Instant Karma's Gonna Get You...

Now anyone who has read The Show for any extended period knows I don't like it when ANY player gets hurt - ever. But I couldn't help but see a measure of poetic justice in the following incident involving none other than A-hOle™ himself. Here's the video of the deliberate knee-on-knee hit he put on the Carolina Hurricanes' Tim Gleason:


Thankfully A-hOle™ himself took the worst of that hit while Gleason is okay. This makes the second boneheaded hit A-hOle™ has delivered in three games. (He was previously nailed for boarding Patrick Kaleta of my old boss's beloved Buffalo Sabres.) And now even his own coach is saying that he is irresponsible on the ice:

After two years of essentially letting Ovechkin be Ovechkin, [Head Coach Bruce] Boudreau said it might be time for a heart-to-heart talk.

"He's pretty reckless," he said. "It's hard telling a guy that scores 60 goals a year to change the way he plays. At the same time, I don't want to see him getting hurt. Maybe he has to pick his spots a little better. The open-ice hits, you just look around the league. It's not only the hitter, it's the guy that gets hit. ... It's something that will have to be addressed by us, I guess. ... Not only as a coach, but as somebody who admires him, I just don't want him to put himself in harm's way, so we'll see."

I mostly agree with what Boudreau said, but I really don't care for how easily he glossed over the risk that Ovechkin poses to others when he makes these stupid hits. Just ask Gonch. Well, the NHL (finally!) suspended A-hOle™ for two games for the hit - two games he probably wouldn't be able to play anyways since he's the one who ended up getting injured. He'll also forfeit $98,844.16 of his salary to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. Remember - the NHL just suspended Cooker this:


By comparison, are these hits equal? No way! Cooker hit with his shoulder as Anisimov was caught with his head down as (for whatever reason) he watched his own pass rather than paying attention to the players on the ice around him. On the other hand, A-hOle™ clearly and intentionally stuck his knee out to make contact with Gleason. So should the punishments have been equal? NO WAY!

Despite the suspension, somehow I doubt this is the last time we'll be talking about a dirty hit from Alexander Ovechkin. Perhaps he might have gotten the message if the NHL would have ordered the suspension to begin once he's been cleared to play. But I guess they'd rather wait until he ends someone's career to get that "harsh."

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