Inside the Flyers: NHL inconsistent in punishing dangerous hits

The inconsistent manner in which the NHL hands out suspensions would be comical if it wasn't such a serious matter.

Numerous former players have filed a lawsuit against the league for not doing enough to protect them from neurological damage caused by repeated blows to the head. And yet the league still has vague interpretations of which hits are legal or not. Hits, by the way, that sometimes cause concussions.

For the latest exhibit of the league's confusing suspension policy, we give you Zac Rinaldo's hit to the head that leveled his ex-teammate, Sean Couturier, in the Flyers' 5-4 overtime win in Boston on Wednesday.

Couturier missed the last two-plus periods in the game and did not play Saturday against the Rangers. The Flyers will not say whether he suffered a concussion, referring to it only as an upper-body injury.

Somehow, Rinaldo, who was the poster boy for knuckleheaded penalties when he played for the Flyers, wasn't suspended.

Rinaldo barreled into Couturier near the sideboards. The puck was not there, and the first period had one second left. Couturier was tied up with another player at the time, and his head snapped back in a whiplash motion at the point of Rinaldo's contact before he fell to the ice in pain.

For his actions, Rinaldo was given a five-minute charging penalty and a game misconduct.

Rinaldo said that he felt bad, that he had his "emotions going" in his first game against his former teammates, and that he didn't mean to hurt anyone, "especially someone that I know personally."

Patrick Burke, a former Flyers scout who is now the NHL's director of player safety, acknowledged Couturier's head was struck, "but it was not the main point of contact," he said in a video explaining why Rinaldo was exonerated. He added that Rinaldo left his feet only slightly but did not launch into the 22-year-old center.

So you can charge into a defenseless player, knock him woozy - and perhaps leave him concussed - and you won't get suspended because the head was only the secondary point of contact?

The more these NHL player-safety executives talk, the more ammunition they are giving former players in their lawsuit against the league.

Burke said the department of player safety agreed with the referee's call on the ice, but later said it "was not charging."

If that makes sense, please raise your hand.

Anyone?

Didn't think so.

Burke also noted that Rinaldo had "an extensive history of supplemental discipline," but that history "only comes into play after it is determined that a check is worthy of supplemental discipline." He added that "the hit itself is evaluated on its own merits, not on the player delivering the check."

Last season, Rinaldo left his feet and hit Pittsburgh star Kris Letang from behind, and was rightfully given an eight-game suspension, in part because he was a repeat offender. From here, Rinaldo's hit on a defenseless Couturier was just as bad because he delivered it to his head - away from the puck, with virtually no time left in the period.

Yet, one hit triggered an eight-game suspension, the other got zero games.

Confused? Get in the long line forming behind Flyers general manager Ron Hextall and former NHL referee Kerry Fraser.

"I thought it was an irresponsible hit," Hextall said Friday, adding he was surprised Rinaldo was not suspended.

Hextall conceded that working for the department of player safety was "probably one job in this game I'd rather not have. It's almost like no matter what decision they make, one team is upset."

Before the NHL announced its ruling, Fraser, in a column written for TSN in Canada, said Rinaldo deserved a suspension, which would have been the fourth of his NHL career and 14th overall, including juniors and the AHL.

"Even if we take Rinaldo at his word that he tried to deliver a clean check, the execution, point of impact, and end result were far from clean or legal," wrote Fraser, one of the game's most respected referees during a 30-year career that ended in 2010. "All these factors placed Couturier at risk for injury and demonstrate an ongoing lack of respect from Rinaldo toward his opponents."

And then the league did nothing, showing it has a lack of respect toward players' safety.

scarchidi@phillynews.com

@BroadStBull

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