Kukla's Korner Hockey
Put The Red Line Back In Play To Cut Down On Head Shots
by Paul on 11/24/10 at 10:15 AM ET
Comments (8)
from Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated,
Brett Hull, now an executive vice-president with the Dallas Stars, used to be a font of goals. Now he is a font of ideas. He thinks the NHL can use an old approach to open a second front in its war against blindside hits that target the head: reinsert the red line.
The red line topic has cropped up in passing in discussions among GMs—Ottawa’s Bryan Murray is said to be a proponent of the idea—but it never has gained any sort of traction. Then again, the argument in favor of the return to the red line never has been made quite in the way Hull frames it.
Hull says players are increasingly vulnerable to the Rule 48 hits because they continually turn their heads to look back for the long passes that are encouraged by the increased open ice. The old-time zone-to-zone-to-zone passes, he posits, would help alleviate the problem.
Just a thought. Certainly it’s worth examining some videotape to gather empirical data.
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Filed in: NHL Teams, Dallas Stars | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Brett+Hull,
Comments
How about simply teaching players respect one another as human beings? I know minor hockey is all about killing the other kid, and that’s where it has to start. Teach players the proper times to hit at an early age, and it gets ingrained in them.
Posted by RedMenace from the darkest recesses on 11/24/10 at 12:44 PM ET
How about simply teaching players respect one another as human beings? I know minor hockey is all about killing the other kid, and that’s where it has to start. Teach players the proper times to hit at an early age, and it gets ingrained in them.
Well said.
Posted by Hank1974 on 11/24/10 at 01:15 PM ET
They took away the redline to increase scoring. They are nuckin futs if they actually brought it back 5-6 years later. Well, in that case they will probably do it
Posted by pensfan29 on 11/24/10 at 01:45 PM ET
I’m in favor of leaving out the two-line pass rule. There were some serious headshots before the rule’s abolition anyway.
Posted by SYF from the bottom of my, what, 11teenth pint of Guinness? on 11/24/10 at 04:25 PM ET
What a terrible, awful suggestion that had no real thought put into it.
Posted by Primis on 11/24/10 at 05:06 PM ET
What a terrible, awful suggestion
No, this could work…we just need to tweak it. If we were to paint the redlines in all 30 buildings with Chris Pronger’s blood, it would have an instant effect. I’ll go get my juicer.
Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 11/24/10 at 05:17 PM ET
Thoughts like this emerging from the quagmire of Brett Hull’s addled brain are what brought Sean Avery to Dallas.
Posted by Mojo Tooth on 11/24/10 at 07:45 PM ET
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Adding a redline wouldn’t have helped Savard, Booth, Stajan or Perron.
The only example that comes to mind is the Toews hit. But most of the blindside hits come from behind the puck carrier, in the offensive zone, not in front.
If the NHL took out the redline, you would see the already dismal 1.85 even-strength goals-per-game number go even lower.
Posted by Hank1974 on 11/24/10 at 12:06 PM ET