Jeff Carter Knocks Out Anssi Salmela
It’s another hit that’s igniting the hits-to-the-head debate all around the league. Check out the check that Carter laid on Salmela Monday night in Philly.
{H/T to Hockey-fights.com}
At first glance, it really does look like Carter leads with his elbow, but if you watch the replay, you can see it’s really his shoulder that makes contact with Salmela. I don’t buy the argument that this was a late hit as well – if you pause this video at :11, you can see the puck hitting the twine at the same moment Carter hits him. It was definitely a brutal hit, and it’s probably fair to say Carter tagged him up higher than he probably should have, but I think it’s a clean hit that had an unfortunate result.
At worst, I think you could consider this a hit from behind, seeing as how Salmela has his head up the entire possession, and he still doesn’t have a chance to see and avoid Carter. I don’t think this is suspension material, however, and it’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, the NHL decides to do with this hit. I’m not convinced this hit is worthy of a suspension, but I’m willing to bet the league levies a small two or three game suspension on Carter just because of how bad it looked on tape.
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That’s looks very clean. I do not think he even hit his head, it looks shoulder to shoulder. The whiplash of the hit caused the injury. Even if he did hit him in the head, Salmel is as much at fault because he was bent over a bit.
Basically, well within the generally acceptable time after he got rid of the puck for a hit, hit with the shoulder, did not leave his feet.
Salmela was in a vulnerable position going for the net, slightly bent over and at a 90 degree angle from Carter and as such did not see him.
Thats hockey, same as football. Sometimes perfectly legal hits can be the most brutal.
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Wow, that was truly incredible.
Jess
http://www.online-anonymity.cz.tc
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I don’t know why Jonesy said late hit because it clearly wasn’t as you said. I think this is also a situation of tall guy his small guy, shoulders aren’t going to line up perfectly.
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adam Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:10 am
yeah, exactly – this is just height differential to me.
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was a clean hit. shoulder to shoulder. just look at the replay.
looks like his head hit the ice which probably caused to the nap.
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It’s truly unfortunate that Salmela was hurt so badly by this hit, but it doesn’t deserve a suspension. It’s not a late hit since Carter has already begun the hitting motion before the shot gets away and it isn’t “high” since the initial contact is shoulder to shoulder (and this is exacerbated by the 3″+ height difference between the players).
Any time a player cuts blindly across center ice they take a major risk that they will be hit. I hope that Salmela has a speedy recovery, but the fact he was injured doesn’t automatically mean it was a dirty hit. Clean hits can knock people out and it’s part of the game — it’s no different than crashes in NASCAR or knee injuries in football. It happens. It’s unfortunate. But it comes with playing a physical and demanding professional sport.
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Why does anyone complain about MMA, when this happens in a sport that is supposed to prohibit violence?
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