Matt Cooke's Hit on Ryan McDonagh: Dan Bylsma's Thoughts

This is the thought I’m having, and probably most every Pens fan. Cookie will get his 5-10 games, but when Sid comes back somebody will put this exact hit on him and probably end his career, and then what the hell do we say about it?

I completely agree. I do feel though that every team in the league has their own “Matt Cooke” kind of player, so I never really have too many problems with his antics, really. Today though, I think he did something pointless, which carried on to the extent I would pin the loss on his five minute major killing the team today in the third period. That is really annoying, but Cooke is a hard hitting type of guy, and sometimes it seems to just get into his head he needs to plow through someone. Sometimes that’s a boost for the team, other times like today it can be a back breaker.

Just was the case with his last suspension…boy doesn’t that sound nice…our guys will pick things up fine enough.

That hit was unnecessary. I don’t think the locker room is crucifying him for it, but you can wager that there’s some residual unhappiness. Especially since we were playing so well until that penalty…

I love Cookie as a player & I was one of those applauding the extension he signed. But I could do without the extra penalty minutes he drags up.

I mulled over writing this pretty much all day but didn’t think it was really my place to speak much on behalf of the team. But once I saw Bylsma’s statement regarding Cooke, it struck me as a green light to finally go with what I was thinking all day. It’s pretty obvious in just that short statement that he isn’t going to blindly stick up for players when he knows they’re off the hook – and that’s good. It also shows that Mario’s words/letter to the league did not go unheard, especially at the time in which he sent it out (Crosby was already out, Tangradi was the newly injured one). This is the test of sorts here and I think the Pens passed it – they’re going to stand by the league and the statements that trickled down from the front office regardless of whether or not it’s their own player or a player on another team. And frankly, I think it’s sets a good precedent. Other teams can look and say, “Well, the Pens aren’t just blowing smoke. They’re backing their words.”

I wouldn’t go as far as to say it would appear as if the Pens are putting Cooke on an island and banishing him from the locker room or anything, but with the recent addressing of headshots and the rules imposed, it’s at least refreshing to see a team didn’t just say it for the sake of saying it. They actually mean it.

he’s not hurting the morality of the team

that’s a pretty funny slip of the tongue, or keyboard in this case.

I am sorry, I disagree with you. As an athlete playing in the NHL , he should be trained to think in the “spur of the moment”, as you called it. And he did think, it was a deliberate hit, in contrast with Nisky’s reaction of raising his stick and hitting Callahan. He took a fairly long run at the guy’s head. He has done it before, and he either refuses to change, or doesn’t get it. Either way, I don’t care how valuable he is or not. That’s not what’s being discussed now. The organisation and the fans don’t want somebody doing that while playing for the Pens. Shero had a talk with Cooke, following his last suspension, evidently he didn’t listen. I for one don’t think Shero will like this very much. Blysma didn’t like it one bit, and we all know what Mario thinks.

I question that…I think some of the guys have to be getting tired of being asked about his hits, especially ones like yesterday that probably cost the Pens a win. Hopefully it doesn’t become an issue in the room.

That’s the big problem here too for us. I know being the “most hated team in the league” doesn’t seem like a big deal, but now it seems to have reached its breaking point where it is a big deal. The rest of the hockey world loses all respect for you, and as many have said before it puts a target on the other players’ backs.

Much easier said than done. And even then, you have to give it the Ruutu treatment: “Welllll I’d rather have him on my team than on the other team.”

Has the 15 minute time out been implemented yet, or is it still in theoretical discussions right now?

Apparently this situation has been covered at the GM’s meetings. One of the proposed solutions to reducing/treating concussions is to have a player sit if he holds his head at all after a hit (think Tangradi after Gilles). This rule would have caused McDonagh to sit. Not sure I’m entirely against it.

I didn’t see the replays. I do think though that concussions can happen from somewhat “soft” plays like a puck to the face (Green?) or a stick in the jaw (Richards). If they make the rule super-strict then come playoffs, half the team will be in the locker room.

Not sure if they still do this but in my day it would have been handled with a blanket party or some similar form of internal discipline.

Which makes it ever so frustrating to have him on the roster! 99% of his shifts are awesome. Then he needlessly crosses the line the other 1%. HIs elbow today was needless. Absolutely needless. It didn’t have to happen and served no purpose. It was absolutely baffling.

What about last season/year when he flat out whacked Marc Savard?
That, to me, was intent and very reckless.

That’s what I was thinking — finish your check, if you have to, but why the hell do you have to bring the elbow up? And it wasn’t even close to looking like it may have been accidental or incidental. It was a flying elbow that would’ve gotten him a top billing from the WWE.

@rodbuskas Rod, bogus post. Not mine. Do you do that? Do I need to block you?

That’s big, at least 15 games…

…. but remember, it’s from Kypreos.