if F&B or some brave soul is interested in a (polite) confrontation, ol’ faithful is waiting for you.

While I generally don’t think it matters that much whether Carcillo watches from the bench or the press box, I’m not sure his early (sucker) punch really warrants 4 games – both players were lining up to fight. The 9-minute PP already removed any chance of the Flyers winning last night’s game – one ensured team loss seems like more of a punishment than 4 games in the press box anyhow.

I think the 4 games happened because Brads got injured. Anyone know how he is doing?

But really the major should have taken care of it, maybe 2. 4 seems a bit excessive, but might be a nice present for the coach. Who wants that player the next game? Damn that was a dumb penalty to get. If brads gave the flyers a 9 minute powerplay Bruce would have been livid and probably sat him the next game or so.

I think the suspension was 2 games for the punch, 2 games for his lame mustache.

Goad the lowest IQ/biggest thug on the opposing team.
All you need is a few extra penalties per game, and you will statistically win since the difference between the best and worst teams is only around <1 GPG.

More on PANTHER TARGETS:

 Player PIM Minor Major
1 Bryan Allen 45 10 5
2 Keith Ballard 33 14 1
3 Michael Frolik 33 8 1
4 Mike Duco 31 3 1
5 Kenndal McArdle 29 2 5

maybe Varly will take one to the mask for the team.

(This is DMG bait…)

I think part of the reason the suspension is so long is that Bradley was hurt pretty badly. And I think that’s good. Because I think injuries and the results of hits ought to be taken into account when deciding on a suspension.

The reason I think this is that the physical result of the hit often gives insight into the state of mind of the aggressor. There are certain hits that cannot but cause an injury, including a punch to the face when the victim is not yet ready, or an intentional slew foot, or an intentional knee on knee. Kronwall’s extensive injury is evidence of how much Laraque put behind his knee-on-knee trip. David Booth’s concussion is evidence of just how hard Richards hit him. Meanwhile, Peverley, Kaleta, and Gleason were all fine. If Ovechkin had really intended to slew-foot Peverly, or to smash Kaleta into the boards, or to wreck Gleason’s knee, then those guys would not have gotten up.

To be clear, I’m 100% of the opinion that only intentions matter when assessing a suspension. Did the aggressor intend harm? Did he just not care about the other player’s welfare? Carcillo certainly intended to hit Bradley when Bradley’s guard was down, but how hard did Carcillo intend to hit him? Well, Bradley went straight down, and didn’t get up without help. That’s pretty good evidence that Carcillo intended to harm him. And because that was Carcillo’s intent was to harm, the full suspension is justified.

Let me be clear on what I’m not saying — I’m not saying that injuries should be the only factor. After all, sometimes folks get very lucky or very unlucky. But neither should injuries be ignored. Everything should be looked at. Video evidence is not foolproof. If David Booth had gotten up and skated away, that would have been reason to believe that Richards pulled up a bit, even if we couldn’t see it on film. The fact that Booth is still out gives us a good insight on what exactly Richards was trying to do — he was trying to hit Booth’s head as hard as he could. Injuries are just one more piece of the puzzle.

Buh bye!