Zach Bogosian Non-Suspension Ludicrous

So the NHL has decided not to suspend Winnipeg Jets defenseman Zach Bogosian for his hit on Minnesota's Pierre-Marc Bouchard Tuesday night.

Player Safety Dept. feels that Bogosian did not run at Bouchard and that Bouchard turned just prior to the hit.  

Okay.

So if Bouchard doesn't turn, and Bogosian cross-checks him in the face, breaking Bouchard's nose in the process, is that somehow a clean and legal hockey play?

Watch it again.



Tell me this is a clean and legal hockey play if Bouchard doesn't get hit in the back.

IT'S A CROSS CHECK.

One that would have been high enough to hit Bouchard in the face or neck had he not turned around. How the hell is this not worthy of anything more than a one-minute penalty (there was only 1:06 left)?

As Mike Johnson says here on the TSN broadcast, and I fully acknowledge this is true, Bogosian tried to hold up. He didn't follow through or run through Bouchard. That's fine.

But did Bouchard really try to high-stick Matt Calvert in the face here?



We were told at the time that Bouchard was responsible for his own stick, and that it didn't matter that Calvert lifted Bouchard's stick into his own face.

Despite that, it somehow matters that Bouchard turned before being cross-checked into the dasher boards, a play that would have been dangerous no matter what body part Bogosian hit.

I don't get the logic, and all this does is feed the growing perception among Wild fans that the Department of Player Safety is -- for some unknown reason -- showing bias against the Wild.

(It sounds preposterous, but look at the way the NHL handled Kevin Porter's knee-on-knee hit on David Booth versus how it handled Ryan Whitney's knee-on-knee hit on Cal Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck, by the way, was indeed injured on the play. Worth noting.)