All Paul wants for Christmas, apparently, is a Pronger suspension. 

Kind of cute, too—bring up a suspension history, vaguely reference a hit, show a different video, and just rely on the fact that nobody needs to see any evidence when Pronger is involved.

Again, wake me when the league does something—for once I’m glad it’s in their hands.

Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 01/12/09 at 07:08 PM ET

What I want Earl is for the league to deal with these kind of hits, no matter what players are involved.

If it happens to be Pronger, so be it, but I would be pointing this out no matter who it was.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 01/12/09 at 07:11 PM ET

It was a bicep to the head that could have been alot worse had Pronger wanted it to be. From what I have heard the league has reviewed it and there will be no suspension.

Posted by SGTEXPLORER from Covina, CA on 01/12/09 at 07:16 PM ET

What I want Earl is for the league to deal with these kind of hits, no matter what players are involved.

So you think the league dropped the ball on last night’s collision?  Even though you decided to show a different video?

Hey, your blog, your rules, but from my vantage point this seems to be more Pronger-directed than actual-hit-directed.

Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 01/12/09 at 07:22 PM ET

Earl, I pointed to the video from last night and am showing what I think to be a similar hit and yes, from the same player.

If I wanted to start a Pronger suspension campaign, I would do it in a much better fashion than this.

All I am saying, hits like these in my opinion do not need to be part of the game.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 01/12/09 at 07:39 PM ET

Earl, I pointed to the video from last night and am showing what I think to be a similar hit and yes, from the same player.

Exactly, Paul. Pronger did the same thing to Parise that he did to Pavel…he threw his elbow up to make the hit. If he had kept his elbow down, both simply would have been collisions between a taller player and a shorter player. But laying a guy out that way never seems to be enough for Chrissy. He just has to get a dirty shot in there trying to do maximum damage.

And, Earl, I know it sucks to have a goon like this on your team, but at some point you have to recognize that everyone “picks on” this guy for a reason. Paul’s initial point is spot-on. Avery gets booted from his team and sentenced to anger-management sessions for dissing Phaneuf and his girlfriend. Pronger lays people out with some of the dirtiest hits I’ve seen in the past 10 years and he never gets more than a slap on the wrist.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 01/12/09 at 08:01 PM ET

Pronger is a talented player but has a history of suspendable offenses that the league has chosen to ignore. His propensity for cheap shots is undeniable. If you disagree, you’re not paying attention or are being obtuse.

Posted by Puck from San Francisco, CA on 01/12/09 at 08:18 PM ET

Avery gets booted from his team and sentenced to anger-management sessions for dissing Phaneuf and his girlfriend. Pronger lays people out with some of the dirtiest hits I’ve seen in the past 10 years and he never gets more than a slap on the wrist.

You can look around the internet, but I’ve never been even close to supportive of Avery’s suspension.  I hate that the league went down that route.

Pronger is a talented player but has a history of suspendable offenses that the league has chosen to ignore.

Enlighten me, OTC or Puck.  I’d like to hear that list of suspendable offenses that the league has ignored.  I’ve got this Datsyuk video as possibly one, and I guess Parise, but I’ve yet to see anyone do more than imply a suspension for last night (even the cited Wyshynski).  Surely your list is longer?

Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 01/12/09 at 08:30 PM ET

Enlighten me, OTC or Puck.  I’d like to hear that list of suspendable offenses that the league has ignored.

Personally, I didn’t say the league has ignored Pronger’s suspendable offenses. What I said was he gets away with just a slap on the wrist. I know you have to defend the guy because, well, because he’s your guy, Earl. But outside of Duckie Land, you won’t find many who think Chrissy is anything more than a goon and a punk.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 01/12/09 at 11:25 PM ET

Earl, you can’t act like a player’s history doesn’t come into play here.

A first-time offender that might accidentally catch a guy high like this deserves a warning—consider it a lesson that you need to be conscious of what’s going on and that you need to be in control of your body at all times.

A guy that’s been suspended a handful of times for questionable hits should have already learned this lesson a handful of times. For Pronger, there’s no excuse—he’s been fined, warned, suspended—everything. He should know by now that it isn’t acceptable to bash an elbow into a guy’s head, intended or not. You have to be under control.

I’m really looking forward to staying up till 1am tonight to watch that joke of a hockey team (who’s even worse now that Selanne and Marchant are injured) thug their way to making the ref’s swallow their whistles.

Posted by Nathan on 01/14/09 at 10:28 AM ET

Nathan, all I’m saying is that if you believe that Pronger should be suspended, the way to go about that is to (a) recommend suspension, rather than suggest at it, and (b) show the actual infraction, not a few-month-old other incident.

There’s plenty of people ready to pre-judge Pronger without seeing any evidence (and thanks for your last paragraph to help show your bias); I don’t know that it does a whole lot for anybody just to play off those preconceptions.

Posted by Earl Sleek from Anaheim, CA on 01/14/09 at 11:39 AM ET