Gonchar smashes Clutterbuck, who doesn’t even have the puck, with a jumping forearm to the chin from the blind side. I loved this hit though, because Clutterbuck is almost as bad as Cooke. Just another run-taking punk with a 2 foot tall visor.

I loved Gonchar when he was here, but your comment is shortsighted.

Cooke wouldn’t have lasted in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s playing like this – he would get highsticked, jumped by 6 guys, jumped by 1 guy, or jumped by a roid monster in each of those decades, respectively. Now he gets a slap on the wrist, the NHL is down a skill player to injury, and he will be back running around round 2 game 1.

Although, in all fairness, Cooke is tough, so he’d probably survive, but he wouldn’t be taking the same kinds of runs, and he wouldn’t be doing it with such high frequency. The NHL wants to preserve its “anti-barbaric” image by protecting pukes like Cooke or Kaleta or Lapierre, at the expense of Savard or Crosby. Let players protect each other and this stuff doesn’t happen.

Sergei Gonchar might have something to say about how clean Ovi plays. I’m not comparing the two, because Matt Cooke has no comparable, but I wouldn’t call Ovi’s play “clean” on any level.

I applaud the league for the suspension but it just draws into greater focus how much they have failed to discipline Cooke before now in a meaningful way. I applaud the Pens for being so outspoken about dirty hits and talk the talk all of a sudden, but this hit list makes clear how complicit they’ve been. The number of injuries he’s inflicted over the years (none worse than Savard’s) is the real tragedy of it all.

I don’t care what else he contributes. His history of constantly attempting to intentionally injure players overrules any of that. It’s like praising Al Capone for his support of children’s orphanages. It doesn’t excuse the blood.