You're done Chris Simon. Yeah I said it. I'm pro-fighting. And I'm a Caps' fan that loved Simon when he was in Washington. But you're done. The NHL should throw the book at Chris Simon. He should be suspended for the rest of the year, playoffs included if the Islanders make it.
Simon, after being hit from behind by Ryan Hollweg, waited for the small forward to come back and hit him with a whicked baseball-like swing to the face. Hollweg caught the brunt of the stick and went down like a sack of potatoes. He left the ice bleeding from the chin. The swing brings back shades of Marty McSorley knocking Donald Brashear to the ice, only McSorley's swing wasn't near as hard as Simon's.
With head shots being a hot topic in the NHL, Simon's swing couldn't have been timed any worse. On top of that, Simon is a tough guy. Sure, he isn't the tough guy that fights near as much as he used to, but he is the toughest guy on the Islanders roster. He did just feed Todd Fedoruk his lunch last week you know. But Simon scores too. He has 27 points in 67 games.
But throw it all out. He could be Sidney Crosby for all I care. Chris Simon used his stick as a weapon last night. That might be the single most worst thing you can do in hockey. I beg of Colin Campbell to suspend him however many games the Islanders play this year. Chris Simon's act was not him policing the ice; it was him loitering it with thugdom.
Update - Chris Simon has been suspended indefinitely by the NHL pending a hearing.
I also can't help but find it amusing to hear non-hockey commentators talking about this. Mike Greenberg couldn't even rememeber Hollweg's name. Greenberg then called for Simon to be suspend all of this year and next year. Skip Bayless, from Cold Pizza, called for Simon to be suspended for life from the NHL. Why don't they leave hockey to the hockey guys instead of embarrassing themselves?
Update - Chris Simon receives a 22 game suspension from the NHL. The suspension includes 14 regular season games and 7 playoff games.
Update Update - Per NHL.com, Chris Simon is suspended for a minimum of 25 games. That essentially means that Simon will sit next year if the Islanders do not make the playoffs or do not play at least 11 games in the playoffs. And while one would think that Simon could play again this year if the Islanders progress into the playoffs, that does not appear to be the case according to Colin Campbell. Apparently he will not play another game this year no matter what. To be quite honest, this is all annoying. Could the NHL's statement by any greyer? The statement should say something along the lines of, "Chris Simon is suspended for a minimum of 25 games. Regardless of if the Islanders progress far enough into the playoffs to play 25 games, Mr. Simon will not play in another NHL game this season."
Said Simon.... "There is absolutely no place in hockey for what I did," Simon said in a statement released by the team during the first period of the Islanders' game against Washington on Saturday night. "What you saw Thursday is not the person, player and competitor that I am. I know my teammates and opponents over my 14 years in the NHL understand that."
Simon is also suffering concussion-like symptoms from being hit from behind by Hollweg. What gets me is that a lot of people out there, Barry Melrose of all people included, are saying that Hollweg's hit was clean. It was not. It was from behind and he should have received a charging call for it.
Let's hope the next time these two teams meet, the Rangers are more willing to drop the gloves and fight like men. In my opinion, that is one reason Simon did what he did. In five regular season matchups, we have seen more cheap play than in any other series this year; there has not been one fighting major.
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8 comments:
1) Relax there buddy. While we agree that Simon is likely 'done' as you wrote its NOT because he deserves it. It'll be because of all the negative media hype surrounding this incident
2) For starters Hollweg barely missed a shift. He should have been whistled for a 2 or 5 minute boarding major against Simon.
3) If fighting was allowed as it should be(its rare in the final 5 minutes of a game) Simon would have dropped his gloves and rearranged Ryan's face. In the New NHL fighting is discouraged. If anything this incident shows the true necessity of pugilism.
4) Sadly the anti-fighting faction will use this as a demonstration of how 'violence' is hurting hockey.
5) Simon would have recieved about 5 games if this wasn't blown WAY out of proportion. Now he'll be lucky to get 15.
You are obviously pretty biased Fauxrumors.
1-He does deserve it because that slash with the stick, if it came alittle lower could have easily hit Hollweg in the throat and possibly killed him. Especially with the force at which Simon swung his stick.
2-The hit Hollweg did was completely clean. If even it meant suspending Simon for a good year, go ahead and give Hollweg an "after the fact" boarding penalty. It was certainly not 5 minutes worth! Or even 2 for that matter.
3-Its the lone fact that Simon completely lost his mind. I used to play hockey in high school and have got pissed and try to fight after getting checked, but who tries to intentionally injure another player, let alone almost kill them with the stick? Totally uncalled for
4-I agree with you on this point as it will be used to dull down the game, which I don't agree with. The league SHOULD use Simon as an example and give him the MAX penalty/suspension for this act.
5- 15 games would be injustice.
1) No, we are NOT biased in any way. Unless you call want a return of old time hockey biased.
2) Should Simon be suspended, ofcourse. No one is defending his actions, but the sillieness that he 'could have killed him' is beyond inane. Almost every check could concievably 'kill' someone
3) The Jansson check last week on Karbele could have killed him and he got 3 games. Neil's elbow of Drury could have killed him. And Karbele and Drury actually WERE injured!! Hollweg was NOT!
4) Anything MORE than what Jannsson got is a true travesty
I don't follow hockey like I used to but Simon was always a favorite. I'm sad to hear of his recent violence since before he left the Caps he seemd to have calmed down quite a bit. He even gave one of his sticks to my daughter (they share the same birthday).
He should be punished but these things do happen in hockey. hopefully, it doesn't get too blown out of porportion. I guess it depends on the damage incurred. Dale Hunter was suspended for 21 games after his brutality to the dude, who's name escapes me.
1) That was Pierre Turgeon ironicly of the Islanders and he was also injured on Hunter's dirty after the play blind side
2) Hollweg was NOT injured AND had just cheap shoted Simon with a board hit that was amazingly not called
3) Simon deserves a suspension but no longer than Cam Jannson
Guess what? This was NOT a 'well anything could kill someone' incident. It was malicious. It hit the bottom of Hollweg's chin. An inch lower and the wind pipe would have been struck. Also, the fact that Hollweg barely missed a shift shouldn't matter. He could have been dead. Fate conspired that Ryan Hollweg would live, thank god. The Bertuzzi hit could have been no more damaging than the Simon hit. It turned out that it was more damaging.
As far as Hollweg's hit, it was clean. It was hard, but it was clean. Maybe debatable, fine. We all have our own opinions. The Simon hit, however, was far from clean. It was sent with the intent to injure. Hollweg didn't even see it coming.
Someone on the NYR BB said that no game should ever be played again on March 8. I agree.
Note... the Bertuzzi hit AND the Simon hit both occurred on March 8.
Oh, and I agree with the blog writer, Simon should be gone from the NHL
Simon should be suspended from the NHL for life ! No Exceptions !!
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