Just as the Bruins had to witness Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke unleash a brutal cheap shot on Marc Savard last March, Miller and the Sabres got a first-hand look at the troubling lack of respect between NHL players on Monday when Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson viscously hit Buffalo forward Jason Pominville into the boards from behind.
Hjalmarsson was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct, but Miller hopes the league hands out a much stiffer penalty for the hit that left Pominville with a concussion and needing to be taken off the ice on a stretcher.
“No matter how badly Hjalmarsson feels, it’s still an illegal hit, it still put our guy out and it’s still suspendable in my mind, so [it] absolutely needs to be punished,” Miller told Buffalo radio station WGR 550 on Tuesday . “I don’t care if it’s unintentional, that’s what we have to get away from in hockey right now. It’s the culture of it where ‘I was trying to make a play, therefore it’s not my fault.’ A hockey hit is to separate a man from the puck, not anticipating the puck getting there, hitting him from behind and driving him into the boards. You have two things right there — the puck wasn’t completely there, there was anticipation of it, there’s no separation, and he’s hit from behind.”
Miller was especially upset that the hit hasn’t drawn more criticism, perhaps because Pominville has seemingly escaped more serious injury.
“I don’t even know if there was enough made of it because Jason is walking out with just stitches,” said the reigning Vezina winner. “What if Jason had a fractured neck? We don’t even know if it’s going to have an impact with concussions. So I just think no matter how badly [Hjalmarsson] feels, no matter if it’s unintentional, we have to change the culture of it if we’re ever going to change the situations we’re seeing, where guys are laying on the ice bleeding and missing time with concussions.”
One of those players missing time is Savard, who remains sidelined indefinitely with post-concussion syndrome symptoms from the Cooke hit. When asked if the response around the league would be different if a star like Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin were hit the way Pominville was, Miller was quick to point out that the league has already lost a major star in Savard to a dirty hit.
“Eventually, it’s going to be [a Crosby or Ovechkin getting hurt],” said Miller. “Savard’s still not playing. One of the best playmakers we have in this game is still not playing, because of a stupid, — hit.”
The cheap shot on Savard did help to finally put in place a rule against blindside hits to the head, which was initially implemented in late March to allow for supplemental discipline on blindside hits, then formally adopted this offseason by adding in-game penalties for such hits. Miller, who is a member of the NHLPA’s competition committee, isn’t buying the league’s commitment to player safety based on that rule change alone.
“The weird situation is last year we had a change right before playoffs which, don’t even get me started on that, that was just all P.R. by the league,” said Miller. “We were talking about that for two years and all of a sudden it’s a good idea so, whatever.
“I just think more people should be more outraged,” added Miller. “We’ve got to change the culture sometime, and I hope the league wakes up and sets a precedent for the year.”
That would require a statement from NHL chief disciplinarian Colin Campbell, the man who chose not to suspend Cooke last season.
“My job is not to make a ruling,” said Miller. “It’s the league. It’s Colin Campbell. It’s up to him to set a precedent right now that no matter if the guy’s trying to make a smart hockey play, he made a dumb hockey play and he should be suspended.”
Miller’s concerns echo the thoughts of many of the Bruins, who have been forced to deal with the aftereffects of such devastating cheap shots thanks to Ryan Jones’ hit on Patrice Bergeron in 2007 and Cooke’s brutal blow to Savard’s head last year.
“I think [the rule change] might prevent some of those hits,” said Bergeron during camp. “But it’s also up to the players to do so.
“It’s a good start, but we’ll see,” added Bergeron. “I still think it’s more about the players needing to realize that there’s no point for those kinds of hits. I think it’s getting better, especially with what’s happened the last two years. It seems like guys are more aware now, but it took too many guys getting injured for us to realize that as players.”
New Bruin Nathan Horton wasn’t with Boston when Bergeron and Savard were injured, but he was with Florida when Panthers teammate David Booth suffered a severe concussion on a hit from Philadelphia’s Mike Richards last season.
“It was a scary injury obviously,” said Horton. “That’s not something you to see happen to anybody. It’s pretty scary. It seems to be getting better [with the rule changes], so hopefully guys smarten up and we don’t see anything like that again.”
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara agreed that things have gotten better since the cheap shot on Savard and the new rule was implemented.
“I think guys were more aware of those situations,” said Chara. “After that, I think the guys really tried to make sure they avoided those head shots as much as possible.
“I think there’s now going to be more serious consequences for those hits,” added Chara. “We have to play the game hard. It’s a physical game. But at the same time you have to play in a way that nothing serious happens. If you can hit a guy and make a big hit, that’s OK. But if you see a guy is in a vulnerable position and you can really hurt him or make contact with his head, then you have to try to avoid it and play the puck.”
Things may be improving, but Hjalmarsson’s thoughtless check from behind on a defenseless Pominville shows that there’s still a long way to go.
