PITTSBURGH — It’s unfortunate, isn’t it, that HBO wasn’t around with its cameras yesterday afternoon to sanitize Matt Cooke, a 24/7 blight on the game?
The Penguins winger, whom the network unaccountably portrayed as a warm and cuddly type despite his history as a malicious headhunter, was at it again, teeing up Ryan McDonagh’s head with an elbow early in the third period of the Rangers’ 5-2 victory broadcast nationally on NBC, and thus teeing up the entire issue of headshots for VP Colin Campbell and the NHL.
“Don’t worry — he should get 10 games,” Rangers general manager Glen Sather called out across the postgame locker room to McDonagh, who was not suffering from concussion-like symptoms at any time before flying home.
That suggested sentence, which should be the bare minimum applied to this serial miscreant, happens to equate to the number of games the Penguins have remaining in the regular season, beginning with a match tonight in Detroit.
Anything less would be an admission that all of the talk of concern about concussions and cracking down against repeat offenders is nothing but hot air. Anything less would expose the league hierarchy as the classic example of an operation whose actions are not in synch with its words.
Campbell is under a microscope here in dealing with Cooke, a specimen who was suspended twice previously for two games apiece for headshots — once for a blow delivered to the jaw of Artem Anisimov on Nov. 28, 2009, in a similarly gratuitous incident — and was issued a four-game suspension early last month for his reckless hit from behind on Fedor Tyutin after escaping punishment for the headshot last March that has ruined Marc Savard’s career.
Ten games, minimum. Ten games plus the first round of the playoffs, ideally. Next time: 41 games.
This isn’t about sending a message or making an example of Cooke, whose 5-minute major on the play turned what was a 1-1 game at the time in the Rangers’ direction. This is about justice. This is about protecting essentially every other player in the NHL from this chronic offender who has no respect whatsoever for his opponents.
The strong public stance against violence by Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and the strong public stance against headshots by GM Ray Shero were hardly lost on coach Dan Bylsma, whose organization has enabled Cooke and is about to be hoisted on its own petard.
“I don’t think you can talk about eliminating headshots from the game, as we have as an organization, and not expect that to be examined, as what looks to be contact right to the head on the play,” Bylsma said. “The league will look at that and treat it as such.”
But how about the Penguins, Lemieux, Shero and Bylsma taking independent action?
If anyone wants to talk about a letter, how about immediately stripping the “A” off Cooke’s sweater? How about buying him out of the last two years of his contract on June 15, as soon as the collective bargaining agreement allows?
Sidney Crosby, the face of the league, skated again early yesterday morning as he continues to make progress in his recovery from a concussion that has sidelined him for over two months.
What in the world could he be thinking about sharing a locker room with Cooke, this 24/7 blight on hockey? No. 87 couldn’t be blamed for thinking that it’s safer than having to play against him.