erickson from. If you recall the Matt Cooke hit on former (and soon to be retired) Bruin Marc Savard, which at the time did not result in a penalty, caused Savard to suffer such a severe concussion that he was only able to return nearly a year and a half later and was almost immediately re-injured (another concussion) on a play that appeared harmless in comparison.

While it is also true that Scott may have no real “priors” in terms of other suspensions, a message needs to be sent to all players, particularly those who live out on the edge of being true NHL players: The Stars of the game are off limits and failure to understand that may very well mean your own career in exchange. 

After his face was mangled and no penalty was called on either play, JR went nuts verbally on the NHL, with good reason. The only difference now is that we are not visually seeing the carnage as it's being counted in concussions

This reminds me of the mid-1990’s when the stars of the game like Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull and JR (Jeremy Roenick for those of you who weren’t sure) would openly and bitterly complain about the treatment they were being subjected to by the lesser lights of the league. Essentially, lower skilled players would hack and slash and basically assault the stars of the game whenever they could with impunity and get away with it. It got so bad the Lemieux actually decided to retire instead of keep playing (before eventually returning 3 years later).

A message needs to be sent now, especially since the league is taking steps to make it more difficult for fighters to police the game. Case in point, the recent Luke Gadzic vs Travis Moen fight in Montreal which was stopped as soon as both players took off their helmets (a way for the league to police their own  new rule about helmets as well). If the league is going to slowly start to weed out the role of the enforcer/fighter as they have been, then they need to also say in a loud clear voice right now that going after the high priced talents of the league is unacceptable and make Scott the poster boy they can march out to the world as an example of their new mandate.

This shouldn’t even be a numerical suspension in terms of how many games he misses maximum. There should be a minimum in place but the maximum should be left open ended. What Brendan Shanahan needs to do is tie Scott’s return to the ice to the return of Erickson’s. Loui was acquired by Boston to be a top goal scorer as his history over the last 5 years would indicate, he (unlike Scott) knows how to put the puck in the net. So if Erickson is out for 30 games, so is Scott. If Loui returns after 21 games, then so can Scott and so on.

The minimum number of games he should be suspended for is 10 games but to set a precedent and show low-skilled meat heads that this kind of action is no longer acceptable, tying his return to that of the player he injured would be ground breaking and could very well change the way many of these lesser lights in the league look at how the act on the ice. It won’t take multiple suspensions like it did with Matt Cooke to change behavior. All it would take is one meted out in this fashion, to change the mindset of these players.

One more note on this particular player. Scott is a Sabre and their new coach, Ron Rolston has now had 3 incidents occur in less than a month on his watch as coach (The Scott-Kessel pre-season scuffle which cost David Clarkson 10 games, the Patrick Kaleta head hunting hit which cost him 10 games and now this one). At what point do you look at his tutelage as being a possible reason for these actions. Granted Patrick Kaleta is a tool who doesn’t seem to have a clue about respecting other players as he constantly chirps and runs anyone, but John Scott is a bit different.

It was clear that he was sent out in a pre-season blow out game to attack whomever it was that was lined up against him that night, this time it was Phil Kessel. Against the Bruins, down by 2 in the third period, there was plenty of time to get back into the game and Scott should have been stapled to the bench while your skilled players did everything they could to get you closer. Instead Rolston sends out a heat seeking missile in Scott with the clear intention of having him be a “shit-disturber” out there. You have to really question the mentality of this coach as I doubt any other NHL coach would have done as he did in both of these instances.

Part of the discipline here might also need to be handed out to the coach who seems to think he is coaching in the ECHL as part of the movie “Slap Shot”. He was fined for the pre-season altercation but maybe taking him out of the equation for a few games would serve to teach him about how things are done in the NHL. Then again, with Buffalo off to a 1-9-1 start, letting him stay behind the bench might be punishment enough.