Nothing harsh about Cooke's suspension

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Penguins winger Matt Cooke is escorted from the ice by NHL linesman Derek Amell after Mr. Cooke was ejected for elbowing New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh in the head in the third period Sunday at Consol Energy Center. Monday, the league hit Mr. Cooke with a lengthy suspension.

First blush? The suspension handed down Monday by the NHL to Penguins winger Matt Cooke for his malicious cheap-shot elbow Sunday to the head of New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh seemed harsh. The final 10 games of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs? That's a bit excessive compared to some of the other discipline given out by the league for similar hits.

But after further review ...

Cooke is lucky he wasn't banned from the NHL for life based on stupidity alone.

Really, has the man been living under a rock?

Never before in sports have head injuries and player safety been such hot-button topics. That's especially true in hockey because Cooke's teammate -- star and face of the NHL Sidney Crosby -- has been out of the lineup and spotlight since Jan. 5 with concussion-like symptoms.

And Cooke goes out and tries to take out McDonagh? While having a significant leadership role wearing an "A" for alternate captain on his Penguins sweater? After being suspended four other times in his career, including a four-game suspension last month for hitting Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin into the boards from behind? After getting away unpunished with a reprehensible blind-side head shot on Boston Bruins center Marc Savard a year ago?

That's inexcusable.

Forget that Cooke embarrassed owner Mario Lemieux and general manager Ray Shero and made them look like fools. They have been front and center leading the fight against flagrant head shots, pushing for the NHL to take a tougher stance against the players who deliver them.

How about the way Cooke let down his teammates? That's what's really offensive. The Penguins were going to have a tough time winning a playoff series with him, especially if Crosby isn't able to play. Now, their chances of winning the first round are much less. They might not even be able to hang on to fourth place in the Eastern Conference and the home-ice advantage that goes with it in the opening round.

"We need [Cooke] on the ice," Penguins winger Chris Kunitz said Sunday.

It's no wonder so many of the Penguins were irked at Cooke after their 5-2 loss to the Rangers. Those same players have been busting their fannies trying to keep the team competitive without Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (knee). And now they have to be without another veteran player at the most important time of the season? For a needless reason?

Shame on Cooke.

The sad part of the story is that Cooke is much more than a dirty player. He has hockey skills. He scored 15 goals last season, was a plus-17 and had four more goals in 13 playoff games. He has 12 goals this season and is a plus-14. He's a terrific penalty killer on the NHL's best penalty-killing unit. And the really frustrating thing? He can be a physical presence without the cheap shots. He can check with the best -- cleanly -- when he wants to do it.

The Penguins know Cooke's value. Shero gave him a guaranteed three-year, $5.4 million contract before the season. That's a rare deal of that length for a role player of Cooke's age. He's 32.

"He won a Stanley Cup with us," Shero said at the time. "He fits the identity of our team."

Not anymore.

I repeat:

Shame on Cooke.

Shero called this latest Cooke suspension "warranted because that's exactly the kind of hit we're trying to get out of the game." There wasn't anything else he could have said, right? Not after the way he and Lemieux have challenged the NHL to do a better job with player safety. League officials had to come down hard on Cooke. Lemieux and Shero backed them into a corner.

"You want tougher penalties, Mario? Here you go, baby! You got 'em!"

But that's OK if commissioner Gary Bettman and his cronies take this Cooke suspension and run with it. They need to be just as tough with the next cheap-shot perpetrator and the one after that. The tough message they're patting themselves on the back for sending with Cooke will serve its purpose of making the game safer only if they are consistent with the discipline.

Bettman and the league need to take the next step, actually. They need to adopt a new fine system proposed by Lemieux. Under the Lemieux plan, teams would receive a stiff fine based on the length of a suspension when one of their players is involved in a headhunting incident. If it were in effect now, the Penguins would be fined at least $750,000 for Cooke's hit on McDonagh, $1 million if his suspension lasts more than 15 games. The Lemieux proposal also calls for the fines to be doubled for repeat offenders.

