The position itself — that Cooke plays a certain way and was only filling a certain role that exists in the NHL — isn't too hard to understand, but choosing the word "victim" got hockey fans riled up. Unsurprisingly, Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton feels the same way.
"That guy's an idiot as far as I'm concerned," Thornton said on CSNNE on Thursday, referring to Adam Proteau, the author of The Hockey News' tweets. "We all play on the edge. I play on the edge every single night, but the edge doesn't mean going over that line, either."
Thornton, who fought Cooke two weeks after the hit on Savard, had trouble finding sympathy for Cooke.
"So, what, Matt Cooke's feelings are hurt because somebody wrote about it? I don't get it," Thornton said on CSNNE's Sports Tonight. "I don't understand how he's a victim. I'm kind of at a loss for words here because I'm a little confused by the thought of it."
Thornton also disagreed with The Hockey News' assessment that Cooke's hit on Savard was comparable to Todd Bertuzzi's sucker punch of Steve Moore in 2004.
"Savvy had his head down [when Cooke hit him]," Thornton said. "I mean … Savvy's gonna have to live with these concussion problems for who knows how long? I mean, it's been a tough year for him this year, too."
