Posted by Scott Burnside
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The reverberations of Niklas Kronwall's devastating hit on Martin Havlat reached across the Midwest to the South and the site of the Eastern Conference finals, highlighting the great dilemma the NHL faces in how to deal with such moments.
In general, players from the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins believed Kronwall's hit, which resulted in a five-minute major and ejection from Game 3 of the Western Conference finals Friday night, was a good, clean hockey hit.
That said, most understood the resulting damage to Havlat (he did not return to the game won by the Blackhawks in overtime and his availability for Game 4 is unknown) makes the situation more than a little blurry.
"A lot of guys think he leaves his feet sometimes, like the hit on [former teammate Ryan Malone during last season's playoffs]," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik said Saturday. "We thought he left his feet. But the one last night, the more times you saw it, the more legal you thought it was.
"I think the call was based more on the result of the hit, the injury, than the actual play," Orpik said. "That kid just plays the game hard. He's not out there to hurt guys."
Teammate Hal Gill agreed, saying it looked like Havlat was preparing to make a play to move the puck out of the Chicago zone.
"It looked like he had the puck and looked up to see where he was going to pass it to," Gill said. "He let it go through his skates, I don't know. Usually, the rule of thumb is, if the guy's not looking, then he doesn't have the puck yet. But that one, it's pretty obvious he's positioning himself so that he can get it. I call that possession."
Although he's not necessarily a big-hitter himself, Carolina defenseman Dennis Seidenberg also thought the call was excessive.
"I think it's the forward's responsibility to look up," Seidenberg said. "I think it was a good hit. It was hard. I don't think it was a game [misconduct]."
Although forwards and defensemen often see these kinds of plays from different perspectives, Carolina forward Ryan Bayda likewise thought Kronwall was excessively punished.
"I don't know if I necessarily like the call, him getting kicked out of the game," Bayda said. "It's a tough play for a defenseman. The puck was coming around the boards and it kind of took a funny bounce. I would say it was a clean hit. His elbows were down and stuff in that regard. Maybe a four-minute interference or something like that, but to get him kicked out I think is tough."
"It's a tricky play when you're looking down in your feet and the puck's getting rung around the boards," added Bayda, who was subjected to a $2,500 fine after cross-checking Pittsburgh's Kris Letang in the mouth in Game 2. "You're trying to get the puck out more than anything. It's when they sneak down on you; it's tough."
Does a call like that, one that clearly had an impact on both teams in a crucial playoff game, make a defenseman think twice?
"I don't think so. I think you do the same thing," Orpik said. "It's tough to argue the call because how bad Havlat looked. You never want to see that happen; but, at the same time, especially on the road, you're just trying to gain momentum.
"As soon as you start thinking about stuff like that, you kind of get caught on your heels and watching."
"If you're pinching down as a defenseman, you're timing it so that when the puck gets there, you're there, and if you don't hit him, you're screwed because that guy's gone. That's my opinion," Gill said.
Carolina coach Paul Maurice suggested this kind of issue presents all kinds of problems for the NHL.
"People will argue both sides, but making those decisions on how to eliminate the result is a very, very difficult problem that we have in the game," Maurice said. "Hitting is a good thing. I don't think there was any intent other than to hit. But the result nobody wants to see. And I'm sure that's true of Kronwall. Nobody wants to see that.
"What we all would have preferred is if Marty Havlat popped back up and we all went, 'Wow, what a battle, what a game,' but he didn't. And there's the problem and I don't have an answer for it."
Sadly, it appears, neither does the NHL.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