If the NHL does adopt the Lemieux plan or at least one similar to it, there won't be a place in the league any longer for the Matt Cookes of the hockey world.

No team would be able to afford those players.

It's hard to think that would be a bad thing.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11081/1133791-87.stm#ixzz1HKEu7BQ6


Is Cooke worth the trouble?

By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Penguins Matt Cooke during the Rangers game at Consol Energy Center Sunday.
(Chaz Palla Tribune-Review)

We might have seen the last of Matt Cooke in a Penguins jersey.

That was one thought upon learning of the minimum 14-game suspension levied on "Mr." Cooke by NHL dean of discipline Colin Campbell. Another was whether Campbell and his cronies wanted to stick it to the Penguins by suspending Cooke not only for the final 10 regular-season games but also for a playoff round.

That wouldn't surprise me. I'm sure the old-boys-network NHL hated the fact that Mario Lemieux reprimanded them in a scathing letter after the Islanders debacle. I'm sure some resent the fact that general manager Ray Shero and team president David Morehouse represent the minority voice in calling for a ban on head hits.

How dare anyone mess with the Neanderthal Headshot League.

The predominant thoughts, however, were these, in descending order:

4. Cooke earned this suspension and richly deserves it, no matter the league's agenda.

3. I would put Cooke back into the lineup the instant he is available; he is that valuable to a severely short-handed club.

2. The Penguins should trade Cooke in the offseason; he's not worth the trouble.

1. I doubt Cooke is going to change, even if he is $219,512.20 lighter in the wallet.

In the wake of a brain injury to their best player, the Penguins cannot continue to lead a crusade against head shots while Cooke makes a mockery of their mission. They'd look like fools.

Besides, one more hit like the one he laid on Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh, and Cooke will be benched for, what, a quarter of a season? The man isn't far from ruining his career.

He also might need more than just another suspension to change his ways. He might need behavioral counseling.

Cooke is out of control, perhaps caught up in the "NHL's Dirtiest Player" persona. His hit on McDonagh wasn't just mindless, gutless and reckless, it was selfish. It could cost the Penguins dearly.

Cooke has embarrassed Lemieux, Morehouse and Shero, who just got back from the GMs meetings in Florida, where he was a rare sensible voice twisting in the winds of old-school ignorance on the matter of head injuries.

Kudos to Shero for strongly backing Cooke's punishment, saying, "The suspension is warranted because that's exactly the kind of hit we're trying to get out of the game." It's not often a GM endorses a suspension of his own player.

Now, we'll see if Campbell & Co. have the stomach to make this a trend. They have ample reason to: One in 10 NHL players has sustained a concussion this season.

But I have reason to doubt the league is serious. Consider the following scenario, which would be funny if it hadn't actually happened: As the GMs were in Florida pretending to address the plague of head injuries, two illegal and incredibly dangerous hits to the head went virtually unpunished.

On one, Boston forward Brad Marchand cracked Columbus winger R.J. Umberger from behind with an elbow -- and got a measly two-game suspension.

On the other, San Jose's Dany Heatley elbowed Dallas' unsuspecting Steve Ott in the skull. His punishment? Two games.

There you have it: Two sneak attacks targeting the head merited a total suspension of four games.

What kind of deterrent is that?

Then there is the Trevor Gillies case. Gillies was suspended nine games for his ridiculous act in the Islanders-Penguins debacle. He concussed Eric Tangradi, continued to assault a defenseless Tangradi, then taunted him from the runway. In his first game back, Gillies showed how contrite he was by blind-siding Minnesota's Cal Clutterbuck.

For that, Gillies only got 10 games -- one more than his first punishment!

Meanwhile, Cooke, with previous suspensions totaling 10 games, got a possible 17 -- including a playoff series -- for his hit on McDonagh.

That's hardly consistent.

But it's not surprising or unwarranted, either -- and don't be surprised if Matt Cooke never plays another game for the Penguins.


Read more: Starkey: Is Cooke worth the trouble? - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_728515.html#ixzz1HKFhLn8O