That hit was pure BS. The only think Hansen is reaching for, is his elbow to the back of Hossa’s head. It was an intentional headshot on a vulnerable player.

Posted by timbits on 02/20/13 at 12:19 AM ET

Unless the puck is 6 feet off the ice, the only thing Jansen was reaching for was the front side of Hossa’s skull.

Posted by grndlprm on 02/20/13 at 12:37 AM ET

You must have a different angle than I do. It was certainly clumsy, but it did not look nearly as intentional to me as what you saw.

Posted by redxblack from Akron Ohio on 02/20/13 at 12:37 AM ET

Anyone that doesnt see intent to injury in this play is either trying to troll or has a serious mental illness…

Posted by Zqto on 02/20/13 at 07:27 AM ET

The puck was in the air, so I can see the folks defending Hansen sorta having a leg to stand on. But for me, even if you think he was just trying to bat the puck down, this needs to be like high-sticking—you have to be responsible for paying attention to where Hossa’s HEAD is and don’t rail your forearm into the back of it.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 02/20/13 at 08:43 AM ET

A hearing with the NHL this afternoon for Hansen.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 02/20/13 at 10:07 AM ET

Sadly, such a hearing will get hansen 2 games top… If any game at all

I still stand in my opinion that if its clear a player had intent to injury another player, he should sit AT LEAST the same amount of games the injured player is off

Posted by Zqto on 02/20/13 at 10:14 AM ET

I still stand in my opinion that if its clear a player had intent to injury another player, he should sit AT LEAST the same amount of games the injured player is off

Would be impossible to legislate that.  Let’s say Weber injures Miller the first game of the series - all the Wings would have to do is keep Miller out for the rest of the series before proclaiming him healthy again.  People would abuse that all the time.

Posted by Heaton on 02/20/13 at 10:18 AM ET

Posted by Heaton on 02/20/13 at 09:18 AM ET

It would also be expensive, because it would essentially require that the league have an independent group of doctors that they have on some sort of retainer that they can fly out to check on the condition of the player. Then you get to the cases where a team doctor and the impartial league doctor could have a legitimate medical disagreement, and you really don’t have any clean way to clear that dispute up.

Tougher penalties is a fair idea, but I agree that they have to be set at a fixed number of games.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 02/20/13 at 10:32 AM ET

I didnt mean it as just that rule.. It needs to be a big set of rules in order to prevent those kind of stuff you guys said.. But I do believe this is the only way dirty hits are taken out of the game, unfortunetly

Posted by Zqto on 02/20/13 at 12:21 PM ET

Kerry Fraser at TSN,

I do not believe that there was any deliberate or malicious intent on the part of Jannik Hansen to hit Marian Hossa in the head as both players went up for an airborne puck that had been flipped out of the Hawks zone by Jonathan Toews. The resulting contact to the back of Hossa’s head was not worthy of anything beyond the minor penalty for roughing that was eventually assessed by the referees; albeit well after play was whistled dead for the Hossa injury.

more

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 02/20/13 at 02:31 PM ET

Yeah, I saw that earlier… Its really sad when someone that’s supposed to educate people about this kinda stuff, can’t see when a player purposedly elbows the back of another player

Posted by Zqto on 02/20/13 at 09:49 PM ET