Exactly…

“CINDY MUST WIN”
-Bettman

Posted by Thag from DC on 03/21/09 at 07:41 AM ET

Please tell me anywhere in this article where it had to do with Crosby…
Get over it already

Posted by JJ on 03/21/09 at 07:59 AM ET

Was the kings player injured? It appears not in the clip. If this is the case, I do not expect a suspension. Perhaps a fine based on the league’s reactions this year. They put a lot (probably too much, imo) weight on whether a questionable hit causes injury. My view is that the hit isn’t outrageous but warrants at least a warning and I’d have a hard time arguing that a game is grossly unfair.

Posted by false_cause on 03/21/09 at 08:08 AM ET

I’m not a Penguins fan or even much of a Malkin fan, but I’ll be the first to say that it was a clean hit. I keep hearing about an elbow being up or a blatant elbow. Not from this angle! The video that I see shows Malkin and an LA player going for the puck and Malkin squaring him up with his shoulder. It’s a 100% legal hockey hit. The LA player had his head down. I remember there was a lot of debate about Scott Stevens for that hit on Shane Willis in the last seconds of a game. You play the game until the final buzzer. If it’s a 4-1 game you don’t go headhunting but, at the same time, in my opinion in a 50-50 battle for the puck, you have to go all out or you will be the one getting injured. I have no problem at all with the hit or its timing

Stevens video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chONBM-2X9s

Posted by PuckCentral.net from NJ on 03/21/09 at 08:40 AM ET

I really don’t see anything dirty there.  Malkin was the puck carrier and checkable. 
He just leaned into the check that he thought was coming.  Datsyuk does the same, and often.

Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 03/21/09 at 08:48 AM ET

Not even close to being dirty.  Malkin was preparing for what he thought was a check.  He used his shoulder, not his elbow.  The score and time of the game have nothing to do with the wheather this was dirty or not.  Clean hit.

Posted by Gretzky_to_Lemieux on 03/21/09 at 09:25 AM ET

Yeah, I’m with the clean hit crowd here.  Malkin leaned in for a check, but he kept his elbow tucked.  He could have absolutely destroyed the guy if he were trying to be dirty.  This is why coaches tell you to keep your head up.

Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 03/21/09 at 10:17 AM ET

When I watch the video it looks like he lines him up. It’s a loose puck, Malkin is there first and takes a quick look at the puck and acts like he is going to grab the puck and lean into the Kings player while protecting the puck and try to scoot around him. Except as the Kings player commits to the poke check and lowers his head, Malkin totaly takes all focus off the puck (he never even tries to control it) and shifts into shoulder check mode and raises his center of gravity into the defender head. No elbow all shoulder, Maybe Malkin thought the defender would try and smoke him, maybe Malkin was trying to take his head off. I will not even pretend to know what was going on in his mind but it does look like he lead the defender into it.

Posted by MinorTthreat on 03/21/09 at 10:18 AM ET

Clean.

Malkin is a tall dude. The LA player was bent over reaching. Made the situation worse that it probably would’ve been otherwise, but there was nothing dirty about it.  Malkin kept his arms tucked too.

Posted by Nate A from Detroit-ish on 03/21/09 at 12:30 PM ET

I agree with the “clean” crowd here.  Regardless of the time left in the game, you have to look at the play the defender made.  Not to “blame” him, but he made a high risk move to try and beat Malkin to the puck.  The safe play (defensively and medically) would have been to stay on the defensive side of the puck and defend. What if Malkin hadn’t checked him, but just beat him to the puck.  The defender could have been completely out of the play.
Its similar to the play with Weight and Sutter earlier in the year, though less devastating obviously.

Posted by dip from philly on 03/21/09 at 12:54 PM ET

Malkin did have a disciplinary hearing with the NHL today.  No decision yet.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 03/21/09 at 01:35 PM ET

I say clean hit.  Malkin didn’t throw out an elbow or anything, Simmonds shouldn’t be sticking his head out there like that.  Learn to keep your head up, kid.  If Malkin doesn’t get suspended it’s because the NHL actually looked at the play and saw it could’ve been a lot worse and wasn’t intentional, not because they’re pandering to a superstar.

Posted by zihmer from memphis, tn on 03/21/09 at 04:29 PM ET

Keep your head up folks, this stuff happens, I would agree with a suspension if the player was standing up like he should’ve been, or if Malkin left his feet like a certain other Russian superstar tends to do all the time yet ironically never gets called for it.

Posted by Truth on 03/21/09 at 04:37 PM ET

This a head-shot suspendable hit ladies and gentlemen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZKRizzYshk

Posted by Joke on 03/21/09 at 04:39 PM ET

Not suspend-able. Was it a dangerous hit? Yes, but only because of the position Simmonds put himself in. There is a considerable difference between this hit and the ones leveled by Ruutu or Witt earlier this season.

I’ve got no problem with a phone call from the NHL though. A simple “We’re gonna let this one slide as an accident, but if it becomes a habit you’ll be suspended” will help Malkin keep more aware of the position other players are in before he hits them but a suspension would be ludicrous.

Posted by kstewy16 on 03/21/09 at 06:30 PM ET

According to Pierre LeBrun on HNIC, Malkin got a stern talking to and a fine, but no suspension.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 03/21/09 at 09:12 PM ET