Niskanen’s Hit on Crosby and Why We Need to Stop Discussing “Intent”

Early in the first period of Game 3 between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby was knocked out of the game after contact was made with his head in the form of a slash from Alex Ovechkin and then, as he was falling, a cross-check from Matt Niskanen. Making matters worse, as Crosby and Niskanen crashed into each other, Crosby’s left knee gave out and twisted awkwardly.

Ovechkin wasn’t penalized and Niskanen, who appeared upon first glance to cause most of the damage, was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct, finishing off his night very early. Crosby didn’t return, but was reportedly seen walking around the arena telling concerned people that he was fine.

Obviously there’s a lot to unpack here, especially because the victim was Sidney Crosby, the face of the league.

But let me just say, for the Pens and Caps fans reading this: as an Islanders fan, I despise both of your teams and their stars equally. There is no unfair bias toward one team or the other, because I hate them both. In fact, the most desirable outcome of this series for me is for this bloodbath to go to Game 7, and after both teams have slogged it out over four wildly entertaining and violent overtimes, the Verizon Center ice caves in and swallows both teams whole. Now, moving on to the hit.

Let’s get to the replay then, shall we?

Crosby skates down the wing and drives the net as Ovechkin approaches the crease, trying to defend him. As they cross paths Ovechkin whacks Crosby on the arm and again on the back of his skull, while their skates collide in what looks like something of a slew foot. Niskanen skates down the opposite wing to help out down low and Crosby, now falling from the trip, crashes into Niskanen. Niskanen, bracing for contact, puts his arms up and cross-checks Crosby in the face at what would normally be chest level. As Niskanen falls over Crosby, Crosby’s left leg buckles underneath him, bending his knee in a most uncomfortable fashion.

(My thanks to Steph @myregularface for her tireless GIF’ing of the events of NHL games).

First and foremost I disagree with Niskanen having been tossed from the game, as far as the way the game and its rules are currently enforced. I am okay with him receiving a five-minute major — incidental or not, he still hit a guy in the head. But it’s not difficult to imagine this scenario going down completely unpenalized.

I thought Niskanen’s ejection and game misconduct was excessive in this situation, where there is a reasonable defense that it was, in fact, accidental. The punishment should’ve been a five-minute major and nothing else, because of the head contact. And in fact, the Department of Player Safety has deemed there shall be no extra supplemental discipline for Niskanen.

That being said, I think it’s time we do away with this idea of judging “intent.” It has probably been time to do this for a while. Quite frankly, it’s impossible to know someone’s intent on a big hit. As Mike Johnson says, in the playoffs, players always hit to hurt. Not to injure, presumably because they don’t want to jeopardize their peers’ careers and well-beings, but they do want to leave a mark. I can’t imagine there are too many players out there that actively enjoy causing serious injury to a fellow player — or perhaps I don’t want to believe there are (I’m sure there are a few knuckle-dragging cavemen out there that do enjoy it *cough* Tom Wilson *cough* Chris Kreider *cough*).

And yet, NHL referees and the Department of Player Safety base most of their harshest judgments on the offending player’s “intent” at the time of the penalty. Body language can be revealing, but it’s also not definitive. And if players feel they can get away with injuring another and defend their position because they were “pulling up” as they made contact, what’s to stop them from doing this all the time? Sounds like an easy way to gain a significant competitive advantage: just remove the other team’s top guy from the game entirely.

The only solution then, if the NHL really cares about protecting its players — and it doesn’t, so this point is null — is to harshly punish every single instance of head contact. This should have been enacted at least 5 years ago. In this condition, yes, Niskanen should have been ejected and should receive a suspension of some sort. Ovechkin should receive a suspension for his role in the play, as well.

The players don’t take the threat of the Department of Player Safety’s rulings seriously, and why should they? If the split-second decision the offending player has to make in that situation comes down to “gain an advantage for my team” vs. “risk losing my season because of it,” I can guarantee there would be fewer instances like this. But right now, it’s “gain an advantage for my team” vs. “meh I might get slapped on the wrist.” It’s kind of a no-brainer.

And that’s not to say Niskanen intended to injure Crosby, but he certainly didn’t have too much incentive to avoid the contact he made. And he probably could have avoided it.